Scrubbing Floors the Clean Way

Today I am going to go in a slightly different direction than my (not so) usual posts and share some practical information.

We have been trying to eat and live healthier. We are gradually getting away from processed foods and turning to cleaner foods. It is a long journey but we are making progress. In the past few months I have also been revamping how we clean. I don’t really like the idea of my kids breathing in toxic fumes or crawling on floors that have chemicals on them.

My most recent venture was in scrubbing (on my hands and knees, thank you very much) the kitchen floor. I found this blog via Pinterest last week and decided to try out her recipe. It is:

1 gallon of hot water

1 cup of white vinegar

1 tablespoon dish detergent

1 tablespoon lemon juice

 

The solution, I thought, worked really well. I did have to change the water about 3 times and still have about a third of the floor left to do (my floors are nasty). The hubby was gracious enough to take the kids to the grocery store and get our weekly shopping done while I scrubbed away. The solitude was lovely and took the sting away from the task at hand.

 

One thing I want to rant about mention is how awful linoleum floors are. If you are redoing your floors or building a house, never use linoleum. For one thing, I’m pretty sure it’s outdated; there are so many options out there that are far superior, and another thing it is a pain the behind to clean. Linoleum is kind of soft. I have dropped a knife before and it stuck in the floor. So when your floors are constantly being walked on and babies are throwing food on the floor and children are spilling milk (to name a few), then you have really nasty floors. And the softness of the floor just holds that dirt and grime in there. It is not impossible to clean, but nearly. And there are some spots that I just cannot get clean no matter how hard I scrub… the floor has like absorbed the dirt. (Yeah, I used the word “like” improperly. So like sue me) Anyways, if we ever remodel our kitchen (pretty please?) then I will definitely be putting in some good solid tile. End rant.

 

So after cleaning, now I can rest comfortably knowing that my kids can eat food off the floor or crawl around on it and not have to worry about harsh chemicals being ingested through their mouths or pores. J

 

Before I leave you, another solution that I LOVE is for cleaning the bathtub. I’m pretty sure I saw this one on Pinterest too. You take 1 cup of really hot white vinegar (I just heat it in the microwave for a couple of minutes) and 1 cup of dish detergent (I use blue Dawn) and soak your bathtub, the walls, the faucets, everything. The vinegar will get in your nose and it stinks horribly so I usually close the door and turn the fan on. I leave it for about 2 hours to soak. Come back and just wipe with a sponge and rinse. My shower has never been cleaner (ahem, when I do this regularly). And once again I don’t have to worry about those darn chemicals.

 

Thanks for reading.

Until next time. Your sporadic blogging friend,

Kelly