Cleaning – The Educating Momma

My favorite countertop in our house! Those are my dad’s hand’s baking in that picture!

We were totally blessed by God to get granite counter tops throughout our new house. I really wanted granite or stone or anything but Formica. But, my ever practical husband pointed out that there are some really nice formica options now (and there are), and we just couldn’t justify the added expense to an ever increasing building total. So, off we went to price and pick formica countertops from Lowe’s. They did have a nice selection and there were even some other options that I liked, but installation would have been more for any other option. In fact, it was the installation cost that made us look into other options! The wonderful gentleman that helped us at Lowe’s asked Adam why he didn’t just install the counters himself, telling him that installation was pretty easy and straightforward. Adam said that he would, but he was a football coach and then I interrupted and said, “That says it all.” Adam just had NO time! Instead he had a new head coach that was requiring more and more hours of the coaches throughout summer off season. There was no way he could take on putting in our countertops. So, we left the store with prices and options in hand. Then Adam decided to check around just a bit more. And I am so grateful for God’s hand in orchestrating that!

It turns out that, as often happens with my outgoing and people focused husband, that one of Adam’s friends from high school was really close with the owners of a local granite and stone company in our tiny hometown. Through that connection, Adam set it up for us to go look at stone options on my lunch break one day. We were by now past our original early August projected house completion day and in the throws of the beginning of school and football season. That day we looked at several options including some remnants and some pieces that he’d had in stock for several years. It was one of those slabs that he’d had on hand for about 5 years from a build that ended up using something different, that gave us the deal of a lifetime and gave me custom granite countertops for the same price as Lowe’s formica countertops. I am SO grateful for reminders like this that God sees our hearts (I really wanted granite countertops), honors our faithfulness to Him (we were putting in cheaper countertops anyway to be better stewards of His money) and rewards us with His loving generosity (He gave us granite countertops for the same price).

Now I have these magnificent countertops throughout my house and I just kept cleaning them like I always had. I had seen some products for polishing granite and things like that, but I am not much of an investor in those kinds of things. Then the last time I looked up my DIY bathroom cleaner, I read that you should not use vinegar on granite because over time it can wear spots or rivulets into the granite. That meant that I immediately stopped using that cleaner on my countertops. But, it also meant I didn’t have a cleaner for my countertops. I was also getting increasingly frustrated with streaking on my kitchen counters, especially on the island behind the stove. I knew I had to find a solution and rather quickly with all this virus stuff and the fact that bathroom counters were involved and needed cleaned. Then I thought I remembered seeing something about a DIY granite cleaner from Mommypotamus. I knew if she had one it would be natural and safe for the little ladies as well. I found her recipe and I have been using it and I LOVING IT! It was SO simple to make and the girls LOVE cleaning the countertops now. I was not sure at first about how well it was really working, especially on the poor counter behind the stove. This was because, to be honest, it took a few cleanings to get through the greasy film left from cooking. However, it has and it continues to clean and make my counter tops truly sparkle. One thing I realized though is that you really do need as many drops of the essential oils as she recommends. I had less lemon on hand than I thought and my peppermint was coming out slowly and is not a brand I typically use, so I did not get quite the amount I was supposed to. That just meant that the smell of the rubbing alcohol really overpowers at times. But, I have also found that shaking the cleaner before using it helps with getting a better scent from essential oils. It would also likely help if I invest in an amber colored bottle to store it in. But I just used the spray top from my window cleaner and the rubbing alcohol bottle. I just can’t stop using what’s on hand whenever possible! I have been reading about the importance of investing in important things, so maybe I’ll get better at that! Now that you’ve heard a portion of my life’s story, here’s the recipe.

Essential Oil Granite Cleaner

1/3 cup Rubbing Alcohol

1 2/3 cup Distilled Water

20 drops Essential Oils

You are to add the essential oil to the rubbing alcohol and stir together with a fork and then pour it into the spray bottle and THEN add the water. In full disclosure, I added the water to the alcohol before I read the directions. AND I didn’t have distilled water, so I think I boiled and cooled my water for this recipe, but I may have just used my city tap water. You already read about the essential oil changes to the recipe. I’m just not a natural recipe follower!! BUT, I absolutely LOVE this cleaner and am SO excited to actually follow the recipe for EVEN better results next time! I used lemon and peppermint in my mix. Peppermint was NOT recommended by Heather at Mommypotamus and she knows WAY more about essential oils than I do, so if you are going to use something other than lemon you should probably stick to her recommendations. Some of the other oils she recommended were cinnamon leaf (not bark), fir needle, fragonia, spearmint and marjoram sweet. These were the ones she said were safe around small children. As always, please do your own research on what is best for you and your family! Other citrusy oils she mentioned were pink grapefruit, bergamot, lemon or lime/expeller-pressed, lemon eucalyptus, orange/sweet, and tangerine.

