Oops.

Speaking of unmentionables, I have some tips for the mother of all unmentionables in the cleaning business: Breakage.

A person who cleans for a living touches or cleans around hundreds of fragile items each week.

Until recently, I personally went into the job with the attitude that probability dictates that things will get broken. You clean a hundred houses, you're going to lose at least one knickknack.

That's a reasonable attitude, but if that one knickknack happens to be an irreplaceable personal heirloom, telling the client that it was inevitable and buying something that looks like it is cold comfort.

In my time working for myself and other people, I have seen two approaches to avoiding breakage. The main one is to never touch anything fragile. That means letting dust collect around that giant antique vase on the floor and watching cobwebs form around the fine China dishes displayed on top of the cabinet. Many clients prefer that, and will point out items they don't want to be touched upfront. I have one client I do careful allergy-type dusting for who can't clean much herself, but she has a sentimental figurine shelf that she takes care of herself for that reason.

A second approach is to clean everything and pray a lot. That was always my approach. If you don't tell me not to clean it, I'll at least wave a duster at it every time. That works great most of the time. But every so often, there will be items that my gut tells me to give a wide berth. Nearly every time I don't, I find myself apologizing profusely and scrambling to make good. (And by every time, I mean I can count the casualties from five years of cleaning houses off and on on one hand.)

If you're a cleaner, or you are thinking about employing one, here are some general rules for spotting hazards. Avoiding putting your stuff in those situations can go along way to ensuring it makes it through cleaning day intact.

Location, location, location

There is a physical "danger zone" below knee-level and above eye-level. Anytime you have to reach to pick up or dust over an object, you risk knocking it over. Items displayed on the floor or on low surfaces where they are likely to be set on the floor when you are cleaning can get stepped on, knocked over or risk chips and breaks from being put down too fast on a hard floor. Even under the bed is a danger zone, as few cleaners want to be caught not cleaning under the bed, but it is not unheard of for them to poke a sweeper or broom under there without looking first (ahem).  Items that have to be awkwardly reached behind or between things are also in a danger zone. As are ones that you can't see the bottom of because they are above tippy-toes eye level.  Any flat surface that cannot be seen while standing on the floor is one that should not be touched without a step ladder. You can't know the shelf or ledge is empty until you physically look at it.

Balancing act

Precariously balanced things are another big minefield. My big example is a heavy flower pot or vase on a little wood or wire stand on the floor. Anytime the load is heavier than whatever it's sitting on, you have an unstable situation that can lead to a broken pot or broken stand. Even on a stable surface like a counter, a light dish holding heavy decorative stones or a potted plant won't withstand being picked up or scooted with the load on it.  Wall and stand displays for fragile things like dishes and sculptures are easy to accidentally knock down to begin with, so if they are not anchored and barely standing or hanging in place, they are likely to get knocked down, or even fall on their own when something nearby is moved.

 Traffic hazard

Delicate things in high-traffic and high-cleaning activity areas are another one. The bathroom is a big one. People can't help but decorate the sides of those big "garden" type bathtubs, for example. I have seen glass vases, seashells and candlesticks sitting on the edges of tubs that only the most standoffish cleaners wouldn't want to clear and wipe. The back of the toilet and the top of the medicine cabinet are two other places people like to decorate. Toilet tank lids are usually slightly rounded, and medicine cabinet tops are always well above eye level, so both need to be approached with extreme caution. Kitchens, window sills and entryways are other high-traffic, high cleaning action areas that are dangerous for fragile items.

Simply put, it is a housecleaner's job to handle all those situations. No house on Earth has all its fragile items in a locked China cabinet or on a chest-level whatnot shelf.  Odds are good that a commercial "quick clean" service will automatically bypass such situations unless the cleaners are expressly told that the areas need to be cleaned.  Even when a cleaner zips in and out with no intention of meticulously cleaning everything, your stuff is still subject to people bumping around and waving dusters and rags in the vicinity.

The best thing to do is be mindful, and keep valuables out of risky situations. For the cleaner's part, she or he has to be aware of all breakage hazards and ask for permission and use care when cleaning around precariously situated delicate things. Trust me, any client would prefer a spot of dust to a shattered family heirloom. If an item is that important and that fragile, the easiest route would be to ignore it and let the client keep it clean and move it around once in a while so you can dust. It's helpful for a client to note what's particularly valuable in his or her home, but a cleaner really must approach everything as though it cannot be replaced.

