Day 6: The Joys of Baking…soda

My cleaning motivation arrived very late today. I knew I was cleaning Ely's bathroom but I also promised to take her to the park for a picnic. Unfortunately, I nearly scratched my eyeballs out of my sockets scratching the cedar out of them!!! I HATE CEDAR.  Yet I love Cedar Park. By the time we got home I wanted nothing more than to wash the cedar off of me so I jumped in the shower and relaxed for a while.  It wasn’t until after Ely's nap, oh wait, she refused to nap today… It wasn’t until about 4 o' clock that I started my daily cleaning requirement.  During Ely's fake nap, I read more of my Cleaning for Idiots book and was very motivated to wash all the sheets too.

Here is a picture of my magical potion ingredients:

This Tide contains no phosphates!  I bought it weeks ago but only realized it was green today.  To clean Ely's bathtub, sink and exterior toilet  I mixed 1/8 cup of the Tide with 2 quarts of water in an empty water gallon and shook it. Then I poured some in a squirt bottle.  I let it soak in while I threw in the laundry. Then I sprinkled baking soda on the sponge and the tub and SCRUBBED.  

• Did my magical green and clean potion remove the yucko soap scum in Ely's bathtub? YES
• Did it require a bit more scrubbing then when I use Scrubbing Bubbles? YES
• Did I break a mean sweat? YES
• Does that count as cardio?  OH YES!
• Did I enjoy cleaning Ely's bathtub?  YES!

It was very satisfying to clean her bathtub without a strong chemical smell all up in my nose. And knowing Ely is not going to soak in a bath full of Scrubbing Bubbles residue.  And her bathtub sparkled!

Do you see the sparkle?

Another added benefit of cleaning with laundry soap and baking soda is that Eliana wanted to help and I let her without worrying about poisoning her accidentally.  She thought it was so fun to sprinkle baking soda!

Here is my aspiring Cinderella at work:

I used a big orange sponge to scrub her tub and a smaller sponge for her sink. But because I am weird about germs, I now need a toilet sponge to get all the nooks behind and under the toilet.

For inside of the toilet I sprinkled baking soda and then poured 1/3 cup of vinegar right into the toilet. It fizzed! Yes I am also an idiot in science. I scrubbed pretty hard and some of the gunk didn’t quite come off so I will try again later in the week. Maybe I needed more product or more soaking time.

I really enjoyed cleaning today.  In reality the main reason I avoid cleaning is because I don’t like getting cleaner on my hands. Or up my nose. And the #2 reason I don’t like to clean is because I always tell myself I have much better things to do with my time. But that is what my New Year's resolution is all about!!!!  My mantra is: I don’t have anything better to do today than clean.  Of course I have to temper that with Eliana time but thank God she is in a time in her life where she loves to do anything I do. Thank you Jesus, except when she sees me yell!