Chester's Clean House: Lemon Juice

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Basic Homemade Cleaning Solutions

Homemade cleaning solutions are not only good for the environment they are also good for your wallet. You can make them quickly and easily with items you can find in your pantry. Some of the most popular are baking soda, distilled white vinegar, olive oil, lemon oil, and a good squirt bottle always helps.

Vinegar Clean

The general all purpose cleaner is good for cleaning kitchen counter tops, bathroom countertops and anywhere you would need to clean daily with a mild cleanser. You can make a quick solution by mixing one part vinegar and one part water into a spray bottle. You can also use this homemade cleaner on glass countertops and toilets. You should never use this on granite countertops or wood because vinegar is acidic and can damage those surfaces.

When doing the laundry, especially if you have hard water, adding 1/2 cup of vinegar during the rinse cycle will help soften your clothes and also will cut down on odors. This will leave your cloths feeling soft and fluffy.

Baking Soda Clean

When cleaning the bathroom mix baking soda and water to form a paste. You can use this paste to scrub fixtures and tile. This works really well on tile and bathtub stains. Baking soda is also good at cleaning the toilet, just sprinkle some into the toilet bowl and add a splash of vinegar. The vinegar and baking soda will react and starts to create carbon dioxide. This bubbling action is a great way to clean the toilet without having to get out your scrub brush.

Lemon Clean

Mixing two parts lemon juice and one part olive oil makes a great wood cleaner. Pour a small amount of the cleaning solution onto a rag and wipe down any finished wood you have in your house. This works exceptionally well on kitchen cabinets.

Making your own homemade cleaners is easy. Not only will you save the environment you also save a lot of money. No longer will you have to drive to the store to buy more cleaner. Next time you are starting a new cleaning project, think about using one of these homemade cleaning recipes.

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How to Clean Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors are beautiful and can easily last a lifetime if you take proper care of them. First of all, when we talk about hardwood floors we are talking about sealed hardwood floors. Unsealed floors have not been installed in homes for a very long time. If you think that your floors are not sealed, they must be sealed immediately or they will absorb every liquid spilled on them and will quickly start to dry out and fall apart.

Great Homemade Cleaner for Hardwood Floors

There are a wide variety of commercially available wood floor cleaners. Many of these are quite expensive and contain harsh chemicals. A very simple homemade cleaner can be made from adding a few drops of basic dish soap with distilled water. Put the mixture in a misting spray bottle and clean your hardwood floor in small sections. Make sure that you spray the area that you want to clean and then wipe up immediately with a micro fiber cloth or clean towel. Never let any area remain damp for any period of time as moisture is your floor’s enemy. Adding a splash of white vinegar and lemon juice will add some major cleaning power to your homemade floor cleaner. However, if you add these ingredients to your cleaner, you will have to do a quick wet mop with clean water before you dry each section.

Quick tips to maintain your hardwood floors:

Sweep your floors at least every week with a Swiffer or with a soft bristled broom. To save time, I have found a get trick for cleaning your floors. If you are sweeping your floors, sweep the dust and dirt onto a carpeted area of your home. Vacuum the carpet thoroughly to remove all of the debris and to help keep abrasive dirt off of your hardwood floors.
Always wipe up all spills immediately. Water and other liquids can do severe damage to even sealed hardwood floors.
Protect your hardwood floor by placing furniture pads under the legs of each piece of furniture. This will spread out the weight of your furniture over a larger area and keep your floors from getting scratched.
Use area rugs to protect your hardwood floors in highly trafficked areas. Also, use floor mats in all entrances to your rooms with hardwood floors. This helps trap dirt and debris and keeps them from scratching the surface of your floors.

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Cleaning and Maintaining Bathroom Sinks

Besides your toilet, your bathroom sinks are usually the messiest place in your bathrooms. Toothpaste drips, hair clippings, and all of the rest of our daily routines can quickly turn a beautiful porcelain sink into a messy disaster. Here are some great tips to keep it looking and working great!

Bathroom Sinks are almost always the messiest place in your bathroom.