Here is a picture of what NOT to do: Never stick a duster, mop or vacuum hose somewhere you can't see. Every flat surface in a house can be home to breakable decorations and accessories. If you are going to wipe above eye level, you need to at least get up on a step ladder and survey the tops of everything before running a duster across them. Working in a jacket, or even a loose smock or apron is a bad idea also. As in a factory, loose clothing, jewelry and hair risk getting getting hung up on things, only in a home it's your valuables, not the worker's limbs, that are in danger.

Mention Your Unmentionables

Free delivery service for basic household products!

This is a new service I started providing for clients who have a tough time getting to the store, but I am offering it to anyone, whether you're disabled, too busy or just lazy.

The prices are my retail cost per unit, rounded up a few pennies to a couple dollars for easy numbers and to defray the cost of gas and sales tax.

I'm not selling sundries, I am bringing them to you as a part of my cleaning service. The in-stock supply costs are retail warehouse club prices, which are generally a little to a lot better than grocery store ones, especially for single units and small packages. The cost of the items I can order is the straight-up retail price I pay to get them from the manufacturer or supply house.

Here's the list. Please mention what you need when you make your appointment. In-stock items can be requested by phone anytime before your scheduled day.

JustClean

HOUSEKEEPING BY KAREN

Tuscaloosa, AL, 205-331-0422

www.JustCleanTuscaloosa.com

Household Supply Delivery

Basic paper and cleaning supplies delivered free during scheduled appointments. Cost will be added to your bill.

In stock now:

Bathroom tissue........................... 50¢/roll, $3.50 pack of 9

Paper towels................................................ 1.50/roll

Unscented laundry pods ................................... 25¢ each

13-gallon trash bags ......................................... 15¢ each

XL disposable underwear................ 50¢ each, $15 pack of 32

Unscented or lemongrass glycerin logo soaps............ 25¢ each

Available on request:

PURE unscented disinfectant........................... $15/ 32-*oz

Seventh Generation thymol disinfectant ................  $4/32 oz

Seventh Generation unscented dish soap............. $3.50/25 oz

Procyon unscented degreaser concentrate............. $15/32 oz

Just G all purpose cleaner concentrate ................. $25/32 oz

Dr. Bronner’s unscented Castile soap ...... $12/16 oz, $18/32 oz

Suggested items (specific brands as available)

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Barkeeper's Friend

 

What you get

Well, it depends on what you need.

But my gameplan is to detail-dust the corners and common areas of the bar, including knickknacks, fixtures, under the bar and stools and anywhere else cobwebs, dust and debris may congregate.

I'll also do the backbar, the one place in a bar that gets cleaned daily, if it needs it.

And give a good scrubbing to the restrooms, and sweep and mop all the floors. 

And I will do it all on the day early-morning bars are closed the longest, in the wee hours of Sunday morning between Saturday night closing time and opening the next afternoon.

Dusting is not a fast job, especially when it involves poles and ladders and wiping layers of sediment off by hand. Saturday after close should be plenty of time to get everything cleaned up and take care of any special requests or conditions. 

 

Why?

"Wait a minute. What does a methodical, allergy free cleaner want with a smoke-encrusted bar?"

Good question.

I have never cleaned a bar, and I don't know of any professional service that has. As I understand it, most small bar owners make their poor bartenders do it.

But I came up with the idea simply because allergy-type cleaning has me dusting like a maniac all the time.

Is there any place more in need of maniacal dusting than a bar? I haven't been inside one in years, but, if I remember right, the best bars are full of memorabilia and signs that are coated with dust and cobwebs.

In my opinion, there is a fine line between cozy and scary.

The $200 overnight deal is a one-time thing that a bar might want to do every few years or so. No drinking establishment wants to be too bright and spotless. But a good whack at the dust and cobwebs once in a while will help everyone breathe easier and keep the place from becoming too dirty to clean without making a major (and much more expensive) ordeal out of it.

Am I going to end up destroying the character of beloved dive bars in town? Will some places fall apart if the dust holding everything together is removed?

I hope not. We shall see!

Yes, this blog is still alive.

Would you look at that. No posts in three months.

I am one of those lazy idiots driving customers to Facebook instead of my own Web properties.

