Citrus Power
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I hope I have shown you throughout my blogs how we can create clean and safe homes—naturally. Often what we find in the fridge and pantry is all we need to clean our homes.
Orange oil is amazing for tackling greasy jobs. For example, when we are faced with a client’s greasy exhaust vent above a stove, we use orange oil as our saving grace. It is a natural degreaser, which means it is perfect for kitchen use.
Orange oil is created by pressing the peels of the orange and separating the oil. During this process, a compound called d-limonene (the beneficial cleaning property) is created. Be careful to not inhale this, because although eco-friendly, it can cause more sensitive people discomfort.
There are many orange oil products on the market; be sure to purchase an eco-friendly brand or else you get harmful contaminants in the mix.
The best way to use orange oil is to find the area with grease or other sticky residue, apply the product (always testing in a small and inconspicuous area first), and then let it sit for about 15 minutes. Afterwards a quick wipe should remove all residue. Follow it up with a water rinse.
Orange oil products work well even at removing adhesive stuck on glass or a price tag stuck on a vase. Dab a bit onto the affected area, let it sit for a while, and then rub the residue away.
I hope this has enlightened you to yet another very cool aspect of the orange!
Melissa
Air Fresheners: A Breath of Fresh Air?
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We all want a fresh-smelling home; it means it’s clean and under control. Some people resort to air fresheners in aerosols, plug-in pods, and a host of other creative products. Personally, I am horrified by these products and avoid them at all costs.
I have neighbors at my condo who are undoubtedly hooked on the stuff; I have to hold my breath as I walk by their door. These artificial masking scents are quite detrimental to a household; if a little consumer research was done before a purchase I am positive no one would buy them.
For people with asthma or other respiratory problems, these products exacerbate the ailments and act as a catalyst for causing such problems in children. You are welcome to research the upwards of 3,000 chemicals found in air fresheners and read the frightening details. What I will tell you is that the chemicals contained include petrochemicals such as propane and butane, which spread themselves around your room and cling to everything including your carpets, upholstery, and airways.
These nasty chemical cocktails are combustible, can cause headaches, depress the nervous system, and cause shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. No thanks! Rather than buying these products, here are some great ways to keep the house smelling fresh:
• Open a window to circulate fresh air. It sounds simple and obvious but it works like a charm.
• About 20 minutes before you vacuum carpets, sprinkle baking soda onto the carpets to eliminate the odors out of the carpet fibers. You can even add some dried lavender or sage to the baking soda beforehand, which will leave a fresh and natural aromatic scent.
• If you are craving a warm scent, simmer some mulling spices in water for awhile and enjoy the scents of your own creation.
• For the bathroom, use the simple and steadfast trick of lighting a match. It works every time and is completely safe. Of course, be sure to safely light and flush the match.
Melissa
Cleaning Stains Off Porcelain
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I am an avid tea drinker and have a couple of tea pots in my rotation. I have a beautiful black ceramic one as well as a white one, but the white one, of course, gets stained each time I boil a pot of my favorite morning drink, English breakfast tea. I usually scramble out the door to get started with my day, so I rarely have time to rinse the pot or even dump the cup out. (I know I should rinse it, seeing that I do run a cleaning company, but that’s for another discussion)!
I have fallen in love with this trick (which you can also use at kids birthday parties—it’s magical)! You need a lemon and a few shakes of salt. Simply run the lemon over the stained area, sprinkle the salt over the lemon and agitate with a clean and dry cloth. Add more lemon or salt if necessary. Rinse the porcelain and voilà, your porcelain piece will look brand spankin’ new!
Melissa
What Does a Clean House Smell Like?
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Many people believe (or have been conditioned to believe) that a clean house should smell like Mr. Clean, Windex, or bleach. This is not true! In fact, after my endeavors into the cleaning business, I learned early on that “naturally clean” smells like—well, not much at all.
You can choose to clean your house with four or five basic items, such as salt, lemon, vinegar, baking soda, and oils (lemon oil, olive oil, etc). If you choose to clean using these basics, your house will be immaculate, but you won’t smell the masking scents of commercial cleaners.
