incidentally what is the worst smell you have smelt this week, mine would be Milton sewer works ona warm day (saturday i think it was)

i proceeded to use a combination of vifour, wirewool and some kind of detergent/corosive chemoical to remove the paint from my skin - my hand went yellowish and ballooned up - it was horrible but it got the paint off - the car was a different story

VIGOUR CHILDREN,VIGOUR

...and every boy in class ended up with a complex that needed years of therapy to resolve.

I don't need to get very far to satisfy my Middle English (OR my cleaning) cravings, however. All I need is the crisp, clean taste of I Love Everything! *megawatt smile*

Cleaning!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2150861910_4a495b8056.jpg

All now trashed. Thank goodness.

i cleaned my room in RI. i found a bunch of CDs (20+) that i am too embarrassed to bring in to any store for credit.

i have a lot of those. today i cleaned my kitchen (i'd let it go for about two months.)

i even considered a cover story, but those all sounded super desperate "it's not me but my sister who was really into the barenaked ladies ca. 1994, and ..."

barenaked ladies ca. 1994 vs. cake ca. 1997

hoboy

god i have like 100 cds i'm too embarrassed to trade!

my room needs serious cleaning right now and yet i'm procrastinating. ugh. how to get motivated!?

Put on your Spin Doctor's cd.

What are the best fluids/powders with which to clean

1) tiled (linoleum?) kitchen floor

2) interior of bathtub

Particularly if you haven't *thoroughly* scrubbed em in, oh, a year to 18 months?

for 1) full strength Grease Lightning
for 2) Bar Keeper's Friend, if it's a porcelain over metal tub

Keep the windows open and exhaust fans running for both.

Thank you!

no window in bathroom :(

(I don't know if metal is under porcelain of tub -- it's not an old tub w/ legs or anything)

You can usually tell by tapping on it with a coin - plastic will sound dull, but porcelain (or enamel) over metal will sound more like glass. If you've got a portable fan, set that up in the bathroom - that way the fumes won't get trapped. You can probably use the Bar Keeper's Friend on plastic if you don't scrub hard - the chemicals in it are pretty powerful on their own for dissolving scale and scum and stuff.

oh, there's an exhaust fan in the can.

That's good - I've been surprised how many places we've lived that didn't have some kind of ventilation in there; seems like a no-brainer that it's required. Is this your move out?

yes. Hopefully I will get my deposit back if they can eat off the floor.

Is Grease Lightning like super-ammonia?

I think so - I've used it to successfully dissolve baked-on grease from the inside of an oven door. It's some kind of nasty caustic. I used to be able to find the spray bottles of it at the supermarket, but now I buy the gallon industrial strength jugs from the Cash & Carry restaurant supply place. It's good for cleaning pretty much anything in the kitchen - I soak those metal filters from the range hood in it occasionally and wipe down the fridge exterior with it. Not so good on the butcher block countertops though.

1. Greased Lightning is pretty great for general cleaning around the stove.

2. Oven cleaner is magic on a really dirty tub. I cleaned apartments post-move-out one summer, and there were some nasty tubs and showers. A dousing with Easy Off, and you're set.

3. My friend Jenny bought me some of this for the floor and walls.
http://vivirlatino.com/i/2006/10/fabuloso.jpg

hehe, that looks like kool-aid! Does it matter what color you use?

That's a great tip for oven cleaner - I've always had the PH34R of it, for some reason. I need something to clean the scale/scum from the swing-out glass shower door, so something that can drip onto tile and is fairly innocuous to mop up (instead of rinsing it straight down the drain like I can do for the rest of the shower).

I used yellow ("Limon"). The purple is lavendar, green is pine, and blue is...?

raspberry!!!

what variety of GL is best for floor/ stove?

http://www.greased-lightning.com/products/Default.aspx

Oh wow, I've only used the one in the white bottle, multipurpose.

I use the white bottle too. Don't know anything about he rest.

I don't use it on the floors because it leaves a lot of residue and it's really harsh, so I think it would bother my feet.

I usually mop w/ hot water a few buckets-worth after I use it, due to having cats that would march through it then lick their paws. Unless I was moving out, then I just do a quick mop afterwards.

Now though, I have old hardwood floors in the kitchen, so it's just Murphy's oil soap mostly.

guys, when my treadmill was in storage position (base lifted vertically) when we moved house, a bunch of oily greasy something has leaked out on to the walking belt which makes every 4th step really slippery.

would greased lightning work on this or do you think it will burn a hole in the belt (which I guess is some kind of nylon/plastic)

If you use it, don't leave it on very long, and rinse well. I would think that it would be effective and would not damage the belt.

It might not do much if the oil is a synthetic, but it's worth a try.

thxz!

i'm so not excited about dusting the office

I am trying to con the man into cleaning the whole house as a birthday gift, but I don't think it's gonna happen...

hahaha that is exactly what i would do

what floor cleaner should i use FIRST before Greased Lightning (and is GL genearlly available in NYC retail stores I wonder)?

I would use GL first, as a spot cleaner. GL surely is available at a retailer near you.

(xpost) I don't know, I just squirt it straight on the lino, wait for 5-10 minutes, then mop it up and rinse. If there's particularly bad spots, I resquirt them, wait, maybe get down and scrub some, then mop and rinse. Not sure where you'll find it, I used to be able to buy it from Safeway and the drugstore, but recently have only found it (in an even stronger strength) at the restaurant supply place. You could always just have at it with Mr. Clean or Pine-sol though.

btw, I tried the Bar Keeper's Friend on the glass shower door and it took the scum/scale right off - smells bad in a weird chemical way for awhile though.

thx all. I just have to be sure not to do this on a hot day...

OK, Bar Keeper's Friend not really getting the tub sparkly -- looks like gray soap-scum residue won't come off except with my FINGERNAIL (on the shower wall near the soapdish, too). Tilex for Soap Scum, then more BKF?

Try using a copper (softer than steel wool so less likely to destroy the finish) Choreboy with the Tilex or full strength GL or BKF if the tub and surround are not plastic.

Or go Jesse's oven cleaner route, that stuff is powerful.

I'm really fond of those scrub brushes with the handles on them, you know the ones that look like miniature irons? They do a pretty good job of scrubbing without abrading, on the occasions I've used 'em. I don't know how bad your tub is, though.

>I'm really fond of those scrub brushes with the handles on them, you know the ones that look like miniature irons?

Second that, this gets used every time I scrub the tub.

Oven cleaner. It's like magic. Very toxic magic.

I don't know the scrub brushes that look like miniature irons. I'm buying more cleaning supplies this month than I have in the last 10 years.

The tub is not THAT bad, but the effing landlady is going to withhold my deposit if I give her the slightest reason.

got the Greased Lightning!

A tip for the fridge: if it has the slightest odor (or, you know, stinks), rub damp baking soda all over the interior walls and the plastic things like the bins with a sponge after you've cleaned everything else out. Leave it for as long as you want (overnight, whatever), wipe it out then put the shelves/bins/etc back and put fresh open boxes of more baking soda in both the fridge and the freezer.

Thanks, but I did the fridge shelves and all on Saturday, no smell is noticeable. I am gonna put a new b'soda box in tonight, and then it's the floors and tub to do (with the GS and BKF and ironstyle brush).

full strength Grease Lightning

So I shouldn't dilute it for the floors? Just squirt on the spong mop and/or sponges? (I read the label a few days ago.)

i like the iron scrub brushes as well but be careful you don't overscratch your tub!

so I'll start with BKF on sponge for tub, I guess?

I'd rub it on with a sponge and let it sit damp on the really bad spots for a bit, then scrub with either wet sponge or brush and see what you get. It didn't do much for the tile floor of my shower, I didn't have a scrub brush though. I got fed up and squirted full strength dishwasher detergent gel on it. The fumes about did me in, but it cut through the gray scum. Next time, I'm going for the oven cleaner though.

or i'll just fly Jesse in and let him do it.

well, good news is the BKF pretty much got all the shower wall soapscum. BUT there's still that gray film on the tub floor that's mostly not budging.

I got fed up and squirted full strength dishwasher detergent gel on it.

Jaq, a brand name for the dishwasher gel? it's in the hardware/cleaning outlets next to the handwash fluids?

or I'll just get the damn Easy-Off and go to town.

I just used Cascade, the standard stuff from the supermarket. Don't get any on you, it's really caustic. I let it sit on the shower floor for 20 minutes or so, then scrubbed. This might be a good time to go straight to the oven cleaner though. (ha - xpost)

Oven cleaner is magic on a really dirty tub.... A dousing with Easy Off, and you're set.

Jesse, how long to leave E-O on before rinsing?

You could probably leave it for as long as it says to do an oven - like 30 minutes or so?

hah, somebody on a forum sez they let it sit for HOURS!

Apparently there's Easy-Off BAM for tubs, specifically:

http://www.easyoffbam.us/product_info.shtml

That looks similar to GL, but maybe Ultrashine Bleach! is a magical ingredient.

Another person sez at least 2 hrs for Easy-Off on the tub:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2244180_soap-scum-off-bathtub.html

This consumer got no results w/ E-O (maybe didn't wait long enough?), prefers something called KABOOM:

http://www.epinions.com/content_294686723716

lol KABOOM.

KABOOM! BAM! GREASED LIGHTNING!

So many explosive choices!

well I bought the regular oven (fume-free) Easy-Off, so this is my last chance.

you're in danger of spending your deposit on cleaning products

sorry morbi, i was out of town. i answered over at the gay thread.

i forget - what sort of grime are you going after? i doubt it would do much for my tub, as it has ground in dirt due to the enamel being very worn. but e-o is magic on soap scum.

http://a1468.g.akamai.net/f/1468/580/1d/pics.Drugstore.com/prodimg/157702/200.jpg

I found one of these on special.

Pro:
With regular use, it's bound to be effective. I can see where it removed some stains; there are streaks of clean.

Con:
I forget to use it.
It's not really a shower/tub CLEANER, just a maintainer of clean. Not really that much of a "con," but a little.
It uses a lot of fluid in each spray.

But I figured out how to remove the cap, so I'm going to refill it with cheaper cleaner, very diluted Fabuloso or another Scrubbing Bubbles product.

Easy-Off worked!!! but I need to give it one more dousing to get a few more patches off.

Kitchen floor remains dull and kinda dirty alas ... heel marks, etc. Greased Lightning does little for the spots. It may be my downfall. I'm guessing I shouldnt use EO on linoleum (if that's what the tile is, I don't even know).

(actually I spent $150 just now to get an earlier flight home, dammit)

I use EO on linoleum. But not EVOO.

Did you use EO oven cleaner?

on the tub, yeah! not yet on kitch lino, but it's getting desperate...

what the hell is EVOO?

hahahah! extra virgin olive oil :) I doubt the oil cleaning method (OCM) would work on your floor.

Fucking Rachel Ray says "evoo."

For heel marks, I would recommend Goof Off or some kind of orange oil-based cleaner.

HEY.

What color should I paint the floor in my new apartment? The landlord covered the marred hard wood floors with a horrible brown. The walls are a nice moss green with a built-in book shelf unit painted purplish. I was thinking a silvery-bluish-grey. Off topic, but recommendations appreciated.

Ugh cleaning I hate you. We've been given four months to vacate but I've been here 8 years so the place has a lot of wear and tear. Whats worse is, for reasons unknown, they sent painters in last week and painted all the walls while we still live here! We agreed to it not realising at the time we were going to be given the arse. They made a tremendous mess (broken plaster and paint flakes, dirt, cigarette ash on the balcony, paint on the carpet, broke a lamp and a camera... oh god what a disaster) and then fucked off without cleaning a THING, it has taken me two whole weekends so far to get the place looking even habitable again.

Easy off BAM is awesome I have to say. The kitchen grease one gets rid of EVERYTHING but it is disturbingly toxic smelling. The bathroom one is good but so caustic, it seems to react weirdly with bathroom greases and leave a sick, sharp smell I dont like.

So I got the apt clean enuf for the landlady, and she gave me my deposit back. FANFARE, THE END. Used Mop n Glow on floor for the last wipe.

Of course the new place has an annoying amount of dust, crumbs and grime (a MUSICIAN lived here, natch).

yay for the return of the deposit - I HATE it when they keep any of it. And hey for your new place, look at all the cleaning expertise you've acquired recently - just blast everything with Easy-Off and be done with it.

I don't want to clean anymore for at least 2 months.

As soon as my financial situation is straightened out (August????) I'm hiring a cleaning lady. Well worth about $100 a month because I'm not a neat or clean person.