If You Would Clean Wood

I mentioned my longtime aversion to aerosol furniture polish in my previous post.

Spray polish is stinky and environmentally incorrect, but it is also the wrong cleaner for just about all surfaces (If there is a suitable application for Pledge, I am not aware of it.)  If you have ever melted or discolored the finish on a piece of furniture while trying to clean it, you know what I am talking about.

The only thing wood and wood-like surfaces need most of the time is dusting. And if you can't stand kicking up dust, a microfiber cloth or a rag dampened with plain water or a little mild soap water will do the trick.

But if your furniture is dirty, or if you can't stand the thought of cleaning without leaving some sort of "product" residue and smell behind, you need to know what kind of finish your furniture has before proceeding.

There are three main types of clear wood finishes: Hard varnish-type coatings, oil and wax. Furniture may also be painted or not finished at all.

Here is a handy FAQ sheet from a wood finishing site that includes a good explanation of how to tell what kind of finish you're dealing with.

"How can we tell if the wood has been waxed, oiled or varnished?
If a wooden surface looks like it already has been finished with a product it is always a good idea to find out what that finish is as it may affect which product you should apply to the wood. For example, you could not really apply an oil over a varnished floor, but an existing floor that has been oiled can be re-coated with an oil (once it has been cleaned of course!). Here's a few pointers to find out what your wood has been finished with:

• Waxed surfaces If it has wax on it you can scrape it lightly with your finger nail (once it has been cleaned). You may get a little wax under your nail. Also you can try buffing it with a cloth. Most surfaces will become shinier once buffed, but a waxed surface will substantially increase in shine.
• Oiled surfaces Generally speaking oiled surfaces are not that glossy. If you stand something on the surface of an oiled surface it will not have much of a reflection. Instead you are likely to see a fuzzy image reflected. You can also try putting a little white spirit on a small unnoticeable area and if it dissolves the surface coating then it is likely to be an oil, please note however that this may leave a white spot. White spirit will also dissolve most wax polishes so check the above advice (waxed surfaces) before trying this.
• Varnished Surfaces A varnished surface will be hard to the touch (it will make a clicking sound when you knock your nails on it) and will have a reflective surface. Even a matt varnish will reflect the light more than an oiled surface. If something is stood on the surface (with a window in view behind it) then the reflection is clearly visible. A satin or gloss varnish will have a very clear reflection of anything that is held up to the surface."

These yard sale items look like oiled, unfinished and painted wood. Of course there is no way to know for sure without seeing them in person. Except for the painted piece. Wood and wood finishes do not generally come in blue.

Cleaning


Ol' Doc Bronner's granddaughter put up this good explanation on her blog last spring, and it includes tips for identifying the type of finish you have and advice for how to clean each kind.

The short version is, mild soapy water is a good all-purpose go-to. She recommends two of her family company's soaps, though I have found that a little bit of any oil soap in water always does a good job. Especially since there is so much fake and painted wood out there.

One caveat, though. Furniture and flooring industry types say NEVER use oil soap (Like Dr. Bronner's and Murphy's) on polyurethane-coated wood.  Here is an open letter by a flooring company president that explains why.

Polyurethane is plastic, so you're cleaning plastic-coated wood. That means plain water, vinegar water or other window-type cleaners are going to be your best bet. Oily and soapy cleaners will leave a film just like they would if you tried to clean a mirror with them.

I believe polyurethane is even replacing real varnish on furniture these days, so it's probably a good idea to forego oil soap on all hard-finished wood. And this advice goes for Formica and other synthetic surfaces colored to look like wood. If it's plastic, oil's not good for it.

Oh, and if you're lucky enough to encounter particle board coated with wood-grain adhesive paper (very commonly used for cheap flat-pack furniture and inside even decent kitchen cabinets), be gentle and don't get it wet. That "finish" is nothing but a big sticker, and it scratches, bubbles and loses its design very easily. Use a similar approach to painted furniture, which can also be marred by too vigorous cleaning.

Polishing

I am personally not a fan of the big shiny-shiny. If I am coming to clean, I want to get the dirt up and be on my way. Polishing and shining is always a second step that has to be done after a surface is cleaned. Trying to polish dirty furniture invites streaks and scratches, even when you're using those all-in-one sprays that mix oil and solvents on the premise that you can somehow magically pick up dirt and put down polish at the same time. Polishing is not everyday cleaning, no matter what the chemical company marketers say.

