An easy way to be greener around your home (by which I don’t mean that your home should be looking greener because of slime and mould growing on it!) is to make your own cleaning products. A small stable of basic cleaning items are a must for any “green cleaner” as they crop up time and again in make-your-own cleaner recipes. These items are non-toxic or only minimally toxic, won’t make your skin dry and cracked and don’t give off any (or many) toxic fumes. Some of them, you can even eat.
Your eco-friendly cleaning product list should contain:
Baking soda (sodium bicarb or bicarbonate of soda): this one is used nearly all the time and for most purposes. It absorbs smells, scours and cleans without scratching and is gentle on your skin. Oh – and you can use it in baking and to treat beestings as well! An absolute staple.
White vinegar: Another staple that is suitable for glass, porcelain, plastic, metal, etc. It doesn’t leave a film behind like detergent-based products do, and it kills mould. If you combine the acidic vinegar with the alkaline baking soda, the two will react and fizz, which can “blast” off dirt and scum. A combination of the two (one cup of each) can unblock clogged drains. Other varieties are not so good for cleaning as malt vinegar can leave a small trace of brown, while the cider and basalmic vinegars are too expensive to use as cleaning products – save them for beauty treatments and for tasty salad dressings. However, if malt vinegar’s all you’ve got on hand and you need to unblock a drain, use it!
Lemon juice: This is a natural bleach, especially if exposed to sunlight. Two old beauty tips relying on the bleaching power of lemon are putting highlights in blonde hair and removing freckles. It can also get rid of some stains. Lemon juice can be expensive to use as an everyday home cleaning product unless you have a lemon tree that produces more than you need for lemonade, squeezing on fish or making marmalade.
Plain soap: Either in flake or bar form, this is a basic cleaning product that has been around for centuries without any problems. Soap cuts through grease and increases the “wetting power” of water so dirt and grime can be loosened. It is more drying to the skin if not rinsed off and it is not edible – but generations of the old “Don’t use language like that – go and wash your mouth out with soap!” show that ingesting small amounts of soap is not harmful. Bars of plain soap can be grated to make “flakes” and both flakes and bars can be melted with warm water to make liquid soap.
Essential oils: Use these to increase the antibacterial properties of vinegar, or just to add a pleasant scent. They can be mixed with any of the other cleaners in your “stable”. Good cleaning essential oils include thyme, tea tree, lavender, pine, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and oregano.
Table salt: Like baking soda, it cleans without scratching and washes away easily. It is a bit harsher than baking soda, and should not be mixed with soap – soap does not lather in salty water.
Beeswax and turpentine (preferably vegetable turps rather than mineral): Combine these two to make a good polish for all wooden surfaces. Various recipes for this exist, both with and without essential oil. Grate the beeswax and melt it in a double boiler before stirring in the turpentine and essential oil.
Vodka: This gives off more fumes than the other products, but they’re not overly toxic unless inhaled in quantity. Vodka (or any other strong spirit) is used for cleaning off grass stains and ink stains, and as a disinfectant. Rubbing alcohol or methylated spirits make other good options. Mix vodka with essential oil to make a very basic cologne or aftershave to prevent rashes after shaving.
There is no kitchen or office that does not have stainless steel in the form of utensils, equipment or just small knick knacks. Stainless steel is easy to maintain – the name itself says as much- but even then some amount of regular extra cleaning and maintenance is required to keep the metal looking its best. What follows is a progressive system of cleaning stainless steel. If the initials steps do not produce the results you are looking for, you can carry on to the stronger cleaning methods. Keep in mind that if the early step is successful, you gain nothing by carrying on to the later stages.
1. For stainless steel that is not used for cooking or serving food, the basic and usually only cleaning is to wipe down the surface with a soft damp cloth and then dry with a towel. This should keep it looking clean and shining.
