Cleaning for Spring

It’s still not spring yet.

We’re stuck in that awful limbo in which snow is more likely than rain, but snow boots get so soggy they take days to dry out for the next walk.

So we are spring-cleaning. Of course, we’re cleaning the green way, as we’re trying to raise organic girls. Here are my favorite green-cleaning staples.

Borax (to scrub whatever needs scrubbing)

Alice's Wonder Spray (truly all purpose cleaner – even on woodwork)
* 1 cup white vinegar
* 2 tsp. borax
* 32 oz. hot water
* essential oil (optional) 20 drops
* liquid dish soap (add last) 1/4 cup
* Mix in a 32 oz. spray bottle.

Furniture Polish
* 1 part white vinegar
* 3 parts olive oil
* a few drops of lemon oil

Glass Cleaner
* 1 cup white vinegar
* 1 cup rubbing alcohol
* 1 cup water

I just mix this stuff up once a year or so, so I have it all on hand. The house doesn’t have that satisfying bleachy-clean smell when I’m finished, so I burn some soy candles and open the windows to give it a fresher feeling.

Or I will. I’m really just doing one room a day. Cleaning out drawers and closets, washing windows, wiping down walls and base boards…. It all takes time. The girls have been great. Elliot perches on a blanket full of toys, crawling and rolling around to reach them, and Maya intermittently helps spray the cleaner and draws on her easel or hides in her fort.

At the rate I’m going, the house will be somewhat organized and clean by the time the weather warms up a bit. When it does, we’ll never come inside again (hopefully… that way it will stay clean, right?)