Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and home

Non-toxic anti-mold spray?

pallen123 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:22:35 -0800

What's a simple, safe homemade anti-mold solution that I can spray on my child's toys that were in the basement? I'm looking for something I can mix up at home, that's not unsafe for the little boy, that I can spray on his Thomas the Train wood toys to get rid of what I suspect is either mold or maybe even just dust. It's been in the basement for a year and I don't see any visible mold on it, but we sneeze when we sit at the train table. We just brought it up from the basement this week. I'd rather not throw the thing away. Vinegar? Baking soda? Ammonia? Thanks for any suggestions!

Need to improve my house cleaning skills

valannc — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:00:11 -0800

I want to improve my house cleaning skills... improve my speed, efficiency, thoroughness, etc. And use the best cleaning products for the task. In the past, we used a cleaning service. Now I have more time than money. It's my job to keep our house clean. I dislike these chores. It occurs to me I would like house cleaning better if I were good at it.

All I know about cleaning is what I learned on TV. "Buy Windex!" "Buy Swiffer" etc. There are many cleaning expert books and web sites. But most of them are selling a cleaning product.

Dear AskMeFi Hive,
Can you recommend resources that for good sensible advice and techniques. What are the best non-harsh cleaning products? I have a closet full of expensive products and tools that don't seem to work right.

Martha Stewart's cleaning advice makes me uncomfortable. Her instructions are so extensive and exacting. She acts as if you have all day to make a bed. (I do like Martha's recipes.)

How do I clean these shoes?

reenum — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:41:16 -0800

How can I clean vomit off leather shoes? My friends and I had a bit too much fun over New Year's, and my Florsheims paid the price.

I now have several whitish spots on them. All solids have been removed. I want to clean the shoes without ruining them.

Any ideas?

Are gas stoves supposed to produce a sticky residue?

waldo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:49:48 -0800

I know a couple of folks with gas stoves, and they have trouble with a sticky residue coating their walls and ceiling around the range. They describe it as inherent to cooking with gas. (It's really disgusting.) Yet other folks I know who cook with gas don't report any such problems. Is this a known problem? Any idea why it would affect some people, but not others? Different types of gas (natural vs. propane)? Badly-tuned stoves? Something they're cooking? FWIW, my wife and I are gearing up to build a house, and though we'd like to cook with gas, we don't want to deal with the residue. After extensive googling and asking around, nothing, hence asking MeFi.

Cleaning person in Northwest Chicago Suburbs? Recommendations?

ets960 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:13:30 -0800

Price is a factor, but I'd like to start with a 1 time trial and deep clean, and then see about monthly cleanings. I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1200 sq ft condo which gets pretty messy because I'm traveling every week and my roommate doesn't always keep up. Molly Maids says the cost would be between 80-95 dollars for a monthly cleaning, I'd prefer it to be around 60 bucks. For the first cleaning I'm willing to spend up to 150 bucks. Any suggestions?

Miracle cleaning products sold on TV shopping channels

selton — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:27:51 -0800

I often watch the shopping channels on TV and regularly see demonstrations of "miracle" cleaning products. Now my curiosity has got the better of me. Does anyone have experience of these cleaning products? Are they as fantastic as they appear? Typically there's a demonstrator in the studio throwing all kinds of filth on a carpet and then nonchalently wiping away the stains. Sometimes it's in a bathroom or kitchen setting, but it's basically the same routine.

The products themselves seem relatively expensive compared to the ones I'd buy in a supermarket but apart from that I wonder why if they're so good they aren't sold in normal retail outlets?

Just to be clear I'm not asking for recommendations on any particular named product. I'm interested in a comparison to how much better any of these products are than ones that can be bought in a supermarket.

Dust Buster?

aspenbaloo — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:32:14 -0800

Has anyone paid to have their air ducts cleaned? We've got quite a bit of dust in the house and are considering having someone come and suck all the dust and debris from our air ducts. If you've had this done how much did it cost and did it help with air quality and dust in the house?

Central vacuum?

bondcliff — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:53:50 -0800

I need recommendations for a good central vacuum system to install in my house. I grew up with a Sears central vac and it was the greatest thing ever. We’re hoping to install one in our house and I was hoping someone out there was passionate enough about theirs that they could recommend it and tell me why they love it so. What make/model do you have? What attachments can you not live without? Are the kick-plate inlets worth it?

