Cleaning a Glass Shower

Glass showers are tricky to clean because they show every bit of soap film and scum that normally would hide on a porcelin-walled shower. You would think that using window cleaner would do the trick but it really doesn’t dig deep enough into the grimes to lift it off. Today I tested window cleaner on one side of glass versus Fantastik All Purpose Cleaner with Bleach and the Fantastik worked extremely well whereas the window cleaner did not.

The cleaners that claim to be shower cleaners that you just leave on and walk away from have never worked for me, particularly on my glass shower. If you have been reading my blog much, you’ll know I am a fan of white vinegar and use it for everything. I particularly like the idea of spraying vinegar, combined with a little lemon juice or lemon oil on glass doors, because then you know you are not inhaling something toxic while cleaning an enclosed space. It also happens to work really well.

My mother has always kept a squeegee in her shower and in fact buys me a new one every time she comes to visit. I rarely use it but she uses hers after every shower. This probably makes life easier in the long run, especially if your shower is a small stall.

Mr. Clean or Magic Erasers. The Mr. Clean (or generic) Magic Erasers work miracles! I tried almost everything–and I do still use a squeegee every day–but the Magic Eraser is wonderful.

Laundry Powder. Another way to clean your bathroom glass is to clean with laundry powder. Use the scrubber that you use to clean the dishes. You can clean whole bathroom & glass.

Use Rain-X afterwards. After cleaning my all glass shower I use “Rain-X” on the glass. It works great and the water just beads up and rolls away, just like on my car windshield.

Cleaning Grout

I have tile floors in my kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. I would like to know the easiest way to glean the yucky looking grout in between the tile without having to get down on my hands and knees and scrub it with a toothbrush.

~Losing the Grout Battle!



The most popular way to clean grout is to take an old toothbrush and scrub the grout with a store bought cleaner, vinegar, or other cleaning aid, so, you are presenting a challenge, which I like!

One product that we have had luck with as far as cleaning grout with out scrubbing is Klean Strip Green which I found at Home Depot in the paint section.

If your tiles and grout are white, here is a non-scrubbing method:

What you need:

• Spray bottle
• Rubber gloves
• Chlorine bleach
• Warm water
• Bathroom cleaner
• Sponge

What to do:

1. Put on rubber gloves for protection for your delicate hands.
2. Fill the spray bottle with one half chlorine bleach and one half warm water. Be careful dealing with the bleach. Avoid skin and eye contact especially when undiluted.
3. Adjust the spray bottle’s nozzle so that it shoots streams rather than a fine mist.
4. Spray directly to the grout in sweeping motions. Make sure to soak the lines.
5. Let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes and let the bleach do the work.
6. Follow it up with a sponge down with the suggested mix of bathroom cleaner.
7. Rinse.

Clean Your Oven the Natural Way

Cleaning your oven can be quite a chore - and the fumes from many commercial products can be especially harsh. Here is a method for cleaning a non-self cleaning oven naturally with our good friend baking soda:

Make sure your oven is cold and sprinkle baking soda in a thick layer on the bottom of the oven. Use a spray bottle filled with water and spray until the baking soda is damp and of a paste-like consistency. Let sit overnight and then scrape the baking soda off - the food particles will be broken down and come off with it.

Use a damp cloth or sponge with a little liquid detergent to wipe off the bottom of the oven. Natural and no oven cleaner taste on your food next time you cook something in your oven!

Cleaning Your Lampshades

Here are some steps to clean your lampshades:

For fabric lampshades, start by removing the shade from the lamp and dusting the shade inside and out with a microfiber cloth, vacuum brush or even a make up brush. Plastic, glass or ceramic shades can be wiped with a dry cloth.

Next it’s time to wash. For all shades, look at the cleaning directions first and proceed as directed. For non-fabric shades - plastic, glass, ceramic, etc. - you should be able to use window glass cleaner applied with a clean cloth - rub and repeat until all traces of dirt are gone. Then use a damp cloth to remove cleaner residue and wipe dry with a clean paper towel. For fabric shades, take a 1/4 cup of mild detergent (I like Dawn) and combine with 1 cup warm water. Take a clean white cloth and immerse in the cleaning mixture - wring out so it’s damp and gently wipe down the shade. Take another clean cloth, dip in clean water, wring out and use to remove any residue. Let all shades completely air dry before replacing on lamps.

Also take this opportunity to wipe down the lamp base from top to bottom. If you keep on maintaining your shades by dusting/vacuuming regularly, you should be in good shape.

* A lintroller also works well on smooth lampshades.

Cleaning your StoveTop

How can you do to clean the splatter off your porcelain stovetop?

I'm a big fan of the baking soda, vinegar and water mixture because it is non toxic and not so abrasive as some other cleaners. You can make a paste of these ingredients and then rub it on your stove with a dish rag in a circular motion until the spots are clean. Then give it a nice rinse.

Cleaning Coffee Pot

If you have a glass pot and are sick of looking at the brown coffee stains that are lining the inside, there’s an easy fix. Empty the pot and rinse it out with water. Add 1 cup of distilled white vinegar to the pot and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of baking soda inside. Swoosh it around a little and watch it fizz and foam and leave it to rest for about 5 minutes. Take a paper towel and wipe the insides of the pot with the solution then give it a good rinse. The pot will be clean and look brand new. Also, you can take this solution and pour it into the coffee maker where the water would normally go and let it run through a cycle with no coffee of course. Do this once and then do it with just water so it gets rinsed clean and that will clean the insides of the maker. This solution is non-toxic so even if a little is left behind, it won’t hurt you to ingest it.

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Other Suggestions:

Use Ice. Put ice in the empty pot and just sloosh it around and waa laa! Works really well on the pot you accidentally left on and the coffee burnt to the bottom. Amazing, I couldn’t believe it worked.

Use Baking Soda. I have another suggestion for cleaning your coffee pot or for getting hard to remove tea stains off of cups. Just use a small amount of baking soda on a damp paper towel. I use this method every day and the stains will come off immediately and easily. Rinse with warm water. This also works great on any other surface without causing damage, because the baking soda isn’t as abrasive and some other powder cleaners. Hope it works for you.

Use Lemon. About once a week cut a piece off of a lemon and squeeze it into empty coffee pot and then throw the piece in and pour 1 tbl of salt in ( acts like an abrasive) and swish it around for a little bit and then wash out. comes out nice and clean.

Get Rust Stains off Tile

Do you have rust stains from flower stands on your tile floors? Try a lemon and a pumice stone from the bathroom to remove it.

The pumice is abrasive enough to take rub off the stain but not too abrasive so as to scratch the tile…and we all know the bleaching power of lemon juice.

The stuff was like magic. And on top of that, the solution was totally non-toxic.

Double-Duty Dusting

Forget spending money on disposable dusters. Used dryer sheets work just as well! Simply save 'em in an old tissue box when you take the clothes out of the dryer; then use these super-soft sheets for dusting the furniture. Not only do they smell sweet, they trap dust within the cloth itself. Plus, they work great on staticky items like computers and TV screens.