A visual testiment to how you don’t need harsh chemicals to clean. Even your oven.

Tools for the job:

Hot water

Soda Crystals (powder and liquid varieties)

Copper scourer

Elbow grease

Microfibre cloth

Rubber gloves

Method:

Dissolve about a cup full of powder soda crystals in a sink of hot water. Pop the racks in to soak. (may need to turn them after 5 mins if they’re too big to immerse completely in the water)

Slosh a bit of liquid soda crystals on the glass of the oven door. Smear it round with your gloved hand.

Have a cuppa.

Attack the oven racks with your copper scourer. Rinse in clean water.

Attack the oven door with your copper scourer. Wipe off with wet cloth. Buff dry with microfibre cloth.

Results:

A clean oven (see before and after pics below). Without the need to have a well ventilated room, extra thick special rubber gloves, eye protective goggles and a mask to avoid inhaling burny burny fumes.

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As the cold and flu season takes hold, regular cleaning of the things that gather our germs is vital. When we clean commercial premises, we place great emphasis on cleaning touch points like doors, light switches and hand rails. And phones and keyboards will harbour germs too. These are the places where germs can be passed on to others. If we could trust everyone to have impeccable hand hygiene regime, we’d all be fine. But that’s unrealistic. As a green cleaning company, we don’t want to compromise on our vow to never use harsh toxins in our cleaning. So we did a little research and it turned out that vinegar is a natural anti bacterial product. As is tea tree oil, which also has anti viral properties. So here is our concoction for a natural anti bacterial germ busting spray:

Take an empty spray bottle, add a few drops of tea tree oil, half fill it with white vinegar, then top it up with water. Give it a gentle shake to mix up the magic. And there it is. We use a clean microfibre cloth sprayed with a generous dose of our concoction.

Natural, easy AND cheap!!!
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NO IT ISN’T…. Well, it shouldn’t be! We know some companies add a premium for choosing green. But take a look at our core cleaning kit in the picture.

Ye olde fashioned white vinegar and soda crystals are less than a pound each, and a little goes a long way. The Enviro range from our janitorial supplier is brilliant, and we buy most of it in 5 litre tubs. The loo cleaner bottle in the picture will be refilled until the label can’t be seen any more, and then we print off a new label and keep reusing the bottle! It’s not just an environmentally friendly way to work, it’s also cheaper! The 5 litre tub of all purpose cleaner in the picture costs about £7. It is a concentrate and is diluted 1 to 100, so we put a splosh of it in a trigger spray bottle and top it up with water (so a standard 750ml bottle of ready to use all purpose spray costs pennies <I tried to work it out and couldn’t!>).

That microfibre cloth will be used and washed and reused and washed… and when they finally get shabby, they’re just used as rags. So, again, it’s green but also cost effective and cheaper than using disposable cloths! And the mop head is used and washed and reused 3 times before being discarded.

So done well, being green is actually about doing things cheaply! But Cheapskate Mop wouldn’t have been as catchy a name!
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Do you know all the amazing things you can do with plain old Baking Soda? Betcha don’t! I know, I know, how exciting can Baking Soda be? To begin with back in the day it was one of the few products available to all that multi-tasked like no-body’s business. It was used on everything from upset stomachs to brushing teeth. These days of course, a lot has changed, but what we do still do is overpay for a host of products that either charge extra because they contain Baking Soda as an ingredient or do the very same things that Baking Soda can do. The following is a list of 10 1/2 amazing ways to incorporate Baking Soda into your everyday beauty routine.

1. Acne Mask Combine baking Soda with just enough purified water to form a thick paste. Plaster the paste on acne prone areas and chill out for 10-15 minutes. Rinse with cool water. Repeat daily and revel in the results after just 1 week!

2. Smelly Hands Yuck! If your hands have acquired an odor for some reason mix 4 parts Baking Soda with 1 part water add to hand soap. Rub mixture together in your hands with a little bit of water. Rinse, repeat and smell a lot better!

2 1/2. Smelly Feet Double yuck! Soak tired, smelly feet in a basin of warm water mixed with 5 tablespoons Baking Soda. Awe, it’s relaxing and kills the odor!

3. Shampoo buildup on hair Add 1 tablespoon Baking Soda to your usual shampoo. Lather. Rinse. Repeat, and say goodbye to nasty buildup!

4. Callused Rough Skin Mix 3 parts Baking Soda with 1 part purified water to form a thick paste. Massage into callused rough skin in a circle motion. Repeat daily, follow with moisturizer of your choice.

5. Skin Irritations Windburn? Sunburn? Poison ivy? 3 parts Baking Soda with one part water. Create the miracle paste. Scoop and pat onto irritated areas, sit back and let it dry, repeat as necessary.

6. Relaxing Bath Oh its been one of those days! Sit back and relax in a hot Baking Soda soak. Just add 3/4cup of Baking Soda to your bath and relax those stiff muscles away.

7. Fingernail Discoloration If your like me you use your poor fingernails as tools! After awhile they can start to look dingy and discolored. Add 1 part Baking Soda to 2 parts water. Soak your grimy nails in the mixture for 5 minutes. Follow up by dipping your nail brush into the mixture and scrubbing the really harsh stains away.

6. Dentures, Retainers, Mouth-guards Add 3 teaspoons of Baking Soda to warm water. Soak assorted mouth wear until water runs cool.

7. Toothpaste Mix 3 parts Baking Soda with 1 part salt. Add 3 teaspoons of glycerin. Add 10 to 20 drops of your flavoring of choice (I like peppermint or cinnamon oil). When your ready to use it add just enough water to make a paste and scrub away.

8. Odor killing Mouthwash Add 2 teaspoons Baking Soda to 4 ounces of purified water. Swish and gargle in mouth swirling through teeth. Spit don’t swallow!

9. Facial Exfoliant See my post below on the Baking Soda Facial!

10. Facial Scrub Here’s a great weekly face scrub. Mix 4 tablespoons Baking Soda with 1/2 cup oatmeal in your blender. Add enough water to make a paste. Apply to face, gently rubbing into skin in a circular motion!

How to clean your silver using boiling water and Baking Soda.

Don’t discard a seemingly empty bottle of washing up liquid. Take the top off and half fill the bottle with water, or leave it standing overnight, cut the bottom off and add some water. Either way, you will have enough for about six more washes.