Soap Scum

Each weekend, my husband and I spend a bit of time maintaining the cleanliness of our home. We pick up clutter, dust, vacuum, clean the bathroom, and do all of the little necessities to help keep our house up to snuff.

Confession: This is not true of our master bathroom. It's a tiny little room tucked away at the back of the house and you wouldn't even know it was there unless we told you about it. No one ever sees it but us. This bathroom is quite literally my dirty little secret. I suppose that the cat's out of the bag now. It's something I tell my self I'll get to later, when I have more time. No one will know anyway. And then I wake up one morning and realize the filth that it has become. I hope I'm not the only one with a room like this, but if I am, well...I guess I'm a work in progress.

Until now.

Today, amped up on way too much coffee for a Saturday, I went after that long neglected bathroom. And I did it using some of the heavy duty cleaning recipes in my new favorite housekeeping guide, The Naturally Clean Home. 

My dirty little secret now shines.
I watched in awe as soap scum melted off the shower wall. Not since I moved in have I seen my shower so sparkly white. Passed attempts with Comet have not delivered these kinds of results. I hollered to my husband to come look at the shower (turns out, men do not get excited about these kinds of things). Now I'm not sure I want to use it -- it's too pretty to spoil!

People, I am in love.

With baking soda, vinegar, borax and salt. 

Who would have thought it possible? These simple, inexpensive items (along with a little elbow grease) work together to create a cleaning miracle. Icing on the cake (could it get better?): these natural ingredients contain no harsh chemicals, no fumes, no pollutants. Some recipes in the book even recommend cleaning with your bare hands to - get this - soften your skin!

Wanna come see my bathroom? I feel like throwing a party in it.

Here are the recipes I used. All came from The Naturally Clean Home.
Thank you, thank you Karyn Siegel-Maier! You have given me a cleaner, greener, home.

Fizzy Bathroom Sink Cleaner

Combine ingredients, pour into sink and scrub away.

1/2 c baking soda

6 drops lemon essential oil

1/2 c vinegar

Soap Scum Remover 

(aka, miracle shower formula)

1 T baking soda

1 t salt

2 drops essential oil

vinegar

This recipe wasn't going to be enough for my nasty shower. 

So I "guess"-timated an increase:

Into a large measuring cup, I poured about 1/2 cup baking soda, covered that with salt, and added about 20 drops of lemon essential oil. 

Then, I followed the recipe and added enough vinegar to make a paste. I dipped a scouring pad into this paste and went at my shower. 

I worked up a bit of a sweat, but the results are well worth it!

Easy-Does-It Bowl Cleaner

Combine ingredients and pour into toilet. Then swipe with brush.

1/2 c baking soda

1/4 c white vinegar

10 drops tea tree essential oil

Germs-Be-Gone Toilet Cleaner

Combine in a spray bottle:

2 cups water

1/4 c liquid castile soap

1 T tea tree essential oil

10 drops eucalyptus or peppermint essential oil 

(I have yet to include this in my repertoire of oils, so I used my lemon oil instead)

A note on "Germs-Be-Gone": 

In the past, I have used a commercially-produced, natural all-purpose cleaner to clean my toilet and my bathroom surfaces (sink, counters). 

I applied the same thinking to this recipe and made it my all-purpose cleaner.