When we bought our house we were living in a rental. We had been warned that the owners of the rental were sticklers about cleanliness and tried to find reasons to keep rental deposits. I did not want to lose any of our $625 deposit, so I spent 2 days after we moved out cleaning everything I could see. (I also video taped the entire walk through, for proof.)
By the second day, I was covered in a rash. It took me almost a week to recover. But we did get our deposit back.
I used to say I was allergic to cleaning. The truth is, many commercial cleaning products make me sick. I get a headache and become dizzy if I spend too much time in the cleaning products aisle.
Actually, this is my routine before going down the cleaning products aisle in the grocery store:
Take a deep breath.
Hold that breath while I run into the aisle, grab what I need, and get out.
Exhale.
I’ve used oven cleaner once. After that experience, my husband and I decided that in the future he would be the one to clean the oven, while I left the house.
Or maybe the state.
I’ve been using vinegar and baking soda for a lot of cleaning needs. Vinegar and water in a spray bottle is great for cleaning windows. You can find all kinds of ways to use vinegar, and/or baking soda for cleaning online. And it is CHEAP!!!!
Sometimes though, you need an extra boost.
We have lived in our house for 20 years. Until recently, I have never really felt like my shower stall was clean. I just could not get all the soap scum off. I tried all kinds of things. I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed. Sometimes I got some of it off, but wore out or got sick before I could finish.
Then I found this recipe on line.
GREEN CLEAN RECIPE
4oz peroxide
4oz water
5-6 drops of doTERRA melaleuca
5-6 drops of doTERRA lemon oil
Shake and spray on. You'll see the peroxide start cleaning and bubbling mildew away
I made this up and put it in a glass bottle, purchased from www.aromatools.com.
Why glass? Because pure doTERRA lemon oil breaks down toxins, including petrochemicals found in plastic.
So I made this up, sprayed some on my shower stall, and started rubbing it with a scrubby sponge.
Okay, so you know how when you get a sunburn, that eventually your skin starts peeling off? You take a shower and you get all these gross pieces of skin coming off your body? That’s what my shower looked like. Years of accumulated soap scum just started peeling off the shower. It was gross and exciting at the same time.
So a week later, I washed the shower again. This time, nothing peeled off. I was a bit disappointed, thinking, maybe this stuff isn’t as great as I thought it was.
Then I realized, I was only dealing with a week’s worth of scum, not 20 years. Duh.
I have since used this to wash my walls, and my face. Seriously. Can you do that with YOUR bathroom cleaner?
Another plus to this cleaner: You can let your kids use it without exposing them to the toxins found in most purchased cleaners.