Confessions and Cleaning Tips

Being part of an amazing blog requires pulling my weight and contributing regularly.  So in the spirit of being a team player I kindly volunteered to share a cleaning tip.  Cleaning tip.... how hard could that be? Seemed easy enough to pull together in the midst of getting back into the swing of things at my co-teaching job at the Montessori school.

So... cleaning tip... uh oh...     DO I HAVE ANY CLEANING TIPS?  I suddenly wasn't sure!  I'm going to put this out on the table right now, just get it over with, before I mislead a lot of people into thinking I've 'got it all together' (Ok, you wouldn't have thought that for long...)

I am NOT super mom.

I don't love to cook.

I hate crafts.

I get behind on laundry.

We're late for school more often than I'd like to admit..

and I really don't like to clean.

Don't get me wrong.  My house looks pretty nice in general... but behind closed doors I keep my dirty little secrets.

This is what the public sees:

But here's a look at my closet.  *gulp*

Yeah, a little inconsistent...

But hey, Maybe I'm a bit of a mess behind closed doors, but I still like to have a reasonably clean home.  I just don't want to spend all day at it and I don't want to spend a lot of money... on cleaning.  I'd rather spend my money on essential oils, now that's fun!

TODAY'S TIP:

I'm not sure I've ever met a person who loves to mop.  I REALLY don't like it, but I do have a lot of hard surfaces in my house so I really don't have a choice (except to hire a house cleaner, and that's just not in the cards yet).

Bottom line: It must be done. But I want it done FAST.

I created my own method to get this chore over with ASAP.  Secret:  This method is SO easy...you might not even mind mopping every day. Woah...  now I'm just getting carried away.

First thing, get a great cleaner concentrate. Always natural. My favorite is doTerra's OnGuard Cleaner concentrate because it uses the power of essential oils to clean and who doesn't love to finish mopping and have their house smell like cinnamon and grapefruit?  You can also use Dr. Bronners Cleaning concentrate you could wash your hair and then mop your floors with it.  Pretty safe if you ask me.  Another option that is natural and safe is Seventh Generation Cleaning concentrate.  Another one I'll recommend is My Cleaning Product: Neutrlizer.  If you have any questions about why I recommend these 3 options feel free to leave a comment of shoot me an email (lionessesatthegate@gmail.com)

Ok, next: Using an empty spray bottle fill an empty spray bottle 3/4 full of water and add 2-3 tablespoons of the concentrate. (There's no hard and fast rule to quantities)
Twist on sprayer top and shake gently.  Voila.  You've got a month's worth of mopping solution ready to go at all times!

Mini Tip: This same solution, if natural, can be used to clean all surfaces in your house from the floors to countertops. In fact, because this particular cleaner contains essential oils that will kill literally any germ, I use it to clean my bathrooms, kitchen countertops, floors, stove, sinks, showers, tubs, everything.

Mopping time.  Ok, simply spray the solution on the area you plan to mop!  Do it section by section if it's a big floor as it might start to dry out a little...

Then girl, you just go to town!  Using a microfiber push mop, saturate the pad in hot water, wring it out and you're ready to hit the floor.   Mop fast and furiously.  The point is to get it over with as soon as possible! When finished, rinse out the mop head, allow to air dry and just make sure you toss it in the washing machine every once in a while.

Woot Woot!  Mopping is over with!  Mostly painless right?  Feel free to celebrate by playing a little air guitar.

Now... if I could just work some magic in my closet...