Cleaning

For heel marks, I would recommend Goof Off or some kind of orange oil-based cleaner.

HEY.

What color should I paint the floor in my new apartment? The landlord covered the marred hard wood floors with a horrible brown. The walls are a nice moss green with a built-in book shelf unit painted purplish. I was thinking a silvery-bluish-grey. Off topic, but recommendations appreciated.

Ugh cleaning I hate you. We've been given four months to vacate but I've been here 8 years so the place has a lot of wear and tear. Whats worse is, for reasons unknown, they sent painters in last week and painted all the walls while we still live here! We agreed to it not realising at the time we were going to be given the arse. They made a tremendous mess (broken plaster and paint flakes, dirt, cigarette ash on the balcony, paint on the carpet, broke a lamp and a camera... oh god what a disaster) and then fucked off without cleaning a THING, it has taken me two whole weekends so far to get the place looking even habitable again.

Easy off BAM is awesome I have to say. The kitchen grease one gets rid of EVERYTHING but it is disturbingly toxic smelling. The bathroom one is good but so caustic, it seems to react weirdly with bathroom greases and leave a sick, sharp smell I dont like.

So I got the apt clean enuf for the landlady, and she gave me my deposit back. FANFARE, THE END. Used Mop n Glow on floor for the last wipe.

Of course the new place has an annoying amount of dust, crumbs and grime (a MUSICIAN lived here, natch).

yay for the return of the deposit - I HATE it when they keep any of it. And hey for your new place, look at all the cleaning expertise you've acquired recently - just blast everything with Easy-Off and be done with it.

I don't want to clean anymore for at least 2 months.

As soon as my financial situation is straightened out (August????) I'm hiring a cleaning lady. Well worth about $100 a month because I'm not a neat or clean person.

Please consider being an equal opportunities employer.

I took Martin Grelis at his word and tried his Easy Off Bam. I did not care for it. In fact, it was fucking useless. Hospital strength Domestos can't be beaten. It wins the Shower War every time. Get on board people.

I'm reading a book in which a real estate agent recommends cleaning the tub with Tang and Pepsi. I wonder if this works.

lol, do you drink them then pee in the tub?

Do *I*?

no, anyone who follows this agent's book.

I'm reading a book in which a real estate agent recommends cleaning the tub with Tang and Pepsi. I wonder if this works.

My father once got rid of a stain from his truck's steering wheel when he spilled orange soda on it.

Cheap own band coke is good for cleaning stuff.

The book's a novel.

Trust me, it would end in disaster; I know my limitations.

oops, that was meant re phonejack instal on other thread.

Ha.

ALl of the flores are sweeped!!! I invite you to sharing this great fellings :)))))

And Washtub

Anyone psyched here for spring cleaning?

My House Stinks .

gotta attack the fridge this week

I just moved into a new place, and it's pretty clean. Gave the entire kitch a good scrub with SimpleGreen degreaser and a brillo sponge, esp around the edges of the cabinet doors.

My mom says ammonia is a good degreaser -- somehow I never realized this, I thought it was just a disinfectant. Can anyone confirm? Ie can I use a crazy amt of ammonia on my disgusting oven hood that has so much grease on it that the dust and hair in the air has stuck all over and turned it black?

Currently throwing away shite like a madman

It's probably a sign of how crowded it was/is in here that I've so far filled a standard wheelie bin and the amount of space has hardly increased at all.

ammonia is a good degreaser

It's not bad, but works better if punched up with some (chlorine bleach free - v.v. important) grease-busting dish detergent (like Dawn) for super heavy grease. Don't mix bleach and ammonia ever though - makes a vapor that is almost pure chlorine gas.

I've been trying out all the Method brand products - very impressed with their Tub and Tile stuff, especially since you can use it w/o gloves. Their wood floor cleaner smells like almonds and the mint glass cleaner works pretty well on stainless steel too.

I have that Simple Green stuff - never seems to work as well as I want it to.

i need to be cleaning right now but im feeling too lazy.

serious question: how much does it cost to get someone to clean your house once or twice a week? I have no idea.

