Archive for the 'Bathroom' Category

April 30, 2008 | Bathroom, Cleaning tips

I know that one day somebody is going to come up with a fantastic way to get hair off of the floors, sinks and counters in the bathroom. Until that day comes I’m just going to use this… (more…)

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 (more…)

February 20, 2008 | Bathroom, Laundry, Floors, Kitchen, Vinegar, Cleaning tips, Being Green, Cleaning products

Thanks to Shannon for hosting Works for Me Wednesday. This week I’m going to share the most important tips I have on frugal green cleaning. Let’s face it - stocking up the cabinets with Seventh Generation, Method, and other ‘green’ cleaners can be expensive. But there are ways to do it without breaking the bank. Here goes.

First, raid your pantry. Here are some great cleaners you can make straight out of your pantry: (more…)

January 6, 2008 | Bathroom, Cleaning tips, Cleaning products

Here at Broomhuggers we have a love-hate relationship with glass shower doors. They keep all the steamy-dreamy shower air in when needs to stay (for the optimum shower experience) and they look better than a vinyl curtain, but man! they can be hard to clean! In fact, we’ve posted countless times on how to clean them. Like this post about hard water deposits, this one about the wonders of squeegees, and this one about soap scum.  The long and short of it is that in most of our homes (especially anyone with hard water), shower doors are pesky, troublesome things to clean.

But just this week I tried something new. Have you heard of Shaklee?  They started out as one of the first natural cleaning product producers, and they’ve since expanded into personal care products and nutritional supplements. They’ve even been featured on Oprah - more than once - and their corporate responsibility sets a high standard for other businesses to emulate.

Well, they have this great product called Scour Off.  It’s a pink paste that smells amazing (and without harsh chemicals or fake scents - it’s all natural). It does lots of things well - from the oven to sinks, tubs, tiles… But it does wonders for my shower door. A little bit on the scouring side of the sponge, and scum be gone!

I’ve been a fan of salt and lemon juice for the shower door for a while, and those still do a great job. But Shaklee’s Scour Off does it with less elbow grease, and in less time. And for this preggo mama chasing a toddler and a preschooler, that makes a big difference.  It’s settled - I’m in love. A relatively small container is $8.35, but the cleaning power it packs is amazing. And it’ll last you ages since it’s so concentrated. Anyone else have great shower door stories? Or Shaklee stories? I love this stuff. Really. I do.

November 29, 2007 | Bathroom, Cleaning tips

This one goes out to Sarah, 7 weeks pregnant! Thanks for the question Sarah, and congratulations on your pregnancy.

So, how to clean the mineral deposits and soap scum left behind by hard water? Thankfully I don’t have hard water, but I don’t envy you who do! The best thing I’ve found to cut the mineral and soap scum deposits from hard water is a combination of lemon juice, vinegar and salt (make sure you don’t have any cuts on your hand - ouch!). I mix the vinegar and lemon juice about half and half - with no water dilution. Then I sprinkle some salt on the scouring side of the sponge and attack the shower door. It’s going to take some scrubbing. I wish I could point you to something you could spray on and then just wipe off later, but even bleach won’t do that with hard water buildup. Simple Green may help - in fact, you could probably spray the Simple Green and leave it, and then come back an hour later and do the vinegar/lemon juice/ salt treatment.

I’ve seen Rain-X recommended to keep the scum from forming on the shower door, and I loved the idea until I read more about Rain-X. It’s an acute and chronic toxin, with known links to organ damage. The manufacturer’s Material Safety Data Sheet says so - straightforward. So I don’t recommend that. I’ve also seen people recommend putting Old English on the door to keep the deposits from building up. Anyone who suggests that has never tried to clean the gunk off. It helps for about a week, but then it somehow attracts the mineral deposits and makes it nearly impossible to clean.

So, your best bet is a window squeegee that you use on the shower door after ever shower. That’ll help slow down the formation of deposits on the shower door, and that means less cleaning for you. The best bet? Try to clean it frequently (I know, I know…) so that the buildup isn’t so overwhelming. If you can’t do it frequently, then pick one week out of a month and break it up bit by bit all that week.

Now, Sarah was wondering if filling up an empty container from her Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner with vinegar and lemon juice would help inhibit the deposits (she’s smart enough to stop using the chemicals they sell for it!). I think that’s an awesome idea, and I hope you’ll share the results with us after you try it, Sarah! Kudos for ingenuity!

November 17, 2007 | Reviews, Bathroom, Cleaning products

The Green Guide, published by National Geographic, has a guide to bathroom cleaners in their weekly edition. It’s highly worthwhile reading, rating a variety of greener cleaners and also giving information about worst offenders in terms of ingredients.

So if you’re in the market, or just wanting a good starting place for more information, go check it out.

September 7, 2007 | Bathroom, Kitchen, Vinegar, Cleaning tips

Q: I was wondering what you use on satin finished faucets, etc./ fixtures in kitchen/ bath. I don’t want to ruin the finish (as some other not so natural cleaners have in the past!).

