Our family is growing in many ways... Growing in numbers, knowledge, parenting skills, growing in love, in our faith, growing our culinary skills (if you can call it that), growing without gluten (some of us), growing green...........

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Green Cleaning: Furniture Polish

I've never really liked dusting. I've actually always kind of hated it, especially when there is so little dust you can't even tell. I like for things to be dirty if I have to clean them! I like to be able to see a difference so I know there was a good reason to put that effort into it. BUT dusting is a must in this house with a couple of us having some pretty strong allergies to dust (or dust mites, to be specific, but it sounds kind of gross when you add in the mites part...). I also hate using cleaners that are full of toxic ingredients that could harm my child (or myself). So, I make our furniture polish. It's very easy, as most green cleaners are, and works super well. I actually have two recipes, since you'll need different ingredients based on the type of furniture. And actually, they both have the same ingredients, just varying amounts. Let's get to it...and then get to cleaning!

There are four ingredients. Three are shown here, with a bottle of one of the cleaners mixed up. Water (purified is best), vinegar, olive oil, and pure essential lemon oil. That's it! You probably have most of these on hand already. Don't have the lemon oil (use the real stuff, not just lemon scented somethingorother)...you can use vanilla. Or leave it out. It's not a necessary ingredient.

Furniture Polish - This is good for general, weekly polishing, especially with finished woods.

In 16oz bottle, add:
2 tsp olive oil
20 drops or more pure essential lemon oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar

Fill the rest of the bottle with purified water. 
Shake well before each use, as the oil and vinegar will separate. 
Spray directly on a rag or on the furniture.


Wood Furniture Polish - This is good for unfinished or lightly finished woods. 

In a small squirt bottle (not a spray bottle), add:
3/4 cup oilive oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar,
50 drops or 1/4 tsp pure essential lemon oil (or pure vanilla extract)

Shake before each use. 
Pour onto rag and then apply to wood.

There you have it! Very easy. And these polishes are great! I've already converted a couple friends (some who were quite fond of their other furniture polish and weren't sure they would like this - but they loved it!). Hopefully this will convince a few more folks out there to try it, as well! ;)

And for a little fun... I'll throw in a picture of me getting ready to clean the cabin we visited last fall. Aiden got super sick as soon as we arrived (even with the allergy medicine we brought along), due to the dust hiding under the beds, behind furniture, along baseboards, on things like this...
These kinds of things are really cute, yeah. But the first thing that crosses my mind when I see them? Dust! Big-time dust collectors. This is why you will not find these things in our house. Cute. But not good for folks with dust (mite) allergies. You can't clean these things!

And here I am. Pretty, huh? I'm ready to go in fighting and tackle that dust! Since I have the same allergies, I have to wear a mask when cleaning. Even with the mask this time, I still could feel it affecting my nose and sinuses for the rest of the day. Thankfully I took along my neti pot, which helped clean it out some. And the mask helped a lot, regardless. Plus, it's a great fashion statement, no? ;) We didn't use all the ingredients for the spray above, since we were in the middle of nowhere (we drove an hour one-way just to get the vinegar and swiffer!), so I just used a bucket and dumped in water and vinegar. Great ingredients when you're lacking anything else!


That child of mine woke hourly the first two nights, crying because he couldn't stop coughing and sneezing. After I cleaned, he slept all night long without waking once. That's how I get paid for my job. Definitely worth it.

12 comments:

Ace Hardware Store said...

Nice Blog. Thank you for sharing and I want to share information about Acetogo which provides Ace Hardware products including Outdoor Furniture, Paint Brushes, Electrical Supplies, Lawn / Farm Supplies, Lighting And Supplies in new york.

Ace Hardware said...

Nice Blog. Thank you for sharing and I want to share information about Acetogo which provides Ace Hardware products including Outdoor Furniture, Paint Brushes, Electrical Supplies, Lawn / Farm Supplies, Lighting And Supplies in new york.

Ace Hardware said...

Nice Blog. Thank you for sharing and I want to share information about Acetogo which provides Ace Hardware products including Outdoor Furniture, Paint Brushes, Electrical Supplies, Lawn / Farm Supplies, Lighting And Supplies in new york.

Anonymous said...

This post is fantastic, awesome work.cheap beds with mattress sale

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jade said...

On the farm I use it for my goat's hooves and horns. It's a great leather conditioner--boots, bags, saddles. Be creative. Demir Leather

Rohit said...

I m a dog sweetheart and I have a pomellian puppy which is extremely underhanded and hop again n again on my leather seat which was skilled by my closest companion. Subsequently, it got stains and possess a scent reminiscent of my Bruno which leaves a terrible impact on my visitor. Along these lines, to defeat this issue I enlist Commercial Bar Stools Cleaning Canberra Who have a group of professionally gifted specialists, went to my home and clean my lounge chair. Presently my love seat looks as I recently got it.Much appreciated to Capital Upholstery Cleaning Canberra.

Menage Total said...

I read your post, Great post with Nice information.. Thanks for sharing !!
Cleaning Lady Montreal

home cleaning said...

Well, it’s a nice one, I have been looking for. Thanks for sharing such informative stuff. Home cleaning

Menage Go Pro said...

Thanks for the valuable feedback. I think that strategy is sound and can be easily replicable. Great posts. I love this article.
___________________________
Office Cleaning Services West Island

Tidy Ups Cleaning said...

Thanks for sharing this great tips! Its really very helpful Good job
Gardening Services County Durham

Menage Go Pro said...

Wonderful post! We will be linking to this particularly great article on our website.Keep up the great writing.
Janitorial Cleaning Services