TweetThis advice is directed at cleaning a guinea pig cage, but the same advice can be used for cleaning cages for other pets such as mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters and the like. Mice are the worst pets for having to clean up after, as (so I have been told) they have no sphincter muscles on their little bladders, so they pee anywhere and everywhere. This is why (a) mice are such unhygienic pests if they are wild and infesting your house (b) you can’t housetrain mice. Rats, however, have enough intelligence to be housetrained. Some people have even managed to train pet rats to help them clean the kitchen – they certainly do a very good job of getting rid of every single crumb.
Anyway, back to the guinea pig cage. You will need lots of old newspaper, some bedding, a scrubbing brush, some warm soapy water, and a dustpan and shovel. Do not use harsh house cleaning chemicals for cleaning pet cages, as these can irritate the skin and eyes of your pets. Use natural cleaning methods.
Start by removing the pets from the cage. You don’t want them in the way while you’re cleaning. Put them somewhere safe where they won’t escape. Larger pets can be put in a laundry hamper, but smaller ones (mice) may need to go in an ice cream container with holes in the lid.
Next, remove the old bedding and all the droppings, using the dustpan and shovel to scoop up as much as you can. This old, soiled bedding makes first-class compost, so don’t waste it! Also make sure that you get rid of any uneaten or spoiled food as well.
Now scrub out the bottom of the cage using warm, soap water. This is easier to do with plastic-bottomed cages. Wooden cages absorb a bit more smell and urine, so these may need to be turned on their sides and allowed to dry. However, if you are cleaning a rabbit or guinea pig hutch that is made of wood and is up on legs, this is less of a problem, as the air beneath will dry the wood out.
Put down a thick layer of old newspaper down the bottom of the cage once the bottom of the cage is dry. This will make the next domestic cleaning session much easier. Once you have put this in place, put the guinea pig bedding down. You can now return your pets to their cage.
You will also need to clean out food dishes and water bowls or bottles. Do this exactly the same way as you would clean your own food dishes and drinking vessels. Wash them by hand in warm soapy water, followed by thorough rinsing and drying. Alternatively, put them in the dishwasher, assuming that they are dishwasher safe, and again make sure that they are properly dry before re-filling the dishes with fresh food.
Make sure you give your pets a cuddle after you’ve cleaned their cage. It’s good for them and it’s good for you.
TweetYou can tell that there’s something not quite right about new carpets if those carpets are made from synthetic ick – it smells. That characteristic chemical “new” smell. Now, the fumes and vapours given off by a new carpet are not quite as bad as some toxins that you probably get exposed to during a renovation or redecorating session – paint, for example, is much worse, unless you’re using “green” paint – but every little bit counts. And there are other options.
There are other alternatives to carpet, too. From a health perspective, having smooth floor surfaces means that fewer dust mites can lurk in your home causing asthma and allergies. Carpet gives them a place to hide in, as carpets trap dust. From a house cleaning perspective, however, having carpets down traps dust, which means the dust isn’t going all over the house, requiring you to dust more frequently as well as sweeping/vacuuming.
But you probably know what you need for your floor, whether you want something hard or soft, depending on which room we’re talking about and what your lifestyle and family are like. What are your more natural options suitable for natural cleaning products?
* Plain wood. If you’ve got nice wooden boards on your floor, why cover them? They’ll need to be sanded and sealed. This is not the moment to open up the polyurethane varnishes and stains. Instead, try lime-washing the wood or waxing it. There are plenty of eco-friendly low-toxin options knocking around. With some woods, the issue of tropical hardwoods from dubious sources crops up. To be on the safe side, stick to non-exotic woods – woods from conifers (pine, cypress, spruce, larch, fir and cedar) look good, wear well and are usually harvested from properly managed forests.
* Cork. Cork is softer than other wood used for flooring (e.g. pine) and is that little bit warmer. Finish like wood.
