Tag: Cleaning

Two Eco Friendly Ways to Clean a Microwave

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In this short post I’m just going to give two ways to clean a microwave:

The first is by using a solution of one part vinegar and one part water, 1-2 cups of the mixed solution should be adequate. After putting this solution into a microwave safe container (I almost always use a pyrex or a glass baking dish), the solution needs to be heated for a few minutes in the microwave. I see many sources on the internet suggesting 3 minutes, but I usually do at least 5 and will sometimes repeat heating the solution as I wish.

The second method is nearly identical to the first, but rather than vinegar it calls for water and one lemon. Whereby in this method the lemon juice is squeezed into the water and the lemon is left in the water/lemon juice mixture and heated in the exact same manner as mentioned above for the water and vinegar mixture.

The whole point of either of these two methods is to cause the steam from the given solution to soften any debris within the microwave to make it easier to clean and wipe down. The only thing left to do it the wiping and scrubbing in the microwave itself.

Of course also remember to be careful with the hot liquid while you clean.

4 Essentials of Housework

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This is the list of the essential four things I feel I need to get done whenever I endeavour to clean the house, as a sort of foundational base clean or starting point from which I can later move on to more specific areas. These are my four:

  1. Laundry
  2. Dishes
  3. Floor
  4. Trash

The order matters as well for there is a reason for this order. Laundry is first so that it runs while I work on my other chores, dishes are next because getting them washed clears up more kitchen space and often I can wipe up the counter as I do so and since the next step on the list is the floor I can wipe the crumbs right onto the floor seeing as it would need cleaning next. If the floor space in the house is neat and clean most of the house will already look nice and tidy. Last is the trash seeing as this will have likely filled up as I cleaned and as the day has gone on. This isn’t any sort of deep clean list, this is just a starting point for cleaning generally speaking, at least in my mind these would be the logical first four steps to house cleaning endeavors.

Dirtiest Places in the Home

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I was just going through my phone and found some notes I made from an article on the dirtiest places in most homes. In my notes I referenced the article beforehand and I’ll place the link right here of the article titled “The 9 Dirtiest Spots in Your Home” by Deborah Weatherspoon. When I made these notes I made them to have a reference of places that I should focus to clean in order to best reduce germs in the home most efficiently so that my focus and energy is well directed. I mostly just copied off the lists provided in the article for my own reference, so I’ll just copy it off almost the same on here as a reference for myself. What I’m beginning to like about this blogging thing is that it helps me to organize everything in one place. Anyhow to the dirtiest places.

First off, take off shoes before entering the house…as far as the dirtiest places they are:

1.) Kitchen (disinfectants, bleach, heat, hand hygiene)

  • Dish Sponges and Rags***
  • Cutting boards
  • Coffee makers
  • Refrigerator
  • Kitchen sink and counters

2.) Knobs, handles, and switches (disinfecting wipes once each week-ideal to use a new wipe for every spot)

  • Restroom light switches
  • Refrigerator handles
  • Stove knobs
  • Microwave handles

3.) Makeup bag, makeup, and applicators

4.) Bathroom

  • Shower tub
  • Drains
  • Faucets
  • Floor area around toilet
  • Bath towels
  • Toothbrushes

5.) Laundry-if clothes sit in the washer for more than 30 minutes: rerun; if going to a laundry mat: clean washer with disinfecting wipes prior to using machines.

6.) Home office and Living room

  • Remote controls
  • Computer keyboards
  • Phones/tablets

7.) Pets

  • Pet bowls
  • Paws

8.) Personal items

  • Cell phone
  • Keys
  • Wallet
  • Money
  • Lunch boxes
  • Bottom of purses

 

Roomba: The Good, but Imperfect Convenience Bot

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So I’m still searching for many solutions to improve my day-to-day life in a number of ways including housework, but have only encountered a few so far. The Roomba is one of these solutions, although I will say that it is without a doubt an imperfect one. I’m not the cleanest person, but I do take quite a good deal of interest tidying and cleanliness.

The Roomba happened to be my birthday gift in 2017 and I am writing on this post how I’ve liked my gift in this year since I’d received it.

It has its good and its bad points.

I’ll start with the bad points, I know that most bloggers posts will start with the good rather than the bad, but I’ll start with the bad because most of the bad points happened to come as a surprise to me. First, the Roomba isn’t the smartest robot you’ll ever meet, it will do its job decently well and save you some exertion, but it also just wanders aimlessly a good deal of the time and vacuums in the same spots over and over again and ends up running out of battery before it even completes vacuuming a room sometimes (I googled its charging time and it seems to take about 2 hours). Second, it likes getting itself stuck: under furniture like desks or beds and in the middle of chair legs. Third, it’s had its creepy moments where it has turned on all by itself early in the early morning or in the middle of the night and has started vacuuming or starts talking with its little robot voice demanding to be charged (happened to everyone in my family).

Now the good points and some possible tips: the Roomba will save you some effort, it will do its job of cleaning the floors, perhaps not quite as well as a real person will, but it does serve itself as a helper well. The Roomba can vacuum the floors while you take care of other tasks. As for its wandering about, the little machine that comes with it to block it off helps with this problem and also just moving items around the house to block off the area you’d like to have vacuumed helps as well. Overall it can serve as a bit of a time-saver, but I personally use it selectively. There are times that doing the vacuuming myself is my preference and other times just I let the little Roomba do its thing. So overall it’s a good but imperfect machine.