For quick cleanups of your bathroom sink, use a little hydrogen peroxide on a sponge and simply wipe up the entire surface. As we mentioned in our post Hydrogen Peroxide – Cleaning, Sanitizing Wonder, hydrogen peroxide is both a great cleaner and a wonderful sanitizer for your sink.

To deep clean the surface of your bathroom sink, Bar Keepers Friend can remove even the worst stains. Read our full review in Bar Keepers Friend is My Friend Too to learn more about how you can use Bar Keepers Friend to not only deep clean your sink, but also polish your faucet and other bathroom fixtures to a fantastic shine.

One of the biggest problems that I have at keeping my bathroom sink clean and spotless is the amount of daily products that I use in the bathroom. If the surface is completely covered, you are never going to be able to properly clean the sink. By finding the right bathroom storage ideas from our article, Bathroom Storage Ideas, you can keep only the bare essentials out in the open. I now have enough storage space to not have to keep my razor and other necessities out in the open.

If you sink gets clogged, pour baking soda down the drain followed by vinegar or lemon juice. The chemical reaction that is caused by the two combining can power its’ way through even the toughest stain, all without having to resort to dangerous, and expensive, drain cleaners. As we mentioned in our article, Cleaning the Kitchen Sink the Non-Smelly Way, lemon juice leaves the sink smelling great whereas the vinegar leaves a pretty strong smell!

Best Tricks to Clean Tile Floor

When you think about the easiest types of flooring to maintain, most people think of tile. Tile floors are extremely durable, easy to clean, and can resist most major stains. However, without some simple maintenance, even tile floors can lose their luster and can develop stains, usually starting in the grout. Grout is porous and sucks up liquids and materials easily and, thus, can grow all kinds of bacteria and mold. Luckily, there are some simple tricks that will help you to clean tile floor.

The single best trick to clean tile floor is to clean up all spills and messes immediately!

The first trick to keeping your tile floors clean and glossy is to clean up all spills and messes immediately. Letting spills site on the surface will only allow them to infiltrate the grout and dry, dulling the surface of the tile. Even water and mud tracked in on shoes should be cleaned up immediately. The particulates in the water carried in on your shoes can scuff the surface and the moisture can feed any bacteria in the grout.

Make sure that you seal your tile as soon as possible after the tile has been installed. If you did not install the tile yourself, you must have the tile thoroughly cleaned and sealed to guarantee its longevity. To clean the tile you can use a commercially available cleaner of you can make your own cleaner. To make your own natural cleaner, mix 1/2 cup of baking soda, 1/4 cup ammonia, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and about 6 cups of water in a spray bottle. Spray liberally over your tile floor and scrub with a dry Swiffer scrubber or a lightly damp sponge mop.

Once you have thoroughly cleaned your tile, let it completely dry. Seal the tile with the sealer recommended by the tile manufacturer. Follow all of the directions carefully; too much sealer will cause the tile to become cloudy.

If your tile floor becomes scaly, or yellowed with too many layers of wax, you are going to have to strip the floor. You can use commercially available strippers, just make sure to follow the instructions and wear protective clothing! A good homemade wax stripper can be made from 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of ammonia and a gallon of cool tap water. You may have to reapply the stripper if there are many different coats of wax. Once you have all of the wax up, clean the entire surface with clean tap water. Let it dry completely, and reseal with a new coat of wax.

Tile floors can last a lifetime, if you just do some routine maintenance! It is time consuming, but will make your floors look great and repel stains!

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Cleaning the Kitchen Sink The Non Smelly Way

A lot of readers have tried our tip Clearing Clogged Sinks The Easy Way to clean and deodorize their kitchen sinks. This works great but I have gotten a lot of emails commenting on the smell the vinegar leaves behind. You can get around this smell by using the more expensive lemon juice. The basic reaction takes place by mixing baking soda with an mild acid, so either white vinegar or lemon juice will do. Lemon juice will leave a nice citrus smell in your kitchen, adding the the clean feeling.