Please consider being an equal opportunities employer.

I took Martin Grelis at his word and tried his Easy Off Bam. I did not care for it. In fact, it was fucking useless. Hospital strength Domestos can't be beaten. It wins the Shower War every time. Get on board people.

I'm reading a book in which a real estate agent recommends cleaning the tub with Tang and Pepsi. I wonder if this works.

lol, do you drink them then pee in the tub?

Do *I*?

no, anyone who follows this agent's book.

I'm reading a book in which a real estate agent recommends cleaning the tub with Tang and Pepsi. I wonder if this works.

My father once got rid of a stain from his truck's steering wheel when he spilled orange soda on it.

Cheap own band coke is good for cleaning stuff.

The book's a novel.

Trust me, it would end in disaster; I know my limitations.

oops, that was meant re phonejack instal on other thread.

Ha.

ALl of the flores are sweeped!!! I invite you to sharing this great fellings :)))))

And Washtub

Anyone psyched here for spring cleaning?

My House Stinks .

gotta attack the fridge this week

I just moved into a new place, and it's pretty clean. Gave the entire kitch a good scrub with SimpleGreen degreaser and a brillo sponge, esp around the edges of the cabinet doors.

My mom says ammonia is a good degreaser -- somehow I never realized this, I thought it was just a disinfectant. Can anyone confirm? Ie can I use a crazy amt of ammonia on my disgusting oven hood that has so much grease on it that the dust and hair in the air has stuck all over and turned it black?

Currently throwing away shite like a madman

It's probably a sign of how crowded it was/is in here that I've so far filled a standard wheelie bin and the amount of space has hardly increased at all.

ammonia is a good degreaser

It's not bad, but works better if punched up with some (chlorine bleach free - v.v. important) grease-busting dish detergent (like Dawn) for super heavy grease. Don't mix bleach and ammonia ever though - makes a vapor that is almost pure chlorine gas.

I've been trying out all the Method brand products - very impressed with their Tub and Tile stuff, especially since you can use it w/o gloves. Their wood floor cleaner smells like almonds and the mint glass cleaner works pretty well on stainless steel too.

I have that Simple Green stuff - never seems to work as well as I want it to.

i need to be cleaning right now but im feeling too lazy.

serious question: how much does it cost to get someone to clean your house once or twice a week? I have no idea.

Here the regular price is seven euros per hour. We pay a bit more, but then I really like her. Not sure how it works in other countries.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

http://www.shespeaks.com/pages/img/review/mr-clean-magic-eraser_05102010131819.jpg

This thing is pretty fucking amazing. I was very dubious when I bought it, being skeptical of the manufacturer's bold claims and having heard that a friend's dad returned his for a refund at Target. But damn if it doesn't work like magic. It is far, far (really far) more effective than a scouring pad, sponge, or rag on everything I've used it on.

And the generic cheap-o versions work just as well.

And the Roomba is a godsend, too.

how fucking hard is it to put things in a bin without getting food all over the edge of the bin?

HOW FUCKING HARD UNIVERSE?

jesus!

lol as a continuation of the above post...

anyone in london use a cleaner? how much you pay, how many hours per week, are they good etc?

how fucking hard is it to put things in a bin without getting food all over the edge of the bin?

HOW FUCKING HARD UNIVERSE?

jesus!

u know i've thought of a phrase you could shout at them....

going rate for a good cleaner probably £7/8 p/h, stick an ad on gumtree

first person who replied to my advert was an incredibly dour slavic woman who looked like slavoz zizek crossed with john terry's mum

Man, can I echo Jesse's sentiments re: the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser? We had a couple walls we were SURE we were going to need to repaint, due to both scuff marks and dirty areas where a bookshelf was pressed up against the wall, but these got rid of all of the marks! But I do have to caution that you do want to test it on a small area first, because when we tested it on another color in another room it was found to pull the paint off with it.

I don't understand how they work so well. Not just for walls, but for food stains on countertops. They're wonderful for cleaning the range, too. And the fridge, of course.

My Roomba sucked up water and is now deceased. Fortunately iRobot has a replacement program where they send you a brand new one for cheap, or a refurb for even cheaper. Thank god, b/c that thing made a night/day difference in the state of my floors. Maybe someday I'll get a Scooba!

A blog post about how the Magic Eraser works. (I didn't know that there was a rumor (debunked) that it was toxic b/c it's made using formaldehyde.)

yaaay chemistry!!

It's springtime and talk in another thread made me think it's time for a revive.

As I said in the other thread, One thing that was SUPER inspirational (though not at all effective in changing my behavior) was hearing some guy on an HGTV show about tiny apartments say that he makes his bed every day b/c he deserves to come home to a freshly made bed.

So now, I think, I'd clean up that puddle of dried cat puke in the corner if company was coming, so why wouldn't I clean it up for Jesse....?

It is a really good way of thinking about housekeeping, IMO, even though it has been hard for me to put into practice on my own. Which is why I hired cleaners. I'm putting a higher priority on having a clean, inviting (to me!) home, and it's worth the relatively small $$.

I'm attempting to put the same amt of energy into learning about cleaning as I put into learning about other things. Then I'm going to do it. (it= keeping everything clean)

Recommendations for a wall/tall stuff dusting implement for short people?

LL I think you would like the Home Comforts book--I found it rather fascinating and read it from cover to cover (it is 896 pages!) in a weekend. Be warned that the author WILL make you feel like a disgusting savage if you do not change your sheets like every other day.

xp

I have a telescoping aluminium handle that accepts various attachments ... on the rare occasions I get inspired enough, I use it to dust the tops of bookcases, ceiling fans, ceiling corners, etc. ... much better than standing on a step-ladder or something

search "extendable broom handle"

Something that is helping me - giant boxes of disposable nitrile gloves from costco and a case of those anti-bac cleaning wipes. In the kitchen and bathroom where I can easily get to them. Also magic erasers b/c they are amazing.

This thing is wonderful

http://i.imgur.com/bfsrYHwl.jpg

(or similar)

I have gloves and a fancy apron I'm going to wear for inspiration. Bought a little fuzzy duster today while I waited for spare keys to be made too. Thanks for the suggestions!! I need to frame this in my mind as "something fun I'm doing for us" rather than "do not be disgusting piggy savage" so pls bear with my relentless positivity -- it's what I need in order to maintain interest.

I usually throw a dirty towel from the laundry over a broom and stick a chip bag clip on it to dust ceiling corners and tops of windows. Or a rubber band, that would work too.

that's a great idea orbit

project for next weekend: our ceiling fans are gross

we have one of those long skinny dusters on a pole for fans but they make such a bloody mess, i've only used it a couple of times. (hence the gross fans). But i found out about a cool way to clean them while I was googling:

get on a step ladder, and put a pillowcase over one of the fan blades as you would put the pillow case on a pillow. Then with 2 hands gently slide the pillow case off the blade, running the pillow case over the fan blade as you go, so that the dustmonsters all collect in the pillow case. And use a damp rag to wipe up what's left over. Repeat x each fan blade.

I have a pile of odd sad pillowcases just DYING to be sacrificed as dustmonster catchers. I'm excited to try this. Obv I will do this while Mr Veg is home so he can steady the ladder. Just in case.

i don't know how to reach my ceiling fan. i think the ceiling is 14 ft in my bedroom. i keep looking at it. i hate it! and the walls are dusty up there too.

i need bathtub help

What kind is it? Maybe you can use oven cleaner!

old fashioned ajax or comet, a scouring pad and elbow grease works pretty well a lot of stubborn bathtub nightmares...except horrible rust stains and mean old beaten up porcelain

that's when you reach for the CLR

yeah. there is rust between the grout. the main problem is not the tub itself but the tile.

clr might be the way to go

tilex makes a hardcore bleach spray for mold & mildew, but i have found thatvit works on nearly any kind of grout stains, maybe try that first?

orange stuff that looks like rust along the tile/grouting is often bacteria, the answer to which is bleach (and making sure your bleach use is well ventilated etc).

i deep-cleaned the bathroom a few months ago and it took the best part of an afternoon because I set out to scrub all of the tile w/ bleach -- but i'm probably not going to have to it again for another year or so now, and it's still super clean-looking now, so it really wasn't time wasted.

* to have to do it again

(actually i am thinking about redoing all the sealant because it's peeling in places)

nah i have gotten the pinkish orange mold/bacteria before. it's definitely a different color. i'm gonna CLR it. i can't even begin to describe the sealant.

well my landlord is supposed to come in and do something to the bathtub because he says something is draining into the basement, and i can imagine that might mean he is re-caulking. so that's why i have to clean.

I have to admit I never used to think I would want a pro cleaner to come in, but even having it every couple of weeks just makes such a difference -- keeps things at a sort of base level and prevents them from getting insane, and then I'm more motivated to clean the rest of the time. Of course having a kid crawling all over the floors also both (1) motivates me to keep them cleaner and (2) necessitates a lot more cleaning, since, e.g., I have to clean the floor every time she eats.

I usually throw a dirty towel from the laundry over a broom and stick a chip bag clip on it to dust ceiling corners and tops of windows. Or a rubber band, that would work too.

aha, this is cunning. I have been sitting here like a sadsack going "it's not myyyy fault there are cobwebs in the corner of every ceiling because I am too short to reach them even with my feather duster" but now I shall have NO EXCUSE

(tomorrow I might want my excuse back)

Re bathrooms, the only cleanser I use is any of those bleach-containing tile ones. I find they get the soap scum as well as anything else, PLUS the whiten grout and caulking. They are pretty harsh on grout, though, so if you're actually going to clean every week or something, maybe the disinfectant wipes would do as well.

1. Spray on foaming bleach cleanser.
2. Let sit for 10-20 mins.
3. Scrub with either a scrubby-sided dish sponge (I rotate the old dish ones into the cleaning cupboard so they have two lives) or one of those stubby iron-shaped scrub brushes.
4. Rinse w hot water.

I also wear gloves for all this fyi.

How long I leave the bleach on depends on how bad the mildew is + what's on ilx right then.

re: hiring a housekeeper

I have said, on numerous occasions: "if you are too busy to clean your own toilet, then you should look at WTF IS YOUR LIFE rather than hire somebody to CLEAN YOUR TOILET because that is just beyond the beyond."

I still really struggle with this. Something about paying another person to clean where I void my bladder and bowels. . . it really troubles me. But for the past three years, I have done just that. And it has been so helpful to me, my spouse, our marriage. . .

I dunno I am super conflicted about hiring housekeeping help. I really am. Part of it, I am sure, comes from being raised in a well-to-do family where your mom never had housekeeping help and your father still cut the lawn despite working 70-hour weeks as a Fortune 50 company exec VP. Clearly I have issues I need to work through.

Like, does my cleaning lady have a cleaning lady? Maybe? But ugh I am just really hung up on this point.

I grew up poor as dirt, so having a house cleaner is livin large. Never going back.

I used to clean houses for extra money in and after college, and my grandmother cleaned houses on and off for her entire working life. As long as you're not using Merry Maids* or similar, but hiring someone with an independent business, you are hiring an independent professional to bring their expertise to a specific job in your home, not "hiring help" or exploiting someone and forcing them to clean your toilet. And if the person you hire is like me at all, s/he's fucking psyched to have the business and is happy to have been hired.

*i worked in housekeeping at a ski resort for awhile and we used Merry Maids-type techniques, or in other words, spray with cleaner and wipe with a paper towel. Very surface, not very clean at all. Spraying the tub with windex and wiping it out with paper towels... I shudder to think of it.)

i'm relatively happy to clean things above a certain height. toilets aren't too bad. and i certainly did my share as a kid

floors and baseboards and such can gtfo tho

Jaq OTM about using oven cleaner on the shower/tub. In college I worked one summer cleaning homes, mostly post-move-out apartment cleaning, and oven cleaner was a godsend for some of the appalling (APPALLLLING) showers.

This thing

http://i.imgur.com/NC7uKOy.jpg

is great for maintenance. Surprisingly so.

Also, what carl a. said about hiring cleaners. It's an unglamorous job, but as an example, my cleaning job was for a business owned by a woman who paid a very decent wage, and was very happy to be running a good business. But yeh, screw Merry Maids (though I want to love one local likely-sweatshop b/c of it's name, "Manic Maids.")

