The medicine cabinet is not part of day-to-day cleaning, but it’s no less important. It’s where you turn when you wake up with a fever, when the baby’s teething, when allergies assault your eyes and sinuses, and this season – cold season – you may be turning to it for help all too often. So first off, clean it out!

• Make sure you’re stocking medicines, vitamins, and remedies that haven’t passed their expiration date.
• Get rid of anything that isn’t labeled.
• Clean out anything that you don’t have a use for anymore

Next, check out this video from Dr. Alan Greene (of the ever popular drGreene.com). He gives some tips on how to detox your medicine cabinet, from natural remedies to prevention. Since he’s a pediatrician it’ll be especially helpful to parents, though it has tips that are helpful at any age or stage of life.

Finally, once the cabinet is cleaned out (and dusted too!) and well-stocked, you’ll want to make sure it’s organized. Ensure that anything you need frequently is easy to get to, and especially that anything you’d need urgently (like aspirin in case of chest pain, asthma inhalers, or an epi pen or insulin) is front and center. In fact, it’s best to keep those emergency remedies in a specific place that’s easy to explain to someone else if needed (“get the red bottle in the bottom left corner”). Things that you use only occasionally can be farthest from reach. Anything you use together can be grouped together, even one behind the other. Think about what makes the most sense for the products you use most frequently, and ensure that those things are easiest to reach and put away.

Great question Teresa. It’s hard to say without seeing it, but here are my thoughts. The first thing is process. The best products won’t do the job if the process isn’t right. Tea tree oil should kill the mold and keep it from returning, but you may need to let it sit a bit longer. Spray it on, let it work its way into the grooves and pores of the surface, and after 10 minutes (or more) scrub away. Over the next week or so keep your spray handy and spritz the shower daily to make sure all the spores are dead. The problem with mold and mildew is that it grows deep into surfaces. It penetrates, but your scrub brush or sponge doesn’t.

The next method is to use Borax, which you can find in your grocer’s laundry aisle. It’s another natural fungicide but it works a little differently than tea tree oil. You’d make a paste of Borax and water and spread it over the area. Let it sit overnight and scrub it in the morning.

As for a commercial product, several of our clients have had success with Melaleuca’s No Work Shower Spray.  Spray it daily and mold and soap scum be gone. I have to attest that my girls love to clean homes where the homeowners use this stuff. They say the showers are a breeze!

Keep in mind though, grout isn’t meant to last forever. Over time your grout – and sealant too – will need to be replaced. That’s actually the case in my shower. In fact, the previous owners sealed the grout without cleaning it first, so there’s mold growing beneath the seal, which makes it virtually uncleanable. If all else fails, you may have to look into having grout work done – or doing it yourself.

There are some tips to cut down on mold and mildew growth though. They grow in dark, warm, wet areas. So after your shower, rinse the shower walls and door with a shot of cold water. Squeegee the walls and door when you get out to remove excess moisture, then leave the shower door (or curtain) and the bathroom door open to allow the humidity to escape. Even better, turn on your bathroom fan to create a draft. Mold doesn’t like that! Anything you can do to dry your shower quickly and cool it off will keep mold and mildew at bay.

Good luck Teresa!

So, for today let’s talk about what you already have at home that you can use to clean with. A bottle of Windex will cost you $3.99 or so, and if you want to go with the greener option of Seventh Generation or Ecover, that’ll run you about $4.99 a bottle. And then you’d need some all-purpose cleaner, degreaser for tough grease, toilet bowl cleaner, oven cleaner, carpet cleaner, tub & tile spray, hard surface cleaner and something special for your granite or marble, not to mention hardwood floor cleaner, tile floor cleaner… Or that’s what the efforts of the marketing gurus want you to believe.

In fact you can clean most surfaces in your home without any of those. Here’s a rundown of how to clean your home for cheap with what you’ve already got – and what doesn’t have harsh chemicals.

Dusting wood furniture: Mix together 1/2 c. lemon juice, 1 tsp olive oil (you don’t need the high quality EVOO for this). Dampen a cloth with it and refrigerate what’s leftover since lemon juice will go rancid at room temp.

Window, glass, & light duty cleaner:  1/4 cup vinegar with 2 cups water will do the trick. If you’ve been using commercial window cleaner for some time you’ll want to add 2-3 drops of detergent to the mix. Commercial window cleaners leave a fine, waxy residue and the vinegar alone won’t fully hack it.

Scouring cleanser:  Make a paste with baking soda and water, add a couple drops of lemon juice. Scrub away!

Whitening agent: Hydrogen peroxide.  You can use it on your white laminate countertops, tile grout, laundry.

Disinfectant: Arm yourself with 2 spray bottles. One with undiluted vinegar and the other with hydrogen peroxide. Spray one and then the other on any surface you consider contaminated, and that will take care of most germs and microbes.

Toilet bowl cleaner: You need something acidic, so vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice will do the trick. You do not need one of those funky-shaped bottles to get under the rim. A spray bottle and your toilet brush will work fine.

Fabric softener: Add some vinegar to your rinse and you don’t need fabric softener. And replace dryer sheets with a reusable cloth. Dab some fabric softener or vinegar on it and throw it in the dryer.

That’ll take care of most of your product needs around the house.  Our next installment will tell you how to navigate the world of consumer cleaners.