2. However, if there is grease on the surface, either from cooking or any other reason, make a medium strength mixture of warm water and dishwashing detergent and dip a soft cloth in it. Use the cloth to rub away the grease. Don’t hesitate to rub hard if it is required. Rinse off the detergent and dry. If the stain is reduced but not totally gone, repeat the process two or three times.
3. If the stain is still present take a clean dry cloth and wet it with rubbing alcohol. Rub the wet cloth on the stain. Stop and wait for a minute and rub again. Now rinse off the alcohol with warm water.
4. If the stain is still there or it has been burnt onto the stainless steel surface, make a paste of baking soda and water. The paste should be of the consistency of toothpaste. Apply the paste evenly over the stained area and let it sit for about twenty minutes. Rinse off the paste and dry with a towel. If the stain is reduced but not completely gone, repeat the process ass needed till there is no stain left.
5. Water spots on stainless steel can be removed by applying a little distilled white vinegar and rinsing it off.
Two things you need to keep in mind are firstly, that abrasive house cleaners should never be used on stainless steel as they may scratch and damage the finish of the metal. Secondly never use polish or silver cleaners on stainless steel since they may leave a stain. If your stains are not going, ask your domestic cleaning company for help.
It’s a sense that seems so unimportant and trivial, but the sense of smell is one of the most basic and fundamental senses we have. Our sense of smell affects us very deeply on an emotional level and is particularly linked to memory – one sniff of something can plunge us very deeply back into a memory immediately.
This is one reason why it’s so important to have your home smelling nice. Smells, while they may be insidious and subtle, go a long way to making your home friendly and welcoming – or otherwise. Each house does have its own particular smell that is unique to that house. You can’t do too much about this smell, as it’s a combination of all sorts of things – the food usually cooked there, the people living in it, the furnishings, animals, even the sorts of cleaners that get used. Wood is particularly porous and keeps smells for a long time – this writer owns a compactum that was once owned by an Indian restaurant. Ten years on and it still has a slight tang of coriander and cumin whenever I open it…
The first thing to do to eliminate bad smells is to have a look at your habits. There are probably a million reasons to stop smoking – this is one more. Cigarette smoke, apart from all its other hazards, has a tendency to really permeate a house and linger for ages.
Fresh air is the easiest and cheapest way to stop a house smelling musty or dank. Open windows as often as possible to let the breeze blow through. This will also help dry the house out if it is in a damp location and can possibly also help prevent asthma (at least according to some authorities). Regular domestic cleaning also helps a lot – this stops old sweat, mud and other odds and ends being allowed to create an unpleasant smell. Take rubbish out frequently and don’t put organic rubbish in a plastic bag to go out with the rest of the garbage. Compost it – it doesn’t smell so bad that way, besides being better for the environment.
If you have pets, make sure that you keep them clean, too. Dogs, even short-haired ones, smell and need regular washing. Don’t let a dog sleep inside and especially not on the furniture, even if they are housetrained (obvious exception: if you have a tiny flat with no garden – but then, what are you doing with a dog?). Cats aren’t quite as smelly, but it is best if you don’t let them use a litter tray inside the house, as far as possible. If they do use a litter tray, use proper cat litter, as this is designed to absorb smells, rather than dirt (awful) or wood ash (not too bad but not perfect, and it flies everywhere when the cats dig in it). Birdcages will need regular cleaning; mousecages need cleaning at least twice a week to avoid that ghastly ammonia-stink of mouse urine.
Don’t rely too much on sprayed air-freshener. Too much of this can just make things worse, adding a pungent floral (or other) scent to a collection of bad ones – they jar badly. Keep these for the toilet only. In bedrooms and living areas, pleasant scent can be subtly added by use of a burner with essential oil. Be subtle – even pleasant scents can be overpowering and oppressive if over-used. Scented flowers are also good, but avoid the shake-on-then-vacuum powders. They’re rather toxic as well as overpowering AND expensive. If you really want your vacuum cleaner to scent your house, put some essential oil on the filter or on the bag.
