DIY Soft Scrub

There's pen on my table.  There is PEN on MY TABLE.

THERE IS PEN ON MY TABLE!  THE TABLE THAT I SLAVED OVER AND REFINISHED MYSELF!

I blame the toddler.

@#%$.  Now what?

Hm...a few of my go-to cleaning mavens recommend Soft Scrub.  Let's see.  Should I add another $6 or so bucks to my next grocery trip?  Or just try to make something myself?

What do you think my answer is going to be?

Home Made Floor Cleaner

The kitchen floor. It is foul.

We have a very small, open floor plan on the first floor of our house. It's just a little L, made of the living room and kitchen. The floors are hard wood, but are taking pretty hard use with the kids doing...what kids do. I usually sweep every day, and mop once a week.

Sadly, I missed doing this last weekend.

The kitchen floor. It is foul.

There are jelly smears, mud from shoes, salt from last week's snow, ketchup, scary bits I can't identify, etc, ad nauseum. (Actual nauseum).


Sweet God. This is going to be a job.

Cleaning the Microwave

Until recently we had a really ancient microwave that was probably slowly irradiating us to death. This summer one of our chip-away-at-home-improvement projects involved saving up for a new one.

Now we have a lovely over-the-stove microwave that heats things quickly and thoroughly, without making that jet-engine noise or risking bursting into flames.

I had cleaned our previous microwave with Clorox. Since I'm trying to avoid using bleach, I've been checking the internet for a better way to clean a microwave easily.

Vinegar to the rescue!

Quite a few people on Pinterest advocate mixing water and vinegar and microwaving it. The philosophy is that the steam and vinegar fumes will soften any grime. Sources disagree as to the exact mixture so I pretty much just chucked some vinegar into a bowl and added water.

Before: (It's not easy to tell from this picture, but there was an apocalyptic soup event).

And after:

The door didn't come as clean at first:

So I hit it with some spray cleaner and a damp wash cloth any left over schmutz came right off.

Ooooooo.....sparklyyyyy.