Cleaning is a regular thing that can be done with a dry or damp cloth every week or so. Polishing is a separate, special thing that you want to do a few times a year at most to protect your furniture and keep it looking pretty. And, actually, when I say "polishing," what I really mean is "refinishing." You don't need to strip the old finish and start from scratch generally, but you are putting a new finish on your piece when you apply oil or wax. And if you're keeping it clean and doing that sparingly, you won't have to do that very often, and you're not going to find yourself fighting gooey product buildup.
 
Hard varnishes and lacquers: See previous. You don't polish hard-sealed furniture, you shine it.

Oils: If your furniture has a porous, lustrous sheen, it has an oil-based finish that can be renewed periodically. Natural-health types, including green cleaning bible writer Karen Logan say they use olive oil and make a cleaner-polish with vinegar and olive oil. I do not recommend that for two reasons: For one, olive oil is an expensive, nutritious food item that I refuse to demote to a cleaning supply. It also stays wet, and it can go rancid. I can't imagine what serious cleaners were thinking when they decided using olive oil as a polish was a good idea.  You want to polish with oil, try hard-drying ones like walnut, linseed and tung.

Waxes: A somewhat softer and shiny surface that, unlike varnishes, can be scratched with a dull instrument like a fingernail and noticeably wears away with time.. Just as you polish oil-finished furniture with oil, you polish wax-finished furniture with wax. And doing both right involves applying the oil or wax, letting it dry if applicable, and buffing it off to leave a nice hard shine. I have seen some DIY natural wax recipes, but there are lots of natural beeswax-based furniture pastes out there. Given the amount of kooky homemade cleaner advice out there, I am entirely comfortable with deferring to the pros on this one. Here is a wonderful info page written by a professional furniture restorer who has seen all the damage wrought by modern cleaning and "polishing" chemicals. He is pretty firm that waxing every few years is the only thing you need to do besides dusting when it comes to natural-finished wood. And, being as he and the guys in his field keep furniture looking good for decades, I am confident his advice is the best you're going to find. So much so, that I am going to dial way back on the furniture-washing and stick to dry and water-damp dusting unless you make a special appointment to have your stuff polished. And if you want it polished every week, you need to find yourself a Pledge-sprayer. I am not the lady for that job.

"I Don't Do ... ."

If you've taken a look at the FAQ on the Just Clean Web site, you might have noticed that my answer to the question "Come be my maid/clean my sparkling mansion/wash my clothes/run errands for me" was a simple "No."

I don't do those things. Except when I do.

• Take the "sparkling mansion" thing. Luckily, I haven't had any inquiries from big-house clean freaks. But I do have a couple clients who are very neat and just unable to clean as well as they would like. Big difference. If your house is clean but you're unable to keep up with it and living in fear of gathering dust bunnies, give me a call.
• Clothes washing, that's another thing I guess I kind of do now. If you're a regular client with a simple house or apartment, especially if you have mobility issues, of course I can throw some laundry in for you. Buyer beware though. My laundry expertise is limited to separating colors and whites and washing them with simple detergent and hot or warm water depending on how dirty they are. I am boning up a little on natural stain removal and the like, but I make no warranties on clothes washing.
• I still don't run errands, and I won't make a habit of it unless and until I invest in some deferred auto maintenance or the bicycle and trailer I would love to be using instead of my car. Still, no rarely means no. So if you want me to haul off some junk or drop by a store on the way to your appointment, I probably will. But if you need someone to cart you across town or do regular running around for you, JustClean is not a company that does that.
• Polishing furniture is another item on the longtime "don't do" list. I have been smuggling Murphy's and Liquid Gold wood washes onto the job since shortly after I started doing housekeeping-type cleaning for money in 2009. Aerosol polishes are nasty to breathe and aren't good for most wood surfaces. JustClean's go-to is a rag dampened with a little Castile soap and water. If your wood needs polishing, let me clean it first, and we can talk about scheduling the time and finding the right oil or wax for it.

