Soap Scum Cleaner

Soap scum: be gone!!

Well, that didn't work so I guess I'll have to clean. Bummer.

A friend told me to try vinegar and Dawn dish detergent to remove soap scum. I'll admit: I l.o.a.t.h.e. cleaning our tubs and showers and had a LOT of scum on the sides. I wasn't sure this mixture would do the trick. She told me to microwave the vinegar for 2 minutes, put it in a spray bottle then add about 1/2 a cup of baking soda and shake gently. I'm telling ya, the vinegar smelled horrid!! Who knew vinegar smells so bad when heated? Oh, you did? Well I had no idea. You may want to wear a mask...the smell choked me up. Anyway, I sprayed the mixture on the sides and bottom of my tub and shower and let it to sit for about 2 hours. I was told the scum would wipe away easy peasy. I did have to scrub but not nearly as hard as I've had to scrub while using other cleaners. I was very happy with the outcome and my now sparkly, shiny shower and tub! Just use caution; I wouldn't use this mixture when little ones are around. The smell really is THAT bad.

 

Easy Carpet Cleaner

Stress is so not fun. We all deal with it; sometimes we deal with it daily, but it's still not fun. You'd think because I encounter it so much I'd have come up with some special remedy to make it go away or make it bother me less. But I haven't. Boy, do I wish I had the cure-all for stress. Oh sure, there are different things we're told to do to reduce stress: confide in a friend, take a hot bath, read a good book, take a nap, have a glass of wine, exercise, and on and on and on. But do these things really help you? For me, they're stallers...they put off whatever I'm going to have to inevitably deal with head on and I think I'd rather just deal with the stresser and get it over with. I've had two major, like take years off of my life, stressers this week. When I get stressed, I clean and purge my house. Hey! at least there is something positive going on around here...my house is looking GRRRRRR-eat!! Anywho, I could use some prayers and good karma.

Like I said, stress = cleaning for me. I've tried some great cleaning recipes I've found online and wanted to share in case you haven't seen them. Our house has hardwood floors everywhere except in two bedrooms (which happen to be the kids' rooms [soon to be hardwood]) and on the stairs down to the man cave (nasteeee).  I love you, Hub, but you are prone to nasty environment when left to your own devices. The landing at the bottom of the stairs has been home to a nice, large, black, greasy stain for months; yes, months. If I were smart, I would've taken a picture so you could see said nastiness...but who wants to show their nastiness? I should've for comparisons sake.... 

I found a concoction that claimed to eliminate stains and required nothing more than this:

and, of course, this:

(photo courtesy of absolutely-unbelievable.com)

I didn't have a spray bottle handy, but this little guy worked just fine. I put about 1/2 cup of baking soda in the bottle using a funnel and added hydrogen peroxide until it was full. Shake it well to mix the two (be sure to close the lid first or you will have extra clean counters like I now do). I squirted the mixture onto said nastiness, let it sit for about 5 minutes, then scrubbed with a scrub brush. Said nastiness was so nasty that the mixture bubbled up and got all foamy when it was applied to the stain. I don't know if that is the normal reaction or if my stain was just super stain. I'm telling ya, that stain was GROSS and I have no idea what it was from!

 

BUT IT IS NO MORE!!! 

This super easy mixture of ingredients that I already had on hand cleaned that bad boy right up! Now if only I can encourage Hub to prevent said nastiness from reoccurring...or keep a bottle close at hand.