Make use of an extractor fan when cooking, especially when cooking things like fish, as this does go a long way towards extracting lingering smells. However, not all cooking smells are unpleasant. While burnt fat and fishy oil are oppressive, baking, roast meat, spices and even fried onions (at least in my opinion) smell welcoming and homelike – at least while they’re cooking. Any cooking smell, however, can turn stale and unpleasant – fresh air helps here, of course.
* If you have problems with asthma in your home, don’t just vacuum the bits of carpet you can see. Pull out sofas and chairs and get in underneath them with the vacuum cleaner. Also don’t forget the top of the skirting board – these seem to collect dust very readily. The less dust you have in your carpet, the less likely you are to give dust mites a chance to breed and crap – it’s the crap from dust mites that often triggers asthma attacks.
* Regular vacuuming is the best solution for keeping carpets healthy and fluffy. You will also help keep yourself and your pets healthy, and not just because of the asthma/dust mite factor. Vacuuming regularly is the best way to stay on top of fleas, which are not only vermin in their own horrible right but also act as a host for various parasitic worms. If that doesn’t send you running for the vacuum cleaner, nothing will.
* Your first line of defence for dealing with a solid spill on a carpet is to scrape up as much as possible with a blunt knife or a spoon – or even a stiffish piece of cardboard. Once the excess is out of the way, you can get onto the rest of the stain much more easily and with less risk of the jam or whatever it was going everywhere and spreading further.
* Carbonated soda water is an excellent carpet cleaning product. The soda helps to remove foul pongs left behind from rancid curry spills, vomit or animal poo/pee. The water loosens and softens the gunk. And the bubbles help float the grub up to the surface where it can be got with the vacuum cleaner once it all dries. It even helps get rid of red wine stains.
* Don’t procrastinate if someone spills red wine on your carpet. Even if you’re in the middle of a moment of passion, deal with that spill as soon as possible (and if you don’t want to lose the moment of passion and kill the mood, turn it into a kinky game of the cleaning maid variety).
* Candlewax on carpets is the one exception to the rule of getting onto a spill or stain as soon as possible. Once the wax has hardened, a lot of it can be picked off with long fingernails or scraped off with a blunt knife. Any lingering residue can be removed by covering the spot with a good thick wad of loo paper, a paper towel or a handful of tissues. Then get out the iron and set it on high. Hold this just above the carpet NOT ON IT and let the wax melt so it can be absorbed by the paper.
* Grease marks left over from candle wax, cooking oil, curry or makeup can be removed from the carpet by sprinkling baking soda over the spot. Leave it for half an hour so the baking soda can break down the grease and absorb odours (bonus!). Then vacuum it up. If you have spilled half a bottle of oily foundation on the carpet, use cornflour, which is even more absorbent, and leave it for longer.
Its strange how often we forget the fact that the appliances that we use for cleaning themselves need to be cleaned regularly. Think of all the dirt that comes off all the clothes that are washed in the machine over a period of a few months. Yes, most of it is flushed out with the rinsing water, but some dirt will always remain which will soon cause odours that will transfer to the clothes being washed. Here is a simple procedure you can use to clean your washing machine. Even if cleaning the appliance is part of the work of your home cleaners knowing how to do it yourself in an emergency is always useful.
* First of all use a normal spray cleaner and paper towels to clean the exterior of the machine. Be careful not to spray directly on any of the controls as moisture could damage them.
* Now use the spray to clean the inside of the lid as well and the area around the lip under the lid.
* That takes care of the non operational areas. Next, we come to cleaning the drum itself which is hard work, but which the machine will do for you. Remember the machine must be empty for all that follows.
* Set the machine on the heaviest load setting and fill it with hot water.
* Add two cups of vinegar to the water and allow the machine to run through a complete wash cycle. Run an additional rinse cycle if the vinegar smell is still strong.
* This will take care of the odour. The next thing is to remove the stains.