It's unglamorous and it's physically quite hard on the body. A few months ago I was talking to one of the cleaners at the place where I work, who's in her fifties, and she said it made her sad that so many of her colleagues are young girls in their 20s who are damaging their backs etc so early in life-- for her it was very much a job you took on later in life, when you have as it were less to lose. Which wasn't a way I've ever thought about it before. I think most of the cleaners I've known, especially the young ones, have been using it as a stopgap or a part-time job to finance other concerns (my parents' last cleaner was doing an MA), whereas she was talking about people for whom it's their sole job.

I grew up in quite a seventies-feminist household so I always think about the idea of "wages for housework" in these situations -- domestic labour is a job as much as anything else. Just because people often perform it as an unbilled contribution to the running of the household doesn't change that fact. Paying someone else to do it, so long as you pay them a non-exploitative wage and don't take the piss (e.g. that you pay someone to clean and not tidy-and-clean, that you don't expect the cleaner to perform unsanitary tasks), is merely a recognition that it is a job with an economic function.

But I get that if you've been brought up in a culture of domestic goddessery it can feel like an admission that you're not fully capable. It's the same kind of admission as getting an accountant to work on your tax return, or a mechanic to flush your car radiator.

My mum & grandma both worked as cleaners, my grandma still does (she cleans old ladies' houses, at 74 she's probably going to be older than some of them soon). I'm not sure exactly why but the idea of hiring a cleaner myself makes me recoil somewhat. I think some kind of class guilt? If I hire a cleaner I become one of the posh people that thinks they're too good to clean up after themselves, or something.

Thing is I don't think my grandma would think badly of any of the people she's worked for, so this resentment is probably entirely my own making.

I grew up in quite a seventies-feminist household so I always think about the idea of "wages for housework" in these situations -- domestic labour is a job as much as anything else. Just because people often perform it as an unbilled contribution to the running of the household doesn't change that fact. Paying someone else to do it, so long as you pay them a non-exploitative wage and don't take the piss (e.g. that you pay someone to clean and not tidy-and-clean, that you don't expect the cleaner to perform unsanitary tasks), is merely a recognition that it is a job with an economic function.

This is great and OTM.

You can only really maintain a belief that it's demeaning to hire a house cleaner if you believe that housework itself is demeaning.

For me it is definitely a class guilt/posh people thing.

Our housekeeper makes far above and beyond minimum wage (I think it works out to about $30/hour), but in paying cash we do not contribute to her social security benefit, nor do we provide health insurance (she is insured through her husband, at least), nor do we contribute to a 401(k) for her. . . guess neither of us will be running for office anytime soon.

Previously we used a local company (NOT a Merry Maids joint) that did all of the payroll and benefits stuff for their employees, but damned if our current cleaner (who cleans other houses on our street) didn't march up to our front door and tell me straight up: "I come to clean your house every other Thursday afternoon from now on. Give me key." I admired her hustle!

Apropos nothing: The only thing the lady I worked for was grossed out by was sink drains. This is the woman who never bothered with gloves when she washed the inside of the toilet bowl by hand, with her bare hands.

Legally unless there are specifically laws about it in your state/municipality, she's an independent contractor. You wouldn't have to insure her/put her on your 401(k) any more than you would a house painter.

To over simplify it, nannies (which is where politicians get in trouble) are a different story because they work full time for one employer and the employer exercises significant control over the nanny's work. Unless you are hanging out in your house directing your house cleaner when she cleans, she's not your employee.

House cleaners with their own businesses are people with their own businesses, not full-time domestic employees. Like any other freelance/independent contractor, they are responsible for paying their own taxes and taking care of their own insurance and retirement.

Fun story: when I was looking for a house cleaner in North Carolina, if I was checking out a company as opposed to an independent house cleaner, I always asked what they paid their cleaners and whether they provided health insurance. I got hung up on a lot. LOL.

OK so the cheap white vinyl blinds in my apartment are GROSS and it's really starting to bother me. I looked for advice online and found several variations on this:

In winter or inclement weather, put the blind in the bathtub with just hot water and automatic dishwasing detergent; let set until cool and clean with 'bowl' brush or other long handled brush; rinse in cool water with a little vinegar or alcohol for a nicer finish; towel dry and hang to completely dry.

This sounds difficult somehow and I'd be afraid I'd break them or something. Has anyone ever done this? Maybe it's way easier than it sounds? I guess I'm worried about the taking them down and putting them back up part.

My recommendation: take those fucking things down and stick them in the back of a closet and replace them with just about ANYTHING else (I would prefer a sheet nailed up over the window over cheap white vinyl blinds) and then when you move out, stick the gross blinds back up.

Jenny otm. Seriously, cleaning those fuckers? Don't bother. Do you really want to brush in between every slat to remove 10 years of dust and grime?? Let me answer that for you: hell no.

I might ask your new landlord to have them cleaned -- didn't you just move into a new place? Carl's plan makes sense, but it'd be unfortunate if you were charged for filthing them when you put them back up to move out.

I found this handy schedule in my old 1989 Better Homes and Gardens Household Tips book.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8272/8711486617_acfef9f87f_n.jpg

My experience with landlords is that asking them to clean your miniblinds will result in either being laughed at or being flagged as a pain in the neck.

I have cleaned my blinds in the tub, and the result was so-so, and I recommend a gadget like this:

http://i.imgur.com/dDLoqHP.jpg

I don't have carl's aversion to blinds, and in fact, when I first heard her express it, I was surprised b/c I thought miniblinds were considered "nice."

David Sedaris wrote about his house cleaning days when he would clean blinds by putting them in the bathtub with a mix of BLEACH AND AMMONIA a/lksdjf/;ksaljdf

I just mentioned it as a preliminary measure -- I absolutely do not know the first thing about keeping blinds clean if my last apt was any indication. There's a lady named Rita out there who is telling her friends how disgusting I am, I'm sure of it. In fact, that's part of what started this whole "I need to step up my cleaning game" ordeal. I wish window coverings weren't so vexing!

vinyl blinds is what I spent my Saturday cleaning with the vacuum cleaner. but I have a small one in the bathroom that's super greased-on gross. I'm planning on soaking it in the bathtub next weekend (have never tried this method) -- ENBB if you like I'll report back!

mr veg swears by garden hose, detergent and a broom, but I can't see what good cold water is going to do.

(ie taking them outside and doing them on the back lawn)

In case you didn't know: DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA. It creates ammonia gas, and that is toxic. Jesus.

xp - LL, don't be too hard on yourself. Even if you're as messy as you are saying, it's not a character flaw. And in person, you come across as a tidy, efficient, stylish, and clean person.

Seriously, if you're going to clean blinds, that gadget is the only sane way.

FOR THE GREASY KITCHEN BLINDS: USE AMMONIA. It is the best (and cheapest) degreaser ever. Let them soak in HOT water and ammonia and then use that multi-brush thing Jesse posted.

I am not absolutely sure if you're supposed to soak the header of the blinds in water? You know, the rectangular box at the top where the mechanism is. Unless someone else says it's okay to submerge it...?

That's good for dusting, but there's a point when they get beyond dusty into straight up grimy. I don't think that thing would take care of that.

xp

Curtains are way way easier than all this shit, btw. When they're dirty, you just take them down and put 'em in the wash and hang them up damp. Hit with a steamer if you really hate the wrinkles, otherwise say "fuck it" and leave them alone.

Oh is that thing just a feather duster? Never mind, then. I thought it was a scrub brush like.

It's a washer. You put it in soapy water and wash the blinds with it.

xp re the defamation of The Gadget

oh god, my new apartment has all dingy vinyl blinds on every window, awful, i makes me want to BLIND myself haha get it no seriously gonna get oedipal

I'm feeling totally neurotic about this -- it's true! I also have some longstanding issues wrt homes, cleanliness, order, and people pointing and laughing at me. Trying to take control of the situation and genuinely tcb is more of a general life goal for me than something I'm doing to evade shame/something I'm doing out of fear. I also want to take care of my new living area out of general respect for it and the people/animals who live there.

Take those fuckers DOWN! Down with your blinds!

Cheap white vinyl blinds and contractor grade cabinetry is what bums me out the most about being a renter.

also i have hired someone to clean the apartment i just moved out of because fuck it

I didn't grow up with blinds, I didn't really even know what they were? In 1997 I visited NY for the first time in my adult life, and somewhere in Hoboken we passed a sign that said "Blind Cleaners" and I spent days wondering whether they were offering to clean your blind people or offering the cleaning services OF blind people and finally dismissed it as a weird error. It took me YEARS to realize.

I grew up with roller blinds and miniblinds took on this aura of being smart and lovely.

every few months I go through this whole process of 'I'm going to get rid of these blinds' and then I look into ooh yes curtains and then it's just, every window in the house is a different width - 3 windows in the living room all look the same to the naked eye but they're all slightly off...and then ooh what color curtains and oh are they thick enough and do I need lining and maybe I need sheers and even doing it cheaply the process becomes a LOT more expensive than I bank on every time

I would love plain old roller blinds and sheers but again, it's just kind of a nightmare trying to put my arms around getting it done.

which is what led me to just cleaning the blinds I have. I figure even if I hate them, at least if they look presentable it'll bring up the rooms a little. and it has. so far.

I am not defending them now, only explaining how I came to think of them as quite all right.

xp

I just can't spend a whole lot of money right now, so I'm going with "make the best of what I have" at the moment.

Totally. carl won't mock you when we come visit.

i blame the USA network's 1980s late night dramas that made us think that peering through miniblinds was sexy and dangerous

You guys have got me side eyeing my (blue!) kitchen blinds now but I don't know if I can be bothered. Also the cord is frayed and the things don't work 100% correctly anymore. If I break them then the neighbours will see right in and then I won't feel free to prance around in underpants.

nail up a sheet over the window, it's worth it

I don't have any fabric that matches and is thick enough to hide us from the neighbours. Our windows are about three feet apart with the sinks underneath, it gets awkward. One day I'll go and buy some fabric just for this task.

Get some textured clear window clings then, if u want light with privacy. Possibly even just put them on the bottom half of the window?

I would love plain old roller blinds and sheers but again, it's just kind of a nightmare trying to put my arms around getting it done.

this was me for the last 10 years. meanwhile, my blinds were getting grosser and grosser. to carl and io's credit, neither of them mocked me when they came over to my home. i just don't want to feel like this anymore!

textured clear window clings
some what?

oh, those are great! they are indispensible for 1st floor apartment dwellers

Removable plastic films with an embossed texture that you smooth onto windows to make them not transparent.

i understand what the words mean, but what are they called? where do you get them?

window clings, or window film -- you can get them at hardware stores, I think ikea even sells some

LL, like this kind of thing:
http://www.notmartha.org/images/other/designsponge/windowfilm/strossel_geranium.jpg

not as twee obv

http://www.lighteffects.com/

ok see i have never seen such a thing! ty

those are pretty!!

we just had plain frosted vinyl ones on the lower panes of our windows and they were really just indispensable especially since our apartment didn't get barely any light. we never had a bathroom curtain, on the 1st floor even! so i will vouch for their privacy.

Ftr I barely even noticed the blinds at your house, you crazy person, I was totally focused on hanging out with you. I was super jealous of all your sunlight though.

Uh that's to Lechera.

I hadn't thought of window clings! that would be a better solution for the bathroom come to think of it

xp - but they were really gross, and i knew it :(

i'm totally gonna look into those -- do you cut to size? are they really totally removable? do they look chintzy? i swear people keep coming up with stuff that looks like 1000x better than i expect it to.

i grew up with curtains and had some ridiculous lacey ones in my childhood bedroom so i have this silly longstanding affection for lace curtains. i even made some when i first moved into my own apt long ago. i washed them and they were easy to care for.

we also don't have the peeper issue in our new place that we had in our old place. strangers on the train could look directly into my bedroom window if i hadn't had complete opacity. it's sad that i never knew about those clings before now -- could have saved lots of time and energy feeling shitzoid about my nasty blinds.

they are cut to size, yes. and they come right off with no film or residue. i can't speak for any of the patterened ones as i just had the frosted ones -- personally i would be suspect of the ones that have stained-glass affectations

yeah that's why i asked if they were chintzy -- no offense to chintz, of course!

i've becomed so accustomed to having them i think i should put them in the new bathroom, lest i become careless and give the neighbors an eyeful

LL just make sure you get non-adhesive ones, like the kind in Orbit's link

there are adhesive ones also but def def not advised for renters as removal can be tricky

yeah i mean the last time i bought contact paper, it was hella sticky
(it was also like 20 yrs ago)

in other news, i decided to line my fridge with plastic (like this little roll of thin plastic sheeting?) so that i could just clean that instead of stressing about getting stuff on my fridge.

i saw some one direction duct tape
maybe i'll just cover the windows with that

If I were doing a room with a sort of gypsy/romantic feel I would buy a 2nd hand table cloth with the deepest crocheted lace edge I could find, fold it in half diagonally, and drape it over an iron rod as a drapery with the crochet hanging all along the edge in deep folds. And then pin or baste it into position at the backs of the folds where it was hidden.