* Natural fibre mats: Coir, sisal and reed mats are soft enough to sit on and are also quite hard-wearing. They usually come in their natural colours (usually cream or beige), but you can get dyed and patterned ones. They can absorb liquids easily, so it may not be the best idea to use this where people are likely to spill drinks or ink, as it’s very hard to get the stain out.
* Rag rugs. These are often bright and colourful, giving a room character and a bit of cheerfulness. They are fairly easy to clean, too. As a bonus, they are nearly always made out of recycled materials.
* Woollen carpets: Wool is a natural material, after all, so this is one place where what’s natural is also luxurious. They’re delicious to lie on and to touch.
* Rugs made from natural skins. Cow hide and sheepskin rugs are a by-product of the meat industry, and are durable. People have been softening floors with skins for millennia! Hides from Friesian/Holstein or Ayrshire cattle look particularly striking.
* Stone and tile. A cooler surface to walk on but very durable and easy to clean as well as being natural. They have the added advantage of absorbing and storing heat, and are widely used in home with passive solar heating.
* Recycled rubber mats. These may not be the most attractive, but are great in rooms where you need a tough surface.
No matter what type of flooring you’re considering, also give consideration as to how you’re going to keep it in place. It’s no good buying a natural floor finish only to stick it down with fume-laden adhesive. Use a hammer and tacks, or track down adhesive made from cow’s hooves.
TweetWhether you have a fully equipped home office or whether you only touch a computer when you’re at work in an office outside the home, there’s no denying that a computer is a wonderful tool – that uses electricity.
While it is true that computers are not one of the big consumers of electricity in today’s home – they consume only a minute amount in comparison to, say, electrically heated water or ovens – they still consume some. Every little bit counts when it comes to saving electricity, so why pay for power (and create a larger carbon footprint and/or more pollution if your local electricity comes from petrol or coal-fired power plants) that you don’t actually have to.
These tips should help you feeding your computer more electricity than you have to:
* Shut your computer down overnight. It doesn’t need to sit there on standby for eight hours (if you’re getting the right amount of sleep) doing nothing. Apparently, this is also good for the system. PCs running Windows Vista need to be shut down and restarted every two or three weeks, while those running earlier versions of Windows need complete shut-down and restarting more often.
* While standby and hibernate modes use some power, they use less than just letting the computer sit there with the screen saver bouncing around the screen. If you’re using Windows, you can adjust the power save mode via the Control Panel under the Screen Saver settings. Some keyboards have a helpful little button (with a picture of a crescent moon on it) that you can press to put the computer to sleep instantly – like the spindle does to Sleeping Beauty – without going through 10 minutes of screensaver. Use this button when you know you’re going to be away from your computer for an hour or more (if you’re going to be away for more than five hours, turn the whole thing off). If you haven’t discovered this little setting – a lot of people haven’t – then make friends with it next time you get fed up with your current screen saver and want to change it. Or how about doing it right now?
* At home, you don’t need to keep the printer on the whole time. Just turn it on when you need it. OK, if you are likely to need it several times in one day, then keep it on. This is particularly true of laser printers, which use a lot of energy to start up. But if you aren’t going to need it today, don’t even bother turning it on.
Some figures from the USA give an indication of how much power could be saved if everyone followed these simple tips. The UK figures should be similar, although scaled down to suit the population.
* If everyone in the USA shut their computers down overnight, this would save the amount of electricity put out by eight big power stations.
* Using the Power Settings to make the computer go to sleep (hibernate, low power mode, standby mode or sleep mode) can save up to 80% on your current energy usage if you’re not currently using them.
* Only 5% of current computer and laptop users have set the power settings to the most efficient mode (US figures).
* The speed of your computer will depend on the regular computer cleaning and the home equipment.
TweetCleaning carpets is one thing. We can all see that they get grubby very quickly and need frequent vacuuming and the rest. Thanks to gravity, spills, dead skin, pencil shavings and other bits and pieces end up on the floor. And we clean it up. But what about the wall? Have you ever really looked at the walls? Have you seen how grubby they are?