Homemade All-Purpose Kitchen Cleaner

A great homemade all-purpose kitchen cleaner is a must for any clean kitchen. It is very easy to make, just fill a spray bottle with half white vinegar, half clean water, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. This works great on counter tops and appliances. Just spray the surface and wipe down with your Super Scrubbing Cleaning Cloth. Remember to use the button when you get to those dried on food stains to wipe them away easily. This cleaner is fairly acidic and should not be used on granite, marble, natural stone, or wood.

Keep Your Wooden Cutting Board!

I have always preferred wooden cutting boards as opposed to plastic. Something about them just seemed so homey. I had heard that plastic board were safe because they’re dishwasher safe. But, still, I stuck with my wooden board and was just extra careful in my cleaning and use of it. Now, it’s come to light that wooden boards may be superior to plastic in the anti-bacteria department. Wood, if properly maintained, can be self healing. Smaller scratches can close up on their own. So, now I get to feel clever for standing by my wooden board. Wooden cutting boards should never be left soaking in water, and you should avoid full immersion into water if at all possible. Only use mild detergent and allow it to dry before putting it away. In addition to washing it, I like to disinfect it using undiluted white vinegar. I keep a spray bottle of it in the kitchen for lots of reasons. The acetic acid in the vinegar will kill salmonella, E coli and staph. If your cutting board starts to get a little smelling from chopping garlic or onions, just slice a lemon in half and drag it across the surface. Wooden cutting surfaces also need to be oiled once in a while to keep them from drying out or cracking. Only use food grade mineral oil. Do not use olive or vegetable oil. They will turn your board rancid. Rub a generous quantity of oil over the board and let it sit for an hour or so. Wipe any excess oil off with a clean cloth and wash it as usual. I oil my board every couple of months or whenever it’s looking dry. You can also oil wooden spoons in the same manner to prolong their life.

Homemade Scouring Cleaning

If you have a hard to remove stain and a surface that you can use a scouring cleaner on, trying sprinkling salt onto the stain and rubbing with a clean microfiber cloth soaked in either lemon juice or white vinegar.

Removing Stains From Enamel Bathtubs

Porcelain enamel surface bathtubs can be quite beautiful. The surface is very hard and durable. Be careful when cleaning not to hit the surface with a hard object because the surface can be chipped, which is expensive to repair. Never use harsh abrasives or acids on enamel tubs or small scratches will form that capture more dirt. For tough stains try one of the following:

Try covering the stain with a paste of borax and lemon juice. Let the paste stand for about 5 minutes and then rinse clean.
Salt and turpentine work well to remove yellow water stains.
For the really hard to remove stains, scrub with a brush and a mixture of 3 tablespoons of cream of tartar and one cup of hydrogen peroxide.

For normal cleaning try:

Washing with 1 gallon of warm water mixed with 1 tablespoon of dish soap and 1 cub of baking soda. Use a sponge soaked in the mixture to scrub the tub working from the top down, then from the back to the drain. Rinse well with clean water and then buff with a microfiber cloth.
A slightly stronger cleaner is 1 gallon of hot water and 1 tablespoon of a TSP (trisodium phosphate) . TSP can react with other cleaners, so don't add anything else to this recipe. Be sure to rinse well after you have scrubbed the tub.

Removing Small Scratches from Wood Furniture

To remove small scratches from your furniture, make a solution out of equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil. Cover a clean, lint-free cloth with the mixture and rub the cloth firmly into the scratch. Always rub in the direction of the scratch. With a little elbow grease, the scratch will disappear. We will cover deeper scratches in a later post.

Cleaning Your Glass Table Tops

Glass table tops are great but they show off every tiny speck of dirt. Also, even the smallest scratch will show up under almost any light. To clean your glass tables, rub with a little lemon juice. Wipe dry with paper towels and you can use newspapers to polish to a sparkling shine. To remove small scratches, rub the scratch in a circular motion with a clean towel and toothpaste. This will gently buff out the scratch.