That is for the dept of interior design thread tho.

i think part of my prob with all of this is that i need pictures
words aren't really helping me

ilx is the best place for these discussions! i'm already inspired!

This is not what I had in mind but I don't hate it:
https://pinterest.com/pin/19984792068131459/

Actually I'm going to go a little drape crazy in the dept int thread, if that's okay? And get it out of Cleaning.

I didn't know about window clings either! Cool suggestion, thanks L. We are lucky in that we have a screen at the base of the widow so the bottom is at least a little private.

That's good for dusting, but there's a point when they get beyond dusty into straight up grimy. I don't think that thing would take care of that.

― carl agatha, Monday, May 6, 2013 2:22 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

These are Grimy as hell. They're . . . they're grey. :( I don't think any sort of duster thing would work. Maybe I will just wait a month until I have more $ and put up some curtains. The ones in my bedroom are new and totally fine but there are four huge windows in the living room and those are all really gross. I tried cleaning them with like windex and a rag and after it took me 10 mins to clean two individual little rows I was like FUCK THIS.

Don't clean them if you don't want to, but if you do want to, I repeat: Put to soak in hot water and ammonia. The greasy black stuff will wipe off.

OK. I might try it out next weekend with one of them just to see how much of a production it is. Will use your tips. :)

Why does no one understand that that gadget is NOT a duster? It's a scrubber. You soak it with hot soapy (ammonia-y) water and scrub several slats at a time.

I just think a duster like that won't work well for scrubbing, sorry.

I can't see hosted images at work so I just saw someone else say it was a duster and went with that. :( I'll look later from home.

lol carl

I can't tell if you're joking.

1. I own a similar gadget
2. My apartment has miniblinds
3. I am a filthy, filthy slob
4. The miniblinds have, at times, become filthy, filthy, and greasy
5. I used the gadget to scrub the filthy, filthy, greasy miniblinds
6. The blinds ceased to be filthy, and became clean

Wherefore, I entreaty you to GFY

go filth yourself

ENBB I think what you really need is a scrubber, maybe one that you can use to clean three or four of the individual blinds at once, not a duster like Jesse has.

Like this one:

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5104/cleaningblinds.jpg

like a fluffy wolverine

hahahaa omg dying

I have a set of blinds that are vertical and about 15ft long, cover a french window/ unopenable room height windows. Haven't cleaned them since I moved in here several years ago and really don't know how you would.
Would love a better system there and openable windows during the summer. Plus once it gets light in th evening I haven't worked out how you control the glare on th etv screen. Maybe I just need something like a chinese screen or something.
But that was a feature on a place I was offered and not something I had any choice about. Does mean ventilation in this place isn't great during the summer or any other time really.

This thread inspired me to vinegar my windows & wipe my bookshelves today! Grimy blinds remain grimy however.

ENBB I think what you really need is a scrubber, maybe one that you can use to clean three or four of the individual blinds at once, not a duster like Jesse has.

OK, now that I've had a nap, let me tell you: I was soooo sleepy when I read your posts and everyone elses who weren't getting it, and when I read the one above I felt like I was going to tear up out of frustration.

I needed a nap.

lol/sob

I'm sorry I was frustrated and crabby and I killed the thread. Come back.

Once again I have to climb up on a ladder and scrub the bathroom walls of mildew. Stupid bathroom has no exhaust fan, and a tiny little window that we can't open fully because the giant house next door has half their windows facing it.

So once a year in the summer I open all the windows and get a mix of bleach and laundry detergent in a spray bottle and a scrubbing brush and scrub the fuck out of the walls. It's slowly taking the paint off but at this point I could care less.

honestly i'd be afraid of ever having our bathroom remodelled -- pulling off the plaster to find that the entire room is made of mold is what I envision

I've been cleaning out my apartment after moving, and my discovery is that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is some sort of demonic thing, how does it work.

Also, I started cleaning my blinds for the first time in ages, and I think they looked a lot better when the filth was evenly spread on them tbqh.

mr clean magic erasers are pure sorcery, i love them

THEY ARE THE BEST.

THEY ARE! I can't believe how well they work. I figured they were BS, but they are actually, literally magick.

I'm going to try one of the mop ones on my horrible kitchen floor

I have one left of a four pack, and now I'm not sure which of the many things I can clean are sponge-worthy.

They also work great dry as whiteboard erasers and other dust-laden stuff (*cough* miniblinds *cough*).

lol @ poly

ok so i have lived here for week and a half and outside of regular daily stuff (dishes, wiping countertops, etc) so far we have
swept and mopped all floors 1x
dusted 2x
cleaned stove multiple x (i use it a lot)
cleaned sinks/toilets 1x
cleaned mirrors 1x

this is normal y/n?
it didn't feel that awful

i also used my stupid broom to sweep the front porch/steps because i've seen ladies do that in the movies and it seems like it would keep the leaves and stuff from rotting on the cement, right?

Imo I always want to do that when moving in somewhere new. Then I get too lazy...

I mean I do it once all at once then just as and when and not often enough

i am going to target after i get my hairs cut and i am cleaning the bathroom TODAY

― veryupsetmom

LL, I think that seems reasonable? If anything, I would have ammonia'ed the entire kitchen inside and out by now, every cabinet shelf, but maybe the prev owner had it deep-cleaned for the sale so it was all done for you, which would be awes...?

I hope you put an apron on and tied up your hair in a bandanna/turban while you swept that porch. lol at "my stupid broom".

That seems reasonable, LL. You have to do a lot of cleaning when moving into a new place. How is the moving in coming along? It always takes me about a month and a half to unpack and get things halfway decent.

xp - we think you're reasonable!

It's been 1 week since the cleaning people came and I'm VERY happy to report that the apartment is still clean and orderly! I'll probably have them come again this week. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a major turning point!

i'm sure ammonia is a wonderful cleaning product but i can't take the smell. it reminds me of cat urine.

^^^ it just smells like pee to me

moving in is basically complete! d is a tyrant when it comes to getting things in order, so that was done in a few days; my room/office/lounge area is still kind of in disarray but that's ok because it's my area! i can't find anything if everything is put away.

anyway, i feel pretty good about this cleaning! i'm trying to focus on making this a regular part of my life, and this is totally embarrassing, but i am going to put some appts in google calendar to remind me when the next time i should mop will be. i'm saying every 2 weeks? vacuum 1x a week?

while sweeping i did not wear hair in turban or don a cute apron (though i do know where they -- plural -- are) but i did smell like a goat and i wasn't wearing a bra, so at least i got into character a little.

thanks for the kind words -- i need them!

I forget in which thread carl talked about wages for housework, but I was reminded of it by yesterday's NYT editorial:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/opinion/pay-people-to-cook-at-home.html?hp

I am feeling a little better about hiring housekeeping help back in the day when I had a job and stuff. Now S and I are doing a pretty reasonable job keeping our casita in decent shape, even without help.

i can't find anything if everything is put away. :D :D :D :D

Frequency kind of depends on your traffic? Do you enter the house through the kitchen/back door or do you use the front door/foyer/whatever you have? I might say, wash kitchen floor once a week and sweep (or swiffer or vacuum or whatever you like) foyer/entry once a week--the rest of the house can probably wait until you notice dog hair tumbleweeds?

Wait, what am I thinking? Do those things every TWO weeks, not one. You're not a full-time housekeeper, for the love of cheese.

Just suggesting, not telling. I'm hungover and on my first cup of tea and first food of the day after going to two different stores on my bike to find scallions for my tacos before it starts thunderstorming.

i'm pretty good with noticing the tumbleweeds/sweeping/vacuuming for dog hair -- it's the invisible stuff i have trouble with. i have to mop the kitchen floor once a week? really?
being serious. once every 2 weeks isn't enough?

we have cork tile (?) in the kitchen so it never looks any cleaner or dirtier and that's making it hard for me to tell when it's dirty.

xp phew i thought 1x a week for floor cleaning was a bit much!!

i also sprayed and wiped the large kitchen appliances today, forgot to mention that

You're doing great!

Also: giiiiirrrrrrrl you have a PORCH? We are going to jibber jabber for so long on that porch.

now i have to do this every two weeks
i will celebrate when i have successfully done it every 2 weeks 6x
that's what, 3 mo of clean? that's enough to build a habit on i think.

we have a front stoop area and a little SUN PORCH off the kitchen -- both are v conducive to jib jab :) i can't wait til it warms up tbrr

I think after whatever period of vigilance you set for yourself, you can get to a place where you just check the floor every two weeks, and maybe sometimes it doesn't need washing, but it's a reminder to look at it? That sort of thing.

LL, one thing I have tried that helped (& would have continued to help if I had kept up with it) was writing chores on post-its and coosing one or two of them to do every day.

There are/were routine ones like "wipe down counters," and "scrub toilet," and special ones like "hang curtains," and "sort junk drawer," and "repot plant."

It's nice to have a list of options you can choose from. For me it staved off not knowing where to start and doing nothing.

Good idea! I like it.

Yeh, I'm inspired to reinstitute that system now.

um you guys I totally made my bed this morning

THIS IS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS AGE OF AQUARIUUUUUUUUUS

You *deserve* it.

aquair
i
uuuuuus

in laws are here, have not complained about any found filth so far
they haven't taken a good look at our bookshelves yet though hehehehe

i cleaned the toilet and wiped all the soap scum off the shower walls but i'm never gonna get the rust out! how does one use CLR? dilute w/ water and use spray bottle? i should have gotten one.

Hmm

Can I put CLR in a spray bottle?

No, CLR is acidic in nature. When using CLR it in a spray bottle, the solution could "spray back" on your clothes or in your eyes and the spray could drift.

That sounds like a "Yes, but be careful" to me.

Just sponge or blot it on?

It also says not to leave it on the surface for more than two minutes, so it's probably OK just to put it on a sponge or something since it doesn't have to cling too long.

xp

i don't have any gloves either. google is broken! i feel lost!

NO SPRAY BOTTLE

How do I use CLR?
In a well-ventilated area while wearing household rubber gloves and standing on a non-slip surface, mix equal amounts of CLR and warm water. Test the solution on a hidden area before applying to the entire surface. Apply directly to the calcium, lime or rust stain with a brush, cloth or sponge and rinse promptly with cold, clean water. Never leave CLR on an area for longer than two minutes. If the stain does not disappear, use CLR full strength and then wipe and rinse promptly with cold, clean water. Never mix CLR with other household cleaners or bleach and never reuse the bottle.

How do I mix CLR?
CLR can be mixed with warm water, 1 of three ways depending on the stain. For light stains and buildup, a diluted mixture is recommended. For more stubborn buildup, full strength is recommended, but only when diluted has been tried first. Diluted 1 part CLR to 8 parts warm water, 50/50 with warm water and full strength. Rarely, depending on the situation, a 1 part to 12 part dilution has been recommended and that was in a water fountain made with rocks. And always rinse with cold water to neutralize.

Can I put CLR in a spray bottle?
No, CLR is acidic in nature. When using CLR it in a spray bottle, the solution could "spray back" on your clothes or in your eyes and the spray could drift.

just mix it up in a bucket or something

oh wait je55e already posted that lol

it does sound like you can do it straight full-strength though, if the stains are really bad maybe just go that route and see what happens

lol @ cleaning the bathtub then soaking the dirty blinds in it. soy idiota.

lol :)

I think I understand dusting now. It has been a week, and I figured it was time, so it took ~ 20 min to do the whole place and I just listened to some music while I did it and it was actually rather pleasant!

What didn't you understand about dusting?

Those Swiffer dusting devices are really good for maintenance dusting, BTW. My apartment gets insane amounts of dust due to cats and living on a busy street, and so I whip out the Swiffer duster for a 1 or 2 minute dusting every few days.

how to do it, what to do it with, how frequently to do it, how vigorously to do it
the usual questions lol?

i got this white duster thingie and it's like touching everything with thousands of tiny white fingers. i think i was using paper towels before, something incredibly ineffective like that.

hallo!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Yeo58R%2BwL.jpg

The feather duster has always felt so fun to me - when I was a kid I used to dust my Grandma's house all the time! I have my own now :D

This thing is more fun because it works better than the feather duster! It doesn't just get dust in your face, it collects it! Then you can go outside and shake some of it off and it's like new again.
Please tell me this isn't wrong. How often does one replace these things?