* Once again fill the machine with hot water at the heaviest load setting and this time add two cups of normal household bleach to the water.
* Let the full wash and rinse cycle run.
* It’s a good idea to do this even if you don’t see any stains – since the interior of the drum is dark, you may not notice developing stains until it is too late.
* After completing both these cycles, run a final wash and rinse cycle with plain hot water. This will remove any bleach residue that may remain.
* People often overlook the dispensers. Remove the fabric softener, bleach and detergent dispensers and soak them in warm water.
* Once the built up deposits are loose, wipe them away.
* Use a domestic cleaner and cotton swabs to clean the corners and hard to reach areas.
* Refit them.
You now have a clean washing machine.
While plastic is found everywhere, it is most common in offices where there are always a large number of plastic surfaces. The reason for this is because plastic is so strong and easy to maintain. However, that does not mean it doesn’t require cleaning. While this will be done by your office cleaning services, its best to clean up spills and stains while they are fresh just in case they affect the finish of the plastic.
To begin you need to mix a small amount of general household detergent in a bucket of water. The quantity depends on the area to be cleaned. Do not make the solution too strong. A gentle foam when agitated, is enough. If it is too strong, soap stains may remain after the cleaning. Dip a clean soft cloth in the solution and wipe the dirt off the plastic surfaces. If it is a large vertical area, start at the top and work your way down. If there is a danger of the liquid falling on a carpet, either remove it or cover it with a plastic sheet.
Dry off any residual dampness with a clean cloth or paper towels. Now spray the cleaned surface with a general purpose household cleaner and immediately wipe with a sponge. Rub hard on any stubborn stains. If you are using a double surfaced sponge, do not use the rough side – it may scratch the plastic finish. Buff with a soft paper towel to bring back the shine to the plastic.
If the plastic has a glossy finish and you notice that there are stains or streaks from the water or the soap after you have finished the cleaning, spray the area with a mild glass cleaner and wipe away the marks.
If the plastic surface is textured, a slightly different approach will have to be taken. Dampen the plastic with the water and detergent solution. Use a nylon brush in a circular motion to scrub away at the dirt and grime. Again, do not rub so hard that the surface gets damaged. After the scrubbing wipe the surface with a paper towel and then rinse it off with a cloth and plain water. Dry with a soft cloth and then buff with a paper towel to bring back the shine.
For stubborn stains, try rubbing gently with alcohol or vinegar. Or you could apply a paste of baking soda and water to the stain (do not rub Ð it will act as an abrasive and damage the finish). Wipe the surface with a damp cloth.
Copybooks don’t get blotted very often these days, now that fountain pens and dip pens aren’t used in schools, with the result that ink gets all over books, desks and people.
Instead, students use biros, starting a lot younger than they used to (that is, when they’re not using classroom computers for special projects). But books still get grubby, and ink still stains. So how do you clean them? Copybook professional cleaning services? I haven’t heard it yet…
Books are likely to get messy if they’re read in conjunction with eating. Etiquette books will tell you not to read at the meal table at a formal meal, but there’s nothing wrong with a good book to accompany a solo lunch. Or to help a reluctant young eater on the way. But food smears are inevitable, even with the most tidy eater.
To clean liquid mess from books: Sponge up the excess straight away, using whatever’s handy. If possible, isolate the page with the mess so the water or other liquid only gets on the one page – grabbing the book by the spine and holding it so the water runs off the pages helps. If the liquid was sticky in any way, use a sponge damp with fresh water to remove the stickiness. Then dry the book flat, keeping it open on the page where the spill happened. This will stop the pages drying together and sticking, which can tear the pages when you try to open them next time. If pages stick together and water is the culprit, you can separate them with minimal damage by sliding a sharp knife between the pages.