 Above is by no means an exhaustive list of off- and anti-menu things JustClean has done. I do a pretty good job of organizing, but I generally will not do that while cleaning. Those two are best kept separate if you want either done efficiently. I've also done a little bit of pest and pet cleanup, though in the interest of keeping my equipment allergen-free, that's not the kind of work I'm going to go out of my way to solicit. At least not until I get a complete set of "stink" equipment, including a separate vacuum cleaner. In the past few months, I have also found myself picking hair out of drains, scrubbing ovens, cleaning out refrigerators (with and without flea infestations) and salvaging cast off odds and ends I have no idea how to resell. That last one, I hate to throw away useable stuff when a client is dejunking, but an American Picker I am not, so I think the rule is that I will get unwanted stuff donated or recycled.

Oh, and I do do windows. All. the time, as a matter of fact. Dirty entry doors, kitchen sink windows and other high-touch glass fixtures are part of a regular cleaning. Most places charge extra or make cleaning windows into a big special-service project, but me, I never could walk out of a clean house and leave the front door glass covered with dog slobber. I might need to schedule a separate appointment to get all your windows or do the outside ones, and I might draw the line at skylights and third-floor outside windows, but, those easy-to-reach windows that tend to get dirty, I am all over them.
 
The one thing I absolutely will not do is offer personal maid service. If you want a handmaid to use your materials and clean everything according to your specific directions, you need to hire an employee and pay Social Security and unemployment taxes on her. That's the law, and people who pay contractor wages for help they want to micromanage are breaking it. That exploits hard working people and depresses wages for everyone. You hire a contractor to get it done their way at their price. You hire an employee if you want to pay wages for a pair of hands at your beck and call.

Holiday Special

Tomorrow, July 4, is an Empty Schedule Special day if you want to get some discount cleaning when everyone else is closed or charging a premium.

EDITED on August 1: Those "empty schedule special" days are turning into appreciated once and twice weekly days off. They'll be back the next time I find myself without enough to do.

Don't Invite Mayhem

You see this goofy insurance ad?

The real message was lost on me when I posted something on Twitter about seeing shades of that Mayhem guy in every cleaning company.

For you, the cleaning client, the message is that you need to make sure your cleaner carries his or her own insurance. Do you really want to make a claim on your own policy when the housekeeper ruins that priceless heirloom or cracks her head on the bathroom tile?

I went and scanned my insurance papers and business license and posted them on the About page of JustCleanTuscaloosa.com so you can see I have been operating legitimately since I took my first client this April.

I recommend using an above-board cleaner for a few reasons.

• The obvious one is to protect yourself. Insurance also protects the cleaner, who could be put out of business by the cost of a mishap at work.
  
• License and insurance are also good indicators of a cleaner's seriousness, honesty and reliability. A thieving fly-by-night operator is not likely to invest any money in looking legitimate.
  
• Although I have some reservations about paying Caesar his due these days, I can't very well complain about corporate corruption and tax-dodging if  I am running around doing that myself.  If you have a problem with big corporations and politicians who don't play by the rules, you want to make sure the people you do business with do.
  
• It's also a matter of fairness. Cleaners who operate under the table can charge less than legitimate operators, and that depresses wages for everyone. Using a black-market cleaner is like shopping at Walmart: The price makes it look like a good deal, but the social and economic costs are high.

The takeaway: Ask to see credentials before you hire a cleaner. It's easy to say you're "licensed, insured and bonded," but it's quite another to lay out money for the payments. Be doubly sure to check papers if a solo cleaner says he's "bonded,' because insuring a client against theft by you is stupid, and most, if not all, janitorial bonds specifically exclude theft by the business owner.

EMPTY SCHEDULE SPECIAL

Here's a great reason to try JustClean:

Call within 24 hours of an unscheduled day (open days posted in a scroll at the bottom of www.JustCleanTuscaloosa.com each week.), and you'll get any service for $50, period.  (If I get more calls than I can accommodate that day, I'll schedule you for another day and give you the same deal.)

"What if all I need is $50 worth to begin with?"

Well, if you want a Small $50 clean or want me to drop in for a $25 QuickClean, recruit a neighbor, and I'll do you both for that price.

Go here for JustClean's flat-rate service menu.  If you don't see exactly what you want on there, call me anyway and see if I can do it or refer you to someone who can.

Call anytime between 6 a.m. the day before and 6 a.m. the day of to take advantage of the off-day special. The number's 205-331-0422.

"Like" JustcleanTuscaloosa on Facebook or subscribe @JustCleanTusc on Twitter for announcements of future Empty Schedule days.