I used to have a feather duster and it got dust all up in my face, so I think that was when I made the brave switch to...paper towels. :-/

I have a feather duster, but even w/ dusting spray, it mostly scatters dust around.

I was skeptical of that type of duster, LL, b/c I thought it wouldn't collect dust, but it's good to hear that it does.

afaict it totally works
i don't do the white glove test or anything but i guess i could if it would convince you!

thinking about those magic erasers -- are they to get fingerprints off walls and stuff like that?

OH MY GOD THOSE THINGS ARE AWESOME

But be careful b/c they will remove paint and you'll wind up with off-looking spots.

But they are truly fucking miraculous. I thought they would be a scam, but they are completely amazing.

And don't mind the haterz who say shit about "oh but they're made from *chemicals*! and a toddler touched one and it burned the toddler to the ground!" They are made from glass (not a joke) and that toddler had been scrubbing its skin with the sponge, which is very effective at removing what it rubs.

I get tons of marks off walls just by lightly scrubbing with a damp sponge btw, so maybe try that first?

if i do that there are always drips and slop marks around the place that i scrubbed -- am i doing it wrong? the paint is super matte and shows little marks very easily
i want to paint eventually (know when and where and how i'm starting, but it's just not that time yet) and in the meantime all i see are fingerprints on the wall

i thought maybe the magic eraser would be the solution to my problem

It will probably work better than a sponge. Glad you're going to paint. Super matte paint is a ridiculous thing to use on the walls of rooms where human beings will exist and likely touch things. That comment is directed towards every cheap ass landlord I've ever had.

yeah maybe try a magic eraser gently in an inconspicuous spot first just to see if it works. but they work really well, I use them to get scuff marks out of the vinyl floor all the time...and sometimes I use them to clean the stove when I'm feeling lazy :D

IME the Magic Eraser will fuck up super matte paint and leave shiny spots.

I use a dusting mitt like this:

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/UaGLS1Kucc16ItBF5sA7DTVOgulU-gHfO0SdN9DXRHas51hb399IyGZLsdiAcFEmxiH4CvSRw_5qPyQhNomt6pr6EGsTyvZ8Q0Yo4gF0xrWVMn1z5vpqMLD1lBcyj8oz2SOqt7FKjUQTQDKHHtprmIJBvTqad5d31QUxW2qtZezc73eCQaZTz1vGkWU9KdNU83K29MiNo3D7wRC1AO7IJz7WgrRG_jwPZNuF0Bt__IzliK9tx9zAML6SryzfBMltJstOx_NuILOXgI-xQxuVF3MY4fj4G700SH2zWakRHjgqjohXfNv8iCOS211FF7sdIdcPzzCf2dqtOuxp1on3he70aUUhdgHly3hJ0jZ7aYaOHR0RgO1LidfOC_3O7iocaHzl1mdYuwXV8-YoRxLcB5C1cPOlbyWGTQnlzZbSTmISBp2TIauIa5RaJKD8fNQZrwmuBwKll-jnRth1=s220-c

It's pretty sweet!

ooh I got a microfibre dust mop from the CloudMop line ...damn that thing works great on hardwood floors. Catches SO much dust! Even when you think it looks kinda clean already.

i have a steam mop and i really like it

i bought a mr clean eraser mop - it worked great on my scungy vinyl floor! except I could only use it once becuase one of the little plastic attachement screws was stripped, and it kept popping out of the mop!
so I have to send away to the company and get them to replace it for me. jerks.

on the calendar for tomorrow: mop floors, clean tubs
have already dusted and swept floors 1x this week

if it gets to be too tedious, i may ask you tell me about this steam mop
atm i am still mildly enjoying the physical act of mopping but at the corners of my vision i can see it getting old

i have never been much of a fan of mopping either, feel u LL

i have been wiping down the bathroom sink every day with paper towel ... it's feeling habit forming!

honestly making a concerted effort at tidiness & it's not as boring as i thought

Cleaned the bathroom woodwork with a magic eraser this morning, especially where the cats rub against the door frame and paw frantically to GET IN THERE.

As I've mentioned, we hire a housecleaner to clean every other week. However, IMO, in between her visits certain areas of our house get pretty scrungy, especially the bathroom. I have devised a way to in-between clean the bathroom in about 15 minutes that may be useful to some of you. This is also good for when you you have company coming and don't have time to clean for real.

You will need:
Broom or vacuum
Two rags
Toilet cleaner and toilet brush
Disposable cleaning/disinfectant wipes (like these, but any brand) of at least two more rags
Spray cleaner of your choice

Step one:
Close the shower curtain. You're not going to clean the tub since it's probably fine until the next time you properly clean and closing the curtain makes the bathroom look neater and also hides the 28 different kinds of conditioner you've accumulated in the last six months.

Step two:
Take all of the linens out of the bathroom. Bath towels, hand towels, guest towels, wash cloths, bathroom rugs. Throw them in the hall. PRO TIP: Buy two washable cotton bathroom rugs so you can have a clean one ready to go.

Step three:
Take everything that is on the floor (except the toilet brush) out of the bathroom and put it in the hall. Scale, trash can, space heater, decorative toilet paper cover in the shape of a cat wearing a prairie dress. Then take everything that is sitting on the sink or the back of the toilet (soap dish, toothbrushes, jar of cotton balls) and put it in or on the side of the tub.

Step four:
Put some toilet cleaner in the toilet.

Step five:
Thoroughly sweep or vacuum the floor.

Step six:
Take one of your rags and use it dry to wipe off the sink and the toilet. This and the sweeping with get all of the hair and weirdness that gets stuck to bathroom surfaces and makes wet cleaning so gross and frustrating. Throw the rag in the hall with the dirty towels.

Step seven:
Use the disposable wipes and wipe off the sink, paying extra attention to all the water spots on the faucets. Throw used wipes into a pile in the hall as you go. Wipe off the outside of the toilet, then the lid, seat, under the seat and the rim. (Goes without saying, but don't use those wipes on anything else.) I will often take this time to really get at the light switches and outlets in the bathroom, too, since the house cleaner can be a little cavalier about these (she has other things to do, anyway) and those wipes are good for that kind of thing. You can also use spray cleaner and a rag for this - just make sure you do the grossest part of the toilet last and put that rag in the dirty pile right away.

Step eight:
Use the wipes or a clean rag to wipe off all the stuff you took off the sink and the toilet and put it back where it goes. If you use an electric toothbrush, this is a really good time to pull the brush off and clean all that nasty gunk out of it. Wipe off all the stuff that normally sits on the floor that you put out in the hall back in step three.

Step nine:
Clean the toilet.

Step ten:
Wet the other rag and squeeze it out. Using the spray cleaner, spray a section of the floor and wipe it with the rag. Something like this will make this easier, especially if your bathroom is larger than ours. Spray and wipe until the floor is clean.

Step eleven:
Put all the dirty linens and rags in the laundry. Throw away the used wipes. Put the broom or vacuum away.

Step twelve:
The floor should be dry by now, so put down the clean rug, bring the trashcan and what not back in, and hang clean towels.

DONE. Your bathroom looks shiny and smells clean!

rmde

"of at least two more rags" should be "OR at least two more rags"

"This and the sweeping with get" should be "this and the sweeping WILL get"

i have been doing ^^ that a couple of times per week, only minus the wipes and + the good-smelling vinegar solution i made

just finished sweeping/mopping/wiping (?) the whole place
so glad to be done
enraged at my dog b/c he pooped in the basement

two more weeks til this happens again!!

also that is a good step by step guide carl!!

also i am totally going to get a croissant when i go to the grocery store after FINALLY taking a fucking shower

What is your good smelling vinegar solution?

white vinegar + water + essential oils of my choice (geranium, clary sage, and cedarwood atlas for fresh + woodsy)

when i got the apt cleaned before we left, i overheard the cleaning ladies talking en español about vinegar so i figured it was a good thing to make a cleaner out of...?

feel free to laugh at me if this is not the case

No! Vinegar is a great thing to make cleaner out of. I buy gallon jugs of white vinegar for laundry (put it in a Downy ball and use as fabric softener) and cleaning. I wondered what you used to make it smell good.

I use vinegar on my floors I put some with a little hot water on my microfibre mop, it works a treat. Good for windows in a pinch too!

Carl, that is an excellent bathroom tidying plan.

i got a magic eraser yesterday and it is so weird! am i supposed to get it wet? i opened the package and just started rubbing it on things to see if they if it worked and it did. lots of fingerprints gone. hehehehe.

Yeah, you're supposed to wet them. I need to get some more.

i have to clean my ceiling fans. they are the worst.

i'm afraid to turn them on in their present condition

Tiiiiime to de-mildew my bathroom!! Roommate leaving for a month, tiny quiet little woman subletter coming in, and presumably she's seen the place already but I'd like her to not quail at the sight of the tub.

hmm one weird ceiling fan trick the dust mites don't want you to know

Step 3: Fill a spray bottle with water and 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar and use it to spritz the inside of a cloth shoe bag or pillowcase. Put on a baseball cap.

Step 4: Standing on an extra-tall stepladder that puts you about a head above the blades, slip the bag or the pillowcase over each blade, pulling it back to trap dust (you can use the same one for all the blades—just keep maneuvering it to find a clean spot). Use a cotton cloth for residual grime and to dust the base and the light fixture.

that sounds like it'd work
i have been enjoying my vinegar cleaning mixture quite a bit, would recommend to those who need pleasant smells to coax themselves to clean -- it smells great! smelling it is a reward for cleaning. that's the kind of mental subterfuge that works for me :-/

not only pleasant smells, but bonus no contribution to big disgusting company that markets cleaning products almost exclusively to women

Ew, yes. I stick to the oldies but goodies--Pine-Sol, Murphy's Oil Soap, ammonia--but I have the disturbing impression that some products are supposed to smell "floral"?

http://static.navarro.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/a/fabuloso_lavender_28_image1.jpg

I usually refer to that as "Grape Fabuloso" because of its uncanny resemblance to a bottle of grape drink, but it's supposed to smell like lavender. Fabuloso also comes in "passion fruits" and "ocean paradise" scents.

A+ for the product name, and for being available at the dollar store, though.

oh i give all of those products a pass for being off brand and cheap, even Gain (because I have never in my memory seen an ad for Gain) -- i'm talking about companies that spend their money on television commercials with women gathering to drink wine and comment on each other's scented candles OR the ones that show women dancing with cleaning products/tools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqDzKad2Q3M

brownie! i read about a really rad sounding ceiling-fan-cleaning trick that you might want to try?

I haven't tried it yet but I plan to. Though honestly it only works if you have a bunch of old pillowcases lying around.
http://lifehacker.com/5823341/clean-your-ceiling-fan-easily-with-a-pillow-case

oh wait, carl already posted it

lol nvm

the magic eraser people sent me my replacement mop after I had the hassles with the stripped plastic attachment screws

AND

the replacement mop has METAL attachment screws! weeee I'm so exited to use it this weekend.

oh wait, carl already posted it

lol nvm

I posted it! carl has a team ceiling fan eunuchs doing her cleaning

It's true!

I was going to push the fan brush (b/c it's a gadget!), but the pillow case is good b/c it contains the dust.

lollol "Grape Fabuloso" That's fucking horrible and I'm going to wind up saying that around a small child one day and then I'll get blamed for Fabuloso toxicity.

I must have heard you call it "Grape Fabuloso" b/c I realized that that's how I think of it.

You did! When we were in Home Depot the last time.

cleaned my ceiling with that one weird trick and it worked! it was so dirty i used two pillow cases.

*ceiling fan

awesome

We're getting a new oven as we speak and the delivery guys offered me the opportunity to clean where the oven goes in the process of replacing it and HOLY SHIT it was so fucking disgusting under and behind there. ;_; I may never be the same knowing what happens under an oven. Also some fucking idiot put a glue trap in a little crevice to the left of the oven behind the cabinets that would be impossible to get to unless you disconnected the oven and moved it away from the wall so if something had died on it (thank god it was empty) it would have just filled our kitchen with the smell of rotting rodent and we would have had no idea what or where it was. Also in the process of getting the fucking thing out of there, I got glue trap glue on my house slippers and now my right foot sticks whenever I walk.

