Archive for the ‘Natural/ Green Cleaning’ Category

Tired of staring at my badly tarnished unity candle, I decided to start exploring natural methods of polishing silver. (I had never actually polished any silver before since this is the only silver piece I own!)

Here is the recipe I tried first:

Silver Tarnish Remover

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
6 cups of warm water
1 sheet aluminum foil

Instructions:
Line a large bowl with aluminum foil (this is not to protect the bowl; it is part of the recipe.) Mix salt and soda with warm water in the bowl. Place silver items in mixture and soak for one hour. Dry and buff with a soft cloth.

This is the most common method I’ve come across in my years of natural cleaning research.

I didn’t have a container large enough to fit the entire candle holder in, so I used the largest baking dish I had, which submerged about half of it. Then I went to a movie.

4 hours later…

It didn’t really work. I experimented with adding more salt and soda and left it for another hour. Nothing.

I was pretty surprised by this actually, although I should know by now that not all natural cleaning recipes really work all that well (which is why I keep this blog in the first place!) This recipe is just so widely spread across the internet, I never really thought to question it. Maybe I did something wrong?

In the end, I used Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste (must be white paste not gel FYI) and it came out beautifully.

It would take quite a lot of toothpaste to polish something much larger than a candle stick though. If anyone out there in cyberspace has any other natural recipes for silver polish that could more easily handle large pieces, post them in the comments – I’d love to try them out!

Mix:

2 cups baking soda

1/2 cup liquid castile soap

4 tablespoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)

optional – 5-10 drops essential oil of your choice. Another alternative would be to just use scented castile soap, like Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap!

Store in a sealed glass jar. Shelf life of up to two years!

Mix equal parts walnut oil and lemon juice

Add a few drops of eucalyptus oil or other fragrant herb essential oil of your choice for fragrance (optional)

Rub generously into wood

Let stand for a few minutes and then buff with a soft dry cloth to a beautiful finish!

Fill a 32 oz spray bottle with warm water

Add 2 tablespoons of natural dish soap – I like Seventh Generation, Bi-O-Kleen, and Ecover. Don’t use conventional – it will be too soapy!

Add 20 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract to disinfect (find it in the supplements section of your local health food store.) 

Optional – add 5-10 drops of essential oil of your choice for fragrance. Lemon or Jasmine are my top picks! 

Shake gently, and enjoy your new scent of clean!

As most people who are familiar with my company know, we have always made the majority of the products we use in our client’s homes ourselves. As of this week, that will no longer be the case.

I am excited to introduce Queen of the Meadow, our new product line. Queen of the Meadow is a small local company run by Daniela Butrick and her family, and they have mixed up a heavenly custom-blended signature scent just for All Star! Here is some information about Daniela’s company from her website (www.queenofthemeadow.com):

Queen of the Meadow

…your exclusive source of pure and natural beauty care!

We are a family business, located in Fort Collins, CO, that creates all natural, herbal hair & body care, and household products.

Our ingredients are wild gathered, or organically grown and we appreciate the renewable resources our earth is giving us.

Our products do not contain any petrochemicals like aggressive detergents or petroleum based preservatives that could harm you and our environment and do not belong at all in your hair or on your skin.

We are crafters and our products are handmade, in small batches – and get to you always fresh!

Nor do we put synthetic fragrances, colors, emulsifiers, thickeners or alcohols in our products.

The oils we add, are when ever possible cold pressed, unrefined, and organic. We only use raw butters – simply, we create our recipes with only ingredients that are kept in their most natural, authentic way, so nothing harmful gets into your bloodstream!

We care about human beings, animals, plants…just simply about our environment and planet we are living on.

You can feel and enjoy our products’ natural origin!

In addition to her cleaning products, I have personally used Daniela’s solid lotion bar for a couple of years now, and love it. Look for her in local farmer’s markets and check out the goodies for yourself!

Add 1/2 cup vinegar to a 32 oz spray bottle

Fill the rest of the way up with warm water

Add 1 tsp of Dr. Bronners Peppermint Soap

Shake!

