Sunday, June 27, 2010

Housecleaning 101

You know that I like to use vinegar (white distilled vinegar) and have already referenced the 1,001 Uses of Vinegar (http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/). It will disinfect, deodorize, and remove stains.

Housecleaning that is cheap, green, and healthy requires very little equipment. I use a rag, a rag towel, vinegar, baking soda, a Swiffer, and a vacuum cleaner! People don't realize that green-living saves not only the environment, but money as well!

The main principle of house cleaning is "from the top down". I could never understand seeing my girl scouts sweeping the floor before wiping off counters. They then had to sweep again. Start by wiping down ceiling light fixtures, ceiling fans, then window and door frames, tops of hanging picture frames and mirrors, then furniture. Vacuuming the floor should be last, after cleaning the baseboards!

Dusting: One of those microfiber "feather" dusters can do a temporary dusting, but a good dusting requires a damp cloth to wipe off the dust, and a clean cloth to wipe and "polish" the surface dry and to remove water spots. You can do this on polished wood, as well as counters, glass, porcelain, and chrome. Be sure to rinse the damp cloth often to remove dirt and dust, so that you aren't just swirling around the dust on your furniture. On surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom, I will splash a little vinegar on the damp cloth to do the wiping. It has been suggested to fill a spray-bottle with equal parts water and vinegar as an all-purpose cleaner, and you may find this easier to do. I just don't want to dirty or even own another plastic bottle!

Windows: You could use that all-purpose cleaner bottle of equal parts water and vinegar, or fill another bottle with water and 1/4 cup vinegar to clean glass and mirrors. Hey, I just splash vinegar on a damp cloth and clean. Then wipe dry with newspaper for a streak-free finish.

I have three levels of housecleaning:
1) Manly cleaning means a swipe with the feather duster and vacuuming only the floor surfaces that I can see.
2) Regular cleaning means dusting with a damp rag and removing, cleaning and replacing all items on the dusted furniture. All funiture is moved to make sure every square inch of floor surface is vacuumed.
3) Spring cleaning means everything is removed from shelves, closets, drawers, etc., is cleaned, and is replaced only if it is to be kept. Things that have outlived their usefulness get taken to Goodwill, or trashed if no longer usable.
Of course, the actual housecleaning that gets done is a variant of all three levels!

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