That said, our new oven is fucking sweet.

You can buy "goo gone" if the gluey slipper is a permanent problem! $5, lasts forever, takes all sticky stuff off almost anything.

o man i can see the little space between my oven and the wall. Worse than Hitler!

"luckily" I have an electric stove so if I want to I can move it a bit to clean. This may never happen.

I might get some goo gone, since I also managed to get a big smear of glue on the floor next to the oven and it's not only gross but I'm afraid the cat will get stuck in it.

we have a 5-inch gap between our stove and the counter and uuugggh it gets so grody, I don't even wanna know what the underneath/behind the stove is like

*shudder*

^^^ this is why I had to shell out for that sick 6- burner stove :( I love the stove tho) We have 36" of space between cabinets. With a 30" stove, A gap that large would have had nests of dog hair full of food tidbits for enterprising rodents in days. DNW!

Congrats on yr new stove!!

yeah I have to spray windex and then wrap dishtowels or papertowels around the end of a broom handle to clean in there

so stupid

i want to kick the lady who owned our house before us, god she was a grade-a MORAN

I have been making my bed every weekend for 3 weeks in a row now
I feel very grown up

oh AND my house is generally tidy!

I've even started folding the laundry as Mr Veg dries it, instead of pretending it's not there for a week until the pile is up to my knees

sorry to brag but really you guys this is most irregular for me, but also becoming kind of awesome to witness

proud of you!! you know all it takes is, what, two weeks to make a habit? sounds like you're there! i have been cleaning the bathrooms REGULARLY (not only under dire circumstances) and really really cannot recommend custom-scented cleaning solution enough. it makes all the difference for me. also having the paper towels/spray bottle nearby so i can do it when i have 10 extra minutes instead of digging through a closet to find it.

i keep papertowel and wipes under the bathroom sink, and after I've done my ablutions I quickly wipe the sink over

omg gamechanger, it doesn't get very gross and then when I do get around to cleaning in a couple of weeks it doesn't take half as long.

it's kind of nice not feeling beaten down just by how shitty the house looks

The first set of blinds are in the bathtub as I type. I am doing this. Will report back.

:D

Well, not really. I gave up after breaking the first two sets. Oops.

oh no :(

My laundry game has improved 100x over since I haven't had to stress about quarters. Part of that is general upgrade rather than any habit-change on my part, but it makes me all that much more positive that our old building was like a bad partner whose awful habits I had learned to tolerate or ignore, depending on the circs.

I've also decided that mopping the entire place every 2 weeks is excessive. 3 will be fine, 1x a week for kitchen & bathroom with white tile.

I'm also starting to think that blinds are someone's attempt to torture us. Working on replacing mine with something more manageable but it'll take time.

I'm so happy for you re in unit laundry! It is amazing and I wish everybody could experience that joy in their own homes.

I have found good deals on bamboo blinds on Overstock.com. Also the first place I look for sheets and towels.

i got my bed on overstock.com. shipping was $1. i had almost forgotten about it!

i need to get on the overstock train

for the first time in my life I have a garden + warm weather and wtf!! laundry dries almost immediately! Instead of over two days in the cold basement. I did two loads!

LL's house is very cute and very clean and tidy, even though, as she told me, she had not done special cleaning before I visited. It really looked like she had!

I, on the other hand, struggle to keep up with my own whirlwind up disarray. But I'm doing it.

It surprised me that the greatest benefit of hiring house cleaners is that it makes me do a lot more housework. She's coming today, so yesterday and today I spent quite a bit of time changing the sheets, putting away clean laundry, organizing papers, hanging the lamp that had been lying half-assembled on the coffee table, etc.

She'll change the sheets for you.

My bed is a major pain in the ass to make. It's surrounded on the sides and top, so you have to wrassle with the sheets and I don't want to make Maria do that.

Thanks for being honest with me Je55e! It's so weird how many things are wrapped up in one's proclivity toward formal cleaning tasks.

Xpost She's a pro, I'd let her do the wrassling. That's why you have cleaners, to do the stuff that is annoying.

taxes, cleaning gutters, snaking the sewer...

I don't know. I usually agree but Jesse's bed, which I have seen but never slept in nor made, looks like a huge pain in the ass to make.

It's not like it would ruin her life, but it just feels like the worst chore in the world. But maybe she wouldn't think so and me doing something else and having her do the bed would be a totally great thing for both of us.

Like when I cleaned houses, my boss was totally fine washing toilet bowls by hand without gloves, but she hated cleaning kitchen sink drains, especially if they had any food caught in them. So weird.

Well, I hadn't realised that Ecover own Method.

i just bought a shark steam mop with a home depot gift card and i think i love it
am i kidding myself that this thing is cleaning my floor? i feel like using it weekly is better than nothing, and it's super easy to use.

Jesse has one, I think.

I finally ordered my handheld vacuum that I've been putting off doing for about 6 months. I have a car now so it's extra important!

I looked at those steam mops, I am intrigued by them!

I am currently addicted mr clean magic eraser mop, my floors haven't looked this clean in forever

kinder, after wanting one for years, I bought a handheld vacuum this spring and I love the hell out of that thing. It has come in handier than I ever could have imagined.

It was actually a Shark brand cordless pet something something.

Jesse has one, I think.

Not me. I figured it would make me less likely to ever mop the floor if I felt obligated to go through extra steps it would require.

I bought a dust mop, which is nice.

dust mops rule imo

What am I doing wrong in trying to control the cat litter problem?? I swept and mopped yesterday at 4:00 and this morning once again, litter is evenly scattered all over the living room, bathroom, and closet floors. And on the couch.

The litter box is in an alcove - and I've tried other locations - with a mat around it. I've tried various "low-tracking" litters and facing the box toward the wall. I've even tried trimming the hair on the cats' feet.

Thank God for the Roomba.

do you have a litterbox lid? We have one bcz kitty goes apeshit in the litterbox.

Yep. It seems like one problem is that when they're done they jump out like a grenade just went off in there. A ramp is maybe the solution.

A lot obviously stays in their paws, too.

I think the size of your apartment makes it worse, too. I can't think of anything we do that you aren't already doing. Francie alone doesn't generate as much litter as Sample and Francie did, so I guess you could set Brenda free.

New bathroom has marble floors and it continues up half the walls - what do I clean it with and what should I definitely avoid cleaning it with?

New kitchen has white tile and BLACK grout so happy

don't use anything abrasive on the marble, if it's truly marble

Or anything acidic, like vinegar - it etches really easily

Yeah I'm pretty sure Its marble but might check with landlord. Bleach ok?

Also : goodbye horrible peeling stain covered porcelain sink, hello STAINLESS.

Another question. : ive never had a garbage disposal before... um what do I need to know apart from no oil and no bones / hard things?

dilute bleach on a light colored marble should be okay

Throw a lemon rind down the running disposal every once in awhile to make it smell better

no coffee grounds, no peelings (potato carrot etc).

don't treat it like a compost grinder (as I did when I first moved here, yipes sorry gargage disposal). also important public service announcement for pretty much only me: it sucks when you break a glass in the sink and it all ends up in the garbage disposal. avoid that, definitely.

NO PEELINGS???! wtf is the point of a garbage disposal if u cant put peeps down it :/

Lil poor peeps I meant peels obv

also important public service announcement for pretty much only me: it sucks when you break a glass in the sink and it all ends up in the garbage disposal. avoid that, definitely.
me too, my favorite little juice glass RIP
sticking my hand down there gave me the most unpleasant adrenaline rush

i just try not to use the disposal, just throw scraps in the trash like i usually do (composting is...not for me)

mr veg had to disassemble the whole unit to get my awesome glass shards out of it

i made myself scarce for that period of time

a few stray peels won't hurt it, but piles of potato peelings down the garbage disposal will ruin your thanksgiving

avocado skins are garbage disposal napalm, fyi

in my case the glass was so small that it snuck down there and when i turned on the power, RIP little juice glass
then i had to clean up the body

sisters in dead glasses, solidarity

My. Fucking. Boss. She puts whatever will fit into the garbage disposal at work, including one time, a whole box of barley.

I think I'm gonna print up alist of this stuff and keep it pinned above the Gb - there's noway ill remember all these rules!!!

Egg shells are fine, but do not attempt to grind shrimp shells.

ooh, biggest pro-tip that is kinda common knowledge for disposal owners is when you do run the disposal, turn on the cold water and let it run down the disposal while it's working, and then for a little bit after everything's chomped up.

Wow I had no idea garbage disposals were so fickle and weak!

Aside from murdering glassware, obviously.

seriously, tell it to my juice glass ;)

yeah I know I was pretty bummed; after clogging the disposal at least twice I remember yelling at mr veg WELL THEN WHAT IS IT FOR IF i CAN'T PUT GARBAGE DOWN IT THEN

:(

I CLEANED MY OFFICE CUBE THIS MORNING

WOW SO CLEAN

no but really, it feels nice to get rid of all the clutter and all gross finger oils

i feel unstoppable

I love cleaning my work space. I like to do it on Fridays before a long weekend so it is all crisp and clean when I get back.

brb going to clean my desk

i love the air dusting cans

fwooooosh

unfortunately the vacuum in the office doesn't have adequate suction to even pick up a stray paperclip, so i'm studiously ignoring the carpet right now

Where I work now, somebody comes around and vacuums and empties the trash every night! At the state, they would vacuum once Tuesday/month and you had to take out your own trash. But HR had a little handheld vacuum and I would borrow that and go to town. It was so fun.

I also like to clean my work space after I finish huge projects or after a few weeks of non-stop crazy busy-ness. Kind of an out with the old and in with the new thing.

Air dusting cans are THE BEST. Cleaning out a keyboard, especially if you are a disgusting savage who eats at her desk all the time like me, is one of the most satisfying things ever.

also satisfying: phone cleaning wipes

YES

and i just cleaned up my ILX bookmarks

Cleaning my work area makes me feel so COMPETENT and USEFUL.

Our building guy takes out our trash several times a day. Never less than twice. IDK why, but I'd really rather he did it way less.

every time i clean up my rather large but extremely crowded work area, but boss comes along and immediately starts fucking it all up. she will pick up a neatly folded garment from a particular area of the shelf (having been put there bc of its size and style) and then she will unfold it, leave it unfolded, and shove it back into some other completely random shelf.

my work area is also a dumping ground for all her junk (SO MUCH JUNK) - i've mostly given up on having a tidy, organized, non-stressful work environment.

Can you get drawer liners that ... aren't awful? Have an aesthetically pleasing chest of drawers but clothes tend to take on the smell of the furniture. Ditto moth repellents?

Drawer papers are p nice, I think. My mom's made it a trademark of hers to use Crabtree & Evelyn ones, I forgot which scent but they're pleasant.

^^^I was totally into the Crabtree & Evelyn ones many moons ago; I think it was the "Spring Rain" scent!

Now I'm more a fan of a pinewood or lavender sachet.

Do you like the smell of cedar? Plain old chunks of cedar from the lumber store would help the smell, tho not the lining situation.

Wondering what I should have used on an area that I vacuumed mouse shit off. Just used floor cleaner but would it need further disinfectant? & had been there for a while since under a cupboard. Thankfully mint sprinkled cotton wool has reduced presence of mice.
I've been springcleaning for last few days. Meant to for ages but not done as thoroughly as now since I stuck flat pack furniture around the place a few years back.

20% bleach solution is my go-to for feces and anything else containing buggies (raw chicken, etc.). But I would spot-test it before using it on carpet!

hi

my goal is to not be an utterly worthless piece of shit by 2014

hi, you are not currently an utterly worthless p of s
what do you need to clean?

i meant to post this earlier, but i am a fan of that shark steam mop that i bought. the mops are washable, and if i do it every week, the yuk never really builds up to the point where i would need to use something stronger.

i need to clean my entire house

and also figure out how to schedule my life so i can have time to clean & cook & buy, like, real furniture

Mmmmm I want one. xp

It is super hard to schedule life to get all of those things done.

Have you looked at the website Unfuck Your Habitat? People swear by it to help with the very things you mention.

home ec, basically?
that's a tall order! where do you think you should start?

i was gonna say that there is probably a website for this lol

that site looks very useful & relevant to my situation. thanks!!

Anyone have any tips on a streamlined way to clean a lot of hardwood flooring? I know I'm not supposed to use water on it.

You're not? At all? I mean I wouldn't let water SIT on it, but a wrung-out rag doesn't seem inappropriate.

