The Frugal Files: DIY Challenge: Do It Yourself Cleaning Part II

Hey there frugalicious folks!! Welcome back!!

Last week we took care of some of our easy and medium cleaning areas: glass, surfaces and the kitchen floor. I hope you tried some homemade recipes for your natural, non-harsh cleaning regimens. These concoctions are easy to find and easier on the wallets. I love being able to do things myself and save, don’t you?

I hope everyone had a great holiday and was able to celebrate service men and women who fight or have fought for our freedoms here in the US. It’s a day of thanksgiving and if your family is anything like mine, it’s one of family time too. Every Memorial Day, my family gets together to visit my Grandparents’ graves, cleans off their headstones, fellowships and says a prayer for those living and those that went before us.

My cousin invited me to Savers, since it was half off day, but I was a good Frugalicious Diva and declined…this time. I didn’t need anything so I opted out this year. Just so you know, this sale comes around again for Veteran’s Day in November. I will catch that one, so join me and set aside a little cash to spend around then.

Back to the holiday. Again, if you’re like us, you know this family day is complete with barbeque, potlucks, kids, games, sun and plenty of drinks. Along with the food, comes a major mess. Certainly, with all the kids and pets we have around, we want to clean with products that won’t hurt them, but will still be effective to cut grease and sanitize.

That brings me to the area we missed last week, which if you had company this weekend, I know took a toll on your home:

Difficult Cleaning Areas

·        Bathroom Grout/Toilet Bowls

·        Kitchen Walls

·        Ovens

Like I said last week, you’ve been introduced to the tools needed (well most), but I’ll remind you of my favorite ones to use for these areas. In addition to elbow grease, you’ll want to have the following on hand: lemon, vinegar, water, salt, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide.

For the easiest of these difficult places, let’s start with the toilet bowls and drains. This is one is isn’t completely natural for us, because I was able to score some free toilet bowl cleaners with my couponing a little while back, but you can guarantee when it’s gone, I’ll be using my own mix. There are many ways to clean; you need a dry agent (baking soda or borax) and something acidic (vinegar or lemon). Sprinkle the dry over the sides, sit for 30 minutes, then pour the acid in and use your brush to clean. Add lemon for a fresh smell.

Speaking of smells, a tip if you have young men in your home, use this recipe to get rid of the “boy” smell. I thought it was entertaining and useful: Ask Anna Moseley

Want to naturally clean your drains and your plunger isn’t doing the trick? Add salt and baking soda together and pour down the drain. Follow that by pouring a medium size pot of boiling water down with it. It should be clear in no time!!

Bathroom tiles are the worst to clean, if you let the task get away from you. If you have tough tile/grout stains, mix, in a dark bottle, water and hydrogen peroxide and heavily spray it on the walls. Wait an hour, then rinse and scrub if you need to. To prevent mildew in the future, keep a spray bottle mix of water and vinegar by the tub and spray immediately after every shower and bath.

Now, if you didn’t use anything else yesterday, I know you used the oven and if you don’t have a self-cleaning feature, it’s a monster to clean sometimes!! Make it easy by creating our own self-cleaning oven. Mix a cup of each: water, baking soda and salt all together and smear the paste all over the inside. Put your oven on 450 for an hour and keep the door closed. Once it cools down, rinse off everything inside with a damp cloth dipped in vinegar to get rid of leftover cleaner.

You can use this same paste to clean the kitchen walls of the greasy matter that won’t stay in on the stove. In addition, you can clean with the trusty all purpose cleaner of water and vinegar, let sit for a few minutes, then wipe clean. Really dirty? Simply heat the vinegar, dip in your cloth and wipe it all away.

As you can see there are so many ways to clean our homes with the simplest ingredients, many that we usually have on hand at any given time. All it takes is a little time and effort and you can kick those harsh chemicals to the curb. Simple, natural products is the way to go to keep a clean and healthy home and the best part is that you can DO IT YOURSELF!!