To clear solid mess from book: Scrape off the excess tomato sauce, porridge or baby food (or whatever) with fingernails and a knife. Then proceed as before, cleaning off the excess with a sponge dampened in fresh water, followed by drying flat on the open page. Unfortunately, if the mess contained oil or grease of any type, the mark will be more or less permanent, leaving the paper somewhat see-through. However, don’t despair and throw the book out. By the looks of some of my old diaries, many of which had candlewax falling on them and leaving a see-through mark, these grease marks on paper seem to fade with time, probably as the fats break down.
Ink can still get everywhere, even though ballpoint pens don’t leak as much as the old fountain pens did. Small amounts of biro will just wash off hands, wooden desks and clothes with a bit of warm soapy water. Larger amounts need a bit of help in the form of strong alcohol (vodka, methylated spirits, surgical spirit, whisky…) applied to the spot. You may need to soak the ink stain with this to soften it before washing normally. Strong alcohol falling on ballpoint pen ink makes it go all marbly-looking as the alcohol dissolves the ink – this can be worth trying on paper for a special effect.
To remove permanent pen stains from bags, clothes or carpet, strong alcohol is still your best friend. The sooner you get onto the stain, the better. Many people swear by hair spray as the best way to remove permanent pen stains – once again, it’s the alcohol that does the job. Alcohol also works for removing filthy graffiti in permanent pen off plastic or vinyl, e.g. on school desks or playground equipment.
All musical instruments have their own cleaning quirks. Some are easy to store away so they can be kept free from dust. Some need polishing. Some just need dusting. The wind instruments need to get all the gunk out of their insides with something like a large pipe cleaner (I don’t know if I want to know how that got in there and what it is. Somebody puts something full of that muck in their mouth?). Drum kits, of course have their own quirks.
The quick and easy solution to keep your drum kit nice and shiny in concert-worthy dust-free perfection is to keep dust covers over it at all times. If your drum kit is kept at home for practice rather than in a studio, you won’t need to take these covers off, even for practice. Cloth covers muffle the volume of a drum kit, meaning you won’t deafen your family, wake the neighbours or generally make a nuisance of yourself. However, you can’t do this for the cymbals (crash or hi-hat) very easily. And you may not want to keep the covers on!
The best means of keeping your drum kit clean and shiny is through regular dusting. This does pretty well for general cleaning and provided that you don’t try drinking and drumming at the same time or spill things on it, this is all that’s needed. You can even ask your regular domestic cleaner to do that for you. The drum kit in my household is about five years old and it is still as shiny as the day we bought it.
If your drum gets a little bit grubby, the most likely place to find this is on the skins of the drums, as this is in contact with sticks (and brushes) that aren’t always super-clean. What you do not want to do is to spray a very harsh chemical onto them. While the plastic of the skins is tough for obvious reasons, some chemicals can react with them and ruin the skins – and they’re not cheap to replace. Instead, wipe them down with a soft cloth dampened with dilute vinegar or even dilute vodka. This will remove most of the grime. Just water may be enough. Never polish the skins, and be careful if you are shining up the rest of the drum not to get any polish onto the skins.
Never get a leather or hide drum wet. Leather stretches when wet and you will lose the tone of your drum.
Cymbals can be polished with regular metal polish, or else with a paste made of salt and vinegar (no, not your leftover potato crisps!). Do not work in a circular motion, but rub as if you were moving along a spoke from the centre of the cymbal to the outside. Finish by buffing with a soft dry cloth. Gongs can be cleaned in the same way. This is suitable for brass or for copper.
Do not use water on any wooden percussion instruments (e.g. wood blocks), as this will soften the wood and make it more vulnerable to dents and damage, besides altering the note. Use furniture polish, either the spray-on or the pour-on kind, but don’t overdo it. You can also use linseed oil as a polish, but once again, avoid being heavy-handed.
