Sunday, November 27, 2011

My new cleaning friend

Ok so I’ve become addicted (yes…ADDICTED) to Pintrest!  It is the most awesome website in the world!  It is a bunch of people posting anything and everything from the internet! (can you tell how excited I am from all the exclamation points?)
Anywho, I came across a picture of a lady scrubbing the carpet and I clicked on the picture, which took me to her blog where she explained that she used baking soda and some essential oils to remove the smell of her sons vomit from the carpet, even though she had cleaned it well, or so she thought.  That got me to thinking.  Hunny has made some messes in the apartment and when you lay down on the carpet you can still smell the odor of urine.  I decided to type in the search of “carpet cleaners” and there was a video explaining that sprinkling just plain baking soda and just letting it sit for a period of time if would 1) absorb any smells (I mean we put it in the fridge to absorb any smells in there) and 2) absorb any oils/grease that may be in the carpet! I decided to try it out in my bedroom since that seems to be Hunny’s favorite place to “leave me presents”.  I vacuumed first to get any loose hair and debris and then sprinkled the soda and let it sit for about an hour, then vacuumed it up.  I decided to do the smell test for myself and sure as s#!t the smell was COMPLETELY GONE!!!  I then used it all over the apartment and the carpets feel softer and cleaner since the body oils are now all gone!
This got me now intrigued with baking soda.  What else could I do with it?  I searched “baking soda cleaners” and low and behold good old Martha Stewart has a bath tub cleaner where you use just baking soda, a teaspoon of dish soap, and an antibacterial essential oil (I just used the soap since it’s soap.  I mean we wash dishes with it. It’s gotta get rid of bacteria, right?)  You add enough water to create a paste and you are good to go.  Holy cow!  This is the best scrub ever!!! 1) no chemical smells that knock you out!  Also, you don’t have to take everything out because of the cleaning chemicals getting on the loofa, razors or anything else. 2) it takes a little bit more elbow grease, but it works wonders! I have a textured floors in the shower and I could never get it completely clean.  This took care of it and my shower looks brand new.  3) It works just as well as on the fixtures in the shower as well.  Its almost like a soft scrub. I also used it on my sink in the kitchen since its stainless steel and its worked great!
Oh and 1 more great thing baking soda is great for is…DRAIN-O! Remember as a kid you would combine vinegar and baking soda and a volcano would be the result?  Well…think of that in your pipes!  I used it in my bathroom sink and the pipes run nice and clear without the harsh chemical smell or the worries of it getting on your skin.  I also used it in the kitchen to clean the drain before running the dishwasher.  No more funky smell Smile
Well there you go.  My new love arm-hammer-baking-soda