How to Figure Out How to

Making your own cleaning supplies can be a good way to save money while avoiding some of the most hazardous chemicals sold for that purpose.

The single most trustworthy quick-hit source, in my opinion, is this handy little booklet from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. I got permission to make copies to give to clients (with a disclaimer saying they have nothing to do with me and don't endorse my services), and I use a few of those recipes regularly myself. It was written by cooperative extension faculty members who have a Web site and Facebook page with similar material.

Another good one, available at the Tuscaloosa Public Library and still in print, is the old standby "Clean House, Clean Planet" by Karen Logan. The book is old, and the author blog I linked to looks like it's been abandoned, but both have useful tips and background that have stood the test of time. Most recipes are slight variations on baking soda and soap and vinegar and water, and just about all feature the addition of "essential" (meaning scented, not mandatory) oils. Scent isn't necessary for any except the disinfectants that rely on the antiseptic property of tea tree oil.

The titles of both publications imply that they are about cleaning for the health of the environment. The recipes are less ecologically hazardous, but that also means that they're less harmful for your indoor environment as well. The Logan book emphasizes throughout how safe basic cleaners are to use around the home.

If you look at the Blogroll list in the column on the right and side of this blog, you can find several good blogs with natural cleaning recipes and advice.


Me, personally? I don't have the patience to make a hobby out of fooling with cleaning chemicals. Most homemade mixtures are best when used immediately and may separate, clot up or lose their effectiveness when made up ahead of time. A few that I have tried, like one from another book that calls for putting dish soap in vinegar water for cleaning windows, simply don't work.

I may experiment a little at home, but for JustClean I am sticking to a few safe, unscented prepared cleaners and a few single-ingredient ones like baking soda and vinegar. It's mainly a matter of efficiency and efficacy, but it's also an issue of safety. I'm not a chemist and I am not a manufacturer, so I can't properly package and label cleaners I have mixed up myself.

How NOT to Clean the Toilet

My first confirmed fail as a solo cleaning company operator:

Those dollar-store dish scrubbers with the disposable heads do not make good single-use toilet brushes.

I bought packages of "Scrub Buddies" brand heads at a local dollar store, and one, maybe two, survived a minute of basic toilet-bowl scrubbing. I wasn't being particularly vigorous with any of them, but almost every time the sponge scrubber immediately separated from its plastic attachment and left me to fish it out of the bowl and finish the job by hand.

So much for improved sanitation.

The premise was faulty from the getgo. The heads may be disposable, but the handles are just another piece of equipment to clean.

I'm going to solve the problem of reusing dirty toilet scrubbers the easy way. I just won't do it.

No, I won't start buying and throwing out new toilet scrubbers. That's wasteful and an unnecessary expense. I'm going to carry a new scrubber with me but plan on using the client's. If a client doesn't have one or theirs is gross, I'll leave the new one with them. Sounds like a good compromise to me.


Other Don'ts

Here are some other how-not-to-clean-the-commode tips. I will plead the Fifth if you ask me which ones I know about from first-hand experience.

• Don't ignore the dirtiest parts of your toilet. The toilet bowl gets cleaned every time you flush. The rest of the toilet doesn't. Look at the outside of the bowl, the base and the floor around the toilet if you don't believe those are the dirtiest parts of a toilet. The underside of the seat is another part that can get really nasty.
  
• Don't try to disinfect dirt. Bet you never noticed that the directions on household disinfectants tell you to use them on a clean surface. They won't work right if they're applied on top of dirt. Give the whole toilet a quick wipe with soapy water or your cleaner of choice and then hit it with a dose of disinfectant. 
• Don't use abrasives on the toilet seat. Most toilet seats are painted particle board or plastic. If you try to scrub out stains with cleanser or, heaven forbid, a pumice stone, you will destroy the surface. I am guessing that letting some baking soda paste or peroxide could lighten stains, but toilet seats are kind of like miniblinds. Virtually all are cheap and flimsy, and most of the time the best way to get them clean is to replace them.
• Don't wipe off disinfectant cleaners immediately. There are a handful of registered disinfectants that claim to do all their germ-killing on contact, but the vast majority of them do not. Ten minutes is a good rule of thumb for any cleaner. The product label will tell you what concentration and what soaking time are needed to kill germs effectively.
• Don't let toilet cleaners out of the bowl.  Porcelain toilet bowls are pretty impervious, but strong cleaners can leave permanent droplet and streak marks if left too long on the soft materials toilet seats are made out of. Test a product in an inconspicuous spot before letting it sit for more than a few minutes. It is pretty safe to assume that any cleaner specifically for the toilet bowl will likely harm other types of surfaces.
• Do not clean anything else with your toilet rag. You may be properly using a great disinfectant cleaner, but all bets are off if you keep using the same towel after you cover it in toilet germs. Don't want to use a lot of rags when cleaning at home? Wipe the sink and the shower first and retire your rag after doing the toilet last.
• Do not use the bowl for chemistry experiments: Don't pour cleaning water into a toilet bowl that's soaking in other chemicals, and don't try to use more than one toilet bowl cleaner at a time.  Many scouring powders have bleach in them, and liquid toilet bowl cleaners are usually made with very strong acids. They can create a dangerous gas when combined.