Cleaning down the walls and the wallpaper has something of a 1950s housewife touch about it – the sort of thing that only fanatical cleaners do. However, it’s a lot easier to wash a wall down than to change the wallpaper. And it’s certainly cheaper. You might not want to clean the wall every day or even every week, but it’s certainly something that ought to be done – maybe in the annual spring cleaning bash (or else save it until you are flush enough with cash to hire a professional cleaner to do the dirty work you’ve been avoiding).
Wallpaper these days is, thankfully, easier to clean and tends to have a finish that stops it falling to pieces if the slightest bit of damp gets onto it like old wallpapers did. If you have an older wallpaper of this kind that’s looking grubby, don’t bother cleaning the wallpaper. Just replace it or else live with the grub (shudder). And painted walls are even easier to clean.
Tips for cleaning walls:
* Remove cobwebs by wrapping a clean duster around a broom and sweeping this around where the cobwebs are (probably up in a high corner). You can do the same to cobwebs on the ceiling. Once the cloth gets all covered in bits of web, dead spiders and flies’ legs, remove it from the broom and replace it with a clean one. Don’t just use the broom – the dust inevitably trapped in the bristles will get all over the wall and make things worse. Cobwebs within easy reach can simply be removed with a duster (the cloth sort, not the feather sort). The presence of cobwebs in your home is a good thing – it shows that your house is free enough from toxins and other nasties that other species want to live in it.
* General grime can be wiped off with a solution of dilute vinegar and warm water. It’s best to do the whole wall in one sweep (maybe leave this job until the test cricket is playing on the radio to keep your mind occupied, because cleaning walls down is very boring, especially if the wallpaper is white). You’ll need a whole bucket of the solution and several rags, which you will change periodically. A soft toothbrush can also help with really stubborn bits. This works with wallpaper and with painted walls.
* Stone walls can be scrubbed down with warm soapy water.
* Vodka or some other strong spirit can be used to remove permanent marker after some wretched toddler has scrawled on the wall. You will need plenty of it and a lot of patience. Felt tip pen is easier – these are usually water-based so sponging the mark with plenty of water should clean it off– and pencil is the easiest of all to remove… just use a rubber (eraser for our transatlantic friends). Crayon can be removed by gently rubbing the scribble with toothpaste or a paste of baking soda. Sponge off any residue with a damp cloth.
Tweet* In spite of all the promises made by a lot of commercial cleaning products, water is all you really need for the majority of jobs, such as wiping down tables and dusting. Water dissolves an awful lot of smears and will float dirt off. If you have a lot of dusting to do (around windowsills, on bookshelves, etc), you will need several rags, as one will get dirty very quickly. Warm water is not necessary but it can make things a bit more pleasant.
* While doing so will make your manicurist gasp in horror, fingernails are superb cleaning tools. You can’t beat them for cleaning wax off wood or tablecloths (in the case of a tablecloth, you may need to get the last bit of residue off by padding the area of the spill with a lot of loo paper or tissues, then holding a hot iron over the spot to melt the wax so it can be absorbed by the paper). And they also help get stubborn fly-spots and the like off windows.
* Newspapers are great for window cleaning. Scrunch them up and use them to buff the glass up after spraying on whatever window cleaner fancy. The ammonia based products can be tough on the eyes and nose, but dilute vinegar (the best natural alternative, closely followed by dilute vodka) works just as well. Change sheets of newspaper as soon as they look damp or they will disintegrate and leave papier-mâché all over the window, TV screen (a CRT glass screen) or shower door.
* Keep old toothbrushes. They are perfect for getting into lots of little nooks and crannies that get covered with gunk. Have one for cleaning around the hinge of the loo seat and another one for other scrubbing jobs (e.g. around filigree or fretwork in wood).
* If you have to scrub a floor on your hands and knees, get hold of one of those kneeling mats sold in garden shops. Don’t use a cushion – it will get soaked and grubby.
