How to clean stuff

Sunday's are my clean day. Every Sunday I clean the whole house, no matter how beautiful of a day it is, I always clean house on Sunday. I can thank my mom for this. Growing up, she would wake us kids up with the sound of Enya playing on the jukebox. It was the most annoying way to wake up! The most pathetic part about all this...my mom actually paid people to come clean our house on Monday's! Yes, we cleaned before the cleaning ladies came. So now, as an adult, I'm anal about how clean my house is. I suppose it's not a bad trait, who would want to visit if I lived in filth? Exactly, no one.



There are a couple of things I never gave a thought about cleaning until a year or so ago. The first being makeup brushes. Think about it, you use them daily and all the build up is just living in the bristles and you happily apply it to your face everyday! Gross! The easiest way to clean them is to get 2 glasses or plastic cups. Fill one with water, fill the other 1/2 full with rubbing alcohol (less if you don't have many brushes). Take your first brush and dip it in the alcohol. Swirl it, dunk it, get the crap out of them. Then dip it in the water. Get a paper towel and dry it off a bit. Set it aside and start again with the next brush. I usually just place them on a clean paper towel and have the brushes hanging off the counter. When they're dry, you can fluff them up by giving them a twirl. Not to gross you out, but you're rubbing alcohol cup is going to look like chocolate milk. Better in the cup than your face! You should clean your brushes once a week.

You probably don't clean your sunglasses, do ya? I never did. I wear the great big sunglasses that cover up half my face. When I sweat, a combination of my oil and makeup residue sticks to the nose piece of my glasses and even on the bottom rim of the lenses (Mine pretty much rest on my checks). Just take a q-tip and dip it in your rubbing alcohol and clean off your sunglasses. Lay them in a safe place to dry off.


A household item I use everytime I clean is the evil sponge. Apparently they're the most bacteria infested item in your house. Good to know they're made for cleaning (makes you think why they even sell them). You should use a new sponge every week but honestly, who does that? You should sanitize them a few times per week. Immediately if you clean up areas that were in contact with raw meat.


So to sanitize a sponge, all you do is put a little soap on it, work it in and then rinse all of it off with running warm water. After it runs clear, soak it with clean water (or put it in a dish with water in it) and place it in the microwave. Cook it for 2 minutes. I tend to do 30 seconds, flip, another 30 seconds, flip until i reach 2 minutes. They're going to be hot, so either us a pot holder or tongs when handling.


I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be posting information on homemade cleaners and laundry detergent pretty soon. I've tried some homemade cleaners today and was impressed by how well they worked. Be looking forward to that post! In the meantime, I hope you give these tips a try.