The Original All-Purpose Cleaner

Baking soda, plain old sodium bicarbonate, is the most useful substance in my house, bar none. In the bathroom, it’s tooth powder, tub-scrubber and skin-soother. In the kitchen, it sops up grease in pans and on the stove, adds bite to the dish towel for washing dishes without a dishwasher, and sucks odors out of the bottom of the garbage can. In the laundry, it softens water, kills odors and boosts detergents.

Baking soda’s also a good unscented air freshener. Let a sprinkling of it sit on carpets and upholstery to suck up odors before you give them a good vacuuming. That works when cleaning the fabric in your car, too. You can also put a quarter cup or so in a little jar or shaker container to make a room or car air freshener. If you want it to smell like something, you can drop in a vanilla bean, a cinnamon stick or any kind of aromatic oil.

Here's a cheesy video from Arm & Hammer that lays out the basics. I was hoping it would lay out all the properties of bicarbonate of soda that make it so special. It doesn't, but it does give you the rundown on what it is and what it does.

And here’s one ”weird tip” for using baking soda in the bathroom: Say you just finished a long milk or oil bath. If you’re not squeamish about cleaning in the buff, drain the tub and put a little mound of the baking soda you keep in the bathroom on your washcloth, give it a squirt of whatever liquid soap or shampoo you have handy. Crouch or kneel in the tub water and wipe that ring right off before you  ever exit the tub. Get out, rinse the sides, open the drain and scrub down to the bottom until the water drains out. If you time it just right, you’ll need minimal or no additional water to get it rinsed.

 I dare you to try that with your Scrubbing Bubbles!

Quick Hits

A few general cleaning words to live by:

• Don't try to pick up or organize while you are cleaning. 
• Pick up dry dirt and debris before spraying or wiping them with a wet cleaner.
• Use the least amount of cleaner possible -- in your cleaning water and on the surface you're cleaning.
• Never stick a mop where you haven't swept.
• Don't put rugs or large objects back onto a wet floor.

If you need more explanation for any of these, you probably want to think about hiring a housekeeper.

From Rags to Rags

Remember the olden days, when the things you cleaned with were called “rags?”

L-R, a shop towel, a microfiber one and a bar mop.

When I was growing up, the term covered store bought dish towels and wash cloths, as well as worn out ones and scraps of old clothes and linens used for cleaning.

Today, even used cloth scraps are no longer “rags.” Rectangles made for cleaning are “towels” if they’re durable and “wipes” if you’re supposed to throw them away. And if you’re buying them from a wholesale vendor or specialty shop, they’re “wipers.”

(If you want to get technical, it looks like the peddlers at U.S. Wipers break them down into "rags," "cloths" and "wipers." If I was really that interested in what to call them, I'd probably ask those guys to explain the difference.)

They’re still rags to me, and the array of what’s available is dizzying. At your average discount store, you can find paper towels, extra heavy shop paper towels, thin red cotton shop towels, wet paper towels for wiping babies, bathrooms, and furniture, decorative dish rags and towels, cotton cleaning towels in loopy terry cloth or tighter “bar mop” weaves, special synthetic “microfiber” towels billed as car buffing towels, window cleaning towels, magic dust-grabbing towels.

The wholesale specialty towel market is even more vast. There is a whole universe of “disposable wipers” that come plain or saturated with your cleaner of choice and are increasingly popular for infection control in medical and other large institutional settings. There are also lots and lots of different old-fashioned cloth rags for purists and cleaners with time and facilities for washing them. And that microfiber is the current darling that marketers say allow you to cut back on your use of cleaning chemicals and leave every kind of cleaning surface shiny and spotless.

