A Cleaning Update

Almost one year ago, I posted about ways we are "Greening Our Home".  After reading over this post a few weeks ago, I realized it deserved an update! Here's how we roll green around here:


1. Vacuum with our Dyson. I realize this isn't "green", but it doesn't use vacuum bags, so we're not wasting anything except a grocery bag we dump the dirt into when we're done. I LOVE Dyson's and recommend them for everyone.  We purchased this canister vacuum a few years ago and it was perfect for our condo with hardwood floors.  Our current place has a lot of carpet & if I could, I'd probably replace this guy with an upright vacuum.  It's just not as easy to roll around on carpet.  BUT, still does a perfect job at picking up all of the dirt in our home.

2. Steam Mop- This mop really deserves her own post I like her so much. I did a lot of research and opted for the Eureka Enviro Steamer because the reviews were really good, the price was right, and the water is heated hot enough to actually disinfect.  Good bye Swifter and expensive refills and streaky floors and strong smells after mopping. One of my biggest reasons for buying a steam mop was because I knew eventually we'd have a baby crawling on the floor & currently have a Kitty. I did not want either one breathing in the chemicals.  I love how this steam mop picks up that disgusting kitchen floor gunk without any scraping.  My only complaint about the floor mop would be the reusable cloths shrink very easily even when washing on the cold cycle.  

But seriously, I have such strong love feelings for my steam mop that I feel bad for anyone who does not own one. If you don't have one, seriously, save those pennies and buy one soon!  The floors also dry super quickly because the steam is hot.  Within a few minutes you can walk on your mopped floors without needing to change your socks.


3. Glass cleaner-I am currently using the Method brand. I like the minty smell it leaves & it is nice to have one cleaner that is not home made. 


4. All purpose cleaner-I mix 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water and use this spray throughout my kitchen and bathroom.


5. Toilet Bowl Cleaner-I pour baking soda, then vinegar into the toilet, then brush & flush.


6. Essential Oils-Nate and Joanna totally spoiled me this year for Christmas with essential oils that I mix into my home made all purpose cleaner to take away the vinegar smell. I love these!

7. Home made Laundry Detergent-You can see my recipe here.  I use all natural bar soap from Trader Joe's, washing soda, baking soda, & borax. I realize Dial is posted in the pic below, but I've switched to Trader Joe's soap since this picture was taken.

8. Microfiber clothes- I picked two 4 packs of these up at Marshall's & totally love them. Waaay cheaper than papertowels and waaay better for the environment....and much easier to wash now that we have our own washer and dryer!

  

10. Reusable Bags-I realize this is a no brainer, but we take our reusable bags everywhere.  I wish Pittsburgh would enforce DC's bag text policy.  I think a lot more people would pick up on using reusable bags if they were charged 25 cents for each plastic bag.


11. Recycle-I know, another no brainer, but I feel the need to tell you that we recycle whatever we can around here. It breaks my little heart to know that there are still some people who haven't picked up on recycling. It makes me even more sad when the recycling trash leaves my recyclables for the garbage truck some weeks. Do they not see the huge recycling sticker on my trash can?


This site shares a lot of useful tips to use Vinegar. 

• Discourage ants by spraying undiluted white distilled vinegar outside doorways and windowsills, around appliances and wherever you find the pests coming in.
• Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of undiluted white distilled vinegar.
• Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so, then run hot water down the drain.

A fun way to clean spills from your carpet--SALT

It's true. We spilled an entire glass of red wine on our carpet last week & we do not own carpet cleaner. Joel dumped a container of salt on top of the spilled wine. The salt turned pink and soaked up every drop of red wine.

So there you go, a little update on our "green" home. I'm pretty sure that 1 year from now we'll have made a lot of improvements, but right now, this is where we're at & we're pretty happy with it.