Hooray! It's that time of the year again. Warm weather, the days are getting longer, the mud is making its way into every little crevice in my house. But it's ok because I love spring dirt. It means the snow is gone, the ground is thawing out, and that it will be warm everyday soon enough. It also marks a good time to get the seeds started and the garden plans figured out!!!!!!. So yea, dirt is good. And sickly, I also love to clean.(it might actually be OCD and not love, but whatever, it get the house clean) Whatever it is, spring, with all its lovely dirt, really works for me.
This week has been a up and down weather week, but there has been enough sunshine to melt the ice and create lots of mud in from of my door. So this weekend I think I am going to get down and dirty with my bad self and do an extensive spring clean. And when I say down and dirty, I mean down, on my hands and knees with a toothbrush and a bucket, hand scrubbing every inch of my house. (Good thing my house is the size of a postage stamp) And for that, and every other time I clean, I make my super awesome all purpose lemon rosemary vinegar clearer.
I like to make and use my own cleaning solution for the following reasons.
- I hate chemicals
- I can make it with the stuff that I have in the kitchen
- It's a natural disinfectant
- It might smell faintly like vinegar for a few minutes, but then the vinegar smell goes away and is left with a nice citrus rosemary smell. Chemical smell makes me want to yak.
- The cost of non chemy cleaners at the store costs like WHAT!
- This is cheap as hell to make
- In a pinch, can use on my salad
- Works like a boss
And I use it on everything. (EXCEPT MARBLE!!!!!!) The toilet, shower, kitchen sink, floors, windows, the dog. (Not the dog, but i though about it) Sometimes if I have a really grimy gross surface I'll make a paste out of the AP cleaner and some baking soda, let it sit for a while, and then scrub it off. When I do the tolilet, I sprinkle some baking soda in the bowl then squirt the cleaner all around. Let it sit for a few minutes and scrub with a brush. If I am really deep cleaning the floors (this weekend) I'll dump a half cup of the cleaner into a pail, add a squirt of dish soap and top it off with a few more cups or warm water and then scrub away. I could keep going on and on and name every single use, but I won't cause thats annoying and because the name in itself tells it all…….ALL PURPOSE CLEANER!!!!
With that, I leave you with my method of making the super awesome, non chenmail, nicely smelling, cleaner.
Lemon Rosemary All Purpose Cleaner
Makes 2 cups of cleaner.. which last me about 2 weeks.
- 1 Lemon
- 1 tablespoon Rosemary*
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
*Note.. You can use any herb that like.. Lavender, Sage, Thyme.. all nice smelling… Use what you like.
Zest a lemon and then juice the lemon. Save the juice and use in your water or on you salad. Stick the zest and the rind (chop into a few chunks) into a pot with the vinegar , the rosemary and water. Turn pot on low and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Place in a jar and let sit for a day or more (up to two weeks). When ready to use, strain and transfer solution to a empty bottle or squirt bottle.
Clean the crap out of anything! (Except marble….don't use citrus anything on marble)
So next time you use lemon, keep the rind and make this cleaner. OR better yet, get a lemon to make this cleanser and you will then have the juice for a glass of lemonade. Either way...
Have fun cleaning!
-C