Green Solutions for Wood Problems

When you spend the money to have wood floors in your house, its no doubt you want to keep them in great shape so they last a long time. Along with keeping our floors in good shape, we want them to stay clean!  The best cleaning solutions are the ones you can make yourself out of products you know will not harm anyone in your home.  We like to think of these as 'Eco-friendly' cleaning products. 

Here is a list of recipes you can make at home to help keep your wood floors in excellent shape:

Burns: For wood burns that have not fully penetrated the wood surface, rub with thin paste of rottenstone, linseed oil and 2 or 3 drops of peppermint essential oil.  If the burn has penetrated the wood surface, you may have to refinish the area and re-stain.

Black Shoe Marks: These can be removed by rubbing 2 or 3 drops of cedar or eucalyptus essential oil over the mark with a soft cloth.

Crayon: Wipe crayon marks with a few drops of cedar or peppermint essential oil mixed with a dab of toothpaste.  Wipe clean with a cloth moistened with vinegar.

Grease: If you have grease on your wood floors you will want to act immediately. Place ice cubes on top of the spill to harden and prevent the grease from seeping further into the wood. If a grease layer forms, it can be scraped off with a blunt object such as a popsicle stick. If you're wood is unfinished, squirt some vegetable oil soap and  few drops of your favorite essential oil over the spill. Use a paper towel and blot repeatedly.

Tips for Spring Cleaning

Many people decide to perform a deep cleaning on their home or living space during the Spring. Spring brings in warmer days, blooming flowers, open windows and more house guests. To get your home ready for this warmer time the year, it is necessary to start cleaning. Annual deep cleaning is a little more complicated than your everyday cleaning projects. It may require some painting, fixing and storing. Spend some extra time to make your house ready for Spring, and it is only really necessary once a year. To make your deep Spring cleaning project simple, and quick follow these tips.

Involve the entire family.
Depending on the age of your family member, some may be able to handle lager chores than others, but all should be included. Boulder house cleaning experts say bringing the family together will teach everyone about the what it takes to keep the home clean. Young kids can help put their toys away and older children can help by cleaning their rooms and organizing areas they spend the most time. Don't forget about cleaning outside your home too. Making Spring-cleaning a family activity will speed up the process.

Use natural cleaning products. 
Natural cleaning products are not only better for the Earth, they are also better for your family. Using natural products can also help spare the family budget from any big dings. Simple products like baking soda, water, vinegar and lemon juice to clean most surfaces in the home. In most cases a simple combination of soap and water is one of the best cleaning solutions you can use.

Tips for Cleaning Your Garage

By Ronnie L Green 

Many people send hours keeping the insides of their homes neat & clean. However, their garage is a different matter, often neglected until cleaning is absolutely necessary. The garage often becomes a kind of a catch-all for the stuff that gets kicked out of the house. It also becomes a storage area for large, bulky items such as sporting & camping items, tools, unused chemicals, lawn care equipment or other things. The garage is also exposed to outdoor elements such as rodents, insects & mold. Because of this it's not a friendly environment and people really don't like being out there for long. As a result, many people often put off cleaning and organizing their garage.

Organize
Organization is a great place to start when tackling a large cleaning project. It's always a good idea to sort through your stuff and divide it into piles according to usage. Keep all of your holiday items in one pile, your sporting goods in another pile, etc. Be methodical, as the more things that you can place together in related groups, the easier it will be to see what you want to keep, what you have in duplicate and what you no longer want or need.

Throw Out What You Can
Discarding old or unnecessary items is one of the most important steps in the cleaning process. While we think that VCR, excess wallpaper or that stack of old magazines might come in useful one day, chances are they will not. Keeping these items, as small as they might seem, can take up valuable space in your garage and make things appear cluttered. As you organize your items into piles, make sure you have a garbage pile and add to it. Be aggressive in your decisions to throw things out, remembering a good rule of thumb is to throw out anything you haven't used in over 18 months. If you're throwing out any paperwork that might have personal information, it's a good idea to shred this before tossing.