Now, I must admit that I am a sucker for any eco-friendly product with pretty packaging and equally pretty scents, so when I clean, that is what I prefer to use. However, these are not the kind of scents that are damaging to our bodies or the environment. More companies are moving towards aromatherapy or “mulling” scents. In fact, I know there are some brands of eco-friendly cleaning solutions that will create a delicious bakery-like scent in the home.
If you care to be a bit more experimental and are open to using products with scents, there are a ton of choices available to you in grocery stores, hardware stores, and drugstores.
Make sure you look for a number of reputable seals and symbols that can help out, such as the Green Seal and the Environmental Choice Program. That will let you know your products are truly eco-friendly and you can feel safe using them at home.
Melissa
Keeping the Kitchen Organized
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We’ve seen kitchens of all kinds! It can be an incredibly overwhelming place to be, so we suggest keeping it as de-cluttered as possible.
You have to treat the kitchen as it is: a storage centre for rolling inventory. It needs to be purged every so often (think about a store with last season’s fads; they all go on super discount sales to make room for fresh inventory). Buy less; even if those deals on canned beans seem amazing, it’s better to have a little more room and a little less clutter.
Cupboards are usually brimming with things such as canned goods, spices, bags of bulk foods (nuts, pastas, flours), and the like. Go through and throw things out twice a year. If something has not been covered or stored properly, it has likely gone bad, so just get rid of it anyway. For more efficient storage, consider good quality airtight jars. They look pretty and are much better for storage and organization. I picked some up at Ikea.
Examine your fridge weekly. The best time to do this is right before a grocery shop. Throw out the old stuff (and then remember how much of it you actually ate so that you don’t throw that money away again). This takes about 3 minutes to do and really helps to keep things fresh and clean in the fridge. When you toss something out, if you notice a stain or drip, give it a quick wipe up.
Again, I will draw a comparison to clothing. If you haven’t worn a shirt in 6 months or a year, you’re not going to wear it again—so to make room for the cuter of clothing items, give the old clothes away. Same goes for these fridge and cupboard items. Invite people over for dinner and have a massive cook-a-thon to get rid of the excess food.
The key is to keep things fresh and in moderation in your kitchen. Since it’s such a busy part of the home, you need to have some method of organization going on, and treating your food like inventory will help you manage the kitchen like a pro. Keeping it organized is one amazing way to keep it clean!
Melissa
Great Ways to Clean Delicate Finishes in the Kitchen
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If you are lucky enough to have a stunning modern kitchen, you will need to know how to clean it. Many commercial cleaners are available but natural solutions do an amazing job and should be your only consideration for these projects.
Stainless steel is all the rage in kitchen design—and it looks lovely! To keep it that way, here’s what to do. Fill a sink with warm water and about a ¼ cup of white vinegar. Immerse a clean cloth in the solution and wipe away all marks and dirt. Vinegar cuts grease, so all fingerprints will be gone. Give it a quick buff dry. For the ultimate shine, blot a clean cloth in some vegetable oil and polish the appliance in the direction of the grain. Be sure to use the oil sparingly to reduce stickiness. The results are amazing—you will be blown away!
To clean a stain out of the sink, try tossing salt and lemon juice over it and wiping clean in a circular motion. This combo practically erases marks right out of any sink—think coffee, tea, etc.
To clean granite, a gorgeous addition to any kitchen, you must be extremely careful to take good care of the surface. To start, we crouch to eye level to see where the dirt is because granite can always “look” clean. Following this, focus on the areas with blotchy stains (old spills, dried-on jam, etc). We suggest using an eco-friendly marble and granite cleaner or even dishwashing liquid and hot water (you can mix a few drops into a spray bottle full of water, or simply fill the sink up—your choice). This is gentle enough to treat the stone without harming it and no harsh chemicals are used, either.
It’s a win-win situation! You can have a beautiful kitchen and maintain it easily, inexpensively, and without harming the environment or yourself.