That is the super simple, safe recipe the girls and I have been using to clean our countertops. What natural recipe do you love even more than commercial products? What is your favorite cleaning scent? How has Jesus blessed you beyond your expectation lately? Please share your answers to any of these questions in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!

I have felt and written that all along this CoVid-19 Virus has ups and downs, blessings and curses. One of the blessings is the additional time at home! Working from home has brought it’s own struggles with teaching my students remotely and my daughters in person. I have struggled with time management, and we have all struggled with patience, tempers, and kindness, peace and calm. However, today I accomplished something that is UNHEARD of when I am working out of the house! I cleaned my bathrooms for the SECOND time this week!!! Okay, I know that for some and likely even many you may be covering your face in shame for me or running to wash your hands just from reading that! But, sorry, it is just my reality.

When the girls and I get home form school, usually between 4:30 and 5:00, later, if there is anything to do after school like Bible Study, then the whole evening is swallowed up from the moment we walk in the door. I usually start dinner and lunches for the next day while working on any remaining homework. Then, the girls may go outside to play while I finish dinner and lunches. We eat, they shower and pick their clothes out for the next day, we may get a TV show in (usually while my husband and I are finishing cleaning up from dinner or still finishing lunches). We try to work on verses and Bible study for their AWANAs classes and then it’s time to brush teeth and cajole everyone to bed! Once that’s done. The house needs picked up, everything that hasn’t been set out for the next morning needs set out. AND I am EXHAUSTED!! I might make myself work on grading or a TpT product and/or get my shower done so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning. And that’s an evening when there isn’t church or softball practice!

All of this in the evenings means that the only time I have to clean house is Saturdays or Sundays. On a typical Sunday we have Sunday School and Church from 10:00-12:00, I work on food prep for the next week in the afternoons and we go to my mom’s for family dinner from about 4:00-7:00. Then it’s another rush to shower and get to bed on time so the girls are not starting the week tired. So, that really only leaves Saturdays to clean and I am so tired that day that to be honest at times it is even only once every 2 weeks that my bathrooms get cleaned.

But, thanks to working from home and social distancing and self-quarantining (kind of), my bathrooms got cleaned on Tuesday (or Monday, my days are mixing at this point) AND (drumroll please) Saturday! I mixed up my favorite DYI bathroom cleaner and used some straight vinegar for the mirrors and went to town!

I feel so accomplished. I was just going to do the toilets and maybe the showers, but all the reviews of the cleaner (I had to look up the ratio since I haven’t made it in a while and have been buying bleach cleaners) made me want to do the whole thing in both rooms! I do admit to not cleaning all the counters because I read, for the first time, today that vinegar can cause grooves or something in granite and that is what all of our counter tops are. I’m going to have to look into that some more. While the cleaner didn’t magically cut through all the drywall texture left in a few places on the showers from building it did clean and sparkle as well as I remember and love!! I’m including the “recipe” I use below in case you want to try it. I like that it is kid friendly. Because although I’m not particularly fond of “help” from my 5 and 7 year old right now, they will need to start learning some of these things and this cleaner makes it safer for them to do that. I love their enthusiasm, but the extra water and bathing that generally occurs when they help clean the bathrooms is a little much for me during my least favorite chore.

The recipe I use is just 2 ingredients:

Dawn Dish Soap

Distilled Vinegar

Most ratios are 1 part Dawn and 1 part vinegar. Some say if you want fewer suds to use more vinegar. Since we have lower water pressure because of being on the rural city water line, I used 1 part Dawn and 2 parts vinegar to require less rinsing. Honestly, I may even try 3 parts vinegar to 1 part Dawn the next time as it is still rather sudsy. Especially because I use a magic eraser with it for my sinks and tubs. And I used straight vinegar to clean the mirrors with the washcloth that I use to wipe the sinks and counters after I use the cleaner and magic eraser on the sinks, and that I use on the toilets. I don’t use my magic eraser on the toilets because I feel like once something has been used to clean a toilet it needs to be washed.

There you have it! My easy and (somewhat) safer DIY bathroom cleaner “recipe” to celebrate the rare (hopefully becoming more frequent) accomplishment of multiple bathroom cleanings in one week! I say somewhat safer because if you are being completely and thoroughly safe DAWN likely wouldn’t qualify. I have read that it gets a “D” rating from the Environmental Working Group. So, if you are looking for safer alternatives for dish soap you might check out the link below. I am not affiliated with the group or page it links to, I just wanted to be sure they were credited with the information below since I got it from them and not my own research.

The Environmental Working Group gave Dawn a ‘D’ grade because of it containing methylisothiazolinone, which is a “High Concern: acute aquatic toxicity; Some Concern: skin irritation/allergies/damage”. Sounds delightful, right? Dawn also contains 1 4-dioxane which is considered a groundwater contaminant.

I personally still feel better if my girls handle Dawn dish soap though than bleach cleaners.

DIY Granite Cleaner

Juggling it all…and dropping some (and a DIY bathroom cleaner)!