Letter from Moldova

By mudlark • June 20th, 2009

Here I am in Eastern Europe. Sipping coffee in sidewalk cafes, buying fresh raspberries and cherries at the market, making my own jam and crepes. It’s a charmed life. Sure, there are drawbacks – some days there’s no running water, the heat is suffocating some days, but the absolute worst of it – there are virtually no chemical-free cleaners on the market.

Even the baby wipes. Once I open them, I can smell them almost instantly throughout the whole house – it’s a nauseating smell. We bought the “sensitive skin” variety of dish soap and it nearly ate the skin off my hands after washing one sink full of dishes.

So now I go through vinegar like it’s water. I use it for everything – windows, laundry softener, floors, gunk… you name it, vinegar is my go-to friend. It’s been a while since I had to clean with home-made recipes, but since I’m doing it daily I thought I’d share.

Vinegar: 50/50 mix with water is great for cleaning mirrors and glass. I use this for most purposes around the house – kitchen counters, door knobs, you get the idea. Add a generous splash of vinegar to your mop bucket, fill with water, and mop away.

Baking soda: use 2-3 TBS, and mix in enough water to make a paste. Use that to scour your tub, porcelain sinks stove top, or oven. It’s a gentle abrasive (emphasize gentle), so you’ll want to maintain the shiny clean look so as to avoid the need for hours upon hours of scrubbing.

Lemon juice: my favorite for dusting wood furniture! In a small bowl mix a 2 TBS of vinegar with 1 tsp olive oil. Dip your dusting rag in it and give every wood surface a generous swIpe! The citrus scent of the lemon juice will give you some added energy, and you’ll have a dust-free house with nicely conditioned wood to boot!

I can clean just about anything with those few ingredients from my pantry. Sure, I’d prefer some Shaklee, but shipping to Eastern Europe would cost me more than a month’s worth of pirozhki! I’ll leave you with a few pics of Moldova.

Fields of canola flowers. Moldova doesn’t make canola oil for cooking – they sell this for diesel, only they sell it way below market value.

No, this isn’t our mode of transport – we live in the city. But outside of the city this is a common sight.

See the castle on the hill? Sorry I didn’t get a better picture. I’ll do better next time. I’ll ask that crane politely to move out of the way…

Comments(1) Cleaning products, Vinegar

Comments

By Jon Boyd Ann Arbor guy on June 21st, 2009 at 9:08 pm

My first time on your blog. I was looking at your vinegar for cleaning efforts. I’ve liked using more natural cleaners but one of my teenage children really doesn’t like the smell of vinegar.

So we tried a “natural cleaning” product from our large local department store and it left all kinds of streaks on the windows.

I guess it is back to Windex for us for a while.