Comments on: Pinching clean, shiny pennies

By: Spiralbound Pixels » links for 2006-06-26

Spiralbound Pixels » links for 2006-06-26 — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:08:26 +0000

[...] Want Not » Pinching clean, shiny pennies I *love* this blog! A great article with tips on cleaning. (tags: cleaning natural thrifty) [...]

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:53:43 +0000

My husband cannot stand the smell of vinegar. Actually he won’t walk in the house if I have used vinegar for cleaning. So for pet “oopsies” I use Mean Green. My mother-n-law turned me onto it and it works great. I also use it to clean my floor, just so that I don’t have to buy another kind of cleaner, and it works great too.

I have to comment on “The Works”. My husband’s aunt had well water and it left awful stains in her tub, sink and kitchen sink and of course her washing machine. We used bleach and didn’t do anything hardly. Then I went to a grocery store and thought I would pick some up to try it, it was only a dollar, so why not. Worth a try, right? It worked great. Her bathtub, toilet, sinks, and washing machine look brand new now. However, you do need to wear gloves, make sure that no kids are around as the vapors are strong. When you apply it to something, you can see the vapors from it. I wouldn’t use it on a daily or even monthly basis. But if I had problems with rust stains in my bathtub, etc. I would definatly give it a try.

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:43:22 +0000

Regarding buying cleaning supplies at a janitorial supply store. I have to agree. But only on some stuff that they sell. I use to clean a bingo hall 7 days a week. Yes, I mean clean it from top to bottom after some ungrateful people who don’t care if they throw a thousand or so pull tabs or nacho cheese in the floor for someone else to pick up. Honestly, I would hate to see some of these people’s homes.
I always bought my garbage bags at a janitorial supply store. As far as cent per bag, it was the best deal. And they held up pretty well. And with taking the garbage out every day sometimes twice a day, I wasn’t going to waste my money on expensive garbage bags.
I didn’t like the window cleaner so much. I’m a firm believer in either Windex or Mean Green glass cleaner. Both work great.
I’m a firm believer in bleach and water. It will kill everything. And if you need some scrubbing power, either baking soda or Comet works just great. However, I did have to use something from the janitorial store, because the tables that they had in the bingo hall couldn’t handle strong abrasives.
I’m also a firm believer in swiffer dusters. With my asthma and allergies and also with my 7 month old daughter’s allergies, they work great. Just pick up the dust and throw it away.

However, I do have a question about vacuum cleaners. I’m still waiting on the Dyson fairy to stop by my house. I have used a variety of vacuum cleaners and they all seem to tear up on me. The rollers seem to mess up no matter how often I clean them. I was told to try a canister vacuum. Has anyone tried them before? And what was your opinion on it?

By: Andrea Q

Andrea Q — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 05:28:36 +0000

Vinegar, baking soda and lemon essential oil are also used regularly in my home. I also use Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, Young Living’s Thieves household cleaner and for really tough stains, bleach. Borax also works well in the toilet.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:07:18 +0000

I haven’t personally tried this, but I have a friend who uses those swiffer wet jets and instead of using the pads that are made by swiffer, she uses Always Overnight pads with wings. She swears by them and they are much cheaper…kinda gross though!

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:00:13 +0000

Using the Magic Erasers in the tub has been mentioned, but one more thing to add: my tub is off-whitish colored, and was looking more like brown, especially on the bottom where there was TEXTURE and ALL of the dirt was COLLECTING. I tried the Magic Eraser, got it wet, used it like a sponge, and tada- my tub looks BRAND NEW!! So, not just on grimy doors or tile!

By: melynda

melynda — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:38:51 +0000

Another vote for vinegar! I have a new puppy, and we were advised to use it (1 part vinegar, 2 parts water) to clean up after accidents. Now it is my favorite thing to clean all my floors, especially the tile and hardwood. Yes, the scent is a little strong immediately after, but then it is gone and it just smells fresh, not like cleaning chemicals.

By: kate

kate — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:02:14 +0000

Hello, Pretty! Just wanted to say that I love vinegar too. My friend’s mom uses vinegar with newspaper on all of her mirrors and windows and swears by it. I use don’t use newspaper, but I do use vinegar on all glass surfaces. Vinegar is also the best for cleaning and KILLING mold. We had a huge mold problem in our old house. Vinegar was the very best thing for cleaning the shower.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:02:50 +0000

About 6 months ago, we bought a big package of those Swiffer floor dealies at Sam’s Club and we’re almost out of them. I recently read that used dryer sheets are just as good, so I tried it and tada! They work! And they smell good, too! We have an 80 pound shedding factory of a dog, and the dryer sheet trick will definitely save some money.

I’ve read about using vinegar as a disinfectant, and I’ve tried it. It did diddily squat for our bathtub, but it worked pretty well for the sink. Too bad it made the whole house smell like salad dressing. Blech.

By: Dee Dee

Dee Dee — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:37:41 +0000

I knew Tang was powerful stuff. It works great in the dishwasher too to remove any odors and discoloration. When I was a little kid, I remember my mom removing the hard water stains in the dishwasher by running Tang through it. It is also a lot cheaper than the Cascade Plastic Booster to remove tomato sauce stains and such.