Cleaning Week - Day 7 - The Smell of Success (Simmer Pots)

Today is the final day of Cleaning Week.  I have some remaining requests for topics including cleaning wood floors and composting.  I'll work on writing about those topics in the coming weeks since Cleaning Week is at a close.

Today's post is about simmer pots, to help your home smell as wonderful as it looks and feels after a thorough cleaning.
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Commentary:

Using natural and biodegradable cleaners will likely leave your home with less of a 'clean smell' than you are used to.  Many people, myself included, associate the smell of materials like bleach, ammonia, and chlorine with cleanliness.  Strong cleaner smells still remind me of elementary school and swirlies.

Natural cleaners often have little smell, or a less robust smell, than chemical cleaners.  I've enjoyed using simmer pots when cleaning, when it's cold outside, or just for a nice surprise when Amelia returns home from work.  I recommend starting the simmer pot before you start cleaning so it has time to work while you're cleaning.

Recipe 2: Orange (zest), cinnamon,
anise pods

Recipe 1: Lemon (zest), cinnamon stick,
cloves

A simmer pot is simply a pot of spices or other good smelling items simmered on the stove to produce a pleasant smell.  Below are a couple of my favorite recipes, and a couple of links to additional recipes.  I almost always use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and anise and then vary the other ingredients including lemon and orange zest, vanilla extract, honey, and apples.

Directions:

1. Fill small pot with water
2. Add ingredients
3. Set burner on low



Hardware: Small pot, zester / microplane (optional)

4. Add water as needed

Suggested action steps:

1. Try one of the simmer pot recipes above (or try these or these) in place of chemical cleaners, aerosol sprays, plug-ins, or scented candles.
2. Experiment with a recipe of your own
3. Enjoy the fragrant smell (and humidifying effects) of using a simmer pot

Thanks for reading during Cleaning Week and if you have suggestions or questions on cleaning or other topics please let me know!

Cleaning Week - Day 5 - Toilets

Please clean me!

Today is day five of Cleaning Week and is about cleaning toilets.  Although cleaning toilets isn't a glamorous job, it is certainly a necessary one.
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Commentary:

Many toilet cleaners utilize bleach as an ingredient to help with whitening / cleaning, and to kill bacteria that may be present.  According to WebMD bleach is also a dangerous thing to have at home, especially if children are p

resent.

1. Because it's used so frequently, chlorine bleach is the most common cleaner that children accidentally swallow. 
2. When mixed with ammonia, another common ingredient of cleaning products, and acidic cleaners, such as toilet bowl cleaners, the mixture releases poisonous gasses. 
1. This is compounded by the difficulty in learning what ingredients are included in commercial cleaners since they're not typically listed on the label. 

If you want to avoid bleach in your home, like we did, you can use safer items that have similar properties to bleach.

1. For getting rid of mold and bacteria, vinegar or hydrogen peroxide are effective.  (I haven't used hydrogen peroxide since vinegar has worked very well for me.)
2. To clean and whiten I've had good success with a simple combination of vinegar and baking soda which I mentioned in a post on sinks and tubs, and utilize for many purposes.

In addition to being a health risk if inhaled or swallowed, bleach can also be absorbed through the skin.  Bleach is sometimes utilized to change skin coloration, with potentially disastrous results, as noted in this article from Ghana.  If you've cleaned with bleach before and not used gloves you've probably noticed the rough effect it can have on your skin.

Suggested action steps:

1. Put baking soda and / or vinegar into bowl.  (We have also used the Seventh Generation Emerald Cypress & Fir before if you want a pleasant odor after cleaning, but I think going forward we'll stick with the vinegar and baking soda.)
1. For stubborn stains try leaving vinegar in the bowl for a few hours or overnight.
2. Here are some more detailed instructions and options if my method doesn't work for you.
2. Scrub with toilet brush
3. Clean outside of tank with a rag and vinegar
4. Wait about an hour for vinegar smell to dissipate