I generally slop ammonia water all around with a rag, and then wipe it back up and let the floor air dry.

I use a dust mop most of the time, and then do a damp mop with a little method almond floor cleaner when it starts to look a little dull

but the dust mop is the best thing I ever got, catches so much more dirt than broom. I got tired of buying swiffer pads

i use my shark mop with plain water and it works great!

I'll spot clean with a little water and then immediately dry it with a dry cloth, but usually I only use a wood cleaning solution. Maybe I'm overdoing it?

I don't feel like a floor is clean until it's been washed, and I use a degreaser, but my house is pretty dusty (old) and my rooms lead off the kitchen and we cook all the time so there's an aerosolized grease issue. Also our wood floors are sealed with varnish, so the water I use doesn't go anywhere/into the wood.

Method's almond floor cleaner is good for regular use (I believe you're supposed to oil the floor yearly or so, as well).

Murphy's Oil Soap, perhaps?

Is there a good way to apply it that isn't getting down on your hands and knees with a rag?

So lazy

my landlord told me not use oil soap on the wood floors - said to use only a little water mixed with white vinegar.

PS: one person already recommended a Shark Steam Mop (sounds effective!) and another person said she uses a dust mop with almond cleaner. I'm not sure what other kind of answer you're looking for?

xp

PS: one person already recommended a Shark Steam Mop (sounds effective!) and another person said she uses a dust mop with almond cleaner. I'm not sure what other kind of answer you're looking for?

I recieved great answers and don't think I don't appreciate them!

like me he's probably waiting for the 'you guys there's these magical elves that clean your floors at night and they're free and awesome download them here'

yup

also want to throw out some words of encouragement to crut

start small, do it in short bursts like that cool website carl recommended. 20 minutes/10 break is a great way to go

good luck crut!

Commenters on Amazon seem to like other steam mops better than the Shark fwiw

i bought the one that was at the store where i had the gift card
there may be better ones, but it works well enough for me

i bought the one that was at the store where i had the gift card
there may be better ones, but it works well enough for me

― sweat pea (La Lechera), Monday, December 2, 2013 3:19 PM (1 minute ago)

time spent reading amazon reviews of cleaning products means you are putting off cleaning (channeling my mother here)

After giving it some thought I'm just going to use the steam function on my iron and get my floors nice and toasty.

it will enhance their sheen and showcase the wood's natural lustre

throw down some shirts and kill 2 birds with one stone

When I am done I never say my house is clean, instead I say "cleaner".

I have big problems with getting round to tidying and cleaning and being mess-blind (I can either see none of the mess or ALL OF THE MESS AAHH IT'S EVERYWHERE - insert Invader Zim episode with the germ goggles - and neither of these are conducive to getting started on the largest or most clearable bits but the former is more comforting, so I just do that) and this website looks p. useful, thanks!

Although I will admit that when it said "you can spare 20 minutes" I was hoping for the next words to be "once a week, maybe, eh, once a month and call it weekly" rather than "once or a few times a day", but I guess it was not to be.

is it okay to mention yr blog here in orbit and acknowledge the shameful recognition of my sins it brought out?

Yes, absolutely. Although I'm surprised at you, NV! Well, well.

Here, because not everyone lurks on the nba thread: http://limitedliabilitygirl.wordpress.com/

I know cheap jokes are nagl but I'm just tickled with the vacuum line.

I don't really know how or why it changed, but like every night while my dinner is cooking now I clean the kitchen and clean my room, I've got kinda addicted to using spare minutes for cleaning. I'll never really be totally neat as a person but I used to let everything descend into total mess and then do huge cleanups, now I'm a lot more of a keep it ticking over kind of person.

i meant past sins to some extent but tbh years of priding myself on not being as lazy or slovenly as an imaginary straw man doesn't really cut it. i think there are some broader questions about negotiating the level of clean that people sharing a living space demand but the general thrust of your argument was so spot on that i don't want to mansplain any of it away.

that pass-agg refusal to plan or think ahead or be proactive is the worst

I feel like I've learned a lot about keeping clean from my wife tbh. She calls things like sweeping up and doing the dishes and straightening and vacuuming "the maintenance of life." I find it helpful to think about it that way -- these are just the things that have to get done. You don't go out of the house naked, and you don't go to sleep with a full sink.

Yes, that's what I think too! Not specif about dishes necessarily but that it's "the maintenance of life." It's inevitable, you can work out what matters to you and damn the rest, but you can't erase the necessity of some kind of upkeep, and I think that's an accurate and appropriate way to describe it.

dishes i quite enjoy tbh

SAID NO ONE EVER.

How lucky! I loathe them. Perhaps in the future you can barter a willingness to do ALL THE DISHES, ALL OF THE TIME for some chore that makes you cry.

I hate their relentlessness, some Sorcerer's Apprentice-type shit where dishes just come marching in, chanting "Dirty, DIRTY, DIRTY, DIRTY!" and every time I go into the kitchen there are more of them.

i wd def opt for "always do dishes" in the housework rota. dishes and hoovering and clothes washing i'm pretty good with. putting dry dishes/clothes away less so, for some reason.

The maintenance thing is just part of being human. Your skin and hair are gonna fall off your body and they're not going to leap into the trash by themselves.

Somehow I find dishes to be the least unpleasant chore. With sweeping and mopping I feel like I keep finding another spot I missed and get frustrated. With dishes it's easy to know when you're done, and there's also something about just standing in one place while doing a chore.

Dishes have a visible quick payoff whereas cleaning the floors is more of a low frequency buzz.

both of you otm

i have been fantasizing about owning a steam cleaner for months now

Oh my god do it. Watch the grease and grime just melt away!!! Or uhh so I hear.

don't have the disposable just yet :/

have watched a lot of infomercials tho

most of my flooring is laminate so a multi-purp steam cleaner wd be the answer to all dreams

Dislike dishes, and we even have a dishwasher. However my least favorite chore is taking out the trash in the winter. My favorite chore is probably cleaning the cat box. It's like mining for gold.

see i've never yearned for a dishwashes cos i'd find the loading and putting away more of a chore than the washing up i think. when i wash up i have the radio on and it's mostly fine except for the odd baking tin that remains stubbornly resistant to soaking

I hate awkwardly sized or shaped dishes. I get angry that I can't adequately clean them in our sink and just end up smashing them on the floor.

A friend of mine has an fancy uptown apartment with a main hallway AND ALSO a back service stair off the kitchen. You just open your back kitchen door and LEAVE THE TRASH OUTSIDE IT and someone TAKES IT AWAY FOR YOU. The rest of the bldg is nice enough but nothing modern or special, but THAT is luxury.

The dishwasher really makes washing up more appealing to me. All the dumb stuff goes in and I can concentrate on cleaning the fancy knives or the pots that don't fit or whatnot and get it over fairly quickly and efficiently. I don't mind doing dishes but it can sometimes feel a bit Sisyphean if there's a lot to clean.

I am a slob and recognize my own messes but no one else is generally there to look at them and I'm horrible. That said, I'm working on it asap.

I need a dishwasher so fucking bad, though. I've never learned how to get into a good dishwashing routine and I'm probably at the point of no return.

btw messiness is fairly man-centric in nature, maybe possibly due to traditional gender roles, but it's straight-up bullshit to think it's only men. I have known a fair number of women who were total slobs, including some messes even I would not dream of.

that said, I guess I'm not really the target of L's blog because any cleaning that will get done will get done by me, eventually

living alone is kind of its own trap in that regard

and its own education

damn you if you think you're going to make me learn

i wasn't thinking of you tbf ;-)

but it's straight-up bullshit to think it's only men.

I agree, but no one said this.

I was yelling that at the world while standing knee-deep in garbage

that was an x-post to NV, sorry!

*shakes fist clutching unidentified garbage at the sky*

i do think the number and necessity of chores is a bit harsh and shd be minimized as far as poss

I think I hit an interesting low on the motivation scale when I bought carry-out on the way home to motivate myself to do the dishes

The domestic labor section of WOMEN, RACE, AND CLASS has a lot of interesting things to say about domestic labor and who should do it in a perfect world, but Davis is VERY clear about the fact that she sees it as soul-killing. Interestingly, instead of concluding that it's just boring old necessary work that both genders could split up somehow, she posits that the govt should subsidize well-paid cleaning crews for everyone. It's pretty amazing.

I have a dishwasher but I only use it if I have a party. I really enjoy washing dishes by hand. (Maybe it helps that I'm a stoner and I like the excuse to look out the window? Also it warms up me hands)

I think the trick is to not have that many dishes. Put your extra dishes in storage so you don't regularly use them. Do one drying tray worth of dishes at a time. If you're going to eat something and there are dirty dishes, clean what you're going to use to cook/eat. Little things like that.

That extra dishes storage idea is a really good idea

The domestic labor section of WOMEN, RACE, AND CLASS has a lot of interesting things to say about domestic labor and who should do it in a perfect world, but Davis is VERY clear about the fact that she sees it as soul-killing. Interestingly, instead of concluding that it's just boring old necessary work that both genders could split up somehow, she posits that the govt should subsidize well-paid cleaning crews for everyone. It's pretty amazing.

― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, December 3, 2013 2:16 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah but this would require creating an even larger class of people than we now have who have to do "soul-killing" work ALL the time.

I know! It's crazy! I don't have my copy here so I can't check but I think her angle is, at least they'd be well paid for it. Which...lol at subsidized gvt housecleaning for social safety net recipients, I mean. Whatta world!

robots

I have a friend-of-friends who works for some place called Ecomaids and the honest reason I haven't hired them is because I like the smell of bleach and they don't use any of that shit

I don't really find cleaning "soul-killing" tbh as long as it's just something I do for like an hour a day and not five hours a day. Really that attitude sounds pretty entitled to me, like maybe from someone who grew up with a paid housecleaner or just in a family with low cleaning standards?

or, like, a stay-at-home mom who found the cleaning really depressing but was resigned to it, lending cleaning a dismal attitude even when approached in moderation

I think I just diagnosed why I dislike cleaning but also why I had huge guilt and shame when my mom decided to pick up stuff around my house when she was housesitting one time

No need to speculate, Angela Davis is a real person that you can look up. xxp

Robots clearly the answer in the long term. Until they revolt, that is....

They have a plan.

cleaner humanoid dwellings i pray

I love my 2 robots (Roomba and cat litter bubble) and I would like more of them in my life.

I guess the daily shower spray machine is sort like a robot too.

I have known a fair number of women who were total slobs

oh hai

a back service stair off the kitchen. You just open your back kitchen door and LEAVE THE TRASH OUTSIDE IT and someone TAKES IT AWAY FOR YOU. The rest of the bldg is nice enough but nothing modern or special, but THAT is luxury.

see that sounds amazing and luxurious but I only have to walk down 2 flights of stairs and across 3 metres of car park to get to the bin store any time I feel like it and I still put it off forever, and in the last place I just had to walk down the driveway and put them on the kerb once a week and I would put it off every week and then forget, so really could I even trust myself just to open the door and put a bag right outside? I feel like my level of laziness will just increase in inverse proportion to the ease of the task

wait, in... non-inverse proportion. inverse to difficulty. oh fuck it.

I have two bags of trash sitting next to my kitchen trashcan and it is three steps and the back door away from the bin. Well, maybe one step outside.

turning into dirtbag style thred here

My favorite thing about this way-too-small-for-us loft we lived in for a year was I got to drop the cardboard for recycling straight out the window into the alley. It was awesome fun. I wanted to try it with the garbage, but Mr. Jaq convinced me not to. If we would have stayed there, I envisioned a pulley with one of those grabber claws for my future garbage disposing.

Now we live in a darling house, and I put off taking the garbage and food waste out all day.

Growin up dad would come back from sea every 5-6 weeks so we'd wash dishes and clothes and eh ourselves and whatever the day before that, good times. If i was particularly good id be *allowed* do the dishes, maybe.

my old dad has got pretty handy with the vaccuum cleaner in his retirement, so much so that he doesn't like it when mum does it, he reckons she doesn't get the corners as good as him

it was funny how much of a revelation it was to mum that if she just left dad a list of housework to do, that he would happily do all of it. though on the quiet us kids were like haha sucked in dad has to do the list now (because she used to leave lists for us ALL the time and we'd doing half-assed grumbling-the-whole-time jobs of it)

he pops up and does the dishes after dinner, pretty much anything around the house that is the norm. It's more notable because he never really did any of it when we were kids, seemingly only because he just needed to be told to? smdh

how a propos:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/the-case-for-filth.html

The whole 3rd page of that article could disappear and it would only be an improvement of the whole.

