Life Skills 101: Part 4, Cleaning Without Chemicals

You take a look around the cleaning section of your average shop. So many brands, so many choices. So many chemical additives.

I try to hold my breath when going through the cleaning aisle. Something in there makes my eyes itch and my breathing difficult.

Guess what?

You, yes you, do not need ANY of that shit.

To clean most things you need a combination of the following: Ordinary no-brand soap, cheap-arse vinegar or ascetic acid(it’s the same thing!), and good old baking soda.

Baking soda, when mixed in a paste with water, is a good abrasive. Use in combination with a nail brush and some muscle and you get most mystery stains off in minutes.

Yes, it takes fractionally longer than the branded chemical cocktails. If you looked at the actual ingredients they put in those things, you may be horrified.

For the really tough stuff, moisten a sponge in vinegar and place over the stain. The mild acid will eat the stain. If it’s a vertical surface, alternate applications of vinegar with applications of the scrubbing brush.

Also: fuck antibacterial products.

In their ear.

With the rough end of a pineapple.

All antibacterial stuff does is breed tougher bacteria to breed on your surfaces. Those microscopic nasties have yet to grow immune to boiling hot water, followed by a good going over with ascetic acid and cooking salt.

It’s what great-grandma used to sterilise an area. Why is it suddenly not good enough for us?

Way back when I was dangling off the poverty line in University, I got sick of staring at mould-blackened concrete and decided to have a go at it. My resources? One scrubbing brush and a garden hose. And my own willingness to just sit there and scrub.

Neighbour watching me came over to ask what product I was using to clean the concrete. My answer was “Elbow grease”. He immediately asked me where I got it from. I stared at him a moment and said, “No, this elbow grease,” and demonstrated. He murmured a noise of disappointment and returned to there from whence he came.

I never did see him parked on his concrete, scrubbing away with single-minded determination.

Which means there are two kinds of people. The people willing to do, and the people who would rather have an easy way out.

Which are you?