"Spring Cleaning and What I Found There"

Ever since I hosted a storytelling session and assigned, "Spring Cleaning and What I Found There", which was great fun for most all of us, (though we didn't ask our men) I have begun to look up to the women who are experts at it. So, first thing, I checked out an old "Prevention" magazine (2/22/05, "Cleaning Shortcuts", excerpted from Linda Cobb's Complete Cleaning Guide), listing the must-haves for natural cleaning. I had no idea where to begin, but by absent minded-ly, leaving the kitchen faucet on and pouring water all over the floor and down the basement on my costume stuff, (shielded by an upside-down wading pool) my work was cut out for me. Clean out all the stuff, including the solidified food particles under the sink, which has been ignored far too long. I surfed the internet, but Chemistry was not my forte. So, when I mixed baking soda with vinegar, I got an unexpected surprise. It fizzed all over the place, like more than a soda pop, after it's shaken, then, opened.  I also should have also taken seriously the picture in the magazine, of the plastic gloves with the rest of the stuff. More natural cleaners like Mom once used, aren't exempt from stinging and roughening your hands.

I checked the internet today to find the materials our moms used. I started thinking about what my former cleaning agents were doing to me, not just my husband. So, I mixed vinegar, water, and Borax and scrubbed the floors. Bill usually complained about how my cleaning agents irritated his nose, throat, and lungs when he got back to the house, but this time, I asked him to check. He said he could smell something, but it didn't feel toxic. I've got a new cause!

I'm really trying to get this housewifely domestic thing down.  Like today, I actually did some spring cleaning in the foyer, swept behind the file drawers, vacuumed the corner cobwebs (for as long as it would run), organized a little,dusted the window and the blinds, vacuumed the throw rugs, and swept the floors. I said, "Oh, what a good girl am I!" Then, I cooked dinner, caught up on Bates Motel on A&E with my husband, and finished up the dishes. Now, I'm ready to start the meeting minutes, which isn't out of domestic life either, since domestics are in clubs.        Trouble is, I looked at my office where I write these up, which I organized awhile back, realized I needed to, yet again, which made me realize the foyer accomplishment is only a Pyrrhic victory. This will go on in a circle of eternal purging.  One comment I received was that It was not a Pyrrhic victory, but a Sisyphean one, to which I replied: I could call the blog what you suggest, "The Circle of Eternal Purging" or perhaps, "The Bungalow Be-dazzler", a good word.  I looked up Sisyphean, and it was about a king condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again. In that case, I could call my blog, "The Bungalow Boulder-roller".

I've been fairly consistent with the combo of baking soda sprayed with

 vinegar and frothing over, for the basins.

    But today, the bungalow bedazzler had to look up where to go from there, on her own blog.

So, In 2 cups of water, I mixed 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of baking soda, (nice fizz), 1/2 teaspoon of liquid dish soap,(couldn't find the Dawn, but Ivory dish soap works fine), and a teaspoon of Borax. You're supposed to shake it, but I mixed it, and then, used a microfiber cloth to clean the cupboards, and especially the counters. Afterwards, I even demolished some spots on the kitchen floor nearby. Asked Bill (who was chatting amicably, but also remarking that I was into an activity that was obviously not my passion) to breathe in. No fumes, no complaints...

Ta Da! 

 Here's another tip I've learned on friend face, and I'm in the midst of trying it out.:

TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER
"Take a spray bottle and fill it halfway with white vinegar. Heat in the microwave. Fill the rest of the way with blue Dawn. Put lid on and shake to mix well. Spray on your tub and shower walls. Allow to sit for a few minutes and rinse away. It will totally melt all the gunk, slime, sludge and other stuff that builds up including a bathtub ring."

I'll be sure to let you know how it works, or not....

           Okay, having tried Kaboom!, spraying and running, spraying and running...to avoid the fumes, I would say that the Dawn treatment worked equally well, if not even better, and was much more tolerable to my system.