Cooking and cleaning go hand in hand, right? Being a proper housewife and all. Error, error, century check not passed. Reboot civilization.exe. (Ooooh, now I want to play that, it's been ages...)
Well, in any case I have a somewhat obsessive relationship with cleaning, I've been told. Just the other day H asked how to keep her place nice. Uh, just clean it? Put away stuff that is lying around? For the life of me I can't figure out how it can be difficult. Then again, apparently I clean not even being aware I am. Anyway, got thinking and realised I could throw out a large part of the contents of the cleaning supplies cupboard.
What you really need:
- Attention to notice when anything needs a hand in staying clean/tidy.
- Physical scrubbing - tons and tons of it; unavoidable, just give in.
- Ethanol - to disinfect whatever, clean electronics etc that must not get wet (evaporation speed ftw) and get off any polar-soluble stains.
- Acetone - aka the cheapest nail polish remover you find; to get off tougher polar-soluble stuff; my very favourite, absolutely works wonders; careful with plastics, though, melts some; not recommended to breathe in in vast amounts.
- Cooking oil - for nonpolar solubles, rust, glue, geckos etc; wash off with the next one.
- Dish washing detergent - for any oil, grease.
- Bleach - for getting rid of anything alive/organic and disinfect; for the love of all that is holy, don't spill on yourself - disintegrates top layer of skin, hair etc; wash off with as hot water as possible; obviously stains (uh, de-stains) some materials; stinks too; never ever mix with anything acidic (like vinegar, lemon, ethanol), releases toxic gasses then; I use a foam-forming bottle type, super convenient.
- Citric acid / Vinegar - either works for removing lime from waterpots etc, second one also for mold, but stinks as hell.
And then there is a heap of suggestions to use baking soda for cleaning... How about no. Because I cannot think of a single purpose I'd ever use it for that couldn't be done more efficiently some other way. Leaving that for the cakes.
Cheers,
Hedi
