April 16, 2008 | Bathroom, Laundry, Kitchen, Vinegar, Essential oils, Cleaning tips
We’ve just welcomed little Owen into our home, via c-section. And when the discharge nurse came to talk to me and hubbs before we left the hospital, you can imagine my inner joy as she said “No housework for 6 weeks. And stay out of the kitchen for a couple weeks too!” No housework? What does that mean? Apparently, the typical tasks of vacuuming, mopping, sweeping, scrubbing, dusting, etc., all involve your core muscles - and mine need to put themselves back together after being so rudely disturbed by a scalpel. So, for 6 weeks nothing gets swept off my floor.
Well, let’s not be drastic. For 6 weeks I won’t sweep anything off my own floor. But there’s nothing stopping my husband or live-in in-laws from doing it. Still though, I find myself looking for creative ways to contribute to the overall well-being of my household. So here are a few scrub-free cleaning tips that even I can do after my c-section.
- Drop a vitamin C tablet in the toilet at bedtime. In the morning give the toilet a meager swish-swish and flush. You’d be amazed how well it works.
- This is another bedtime one. Plug your shower drain and fill to about 1/2 inch deep with hot water. Sprinkle a few teaspoons of Shaklee’s Nature Bright into the standing water and leave overnight. Rinse well in the morning, and see your shower floor sparkle. This works wonders on sinks too - fill with hot water, add a few teaspoons of the Nature Bright, let it sit, then rinse!
- Put your fine silver in a pot or pan and cover with water. Add a tablespoon each of salt and baking soda. Submerse a couple sheets of aluminum foil and wait an hour. Rinse your silver and voila! It’s polished!
- No iron handy? Toss dryer-safe wrinkled clothes into the dryer for 5 minutes and remove promptly. Wrinkles be gone!
- Dishes a problem? Fill your sink with warm dish-soapy water and sprinkle in some Bon Ami. Soak your dishes until the water becomes tepid, and the grease and petrified food should slide right off. (Of course, if you’ve had a c-section you’ll need to let someone else take over the dishwashing at this point…)
- Grab a pretty spray bottle and fill it nearly to the top with water. Add 4-5 drops tea tree oil, oregano oil, lavender oil, and a cinnamon stick. Spray it anywhere that needs disinfecting (door handles, light switches, refrigerator handle, bathroom surfaces, etc.).
- Have a new baby? Then you have tons of laundry! And new baby stains can be tough, especially considering that you want to stay away from harsh detergents and chemicals. Keep a bucket in your laundry room filled with water and a few teaspoons of Shaklee’s Nature Bright. Throw any soiled clothes, burp cloths, cloth diapers, etc. in there and let them soak a bit before going into the wash. No need to scrub, blot, or dab those stains - just let the soak take care of it for you. And that will take care of other stains too - not just the baby-oriented ones.
- Change your door mats. The welcome mats outside can be a haven for dirt to be tracked into the house. If you haven’t changed them in the last year (unless you use the iron ones), it’s time for a new mat. The cleaner your outdoor mat, the less dirt to be tracked in!
- Fill a ziplock bag with vinegar, and rubber band it around shower heads and faucets. Let it sit for an hour or so, then discard. While you do that, you can plug the bathroom sink drain and put an inch of vinegar in the bottom. It’ll disinfect an often-forgotten harbinger of germs. Did you know that bathroom sink drains tend to harbor more bacteria than your toilet? Not pleasant.
- Cut a lemon in half, submerse half of it in a microwave-safe bowl of water. Put it in the microwave for 3 minutes on high. Remove the bowl, and wipe down the inside of the microwave.
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