How I stay busy...

In addition to teaching a class, I also have 2 custodial jobs. Employment is good. It keeps me off the streets (I guess you could say custodial work keeps me clean and straight... dangit, I crack myself up!). Just for fun, I'd like to share a few cleaning tips for the next time you're feeling ambitious around the house...

1) You know that icky sticky gunk that forms on the hood above the cooking range in the kitchen? Baking soda and a damp cloth will take it right off. Baking soda is one of the safest and gentlest cleaning agents.

2) Microfiber towels are wonderful. You can use them on glass and eliminate your need for Windex. Just use one damp to remove dirt and one dry to polish, and your glass will be the cleanest it has ever been (Windex will leave a film on the surface, but microfibers remove it). You can find packs of these towels at Walmart or Costco (and probably in the grocery store).

If you have microfiber towels, don't wash them with regular laundry - the gaps between the microfibers will get filled with fibers from the other laundry, and they won't work as well. Never use fabric softener, and dry on low heat (they can melt otherwise).

3) To gently remove hard water deposits (relatively small ones), get a cotton ball wet with vinegar and let it sit on the surface for several hours (overnight is good). Then use the cotton ball to rub off what the vinegar has broken up. This is especially good for getting rid of the thick white mineral deposits that tend to form around sink fixtures. Really thick deposits may require more than one application.

4) What NOT to use:
-- Clorox in the toilet... some people like to whiten and brighten their bowls with chlorine bleach. This is unwise due to the toxic vapors that form when bleach and ammonia interact. The ammonia in urine is enough to cause problems, and if someone uses the potty while you're letting the bleach do its stuff, that could be... well... very bad.
-- Lime-Away... especially on regular around-the-house jobs, this is like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut. Lime-Away uses hydrochloric acid, which is extremely harsh and hazardous. Is it quick? Yes. Is it safe? Hardly. One janitorial company that used it on some sinks to remove hard water came back the next day to find that it hadn't all been washed away. How could they tell? The acid had collected on the surface of the U-shaped pipe under the sink, had eaten through both layers of pipe, and was forming a hole on the tile below where it had dripped. Nasty stuff.