* Use a transistor radio or a ghettoblaster to give yourself something to listen to as you work. Cleaning can be done on autopilot. Using an iPod or other personal stereo with a headset is possible but the cords can get in the way as you work.
* A feather duster made of real feathers is great for cleaning computers, as they use static electricity to pick up dust and other gunk from keyboards and off plasma/LCD screens. Hen feathers are pretty good, but ostrich feathers are better still, if you can get them. These look like the classic sexy maid prop, but if you want to use one for this purpose, have one for work and one for… play… as the work one picks up heaps of dust. Give a feather duster a good shake outside on a windy day to get rid of the dust.
* Work systematically when vacuuming. As you will need to go back and forth over a section of carpet, it’s best to divide the floor up into sections and work section by section. This means you are less likely to miss any of the floor.
Tweet1. If you have small children, you have to be sure that you kill every single germ in the house so your children don’t get sick or pick up infections. Myth or fact?
Half true, half myth. While it is important to teach our children about basic hygiene and to make sure that they don’t go playing in the cat litter (which you probably shouldn’t have lying around if you have small children, as they will play in it if they get half a chance), but you don’t need to get absolutely everything they come in contact with 100% sterile. In fact, if you try to do this, you will be putting your children at a higher risk of developing asthma, etc. as their developing immune systems need something to go to work on. Your best bet is to clean things as normal and to teach them about washing hands before meals and after going to the toilet.
2. You need a separate cleaner for every different type of job in your house – e.g. a glass cleaner, a wood cleaner, a floor cleaner, a bathroom cleaner, etc. Myth or fact?
Myth. Having all these different “specialised” labels on the bottles you see on the supermarket shelves is just a way for manufacturers to put more things on the shelves and increase their exposure. In reality, a box of baking soda, a bottle of vinegar, plenty of rags, a scrubbing brush and water is all you need for the majority of jobs.
3. All natural cleaners are 100% safe and non-toxic. Myth or fact?
Myth. Natural cleaners often contain essential oils, which should not be taken internally. Nor should isopropyl alcohol, which often is used as a disinfectant, a glass cleaner and as a stain remover for grass stains (whether you take vodka or other strong spirits internally is up to you). Boiling water is another natural cleaner that is a superb germ-killer that does not contain any harsh chemicals but can hardly be called “safe” – it can give you a nasty burn. The same goes for steam. Some people are also allergic to some essential oils (e.g. citrus). But natural cleaners will not give off toxic fumes. And many of them are edible: baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, water and salt.
4. Coca-cola can be used as a cleaning product. Myth or fact?
Fact – I think. While this writer has not put the idea to the test with much success, it is said that pouring a whole big bottle of Coke down the lav and leaving it overnight will get rid of stains inside the pan. The reason why this may not have worked for me is because (a) I hardly ever buy Coke, and when I do, it’s the diet version, which may not work as well; (b) someone always uses the toilet overnight and flushes the lot down, (c) the toilet that I was trying to clean had been horribly neglected and the stains were next to impossible to shift. Perhaps you’ll have better luck, but I’ll stick to my trusty loo-brush wielded weekly.
5. It’s best to leave the cleaning for one big session where you deep clean. Myth or fact?
Definitely a myth. Little and often is much better and much easier, and may even prevent the need to deep clean much at all.
TweetWinter and colder weather always brings on a new barrage of coughs, colds, sniffles and cases of flu. Your best line of defence against all of these infections –which, incidentally, are all viral infections – is to have a good, strong immune system. While some folk like to get a jab to help protect themselves against winter ailments, you still can’t get a vaccine against the common cold. The reason for this is because this little virus is always mutating and, according to one doctor, you would need more than 100 injections a year to give you immunity to every cold virus out there. Most people would rather stick with just having a few sniffles in preference to this many injections.
A good strong immune system is the best thing you can do to keep you fighting fit – ready to fight off these viruses. So what can you do to give your killer T cells and all the other good guys in your system the best shot they have?
