Back to School Green Cleaning Tips

It is now the beggining of September. That means school will
be here before we know it. My girls are excited about getting back to
school, seeing their friends and meeting new ones. Karate, dance and
choir practice are some of the many things we have to look forward to…

This month, get started with your planning. Once school starts
with all of the day to day activities from dance lessons to football
practice, cleaning can easily fall on the back burner! Today I want to
share a few tips on how to simplify your cleaning routine to avoid the
chaos and messy home feeling.

Joanne’s Back to School Cleaning Tips and Healthy Cleaning Supply List!

1. Tidy any spare chance you get. This will keep the clutter to a
   minimum. Get the family involved! My 5 year old tidies the shoes at the
   front door, puts away her toys and keeps her school bag in its proper
   spot. It helps when both girls take their lunch bags out of the
   backpack to get ready for the next day! I have a chore list for both
   girls, they like being able to check things off the list. They feel a
   great sense of accomplishment. The 11 year old takes care of emptying
   the dishwasher and all of the cat duties. This includes passing the
   vacuum every 3rd day. With 3 cats vacuuming has to be done way to often
   to do this all by myself!
2. The bathroom is a place that should be easy to keep clean. If
   everyone puts their own bathroom items away, the counters should always
   be free and clear of “stuff”. This makes it easy to keep the counter
   top clean and bacteria free with a wet enviro cloth [1], and if you wipe
   the mirrors with the window cloth [2] when you get out of the shower there
   is no need to wet the mirror, the steam does the trick! This will then
   give you a beautiful streak free mirror that you can easily apply your
   make up with! Just before you leave the bathroom give a quick wipe to the
   faucet, I promise you a bathroom always looks cleaner with a shiny tap -
   an easy high end hotel look with minimal effort! And ladies, use the
   Sanira System [3] to clean your toilets every couple of days, it is quick, easy and really there
   is no need for the toilet ring ever again. I try to encourage my family
   members to do this every once in a while as well. I figure if nothing
   else, I am preparing the kids for the realities of life!
3. The kitchen always stays much tidier in our home if the
   dishwasher is emptied at night before bed. Everyone is more likely to
   put their dishes in the dishwasher during the day instead of letting it
   all pile up in the sink, which is not pleasant for anyone to come home
   to! The kitchen will smell fresher and be cleaner. Having the counter
   tops quite bare also make a big difference in how clean the kitchen
   feels. My quick cleaning tip today is for the microwave. For all the
   stuck on gunk that no one else seems to see or smell, put a mug of
   water in the microwave for 1 min then easily wipe out the microwave
   with your enviro cloth [4]. Voila! Bacteria free, smell free and gunk free
   with no elbow grease at all.
4. Floors. In my house with 3 cats [5] floors are in a category all of
   their own! I will talk right now about my all time favorite Norwex item
   The Superior Mop system [6]. I have purchased several less expensive mops
   along the way and none of them work like this! When dry moping [7] my
   floors in between washings I am removing 47% of the bacteria… just by
   sweeping up the crumbs. When I use the wet mop pad, [8] I know with water
   alone that 99.9% of the bacteria is being removed and my floors have never
   been cleaner! No more streaky chemical residue and no more wet floor. I
   used to yell at my family (cats included, and they do not listen very
   well) to stay off my clean floor! Best of all, I am no longer on my
   hands and knees cleaning my floors with cat butt in my face. One last
   tip about the mop which I discovered not too long ago, the superior dry
   mop works amazingly well for dusting screens. O.K., so I discovered
   this 10 minutes ago while I was pondering this post! I noticed with the sun
   shining in the window how dusty my screens were. Well not anymore. I
   locked the mop head and ran the superior mop pad along the screens and
   the dust all but disappeared, trapped into my superior dry pad that is!
5. This is my last quick outdoor cleanup tip for today… Well as
   strange as this sounds, pull out the shop vac or if you must the
   regular vacuum cleaner. (So long as you plug it in it WILL work
   anywhere). Vacuum all the crevices of the outdoor furniture and with
   a bucket of water and a Micro Pad [9] wipe down the patio furniture. The
   scunge will be gone and its not a difficult job to do. The Micro Pad also
   works wonders on the pool steps and the edge of the hot tub. This is a
   chemical free item so you needn’t worry about putting it in your water…
   lastly sit back, have a hot tub and enjoy the fruits of your efforts.
   You deserve it!