Mrs. Clean

Hi friends! How was your day? Hope it’s been lovely <3

bell

{Bella already owns the place}

I spent a majority of my day cleaning the things the cleaner neglected yesterday, which was pretty much everything 😉 The good news is that I LOVE to clean and the even better news was that I took your advice and called Living Social (it was an LS deal, not Groupon), just to let them know the eco-friendly maid service was less-than-stellar and they issued me a full refund. I <3 awesome customer service.

Stopped at Target to get some supplies:

supplies

(Cute blue flower cleaning gloves, too)

Tip: SO much household cleaning can be done with 3 things: 1) baking soda, 2) vinegar and 3) non-toxic dish soap (I really like the Method brand from Target- the lavender one smells lovely). Dish soap and warm water can clean pretty much anything (like nasty floorboards), vinegar mixed with water is awesome for removing water stains/corrosion from sinks, soap build-up, carpet stains and window cleaner,  and a paste out of baking soda and water will get a ton of stains out (perfect for grout or if your sink has a funky looking stain in it, baking soda paste is the answer. It will make it look brand new and shiny again- just use a brush to clean it with the paste, rinse and dry off).

A lot of attention was paid to the floorboards, which I’m pretty sure haven’t been cleaned many times in their life.

boards

Much better:

floorboards

I cleaned every floorboard in the entire casa, the staircase, bathrooms and wiped down the shelves in the closet that were looking pretty gnarly. It finally feels good to unpack, now that we won’t be unpacking into a dirty place!

While I was Mrs. Cleaning away, my nana was hard at work unpacking the kitchen stuff.

kitchen

She did cookbooks, pots and pans, BBQ tools, and kept me company all day… amazing.

Mid-cleaning snackage was an organic applesauce + handful of gluten-free pretzels.

applesauce

I still hadn’t picked up groceries, so lunch was the same as yesterday:

Hummus, goat cheese and veggies on GF bread from Renee’s Organic Oven

sandwich

My sandwich lurve.

Just got back from a quick gym sesh and am about to make some food for the Pilot and myself 🙂

Enjoy your night and I’ll see ya in the morning!

view

xoxo

Gina

Something to talk about: What’s your favorite unofficial workout? For me, cleaning is second to shopping 😉 Any natural cleaning recipes/suggestions?

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65 Comments

  1. Nicole on July 28, 2011 at 11:01 am

    Um…can you come help with my floorboards? 😉 I hate cleaning! My fave unofficial workout is walking. I am vehicularly-challenged (Chicago public transport is so great that my car payment was going to waste with the car sitting outside 95% of the time!) so I walk everywhere. Some days when the weather isn’t great, I get irritated, but most of the time I really enjoy walking around the city!

  2. mary on July 28, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    I don’t think it’s the angle you’re going for but in addition to vinegar and baking soda, I like bleach. Yes, it’s toxic if consumed but the chlorine dissipates so quickly in a solution and it’s such a good germ-killer. Ask any restaurant what they’re required to use to wipe their surfaces (bleach water) and how often they have to change it (every few hours).

  3. Stephanie on July 28, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    Is that the view from your new place or just your beautiful Arizona?! It is gorgeous. One of my friends is moving to Tuscon next week and I made her check out your blog for tips on places to go and to get excited about the scenery! You’ve totally inspired me to extend my cleaning list for when I get off work later. I was just going to vacuum…now I might bust out the baking soda paste and make things sparkle!!! Thanks for the tip!

  4. Maddy on July 28, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    I can’t wait to see the photos when you house is decorated. It’s a beautiful home. I laughed when I saw the Bella photo. She totally looks ready to assume the role of princess of la casa. Adorable! I love Santa Cruz organic apple sauce-especially strawberry apple and apricot apple. Pour some chia seeds in there and I’m in summer snack heaven.

  5. Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin on July 28, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    I love using eco-friendly alternatives to harsh cleaners. Vinegar + water works like a dream!

    I can’t say I share your love for cleaning though. 😛 I love going on hikes as an unofficial workout.

  6. kristine on July 28, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    I need to start making my own cleaners. Thanks for the reminder!

    Congrats on the house!

    xox

  7. Pam on July 28, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    Congrats on your new home!!
    Your GF sandwich looks amazing! Did they make their own bread?

    • Fitnessista on July 28, 2011 at 11:02 pm

      no, i need to ask which brand they use!

  8. megan on July 28, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    love this post! i am moving this weekend and am hoping to have an all natural cleaning spree before i officially move in. thanks for the tips!

  9. Cat on July 28, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    I love Dr. Bronner’s products! A tip I got from his granddaughter’s blog on the Dr. Bronner website is to cut a half lemon & microwave it for 2 minutes. Let it sit for 5 minutes & then when you open up of the microwave not only does it smell amazing but it’s easy to scrub the gunk. Just be careful handling the lemon because it will be hot!

  10. Colleen on July 29, 2011 at 10:54 am

    I’m trying to get more eco-friendly with my cleaning. Right now I’m loving using microfiber clothes for all surface cleaning. Great for scrubbing those baseboards and you don’t need much more than water and a bit of soap!

  11. Sara on July 29, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    What sort of viinegar though? And, doesn’t it smell.. vinegary?

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