Confession: I have not personally cleaned the house in quite some time.
For various reasons ...... when the kids were younger, cleaning was part of their weekly chores (and that was successful to some degree...!). As they left home, my excuses changed to long working hours and business travel ..... and almost anything else I could think of.
With my newly-arrived free time, and after reading "Be Thrifty: how to live better with less", I decided that housecleaning was something I actually wanted to take on ...... someday. And then the time arrived -- no more procrastination -- the house desperately needed attention. So this past weekend, I cleaned the house.
The Thrifty book advises that you can do all your cleaning with distilled vinegar, baking soda and some microfiber cloths/mop. I ignored the array of chemical cleaners sitting in the cabinet and went to work. And was totally and completely amazed at the power of distilled vinegar.
The pros:
Cheap
Soap scum and mildew were beaten back
Mirrors were a thing of beauty
Baking soda and vinegar combined got rid of stubborn stains in the sink
The cons:
The smell.... at one point (as I was vigorously attacking mildew), I brought up a fan to my "work area" (the bathroom). I was fairly convinced I would be pickled by the end of the day.
The microfiber cloths and mop were also amazing.... no chemicals required. Just dust or dry mop and everything seems to get trapped in the fibers. Plop the aforementioned cloths and mop in the washing machine and we're good to go for next time.
I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Let's see...... when will I do this again?
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