Emily's cleaning tips!

Hi everyone!

Oops it's been a long time since I posted! I think I was too busy shopping for Christmas presents for myself...I mean, for everyone else.

So now that Christmas is over and we all have no money left, let's talk about something else other than shopping (I know you're all disappointed).

I was telling Sphen and Mom a few of my cleaning "tips" the other day and they told me to write a post about it! So I am! I have such loyal fans.

Let me start off by saying that these tips may not be *the most* environmentally friendly, but they make my life WAY easier and without them my house would definitely be dirtier.

The biggest and most fabulous cleaning discovery I've ever made is DISPOSAL WIPES. I adore them. I have tons of containers of them in my house. I use them to clean pretty much the entire bathroom, except the tub. So basically they're wet wipes, with disinfectant in them, and I use them to clean the toilet seat, around the outside of the bowl and around the base.

This came about because I asked Sphen who cleans the bathroom in his residence room (which he shares with like 3 other guys) and he said they have a schedule. He was saying it was kind of gross, and mentioned something about hairs (I'm almost gagging thinking about it) and I asked him what he uses. He said a J CLOTH! I was horrified. So, hence the reason for my tips.

Anyway, so my fave type is Clorox. They smell better than the Lysol ones and I like the cover of the container better (for realz). I would recommend the green container. Don't ever pay more than $1.99 for the 35 wipes container and more than $3.99 for the big container (75 wipes). Here they are!

I use these for tons of other things. Wiping gross stuff up in the kitchen, sometimes giving my baseboards a quick swipe, anything! I have issues with my dishcloths getting stinky so this is how I came upon these wipes. I ALWAYS would thoroughly rinse out the cloth after using it. STILL STINKY. I even bought these stupid "bamboo" ones that claimed they wouldn't get stinky. STILL STINKY!!! So I got fed up. I actually *somewhat* enjoy cleaning my bathroom and do is faithfully every week because it's so not gross! And it makes it super dee duper quick.

Next! For cleaning the actual toilet bowl, my favorite, I use Comet! It is like literally $0.59 at Canadian Tire all the time. I also do my tub with this. I use a sponge with a green scrubber side. Is that bad? It cleans it so WELL.

My other fabulous discovery has to do with dusting. So, let's get something out in the open. The Fosters never really dusted. Sorry Mom, I outed you. So I wasn't ever quite sure how often to do it or how do it. We did have this giant "duster" thingie (who remembers that - it was like red and blue??) that was kept in the cupboard above the fridge but whenever it was busted out, I'm pretty sure that person got yelled at by one of the allergy-infested Fosters for actually spreading dust rather than removing it.

So, in my young life, I learned one technique of dusting from the Kaulbacks. Let me tell you. The Kaulbacks are SERIOUS about cleaning. Their method was to use this Pledge spray and a cloth thing and spray the surface and then rub it. This is time consuming! Plus, being a fairly new homeowner/dweller, I don't have "rags" laying around. I'm still accumulating new things - I don't have things that are old enough to turn into rags! Although I'm sure Lloyd Foster has 50,000 he could give me.

So I decided to follow the wisdom of a commercial and I wiggled to the grocery store and smugly purchased a Swiffer duster thing. LIFE CHANGED AGAIN!

You know those commercials where the dust is a person and they're like "I'm lonely" and then the Swiffer thing comes along and they're like, yay it's time! And then they attach to it? Well the dust actually does this to the Swiffer thing! (I'm pretty sure anyway).

You get this little yellow handle, and then these duster thingies that you slide on and once it gets gross, you get rid of it (again, not overly environmentally friendly, but it works).

(The box in this pic says Swiffer "Stoubmagnet - is that french for Duster?? Anyway you get the idea)
Finally, can we just talk about my vacuum for a second? Marie once said, I've never seen someone so excited to get a vacuum for Christmas. It's trueeee, I was so excited! I decided a few years ago a I wanted  a neon green Kenmore. Fran and Lloyd MADE this happen, with some assistance from some unassuming Club Ski 30 members. So Fran and Lloyd go the States for a ski trip. They randomly find my beloved vacuum somewhere down there but don't have room in their car for it! So what do they do! They ask a random fellow skier to drive it back to Halifax for them! "Excuse me, do you have room for a vacuum in your car?"..."Um I guess so?...."(I'm assuming Lloyd handled this request).

This vacuum is awesome. The attachments are stored right in the top of it! I'll admit, I lost the little flat one. But I still have the BEST one....the long skinny one!!!! 

Anyway, so those are my cleaning tips. They make my life better. I am learning as I go, so please feel free to provide me with your equally clever tips.

Yours in cleaning,

-Emily