I recently found out that the flush of a toilet isn’t as harmless as I once thought. Apparently that “fwoosh” agitates the water enough to send a spray of miniscule water particles (and other particles) into the air. They’re dispersed through your bathroom and settle on anything with a flat surface. Do you know what that means? When you flush your toilet you’re spreading potty-germs all over your bathroom. (Mine now seems much less clean than it did before I learned that.)

The best thing you can do to inhibit the spray is to close the lid when you flush. And do we really need to say it? Wash hands. And when you clean your bathroom, don’t think that the rim, seat, and toilet bowl are all that need a good scrub – make sure you give proper cleaning attention to outside of the throne and everything around it (wall and baseboard included) to make sure you get rid of all those germy-germs your loo spit out.

As if the orangey-pinkish mildew growing on your shower curtain weren’t enough reason to chuck it and get a new one, there’s a new report out about vinyl shower curtains that may give you pause. Apparently that new shower curtain smell is caused by an onslaught of chemicals.

According to the study, over 28 days the vinyl shower curtains tested released 108 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a single new vinyl shower curtain will release total VOCs that exceed the typical total VOCs residential level for four days. In fact, the total VOCs from a WalMart vinyl shower curtain were so high that testing had to be stopped so as not to destroy the testing equipment. And, the testing did not match the temperature and humidity of a typical household shower, which would likely raise the amount of VOCs released.

Now, having told you all about the nasty VOCs found in vinyl (specifically PVC) shower curtains, what’s the problem with VOCs? After all, they are volatile organic compounds, and we like organic things, right? In this case, not so much. The organic part refers to the fact that the compounds contain carbon, but the worrisome part is that we call them volatile. VOCs include hazardous chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde, and chlorine to name a few. They can cause acute (immediate) symptoms like headache, nausea, dizziness, irritation, and asthma, but they’re also to blame for long-term health damage like cancer, liver and kidney damage, and central nervous system damage.

Basically, if your shower curtain has that new vinyl-y smell to it when you take it out of the bag, you might want to hang it outside on a clothes line to let the chemicals seep from it and be blown into the neighbor’s yard (just kidding!). Or, consider buying a shower curtain that isn’t made of PVC and doesn’t have the smell to begin with.

As for the one you’ve had hanging for years now in the guest bath, it’s probably ok by now. The chemical release happens most actively in the shower curtain’s first few weeks of life. But if it’s covered in salmon-colored sliminess, you might want to think about replacing it anyhow. Let’s face it, shower curtains are no fun to clean. By nature they’re hard to scrub, and if you’re going to get it clean and keep it that way, it’ll need a good scrub. If you’re too attached to get rid of it, or you don’t want to risk a new PVC curtain in your shower, remove it from the curtain rod, take it outside and spray it down well with lemon juice on a sunny day. Leave it in the sun and let the combination of sunlight and lemon juice get rid of the mildew. Give it a good pelting spray with your carwash hose attachment before you bring it back in (the agitation and friction will loosen any leftover mildew spores).

Yes, I have found yet another good use for the lint roller! It came to me at 6:00 am this morning while I was getting ready for work. Our bathroom is always covered in hair and there is not much I hate more then hair everywhere! It makes my skin crawl! Out of nowhere my mind pictured the lint roller I saw on the floor last night and I just had to try it. Wouldn’t you know it, that little thing got up every hair on my sink, toilet tank and floor in a matter of seconds. Obviously, the area needs to be dry so it might be best to do this before you or your family take a shower or later on in the day.

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.

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:

• Window / glass cleaner – 1/4 cup vinegar with 14 oz water
• All-purpose cleaner – 50/50 dilution of vinegar and water
• Floor cleaner – 1/2 cup of lemon juice in a bucket 1/2 full of water
• Furniture polish – 1/2 cup lemon juice with 1 TBSP olive oil (refrigerate what you don’t use, as lemon juice will become rancid if left out)
• Bathroom cleaner – 3 parts vinegar, 1 part water as main solution. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2-3 drops of tea tree oil (from your local natural food store) to kill mildew and mold.
• Kitchen abrasive to cut grease – make a paste out of salt and lemon juice, use that around the base of your faucet, the drain in your sink, even on your glass shower door. It’ll cut grease and mineral deposits.

Second, don’t fall for marketing ploys. Cleaning companies would love for you to believe that if the bottle doesn’t have a crooked neck you can’t use it to clean your toilet. They’d also love for you buy into their 1-product-1-purpose idea. But that’s a lie. Use products that accomplish multiple purposes. The things listed above will do that just fine.

Third, if you’re not into making your own cleaners, do yourself a favor and purchase something that you can dilute for different purposes. We recommend Shaklee H2 as our top choice, but Clorox GreenWorks dilutable is another good option. Both of those will greatly reduce your cleaning product budget – all you need is your own bottles and tap water.

Lastly, there are 2 powdered products you’ll find on most grocer’s shelves that are both inexpensive and highly useful. Get yourself a can of Bon Ami – it’s about $0.89 in the cleaning aisle, and it’ll take care of most any difficult task, from Calphalon pans to laminate counter tops to the gunk in your shower. My second favorite is Borax, found with the detergents – it’s a ‘laundry booster,’ which means you can use less laundry and dishwasher detergent by adding a bit of Borax, thereby stretching your buck a bit further. You can also use it in your toilet, on your showers, sinks – anywhere your cleaning needs an extra boost.

So there it is. Let Kermit know that it really is easy being green. And check out Shannon’s place for more great tips from the blogosphere.

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.

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!