1. Eat your fresh fruit and vegetables. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables is such an important part of staying in good health for a host of reasons, ranging from giving you cancer-fighting antioxidants to stopping you putting on that little extra round your tummy. If you can only take one step to help your immune system, this is it.
2. Sleep well. Your body does a lot of its replenishing and repairing while you sleep, which is why you naturally feel tired when you are unwell. Get plenty.
3. Laugh. Yes, as the Good Book says, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Laughter also helps you de-stress and feel good. All the more excuse to stay home in bed watching Mr Bean and/or reading Terry Pratchett novels when you’re off colour.
4. Exercise. Exercise isn’t just a way of trimming off excess body fat and keeping your heart safer. Like fruit and vegetables, this is another absolute must that has so many health benefits that you have no excuses not to. If you can’t get a solid half hour a day, you should be able to get three slots of ten minutes here and there.
5. Soup. Soups made by boiling up old bones have some nutritional goodies that do the immune system a world of good. They’re also comforting and soothing when you have a sore throat. For a real cold-fighter, boil up some bits of chicken into soup, then add lemon juice and raw garlic just before eating it.
6. Relax. Stress lowers your immune system because it depletes your body’s energy stores. Take some time every day to chill out and do something just for you. Yes, Mum, that includes you, in spite of holding down a job and looking after the family.
7. Sunshine. Vitamin D is easiest to obtain from sunlight than from anything else (except cod liver oil – so take this as well). Try to get as much as you possibly can.
TweetCarbon footprints are widely talked about when discussions of sustainability, emissions and climate change come up. The general idea seems to be that the atmosphere (or at least the proportion of the atmosphere that relates to carbon dioxide) is sort of like a clean kitchen floor that you can leave footprints on. The idea is to keep the kitchen floor clean, so to speak, by tiptoeing over it in soft ballet slippers or barefoot, rather than tapdancing all over it in filthy rugby boots that are all spikes and mud. What your footprint is like is determined by how many emissions you, personally, generate by your lifestyle choices.
Online carbon footprint calculators are handy ways of finding what sort of atmospheric shoes you’re wearing (http://www.carbonfootprint.com/ is one of the most popular, but you can find plenty of others). These calculators also tell you various ways that you can “offset” your carbon footprint. In kitchen floor terms, this is the equivalent of a mop, broom, scrubbing brush or floor polisher. You may live a lifestyle that is the equivalent of tramping around in Wellington boots, but if you know how to clean up after yourself, the overall effect will be the same as if you were going barefoot – or at least wearing clean sneakers.
Online carbon calculators consider a number of factors. These range from how many people live in your home, what sort of home you have, how you heat your home, what work you do, how you travel from A to B and how often, whether you fly overseas, food choices, recreation choices, and even how much of a shopaholic you are.
You also learn ways that you can scrub your footprints off the floor. These include insulating your home (so you use less energy), using sustainable zero-carbon means of generating power or heating your home (e.g. solar panels, solar water heaters, wind turbines), recycling and becoming involved in schemes to plant trees (trees absorb carbon and clean up your emissions – they even look like mops).
Let’s consider Dracula as an example of how a carbon footprint can be worked out. On the negative side, Dracula lives alone in a very big castle, which is poorly insulated. He eats hardly any vegetables – if any – and meat creates more carbon emissions to produce than vegetables. He also habitually dresses in very fashionable clothes to maintain his aristocratic image. On the positive side, Dracula chooses to heat his home with a roaring log fire (in spite of the smoke, wood fires are fairly carbon neutral – you need to grow trees to get the firewood, and not all the carbon that the trees absorbed is released into the atmosphere when the wood is burned – ash, charcoal and soot are usually left behind and get added into the soil, and some carbon will also be absorbed by the leaves that the tree once grew before it became firewood). And Dracula also uses a zero-emissions form of transport (flight in the form of a bit – the normal human equivalent is walking or biking) and doesn’t take long overseas trips by aeroplane – it could be a bit tricky getting that coffin containing his native soil into the plane so he can sleep in it, even flying first class.
