Before I was pregnant with Squirm, I started to get concerned with some of the cleaning products we were using. Since both Mr Pilot and I were busy working out of the house, deeper cleaning was often put off – either until school holidays when I was avoiding planning, or until it got too bad to ignore. So, out would come the stronger cleaning products – stronger must equal cleaner, right?
But I knew some of the things we were using weren’t the safest. When we needed to put on half a dozen types of protective gear (I’m exaggerating) just to clean the bathroom, and the smell of cleaning products lingered for days, surely this wasn’t great for our health. And what would it do to a little person we were hoping to bring into our life.
Now that Squirm is here (and now things have settled enough that I can even think about cleaning) I want to get things clean, but I also wanted to get out of the habit of using the strong cleaning products we’d used in the past. Team this with Pinterest, which seems to be full of people using natural cleaning products, and it would probably be no surprise that I finally bought Completely Spotless for my iPad.
(I don’t suggest buying it that way, if you have room for the paper version. It’s one of those books that would be much better to thumb through. Also, if you used Modern Cloth Nappies, don’t listen to their nappy washing advice – follow the instructions from the seller.)
Mr Pilot summed up the book as ‘anything can be cleaned with bicarb, vinegar and dishwashing liquid’ which is a pretty clear summary of the book’s contents. However, there is more to it, including how to get pretty much any stain out of anything!
So, I began putting it to the test in the kitchen. A few benches later and I was happy with the results, but still not 100% swayed. Then I attacked the sink.
Our sink was building up an unfortunate layer of colour from food stains and tea stains. I’d fussed over it and cleaned it with a basic spray, but it wasn’t lifting the grime. Then I sprinkled on the bicarb, sprayed some vinegar and scrubbed. And, before too long, it actually all came off.
So now I’m a convert. There’ll be vinegar around the whole house. And I’ll never be able to make a living advertising cleaning products!
Adventures of a Subversive Reader 
I have wondered about the cleaning tips I have come across on Pinterest too but so far have been too lazy to go to any effort to try them (squirting a bottle of chemicals seems so much easier!). Thank you for sharing!
On most of your kitchen surfaces, the vinegar and bicarb work great – I didn’t even have to put that much effort in 🙂 I highly recommend the Spotless book – you know it’s a reputable source then 🙂
I love Spotless. Vinegar and bi-carb all the way 🙂
and I meant to say, I loved the title of this post 🙂
I was a little surprised by how effective it was, but it’s so much cheaper than the chemicals too 🙂
I have several bottles of vinegar sitting around so I don’t have to lug it around from room to room 🙂 I’ve just started using it with my nappies to keep them a bit softer, seems to work wonderfully.
It’s like a magic potion. And it makes great chips . . .
I got four of the Lush and Fleming books for $6 each at ChickenFeed and I was so pleased, because I’d been wanting Speedcleaning and the two Spotless books for ages.
I was looking at getting Speed Cleaning as well – it looks really good
I’m wanting to switch too. Good to know the combination works.
I suppose all those converts really were on to something 🙂