Friday, January 23, 2009

A green clean

Since I have adopted the Baz, I have become very sensitive about the cleaning products I use.  Everything in the rabbit's cage gets cleaned with white vinegar and water, and occasionally the scrubbing power of baking soda.  Why? Because rabbit's tummies are so sensitive, they can react to soap or any other chemicals left on their dishes or on things they chew.  Makes you wonder just what you are ingesting everyday (especially when you have roommates who don't always rinse their dishes after they wash them)

So, when I was cleaning our rental house to move out in the summer, I tried to limit the number of noxious chemicals we used (comet with bleach was necessary in some places though).  I even used baking soda to clean the oven.  You buy a new package of baking soda (it needs all the oomph it can get), sprinkle it about half and inch thick over the entire bottom of the oven, and spray it with water until it is all wet.  then as you remember it, spray it again throughout the day, and leave it overnight.  Next morning, wipe up the baking soda.  It was the cleanest oven our property manager had ever seen.

So yesterday, after watching some Kim and Aggie (best show ever for non-chemical cleaning tips)  I decided to tackle the basement bathroom.  The basement is the b&b owner's child with no shoes.  We only use it when we are full, and so no one thinks to clean the bathroom, because we only use it one or two days in a row.  This is not so good in a city with extremely hard water. But Kim has shown me the wonders of vinegar on hard water stains (huzzah!) so I wanted to try it right away and see if it worked.  it was great on the taps in the sink and the shower (remember to rinse it off though, because it corrodes)  and then I used it on the glass shower door.  It didn't work miracles right away, so i did it again and left the vinegar on the door overnight and rinsed it away this morning.  Very good results, but I probably should do it a few more times if i wanted it as good as new.

And don't even get me started on the importance of an old toothbrush as a cleaning tool!

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