in the middle of spring cleaning this week, an unseasonably late winter storm hit colorado bringing freezing temperatures, school closures, icy road conditions, grumbling, complaining and two feet of heavy, wet snow wreaking havoc on trees with their new leaves and full branches. paul and i spent hours knocking snow off our trees as it continued to fall through the day and into the night. will winter never end?
back inside, since it was no fun outside, i continued on with my spring cleaning schedule. this year, i decided to choose options for making and using all natural cleaning recipes. i'll share the new to me as well as tried and true recipes i've always used.
monday: tile and grout cleaner
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1 teaspoon dr. bronner's liquid castile soap
mix ingredients together and store in a resealable jar.
grab a toothbrush and start scrubbing that grout.
tuesday: copper polish
white or apple cider vinegar
table salt
i was given this cute copper pot as a wedding gift from my aunt kathleen. i love this pretty, little thing but it definitely needed some tlc after all these years. setting the lid and pot in the sink, i poured vinegar over the entire surface and sprinkled salt on the copper, gently scrubbing with rubber gloved hands. in no time at all, my pot was bright, shiny and looking like new. now on to polishing the silver.
wednesday: homemade soft scrub recipe
1 part each: table salt, baking soda, distilled water
a few drops essential oil (i used idaho blue spruce)
mix ingredients together in a glass jar. spoon a dollop onto the sink's surface and scrub everywhere with a sponge. grab that toothbrush again to work on the seams and corners.
on wednesday, i attacked all of the white sinks in the house, actually all of the sinks in our house are white. if there is one simple pleasure that can brighten my entire day, it's having bright, white sinks. beautiful!
thursday: degreaser
2 cups very warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 teaspoons liquid castile soap
15 -20 drops lemon or orange essential oil
mix ingredients together in a glass spray bottle. spray on surface to be cleaned and wipe with a clean cloth.
on thursday, i only focused on cleaning my range. greasy burners, greasy back shield and shelf, greasy vent hood. yuck. to finish up, i even cleaned my oven. (yep, that definitely feels better :)
friday: glass cleaner
1 cup distilled water
1 cup white vinegar
juice from 2 lemons
20 drops lemon essential oil
in a glass spray bottle, mix distilled water and vinegar together. add the lemon juice and lemon essential oil, mixing gently.
my mom has used this streak free glass cleaner recipe since i was little. ok, i've amped it up a bit by adding distilled water and essential oil. but, i can still remember one of my spring jobs as a little girl was cleaning the storm windows my dad had taken off and put on the grass for me to work on in the backyard. (hey, whatever happened to storm windows?) with my vinegar spray bottle and crumpled up newspaper i'd get to work spraying and wiping until they sparkled. i just beamed when they met with dad's approval and were ready for summer storage.
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