Aluminum utensils are popular kitchen items because of their lightness, durability and ease of use and maintenance. The various patinas and finishes that can be given to aluminum also make it a common metal for decorative household and office items. Cleaning aluminum cookware is something that needs to be done as soon as the use of the utensil is over to prevent stains developing and the finish getting damaged. Besides the regular post use cleaning, a regular maintenance schedule that covers the following steps will help to keep your aluminum cookware looking good for years.
Begin by giving the utensil a normal wash with detergent and water to remove surface dirt. Make a solution of one tablespoon of vinegar, lemon juice or cream of tartar mixed in one quart of water. Using these proportions make enough of the solution to completely fill the utensil. Place the utensil on a stove and turn the heat to medium (do not try using a high heat setting to save time – the effect will not be as good). If you have any small aluminum utensils that need cleaning and can fit in the one on the stove, place them inside – they will be cleaned too.
Allow the water to come to a boil and turn down the heat to a simmer and allow the simmering to continue for about ten minutes or until the stains are gone. Now take the utensil off the stove and drain away the water. Wait till it has cooled and wearing rubber gloves gently scrub the inner surfaces with steel wool. Rub in a back and forth motion only and a circular rub will cause the finish to look uneven. And remember that steel wool can scratch aluminum so do not rub too hard.
That takes care of the cleaning to the inside of the utensil. If the outside also needs cleaning, use a mild non abrasive cleaner or polish. If you want to give a shine to the inside of the utensil, do not use a cleaner or polish. Just fill it with water, drop in some apple peels and boil the water for a few minutes. Drain off the water. The shine will have returned to the inner surfaces.
While this should take care of your regular maintenance, if you do have any specific problems you can consult your domestic cleaning agency for advice, even if this is not part of their work.
We need to breathe in order to live. While even not-so-good air filled with stinks will keep you alive, it’s not that pleasant. And air that’s filled with fumes will subject you to a barrage of toxins and other nasties that can build up in your system and lead to long-term damage.
What you shouldn’t do is listen to all those ads that promise fresh air that smells like a garden filled with exotic flowers if you buy Product X. Product X is probably filled with artificial fragrances, which contain a range of things that are ghastly for your body, starting with allergy triggers and ending with hormone disrupters. So what can you do to clean the air and have some breathing space in your own home?
* Give up smoking. You’ve seen the ads and you know what you’re doing to your body and to the bodies of those around you. You also know about that horrible stale smell that gets into carpets and furnishings and takes years to go away. Giving up is possible. Perhaps this year you should not spring your home (hire a professional domestic cleaner if you want to) but spring clean your body and quit the ciggies.
* Use natural home cleaning products. These give off far fewer foul smells and fumes (the only one that gives off strong fumes is alcohol). Also, because the base product used in natural home cleaners smells neutral, perfumes and fragrances don’t need to be added unless you want to. Commercial cleaning products often have a vile-smelling base, so heaps of artificial fragrances get added to cover the pong.
* Find an alternative for using air freshener in the loo. Suggestions for a fresh-smelling loo range from keeping a window fractionally open most of the time, lighting candles or striking a match after you have communed with nature, regular toilet cleaning and making your own air freshener. You can make your own air freshener by blending half a pint of vinegar with half a pint of water plus about 20 drops of essential oil of your choice. Shake together and store in a spray-top bottle. This doubles as a glass and mirror cleaner, and can be used as a mild disinfectant for cleaning the loo itself. Enhance the germ-killing potential of the vinegar by using a disinfectant essential oil such as tea tree or lavender.
* Sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of the rubbish bin (below the bag that you probably use as a bin liner). This will absorb the smells. Also avoid putting organic material in the rubbish bin – compost it instead.
* Dust makes air musty and hard to breathe. It can also bring on asthma attacks. Vacuum regularly to get rid of dust, and change bedding regularly. Dry the sheets and blankets in the sunshine or at least outside in the wind to ensure that as many dust mites as possible… bite the dust (or don’t bite it and starve, in this case).
* Install and use extractor fans to get rid of smoky smells in the kitchen and steam in the bathroom.
