Pinterest Addiction: Cleaning

The most robust board i have on Pinterest is called "Dreaming of a clean and organized house" - cause who isn't!? Maybe it is my nesting instinct that has peaked my interest. Either way, i have found some really great ideas.

1. CLEAN LIKE A PROFESSIONAL:  I actually hate this concept because to me it is the equivalent of saying look like a movie star. It is their job to look beautiful. They get paid to do nothing else but look beautiful. Professional cleaners get paid to clean. Unless i start getting an allowance for cleaning i won't have the same motivation. I am intrigued by her concept of cleaning without water. I wish she explained it more. Does that mean a cleaning agent without water? This theory certainly doesn't seem to support the bleach water solution i use. Is that what i have been doing wrong this whole time? Would i be a more efficient cleaner if i used some sort of foam and a dry cloth? What i do like is that professional cleaners aren't expected to clean around clutter. I know i would be much more likely to wipe my counters if they were clear. So now my sole motivation is to find organization methods that work for everyone in my family to clear our lives of clutter all so i will be more likely to clean my house. Sounds fanciful.

http://dreamingofpoultry.com/content/how-clean-your-house-professional

2. THE CLEANEST MY SHOWER HAS EVER BEEN:  By far, my most favorite cleaning tip is how to keep your shower clean by keeping a dish brush (one with a soap chamber) filled with half dish soap and half vinegar in the shower. I actually look forward to scrubbing my shower now. I use it at the end of my shower when I'm already in there and it only takes a minute. Petie and Charlie take turns when they shower and Mike uses it daily! I was just hoping for one of us to use it weekly! Our shower may be the cleanest place in our house right now.

3. DISHWASHER DETERGENT:  Homemade dishwasher detergent. After two weeks of assessment i can officially say that this detergent works. It is easy to mix, the ingredients can be bought anywhere, it makes a lot, it is cheap, and you don't need a lot. I fill my rinse agent reservoir with distilled vinegar as she suggest and our dishes are just as clean as with store bought detergent and jet dry.

http://itssoverycheri.com/2012/04/30/homemade-dishwasher-detergent/

4. MICROWAVE CLEANING: I actually thought this worked great but it did leave a strong vinegar odor in our kitchen which disturbed Mike so much that he cleaned the microwave with a store bought cleaner which totally freaks me out - i just don't like the idea of chemicals inside the microwave which will then be heated to extreme temperatures with the food we are about to consume. We agreed to try just steaming water in the future. To be honest, our microwave was not all that dirty when i tried this so maybe it didn't work as well as i originally thought.

http://practicallyfunctional.net/2012/04/how-to-clean-your-microwave-in-2/

5. DISHWASHER CLEANING: Not that you need to do this a lot but this worked and was easy to accomplish as a background task. I underestimated how good it would feel to look at such a clean dishwasher!

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-your-dishwasher.html