The second way to remove toilet bowl rings is to blast them with acid. There are several types of acid you can use here but I’m going to talk about phosphoric acid and in the right concentration should do quite well. Phosphoric acid is the chemical that is commonly found in bathroom cleaners because it will help dissolve hard water buildup in showers, sinks and toilets. At professional janitorial stores you should be able to find phosphoric acid cleaners in 20% concentrations and above.

Another type of acid is hydrochloric acid. The type we sell to the public is a 9.5% concentration. This type of acid is ONLY for toilets and urinals because it will discolor chrome. You know that little chrome ring at the drain in your sink? Yea, that.  

Scrub the toilet bowl regularly and your bowl will sparkle.  How exciting….well it is to some you know.

Dust mopping, aka dry mopping, is your first and most important step to beautiful floors.

I’ve been asked a bizzilion times if there is a technique to cleaning windows with a rubber squeegee……there is not. You can go side to side, up to down, or swirl. It’s whatever works for you and leaves no water streaks behind. Make sure you always wipe up your drips on the sills with a lint free rag and use a product in your water that won’t leave residue behind.

The simple answer is YES. Now you want to know the WHY….right?

You should keep your glass cooktop clean by wiping after cooking and polishing weekly or monthly. The polish goes on like car wax and buffs off like car wax.   It removes a lot of the burned on messes but also protects the surface and makes future cleanings much easier.    Use a good polish, the cheaper ones don’t work as well or protect as well. 

 The can can also be used as a manual spray, just hold the button down and you’ll get one spritz of highly concentrated scent.

These machines and cans are commercial grade, not what you’d find at the grocery store or discount store.

Imagine, odor control anywhere, 24 hours a day if you prefer.

Traditional flat mops are made of cotton or a blend of cotton/poly.  They have a string like appearance and get into all the nooks and crannies to remove all the hidden debris. Sizes range from 12″ to 60″ depending on the size of the area to dust mop.  Remove them from the frame to wash when needed.  The more you dry mop you may find the less you have to wet mop or damp mop your floors.

Bleach –  Mix one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of warm water for the plastic boards. Increase the bleach to three tablespoons for wood boards. Soak the plastic one for just a few minutes then let air dry. Liberally spray the wood cutting board and let it sit for five minutes then wipe dry. Never soak a wood board.

Vinegar –  To disinfect and clean your wood cutting boards or butcher block countertop, mix one part vinegar to four parts water or stronger if you like. The acetic acid in the vinegar disinfects, effective against E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus. If your wooden cutting surface needs deodorizing as well as disinfecting, spread some baking soda over it and then spray on undiluted white vinegar. It will bubble and foam….let it go for five to ten minutes, then rinse with a dish cloth soaked in cold water.

Hydrogen Peroxide -  The kind you have in your medicine cabinet is usually 3% which will work just fine for this application.  Put some in a spray bottle.  After wiping off the cutting board, spray the hydrogen peroxide all over the board.  Allow it to sit for at least five minutes and wipe off or let it air dry.

Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizing agent, which means it works especially well on all organic (food, soil, plant, blood, or other naturally produced) stains and soiling.

Remember that in stronger concentrations, anything over 6% solutions,  it is considered a bleaching agent. So, rather than using stronger concentrations for cleaning simply allow standard 3% solution to work for a few minutes to achieve cleaning without any bleaching effect.

Not only that, but hydrogen peroxide leaves absolutely no residues, toxins or chemicals in the environment. It breaks down to water and oxygen, even while disinfecting and killing dangerous bacteria and viruses.

Unlike many new “anti-bacterial” cleaners now found to leave up to 70 percent of their active anti-bacterial agents behind, showing up in waterways, on agricultural lands and in forests and other natural environments, hydrogen peroxide truly “disappears without a trace” as a natural consequence of its exposure to the environment.

Countertops and all around the kitchen…..use one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water and fill quart bottles. Spray on countertops (not recommended for stone), kitchen tables, sinks, and garbage cans.  Can also use the very safe hydrogen peroxide method.  Simply put some in a spray bottle and go to town on countertops, sinks, garbage cans, stove tops, glass, mirrors, you name it.

To keep the oven from appearing like a volcano shot off, I put a large sheet of heavy duty tin foil on the bottom of the oven. This helps keep the bottom of the oven clean when things bubble over or splatter.  This is also where spills can sit for weeks or months and become petrified.   I  found a pre-made spill sheet made like those disposable tins you can purchase ie roasting pans, pie pans and cookie sheets.   They are not always so easy to find so I substitute with the foil.  Make sure you use the large size foil to ensure you cover the entire bottom of the oven.  Do not place on any burner elements.  I also recommend using the heavy duty in case you get massive spilling or burning of the spillage.

To clean the oven, put a bowl of ammonia in a cold oven overnight.  By morning the baked on gunk should be easier to wipe away.  If you still have stubborn stains, make a paste out of baking soda and water.  Apply the paste and let it sit several hours or overnight, then scrub the stains with a non-scratch pad.  Wipe away the residue. 

You can simply pop the sponge in the top rack of your dishwasher or microwave the damp/wet sponge for about a minute.  The high temperatures will kill the germs and bacteria.  You can also soak them in a very mild bleach solution…..one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water and let it soak for about five minutes.  The last method I’ll mention doesn’t get a lot of attention and that’s cleaning them with hydrogen peroxide.  Household hydrogen peroxide is 3% and works great  for sanitizing and removing stains.  Soak your sponge in 3% hydrogen peroxide for about five minutes and it will be germ free, fresh smelling and brighter in color.  You can purchase hydrogen peroxide in bulk at some health food stores as well as online.  Some people don’t like the smell of bleach so the hydrogen peroxide method would work great for those folks.