I’ve really enjoyed this DIY series this month and it was a challenge to clean everything at home!! Thanks for joining me and have a great week!!

Frugalicious Diva

Follow me on Twitter at @FrugaliciousDva

The Frugal Files: DIY Challenge: Do It Yourself Cleaning

Hey frugal folks!! Welcome back!!

True story. I loved that low-priced and effective product, AWESOME!! I even blogged about my love for its cleaning strength and ability to remove the toughest spots. Plus, it was cheap, so it was “Frugalicious Diva” approved. However, I had to end the relationship because it tried to kill me and it DID kill some of our clothing.

My daughter cleans the bathroom and though she’s a little heavy handed, AWESOME was choking me!! I was on the main floor and she was in the second floor bathroom. I won’t even mention what it did to our unmentionables. Stained clothing got clean, but the fabric was weakened and finally tore apart. That is too harsh!! I made it a vow to transform all household products to natural ones. We’re not completely there yet, but we have changed some habits drastically.

Did you just spray the last of your favorite household cleaner? Well, instead of going out to get another bottle (especially if you don’t have a coupon), make your own recipe. You don’t have to be a chemist, just someone who wants to have a clean house without all the harsh chemicals. Belles, it’s time to Do It Yourself!! 

Easy Cleaning Areas

With all the surfaces around the house, I did a lot of research to find what works best for each. Here are the easiest surfaces I clean in the house:

·        Glass surfaces, including mirrors

·        Kitchen countertops

·        Microwaves

·        Furniture that requires light dusting.

My favorite staples for easy cleaning areas: lemon, vinegar, water, olive oil and newspaper.

Reuse old bottles, rinse thoroughly and mix up one part white vinegar to three parts water and use as a glass cleaner. Instead of paper towels to wipe the glass, use newspaper. It keeps the glass from streaking. When the paper dries, simply toss it in the recycling. This same bottle can be used to clean off countertops and anything needing a good cleaning. Vinegar may have an unpleasant smell, but it deodorizes the surfaces it touches. If the smell really bothers you, add 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil to your mix. I always use lavender; it’s calming.

Need an easier way to clean your messy microwave? Cut a lemon in half and fill up a microwavable bowl with water. Place the water and lemon inside for about 30-40 seconds. When it’s done, get a sponge and simply wipe away the grime. The acidic nature of the lemon interacts with the steam and makes the dirt easy to wipe clean. Also, if you have a garbage disposal, toss your old or used lemons in. They helpsharpen the blades and freshen the disposal!!

Furniture polish is easy too, by adding all of the ingredients in my list together and Voila; your own duster and polisher. If you like fragrance, add a few squeezes of an orange to your mix and it’s your very own Murphy’s oil and Orange Glo!!

Medium Cleaning Areas

These are surfaces that will take a little more effort than a wipe down, but not too bad to clean, especially if you stay on top of it regularly:

·        Sink surfaces and drains

·        Stove surfaces

·        Kitchen floors

Tools for these areas: Vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, isopropyl alcohol

Sink surfaces just need a bit of warmed up vinegar and dish soap and they are disinfected, clean and shining like they are brand new.

Since everyone doesn’t have a Swiffer for the kitchen and wood floors, we can still make the work easy on ourselves. Get the same recipe as the glass cleaner (water and vinegar), add a little dish soap (for the suds) and rubbing alcohol and you have your own floor cleaner. If you do have a Swiffer, you can use this solution with it and skip the expensive refills. The great thing about this recipe is you can use it on your kitchen tile floor too!!

Wow, I have been chatting on and on, so much so that we’ve run out of time today!! Looks like you’ll have to stay tuned for tips on the most difficult cleaning areas. I’ll give you a hint though…you’ve already been given most of the products used to make your own cleaners, but will add more next time.

Thanks for being here and feel free to share your DIY cleaning secrets with us in the comments below!! Enjoy your week!! Make it a frugaliciously clean one!!

Frugalicious Diva

Follow me on Twitter at @FrugaliciousDva