I haven‘t done comprehensive research, and I dismissed disposable and pre-treated cloths out of hand because of the cost and waste, but I have enough experience to recommend the best basic tools for your wiping needs.

My experience, the best material for rags, especially if you have to pick only one is cotton.

Huck towels: The best, all purpose cleaning rag, in my opinion is the surgical huck towel. These are sturdy, cotton rags with a tight, smooth weave and finished edges, If you can get over the ick factor, you can buy used ones that have been cleaned after a tour of duty in the OR. Huck towels stand up to much hot-water washing and can be soaked in vinegar or bleach water without falling apart. They’re  absorbent, fast drying and low lint, and they’re better than paper towels, newspapers and even microfiber for streak-free glass.The blue ones are less expensive and easy to find, though I picked white ones for JustClean.

Bar mops: As good, or almost as good, are the tight woven cotton towels usually billed as “bar mops.” They’re very similar in texture and performance, though they often come in sizes a little larger than I’d like, and they seem to get loose and linty faster than huck towels. The upside is, they’re a lot easier to find, and I think all local mom-and-pop cleaning supply retailers have some kind or another. Weatherford Office Supply is the one reliable source that immediately comes to mind. One word of warning, a lot of stores, especially discounters, sell terry cloth bar mops. That loose, loopy weave is not suitable for cleaning and tends to leave lint and streaks everywhere.

Shop towels: Do not, I repeat, do NOT, try to clean with the bright red shop towels you find at the local discount store. Those things bleed everywhere and they will turn your mop heads and anything else you try to wash with them pink. But there exists an undyed variety, and white shop towels are  well worth checking out. They’re cheap and small with a similar texture to heftier rags. They’re  especially good if you find yourself trying to clean too much with one rag because it’s big and absorbent enough to stand up to more than one room’s worth of wiping. I bought a box of these to use for really icky jobs that would leave rags too gross to reuse. They do the job and they’re cheap enough to throw out when need be. But they also stand up to long disinfecting soaks, so I haven’t actually had to toss any yet. I’ve  only been using them for a couple months, so I can’t tell you how durable they’re going to turn out to be.

The gray rag in the middle is a kind of fancy microfiber one.

Microfiber: I also have some microfiber towels that I use because I have them, though I haven’t found anything so spectacular about them to make them a must-have. The first time I encountered the mighty microfiber towel was working for a fellow who said they were miracle window-wipers that guaranteed streak-free glass. They did a good job, but I am pretty sure it was more do to the newfangled alcohol-based window cleaner we used than the type of rag we were wiping it off with. I got the same results with huck towels and that type of window cleaner on a subsequent job. Microfiber cloths are really good for dry dusting and fine for dusting damp and wet. I just recently discovered that they’re great for that last dry wipe of shower and bath fixtures, the one that gets the last little bit of soap scum and prevents ugly water spots on tile and Fiberglas type surfaces.  I’m open to finding out different, but my experience so far, microfiber’s really only superior for grabbing dust and shining tile, and cotton rags can do just as good a job. [UPDATE: Now some serious biz types are telling me that I've been doing it wrong and should give microfiber another whirl to see how vastly superior it is to cotton. Here's a blog item that lays it out.  If it's really that much better at keeping chemicals, dust and dirt out of the air, I'd be foolish not to make that my rag of choice. I guess I'll have to do a post all about microfiber after I read up some more and try using them as directed.]

Rag rags: Of course scraps of worn-out linens and clothes also make fine cleaning towels. Stained and torn dish clothes, wash cloths and hand towels are the easiest types to repurpose for cleaning. Old T-shirts are usually a little thin, but are similar to shop rags and even easier to throw away when too soiled to wash. Those are the only things I usually use for rags, though if you keep an eye on your unusable clothing discards, you’re likely to find other items that will make good cleaning rags. If you clicked on the link at the start of this section, you see that rag vendors will even sell you pieces of old clothes and towels for use as cleaning rags. The main drawback to cutting up unwearable clothing is the edges. Unfinished edges will unravel and often leave strings behind when you clean and in the wash. Long fibers can cause your rags to get bunched and tangled in your washer or dryer.