Cleaning Tile Counter Tops and Back Splashes

We have a tile back splash and it can be pretty difficult to remove the dried on food that aways ends up there. Here is the best homemade cleaner I have found for the job. Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda, 1/4 cup ammonia, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and about 6 cups of water in a spray bottle. This really gets under those dried on food stains and leaves the grout looking like new. I really like this cleaner because it is made with all natural ingredients. I try not to use too many harsh chemicals in the kitchen to make sure nothing I wouldn't want to eat gets into my food.

As always never mix bleach and ammonia. So if you used Soft Scrub with bleach to clean your tile, make sure you wash down the area with water first.

Cleaning and Caring For Granite Countertops

Many people are installing granite counter tops for their durability and beauty. Most granite counter tops are polished and using the wrong cleaner can damage the finish. Never use homemade cleaners with lemon juice or vinegar. They're acidic and will damage the granite over time. You should also avoid harsh or abrasive cleaning products. A mild dish soap and hot water should work well. pH balanced dish soap will be the gentlest. Be sure to apply the recommended penetrating sealer at least once a year to keep the granite looking its best. If you have a small scratch or discolorations you can try using fine steel wool to polish out the blemish. If in doubt about the care of your granite, speak with your installer. They will know the exact makeup of your granite and will be able to give you specific care tips for your particular granite.

Stop Refrigerator Odors

I eat a lot of take-out food. All the left overs tend to stink up the refrigerator. I always keep a box of baking soda in the fridge and freezer which helps cut down on the odors, but when all the baking soda is used up I have to do a through cleaning to get rid of the odor. I like to use a mixture of one quart hot water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, and two tablespoons of baking soda. I just mix it up in a bowl and dip my sponge in the mixture as I wipe down all the surfaces inside the fridge. You can also add a touch of lemon juice to help give your refrigerator that extra fresh smell.

Removing Sweat Stains from Shirts

Sweat stains are a part of normal life. After being in a very warm wedding last weekend, I can tell you that sometimes they cannot be avoided. If you are using bleach in your wash, scrub the sweat stains with water and lemon juice. Launder as usual. If you are not using bleach, scrub the stains with white vinegar and wash as usual. Do not ever put white vinegar into a washer with bleach, it creates toxic gases!

Homemade Floor Cleaner

Making your own homemade floor cleaner can save you hundreds of dollars per year. It is so easy to do I have been making my own for years. After some experimentation I have been getting better results than the store bought brands. I use the following recipes for cleaning my floors.

Homemade Floor Cleaner Recipe

1/4 cup Dish soap
4 cups White Vinegar
2 cup Lemon juice
2 cups Water

This recipe works best on Pergo laminate floors, finished wood, vinyl, or linoleum. Just place the mixture into a spray bottle and spray onto the floor and use a high quality microfiber mop to mop it up. If you get a sticky residue, try using less dish soap or you can rinse with plan water to reduce the residue.

Natural Floor Cleaner Recipe
Sometimes I need to do a quick once over before company comes over. In these instances I like to use a natural floor cleaner that doesn't require any extra steps except to let the floors dry. In those cases I use a mixture of 2 cups vinegar and 4 cups water in a spray bottle. I like to use the Swiffer Wet Jet mop because it soaks up more of the moisture. This recipe also doesn't leave streaks and is better for the environment than the Swiffer's cleaner.

Tips on Using These Homemade Floor cleaners
As you can tell I like to use a spray bottle and a microfiber mop to clean my floors. This method lets you clean your floors in record time, but doesn't work well when your floors are too dirty. I try to do a quick mop every other day or else I will be stuck getting out the mop and bucket which greatly increases the amount of time it takes to mop the floor.

I spray small 3' by 3' sections of floor, then wipe with the microfiber mop. When the cloth starts to leave streaks I either flip over the cloth or start using a new one. I usually use two microfiber cloths to mop my kitchen and foyer. If you really want to get things done in a hurry, put a microfiber cloth under each foot. Spray the cleaner then do a little dance with your feet to mop it up. My wife laughs at me when I do the "Cleaning Shuffle", but mopping the kitchen in less than two minutes is worth it.

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