Dracula could offset the carbon emissions of his food and fashion choices by planting a large forest around his castle, and could consider upgrading his heating and lighting system by installing solar panels and a solar water heater – if this doesn’t make him disintegrate – and could try getting some insulation put in all those attics and towers. He could also get more people in to live at that castle.
TweetDesigners, turn green! In this writer’s opinion, few things are as sensual as the organic curves seen in natural woodgrain, and when I build my dream home, it’s going to be filled with lots and lots of natural wood furniture. I’m starting my collection now.
And before that dream home arrives, I’m going to have to clean my wood furniture. So how can I do this so when that dream comes true, the furniture will be in good condition?
First of all, everyday care of wood. Basically, this involves being very careful as to what gets put down on the tops of things like dressers and chests of drawers. Hot cups (and saucepans, etc), obviously, should not be put down on top of polished wooden things, as they will burn the polish. Coasters are an obvious choice for protecting wood finish from hot cups, but nearly anything will do. The morning cup of coffee, for instance, often ends up resting on the book(s) beside my bed. You also need to take care that you do not scratch the finish on the wood by scraping or bumping it with heavy items. Solid wood furniture is more forgiving than veneer – if the worst comes to the worst, you can sand chips, dings, scratches and nicks in solid wood out, but you can never do this with veneers. Another nasty that should not go on wood is anything that will damage the polish on it. Acetone – commonly found in nail polish remover – is the most likely culprit. Avoid this by (a) putting on and removing your nail polish somewhere other than over a wooden dresser or table, such as the bathroom, (b) switching to a non-acetone nail polish remover (although these still might hurt the finish of your wood furniture – they will be kinder to your skin and to your home environment, however), (c) not using nail polish at all but going for the natural look with the help of a buffer.
When it comes to regular everyday cleaning for wood – say the weekly going-over in the bedroom – it isn’t necessary to polish wood every time. Often, just dusting with a damp rag (not wet) will be enough to keep the wood looking at its best. Realistically, you only really need to polish wood furniture once or twice a year – as part of a spring cleaning session, maybe. However, if you have to polish wood furniture that has been getting a bit dry and neglected (you’ve just inherited it from your grandmother, maybe) then you can dab your cleaning cloth/duster with a tiny bit of linseed oil – just enough to moisten the rag – before going over it.
If somebody has neglected the wood furniture or got it grimy somehow, you can make your own wood cleaner by mixing about ½ a cup of lemon juice or vinegar with about a teaspoon of soap gel and a few drops of essential oil. Shake together in a bottle, then spray directly onto the wood. Give it one good buff-up with a clean damp cloth, then rinse off the gunge and residue with another.
When the time comes to polish wood, you can make your own natural wood polish by just using plain linseed oil, like a cricketer oiling his/her bat. Add some essential oil if you like. But the real old-fashioned wood polish is made as described below. It’s sort of natural, but not quite, thanks to the turpentine, unless you can get hold of vegetable turps rather than the mineral sort. You can also use an organic substitute made from citrus peel – hunt around to find this.
Wood polish:
100 g grated beeswax (save candle-ends if you’re feeling thrifty)
2 ½ cups turpentine
2 cups water
½ cup lemon juice or vinegar (if you plan on polishing dark wood, you can use malt vinegar instead of the usual white vinegar used as a natural cleaning products)
60 g grated soap
15–20 drops essential oil – cedar, lemon and lavender are popular choices for wood polish
Melt the beeswax in a double boiler or in a microwave on Low power. While the beeswax is melting, melt the soap in the vinegar and water. When the wax is runny, remove from the heat and very carefully add the turpentine. If you’re not using natural vegetable turps, then make sure you don’t breathe the fumes in. Then carefully add the vinegar/water/soap mix. Stir like crazy, then add in the essential oils. Store in an airtight screw-top jar. Let it cool before putting the lid on.