Melissa
Keeping Your Kitchen Clean: How to Keep Your Kitchen Smelling Fresh
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I love cooking, but after broiling a beautiful piece of salmon, steaming some tasty broccoli, or roasting a delightful bulb of garlic, I have no interest in the odors coexisting with me. I’ve come across some excellent tricks to reduce and neutralize kitchen odors.
For starters, decaying food is a huge problem! Examine your fridge and remove old foods at once. Wipe the bottom of the fridge regularly to remove stains and odors.
While cooking, use the exhaust fan; it removes the grease from the air, which helps to reduce odors and also prevents you from inhaling the stuff.
You can also boil vinegar to remove odors. See the previous vinegar blogs for more detail.
I came across the coolest trick a while back, and use it whenever necessary. You have to try this to believe it! Broccoli is amazing, but we all know how it smells when being cooked. Simply take a slice of bread and place it in the pot on top of the broccoli, then close the pot and let it steam. The bread acts as a natural sponge, absorbing the odor from the broccoli!
I have a lampe berger, which is a catalytic alcohol- and oil-burning lamp; I use it to burn “crème brulée” to deodorize. A lampe berger is incredibly effective at neutralizing odors and leaving a beautiful scent in your home, without the chemical effects of scented candles and air fresheners.
Finally, you can investigate air purifiers which can be helpful, too.
Melissa
Keeping Your Kitchen Clean: Watch What You Wipe With
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Sponges and cloths are playgrounds for nasty kitchen bacteria. Bacteria goes everywhere because we spread it about while cooking, cleaning, and preparing meals. Just think of how many times you touch and use that dish towel while preparing a dish such as roast chicken!
The concept of paper towels is what we want to go with—frequent disposal (or laundering) of the cloths. Paper towels are ingenious yet wasteful, so here is the environmentally friendly way to keep things clean.
Have a stack of 7 dishtowels and use one a day. (Think: those socks with the days of the week embroidered on them.) At the end of the day, toss the dishtowel in a separate basket along with your other cleaning rags and launder it at week’s end.
For cleaning counters, we recommend getting cleaning cloths (available at grocery stores; they’re a cross between a dish towel and a face cloth). For those who get incredibly excited about cloths, try microfibre cleaning cloths. Clean what you like during the day, but pitch it in that laundry basket before you hit the sack.
You may find that a good microfibre cloth will eliminate the need for a sponge (clearly because you are already using the great pot cleaning techniques I discussed in the vinegar and baking soda blogs). If you do require a sponge, clean it by soaking it well in water (get all soap out first) and then microwaving for 2-3 minutes to kill most germs and spores. The inside of the microwave will be damp and steamy, at which point you can wipe it clean with a dry cloth. What a great way to multi task!
Melissa
Neat Tricks with Vinegar
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You will surely run out of vinegar by the time you have had the chance to use all of these tricks, so stock up on the large containers! Here are some little tricks using vinegar for everyday use around the house. We have found them to be quite useful!
Ants can be warded off if vinegar is sprayed in the infested areas.
The same also goes for cats: simply spray vinegar in places where you want your cat to stay away from and vinegar will deflect your feline friend from that area!
Next is an amazing stain remover trick; this works for teapots, laminate counters, mugs, china, and sinks. Sprinkle salt over the stain and then spray the affected area with vinegar. Let this mixture sit and then use a soft cloth to agitate. The stains will magically disappear! It’s quite exciting to watch stubborn stains go away with simple, eco-friendly ingredients.
Happy cleaning!
Melissa
The Benefits of Vinegar: Deodorize in a Snap
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Vinegar works very well for removing odors. When cleaning something out (for example, a garbage pail—see the baking soda trick from a few weeks back), wash it with vinegar as opposed to anything else. It will remove any foul smells and neutralize the material. Following that, keep it fresh by using the baking soda trick.
Another thing I love about vinegar is that it can remove cooking odors if you simmer it in a separate pot while you’re cooking. What I do is designate the far burner for the pot with vinegar. I place about a cup of vinegar in the pot, simmer on medium, and voilà! The smell of broccoli and salmon is gone!
And for those looking for an extremely low maintenance trick, simply leave about ½ a cup of vinegar in a small bowl to deodorize while cooking or if there is a smoker in the house.
Melissa
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