A: Apple cider vinegar will clean and disinfect. But if you have stubborn buildup or something that the vinegar isn’t removing, you’ll want to purchase some Bon Ami. It’s gentle enough for your stainless (and your Calphalon pots too), but it’ll remove any stuck-on ickies. What’s important is that you scrub with the grain of the satin rather than across it, to preserve the life of the finish.

Happy cleaning!

July 18, 2007 | Bathroom, Cleaning tips

Truth be told, toilet bowl cleaners are nothing more than marketing genius. Those porcelain thrones get special attention due to the special nature of the ‘nature’ that happens there. Companies have played on our sensibilities (and sense of smell…) long enough.

What they’re really selling is: a fun shaped bottle; chemicals to alter the way your nose senses smell (they call them ’scents,’ but really they just trick your nose); more chemicals to make it ‘cling’; still more chemicals to allow you to see where it clings. Other than that, it’s just regular all-purpose cleaner. In fact, your regular all-purpose cleaner will do the job just fine.

So next time you run out of toilet bowl cleaner, don’t run to the store to replenish your supplies. Your potty can be perfectly clean without it. And don’t give in to those ’sanitary’ flush-able disposable toilet cleaners (they don’t work; they literally assault and kill all the good things that help your nose work the way it should; and they’re rotten for the environment and your house too.) They’re not even sanitary - they just give the illusion.

My favorite toilet bowl cleaner? Buy one of those kitchen shakers - I like the kind that you would use to sprinkle flour on the counter before you roll out a pie crust (yes, a little assumption there that you do roll out pie crusts - but if you don’t maybe you’d use one to sprinkle powdered sugar over your store-bought pound cake), but a regular salt shaker works fine too. Fill it with Borax (20 Mule Team brand Borax is sold at most grocery stores with the powdered detergents) and sprinkle some into your toilet bowl at night. The next morning give it a little swish-swish, making sure to get up around the underside of the rim, and you’re good to go!

Need to tackle it fast before your guests make their way from their car to your front door? Sprinkle the borax, pour in a healthy splash of vinegar or lemon juice, and swish until the doorbell rings.

July 4, 2007 | Bathroom, Vinegar, Cleaning tips

We usually participate in Shannon’s Works for Me Wednesday weekly tip over at Rocks in My Dryer, but in honor of Independence Day, Shannon’s canceled it this week. However, seeing as how Broom Huggers has been out of commission for about a week now for this site transition, and seeing as how we’re all about cleaning tips over here, I’m doing it anyway. It’s okay - it’s only 6:50 AM. By the time the day really starts I’ll be off my computer to celebrate the 4th. I promise. But first… want an easy way to clean your shower curtain?

Remove it from the curtain rings and take it outside. Lay it flat in direct sunlight, and let the sunlight kill the mildew. It’ll do all the work for you! If your shower curtain, uh, needs some extra love (you know what I mean), spray it down with some vinegar outside and then a little lemon juice. Scrub if you like, or let the sun do the work for you.
That’s what works for me. Head over to Shannon’s place next week for more tips.

June 19, 2007 | Bathroom, Laundry, Bleach alternatives, Vinegar, Cleaning tips, Cleaning products

A full 50% of the searches that lead people here have to do with bleach. I have a feeling there are people out there who are bothered by bleach (for health or ecological reasons) but don’t know how to clean without it. So, here are some suggestions. The main purposes for bleach are to whiten and disinfect. So here it is:

• To whiten stained spots on clothing: put some lemon juice on the spot, rub in a bit of salt, and leave it in the sun for an hour or two. It lifts the stain.
• To clean spills from health contaminants (raw meat or eggs in the kitchen, urine in the bathroom): Straight vinegar is a great disinfectant. I advise keeping a sponge with vinegar near your cutting boards for frequent use.
• To whiten laminate counter tops: Bon Ami - it’s a powder found at the grocery store in a canister - usually right next to Bar Keeper’s friend (which also works relatively well. But we prefer Bon Ami - it uses less elbow grease, and less elbow grease means more cleaning stamina!). We’ve removed coffee stains, raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry stains, and marks from the bottom of pots and pans.
• To disinfect:
  • Borax: buy it in the supermarket where they sell detergents - in my grocery store it’s next to the powdered dishwasher detergents. Borax is a powder and is safe to mix with virtually anything. Combine it with some vinegar, lemon juice, or just plain water to clean virtually anything. It’s completely harmless and safe to use. Gloves and ventilation not required (as opposed to bleach).
  • Vinegar: it disinfects, kills mold, bacteria, and germs. (As an aside: bleach does not kill mold - it just whitens it so you don’t see it. But bleach will leave living mold spores that will continue to grow.) Vinegar’s potency is released when combined with salt, so for a nice strong disinfectant add some salt to your vinegar, dilute with water if you’d like, and spray away. I just used it to clean the toilet seat in the bathroom where my little girl is potty-training. It works remarkably well.

Any more alternative uses you need for bleach? Let me know and I’ll fill you in!