On second thought, all three pages.

Had a small ILXish get-together at my place last night and as always I am very proud of getting everything in the kitchen cleaned up before I went to bed, even started up the dishwasher as the last thing of the evening. This morning: took care of that and all other chores except vacuuming (as apartmentmate still asleep).

i tried that 20/10 thing yesterday... but I realized I hate stopping when I'm in the middle of cleaning :/

Cleaning up after a party before you go to bed is so great. I swear it lessens hangovers.

The bizarre phenomenon of modern young women proudly making their own candles, knitting and raising chickens, coincides neatly with the rise of working women who actually do much less housework.

Yeah, he sets up false comparisons and false conclusions all throughout, I started trying to make a coherent critique and ran out of energy on pg 1.

Some of what he says about gender and domestic labor, generally, makes sense but it's still ultimately a long justification for why dudes shouldn't just do more housework.

too busy making candles to do the dishes over here

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-cleans-apartment-once-every-relationship,35800/

Baking soda will set you free

my bathroom was pretty dirty and i cleaned it and i feel so good about it. i need to do another room so my stupid house will have two clean rooms u_u

finally figured out what's been making my laundry smell gross for the past few months. Nothing huge, just a bit of dirt clogging up where the fabric conditioner goes into the machine.

I cleaned the exhaust vent above my stove recently, by boiling the screens in water and baking soda - it worked really well but GOOD GOD THE STENCH.

D:

also: putting all your oven racks and element thingies in a big garbage with a less than a cup of ammonia overnight totally worked.

I've been cleaning AS I GO lately.. I dig it.

haha. cleaning.

yeah right I mean really?

It's summer. The mildew on my shower curtain has developed civilization, I think they're in the Iron Age already.

i have really only been to home depot and taken a shower. i'm cleaning up outside first because weeds got out of control. but my house looks like wall-e and someone wants to come visit me and i'm like uh....maybe

can anyone rep for some type of get-unidentified-stain-out-of-clothing product?

and er also what can use to quickly and easily de-grease the outside of kitchen cabinets (painted wood)? I have some ammonia, will that work? I feel like in orbit has posted about this before.

my favorite cleaning product is ZEP citrus degreaser

OK I will investigate this!

Ammonia is cheap and the King of degreasing!

Do I use it straight up or dilute it or???? Do I let it sit and then wipe of with a wet cloth or uuuuuh I dunno about dilution/application/removal :(

i have really only been to home depot and taken a shower

news that one could do this

xxxxpost

very funny! i happened to buy ammonia there because i needed to get primer out of paint brushes and i used it for cleaning today. i hadn't used it before because i hate the smell and the smell is SO BAD but it cleans better than anything! my house is more clean. i wouldn't say it's clean yet.

ammonia rules. i like the smell tbh. whats bad is when you clean the toilet rim with ammonia then the bowl with a bleach based product. oopsy doopsies *dies*

*reaches to open window* *faints* *drowns in toilet bowl*

don't die

^ important rule

I'm still unclear on whether you dilute the ammonia or have to rinse it off really well afterwards or WHAT THE HELL AMMONIA amirite

Okay, I'm back at a computer now!

You can pour one or two glugs into a whole bucket of hot water for basics like washing floors or w/e. But to tackle those once- or twice-a-year things like kitchen cabinets, maybe do the above plus for stubborn areas pour a little directly onto your sponge. Also you can wipe it on thickly and then let it sit for a few mins and then go back and scrub, sometimes it will have loosened up the grime.

After you scrub and wipe away all the black-tinged grease water, you don't really need to rinse unless it's a food prep surface imo.

Thanks! Gonna do the cabinets when I get back from vacation.

i learned you need to dilute it like crazy. i put a glug in the bottom of a spray bottle and filled the rest with water. it did say like 1/2 cup to 1 gallon of water for basic cleaning (probably higher for greasy cabinets, but i would not want to use it full strength bc it was hurting me), which is 1:32. mine probably was like 1:5. yuck. i really want to clean my cabinets now though.

^

It's summer. The mildew on my shower curtain has developed civilization, I think they're in the Iron Age already.

Pro tip I got from Carl agatha - cloth hotel-type shower curtain liners. They're machine washable and not expensive and if you get two you can switch them out. And they're nicer than plastic.

I have one of those, it's in the bottom of my laundry bin from...last summer.

I have two plastic ones with a lifetime guarantee not to mildew. The lifespan of a plastic curtain is about 6 months iirc.

i have a coated fabric one from ikea i just throw in the cold wash by itself every 6 weeks or so. totally mildew free and the rusty soap scummy stuff that accumulates on the bottom comes out in the wash.

So I washed my down comforter, for the first time ever since I bought it maybe...god I don't even know how long ago. I used a small amount of gentle soap on a cold/delicate cycle and then low-heat tumble dried it with tennis balls...and now it smells terrible.

It didn't smell bad before! It smells sour, kind of like BO only that's not what my personal BO smells like. And I'm so pissed that I don't have even a tiny yard bc the sun and wind would dry it and deodorize it in no time but instead it's inside slung across two chairs.

Phooey.

tumble dried it with tennis balls.

I had to google to check that this indeed a thing....

Duh, do you even CLEAN?

PS: I use a duvet cover on my duvet, that's why the inside part has never been washed before fyi.

I think it isn't thoroughly dry yet! Can you get it back into the dryer for another good chunk of time?

fwiw I wash my comforters with regular Tide/warm water/normal heat + tennis balls. Seems to work fine. Feathers are tough stuff I mean think about what they go through on birds.

It's not totally dry but I'd already been in the laundro for hours, I just brought it hope slightly damp and hung it out.

I hope it ends well, but I fear it may not :(

Wait it's getting better! Do wet feathers just smell weird? I know they still have some protective oils on them, that's why you're not supposed to use a harsh detergent. Maybe water activates them?

Yes, wet feathers smell gross!

Oh well there we probably have it! Every so often I stand on a chair and shake it in different directions to unclump the feathers, and the smell is markedly less now. I think it's working! Sooooon I will have zee floofly duvet once again!

Anybody have tips with baked in grease on a stove top that probably hasn't been cleaned since bush was president

Oven cleaner.

Ay that's the nuclear option but I'm prepared to go down that route

IO swears by ammonia and I am going to be trying that myself one of these weekends.

But actually I'd probably start with dishwashing liquid (like Dawn or whatever) applied straight up with a rag, then covered with rags soaked in hot hot hot water, and let it all just sit there for a while to loosen it up. Then wipe. Then ammonia treatment.

xp True true. I think if you want it to stay in place you can make a baking soda and ammonia paste? Google that before you do it tho in case I'm wrong and you might die.

today I scrubbed off some DICOM

yeah just cover it in detergent or windex or 409, whatever you have, and then just leave it for half an hour
wipe away what you can, and do it over if need be

but soaking it with cleaner & leaving it works the best for me

glad you are getting that wet feather smell out of your comforter IO! wet feathers is the grossest smell

Anybody have tips with baked in grease on a stove top that probably hasn't been cleaned since bush was president

Once you've got the thickest grease off a magic eraser sponge is my suggestion. Those things are amazing. I use them for cooking grease spatters that are resistant to 409 and rags.

ooh yeah magic erasers are a+

I caved and bought some oven cleaner

It's currently NOT stripping the paint off my stovetop and I am grateful for that

Google tells me bar keepers friend is also great but Home Depot was all out :-(

there's an australian product called gumption that i didn't pay any attention to at the grocery store for the first 18 or so years i lived here which verges on miraculous for cleaning stovetops and polishing sinks etc. i can't bear to think about the elbow grease i squandered (on a few rare occasions) before i tried it. gumption does not have an attractive appearance, it's in a white plastic tub with a yellow lid and aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi bright yellow and green markings on it so i'm not too surprised my immigrant eye skipped quickly over it.

i love when parts of my house are clean. i would say i love when my house is clean but my whole house has not been clean since i moved in. i set the timer for one hour and cleaned the whole time, then i kept going! i'm taking a lunch break now.

Cleaning is an infinite groove

Anybody have tips with baked in grease on a stove top that probably hasn't been cleaned since bush was president

The best stuff out there IME is Crud Remover, which i bought the first time just because i loved the wonderfully to-the-point name, but it turned out to work great too. Also very good is Fast 505 which is more readily available (Home Depot, etc.)

Gumption is amazing, yeah.

I'm back at college in the evenings and need not do any cleaning this semester under the terms of an extremely complex negotiation process

I hope you got that in writing.

Our bedroom carpet is disgusting because it's the where the cat most loves to barf and our attempts to spot clean while laudable are ineffective. Any ideas on how to clean a carpet real good? I super don't feel like renting a steam cleaner because the exposed carpet on which the cat barfs is roughly 4 by 6, if that, and I'm not sure the machine would be too big. Also hiring someone is cost prohibitive for such a small space. However, I haven't ruled out renting a Rug Doctor. I just want to explore other options first.

Has anybody bought a carpet upholstery steam cleaner for home use? Is it a fool's errand to try and clean it with that spray carpet cleaner (do they even make that anymore?)?

neko barfed up her dinner the other day on our nice living room rug, i googled for best cleaning tips and dr bronner's is IT. just use a sponge and a bucket of hot water with a good squirt of DB and wipe it up. it literally just disappeared into thin air.

No shit. Any particular style/flavor?

renting a steam cleaner wasnt that much money and was really worth it. like the color of our carpets literally changed but it also really helped with our air quality and allergies. we had two cats and two large carpeted rooms so maybe the math worked better for us but it really wasnt much money or effort to steam. the only real work was moving furniture out and back in.

also fwiw even if you think that part of the carpet is the only part worth steaming you'd be surprised by much stuff gets matted into yr carpets.

Yeah it would probably be worth steaming the whole carpet, especially since per Jeff the cat has barfed under the bed plenty, but I don't think we can physically get the bed out of there without taking it apart (the room itself is about two feet wider than the bed frame) and the thought makes me want to curl up under the bed with all the cat vomit and cry.

You can use a steam cleaner on an area rug, yeah? We have a couple of those, too. They haven't been barfed on but if we rent the stupid thing anyway we might as well steam everything in the house. What else can I steam with those things?

Some people we know took their rugs to a cleaner who I think did a good job though he took a super long time to do it and it was hard to get the rug back IIRC.

Idk anything about steam cleaners but IME Rug Doctors (shampooers) are for shit and they leave the carpet soggy.

That's the only kind there is to rent, I think?

I don't think I can take the wall to wall carpet in the bedroom to a cleaner. Also I don't want to fight to get our rugs back.

I only know of shampooers like Rug Dr but I thought maybe if there was a steamer that might be different and less wet.

Oh -- I think I might have a small Bissell carpet shampooer that works OK for spot cleaning. I've given up on rugs b/c of cats, so you can borrow or have it if you want. LMK.

I cleaned our apartment thoroughly before we left for the cottage for two weeks, and coming back to fresh sheets and towels and an empty dishwasher is just..

Yes Jesse, da me tu Bissell pepito.

i just used the peppermint stuff i had on hand

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Pet-Vomit-from-Carpet

it says 'soapy' water, but i feel like DB is some good shit and better than detergent or reg soap.

What else can I steam with those things?

i also steamed our curtains

Anywhere there's grease build up, like the wall behind your stove or anywhere in the kitchen. Or if there's mildew or soap scum in your bathroom.

A steamer could make the annual de-greasing wipe-down of the kitchen cabinets a lot easier? Although maybe you have a good exhaust fan bc iirc your kitchen is pretty open to your big dining area.

the annual de-greasing wipe-down of the kitchen cabinets
the what now

i thought i was doing so well with washing the curtains 1x a year

We don't have a particularly good exhaust fan. It doesn't vent outside or anything ~fancy~ like that (unfortunately) but we are able to keep things pretty well in hand through judicious use of a splatter screen plus regular upkeep.

How does one deep clean small couch cushions (w/ removable covers)? I want to get all the dust out of them, not just clean the surfaces. I could submerge them in the tub, but it seems like they would take ages to dry, and then get musty and stinky. Google results were all about cleaning surfaces. Any ideas?

Maybe take them outside and beat them for a long time?

If I had access to a laundry centrifuge that might help, but I don't.

What are they stuffed with?

Sprinkle generously with baking soda, let it sit then vacuum off? I guess that's mostly for freshness though. Do they really need a deep clean?