Voila! No more streaks!

I love my steamer. I would be lost without it. I didn’t even know what a steamer was before I got my start in the cleaning industry, and now I just can’t imagine life without one. When faced with dirty grout, a soap scummy shower, sticky baseboards or other tough messes, it is a lifesaver. 

For example, just last week the grout in my kitchen was black. Fed up with looking at it, I pulled out the steamer. Here is the after pic: 

No nasty chemicals, just my steamer and a grout brush. 

Steamers are easy to use, melt away grease, dirt, grime, and soap scum effortlessly, and are relatively inexpensive. They clean with the power of dry steam – usually heated to between 240 and 275 degrees – sanitizing hard surfaces using only water. 

We have two: 

The “big steamer” for large jobs will run continuously for 45 minutes without refilling. We paid around $100 on Amazon. 

The “baby steamer” is for quicker jobs, running around 15 minutes at a time.  I think I picked this one up for around $30 at Walmart one day when big steamer was being repaired.

Please keep in mind steamers should not be used around small children or pets! They are safe to use on most hard surfaces, but always be sure test a small area first. Happy cleaning!

Here are two more tools no natural cleaner should be without – the pumice stone and the plastic putty knife. 

Pumice Stone 

Natural Pumice Stones are another well kept secret of the cleaning industry. They will remove stains and mineral deposits from toilet bowls, and scrub burnt on messes from ovens like nobody’s business. Cleaning-quality pumice stones are sold in the cleaning supply aisle of most stores, and crumble easily when wet (do not attempt to use a cosmetic-quality pumice stone in your toilet!) To avoid scratching, keep your pumice stone very wet when in use, and test a small area first. If it doesn’t scratch, go to town with it! 

Plastic Putty Knife

Have you ever been cleaning your kitchen, wiping along innocently, and suddenly run into a mysterious glob of something – petrified pancake batter, or worse, dried egg -  and it just won’t budge? No need to pull out the big guns (chemical cleaners) in an attempt to dissolve it. Just whip out your plastic putty knife, scrape it away easily, and move on. I recommend sticking with a plastic knife to minimize risk of scratching. 

Microfiber has literally revolutionized cleaning as we know it. Made from fibers 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, microfiber has unmatched scrubbing power, and is capable of removing 99% of bacteria on a surface using water alone. It attracts and traps dirt, dust, and bacteria in the cloth like a magnet, to be simply washed out later. Microfiber is highly absorbent, holding seven times its own weight in liquid, and is completely lint free, making it perfect for dusting and mirrors. Use dry for dusting, or wet for scrubbing. 

Microfiber must be properly cared for to retain its unique properties. Wash separately from other fabrics in cold water, with no fabric softener. 

Excellent, high quality microfiber cloths can be purchased in packs of 25 from Sam’s Club for $11. I recommend starting with two packages, and keeping a small waste basket under the sink to collect the used cloths in until you have enough to run a load of wash. 

Most people have a large collection of cleaning supplies – after shower spray, soap scum remover, rust/limescale remover, soft scrub, scouring powder, glass cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, disinfectant spray, floor cleaner. Sound familiar? And that is just for the bathroom!  Really only a few products are needed to get the job done. Why do people collect cleaning supplies like it’s a hobby? Everyone is looking for the magic bullet – the one product that will clean the bathroom for you, effortlessly. 

What a lot of people don’t realize, is it is not the products that do the work for you, it is the tools. I still remember being eighteen years old in my first apartment, scrubbing fruitlessly at my countertops with a rapidly shredding paper towel (now I am embarrassed to even admit to ever using paper towels!) I, like most people, bought into the magic bullet theory, and blamed the product (spray cleaner) instead of considering my tool (paper towel.)  

There are a few tools every natural cleaner needs in their bucket. They are:

• Microfiber cloths
• A natural pumice stone
• A plastic putty knife

I think I’d better make this one a mini-series. Look for more posts in the coming days detailing how having the right tools can help you make the switch to natural cleaning painless.