Here the regular price is seven euros per hour. We pay a bit more, but then I really like her. Not sure how it works in other countries.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

http://www.shespeaks.com/pages/img/review/mr-clean-magic-eraser_05102010131819.jpg

This thing is pretty fucking amazing. I was very dubious when I bought it, being skeptical of the manufacturer's bold claims and having heard that a friend's dad returned his for a refund at Target. But damn if it doesn't work like magic. It is far, far (really far) more effective than a scouring pad, sponge, or rag on everything I've used it on.

And the generic cheap-o versions work just as well.

And the Roomba is a godsend, too.

how fucking hard is it to put things in a bin without getting food all over the edge of the bin?

HOW FUCKING HARD UNIVERSE?

jesus!

lol as a continuation of the above post...

anyone in london use a cleaner? how much you pay, how many hours per week, are they good etc?

how fucking hard is it to put things in a bin without getting food all over the edge of the bin?

HOW FUCKING HARD UNIVERSE?

jesus!

u know i've thought of a phrase you could shout at them....

going rate for a good cleaner probably £7/8 p/h, stick an ad on gumtree

first person who replied to my advert was an incredibly dour slavic woman who looked like slavoz zizek crossed with john terry's mum

Man, can I echo Jesse's sentiments re: the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser? We had a couple walls we were SURE we were going to need to repaint, due to both scuff marks and dirty areas where a bookshelf was pressed up against the wall, but these got rid of all of the marks! But I do have to caution that you do want to test it on a small area first, because when we tested it on another color in another room it was found to pull the paint off with it.

I don't understand how they work so well. Not just for walls, but for food stains on countertops. They're wonderful for cleaning the range, too. And the fridge, of course.

My Roomba sucked up water and is now deceased. Fortunately iRobot has a replacement program where they send you a brand new one for cheap, or a refurb for even cheaper. Thank god, b/c that thing made a night/day difference in the state of my floors. Maybe someday I'll get a Scooba!

A blog post about how the Magic Eraser works. (I didn't know that there was a rumor (debunked) that it was toxic b/c it's made using formaldehyde.)

yaaay chemistry!!

It's springtime and talk in another thread made me think it's time for a revive.

As I said in the other thread, One thing that was SUPER inspirational (though not at all effective in changing my behavior) was hearing some guy on an HGTV show about tiny apartments say that he makes his bed every day b/c he deserves to come home to a freshly made bed.

So now, I think, I'd clean up that puddle of dried cat puke in the corner if company was coming, so why wouldn't I clean it up for Jesse....?

It is a really good way of thinking about housekeeping, IMO, even though it has been hard for me to put into practice on my own. Which is why I hired cleaners. I'm putting a higher priority on having a clean, inviting (to me!) home, and it's worth the relatively small $$.

I'm attempting to put the same amt of energy into learning about cleaning as I put into learning about other things. Then I'm going to do it. (it= keeping everything clean)

Recommendations for a wall/tall stuff dusting implement for short people?

LL I think you would like the Home Comforts book--I found it rather fascinating and read it from cover to cover (it is 896 pages!) in a weekend. Be warned that the author WILL make you feel like a disgusting savage if you do not change your sheets like every other day.

xp

I have a telescoping aluminium handle that accepts various attachments ... on the rare occasions I get inspired enough, I use it to dust the tops of bookcases, ceiling fans, ceiling corners, etc. ... much better than standing on a step-ladder or something

search "extendable broom handle"

Something that is helping me - giant boxes of disposable nitrile gloves from costco and a case of those anti-bac cleaning wipes. In the kitchen and bathroom where I can easily get to them. Also magic erasers b/c they are amazing.

This thing is wonderful

http://i.imgur.com/bfsrYHwl.jpg

(or similar)

I have gloves and a fancy apron I'm going to wear for inspiration. Bought a little fuzzy duster today while I waited for spare keys to be made too. Thanks for the suggestions!! I need to frame this in my mind as "something fun I'm doing for us" rather than "do not be disgusting piggy savage" so pls bear with my relentless positivity -- it's what I need in order to maintain interest.

I usually throw a dirty towel from the laundry over a broom and stick a chip bag clip on it to dust ceiling corners and tops of windows. Or a rubber band, that would work too.