It’s going into new construction and will be installed by the contractor so ease of installation isn’t so important. Cost is a factor, but we’re willing to pay for quality. Quiet is good. Suction is key, I want to be able to suck up dustbunnies at 30 paces.

Thanks.

How to clean up after a shedding ape?

DrSkrud — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:19:30 -0800

I'm a pretty hairy guy all over -- and I've got long hair on my head to boot. The problem is that I shed, from pretty much everywhere -- but luckily not so much from the head. How can I be a good roommate and clean up after myself in the bathroom? I don't really have the time to give the bathroom a thorough cleaning after each and every use, and I would like to minimize the amount of washcloths/towels/etc. that I use.

Hair is usually pretty annoying to clean up when it's wet -- whereas when it's dry I can probably get away with using a Swiffer or dust-buster. I don't want to have to wait until the bathroom de-humidifies if I can avoid it, though. Especially since I'm sure my roommates wouldn't really appreciate it.

I'm not interested in hair removal options right now (although you can comment about them if you think you have something good).

Thanks, MetaFilter!

Is there a Flylady for FlyFulltimeworkingCouples?

tastybrains — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:46:18 -0800

Is there anything like FlyLady but for people who actually work outside the home? Lazy 20-something couple is looking for help keeping our apartment from being a sty. I love Flylady, but I can't keep up with her ... are there any similar systems that work better for people who work outside the home? Flylady seems mostly geared towards Stay-at-home-Moms, and while I am envious of people who are able to squeeze in a load of laundry at 10am, I am not one of them.

My new husband and I are trying to work out our household chores angst so that we stay on top of basic cleaning, but I guess our parents didn't teach us how to act like grown-ups.

Any links, books, or suggestions on how to set up a *realistic* plan for cleaning/organizing and splitting up chores between two lazy people who work long hours would be great.

A housekeeper is, unfortunately, not an option right now. And, as often as I ask, the cats refuse to pitch in.

How clean is my house?

TochterAusElysium — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:59:09 -0800

Do you worry about how clean your home is when people visit? Do you notice imperfect cleaning at others' homes? It's the time of year for parties and visiting friends; I love to have people come over, but I feel rather obsessive about the cleanliness of my house, and I wonder how many people actually look closely at that kind of thing. When you visit people, do you notice whether they've dusted? If there are lingering cat-box smells? If the white carpet isn't quite white? Or do you just enjoy being there and visiting?

Because I was raised by a borderline-OCD neatfreak mother, I don't always know to what degree I have the same issues - am I normal to worry about these things or should I just relax and enjoy the company of my friends? Before people visit, I always make sure to vacuum, do dishes, and pick up; I clean fairly thoroughly, but because it stresses me out wondering whether it's enough, I don't invite people as often as I'd like. My husband's mother is much less interested in cleaning (and her house can be pretty messy when we visit), so he sometimes says I worry too much.

I hope this won't be called out as chatfilter; I am hoping for some honest input and am phrasing this the best I can.

Amazing Dryer Balls!

tpl1212 — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 17:28:01 -0800

"Amazing Dryer Balls"...anyone use them? Do they work (as a replacement for chemical-y dryer sheets)? Because these dryer balls are an "as seen on TV" thing, all the warning flags for "useless, over hyped, under performing product" are up. I'm skeptical? If you need to say a product is "amazing," i'm tempted to believe it is not-so-amazing.

That said, i'm curious about using these to replace dryer sheets. We don't use dryer sheets in the loads of laundry we do that contain baby clothes (to avoid chemicals), and I think i'd just as soon avoid the chemicals of dryer sheets all together. Is a product like a "dryer ball" a good alternative (or would I be better served simply not using dryer sheets)?

The only discussions i've found about them tend to be fairly neutral/across-the-board (from total waste to wow!...from what i've read, the "reduced drying time" claim is pretty bogus (or at least hard to judge)

Olive Oil vs. Unfinished Red oak floor

Scoo — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 20:15:12 -0800

I spilled olive oil on our new red oak hardwood floor, the day before the contractors are coming to sand, stain and finish it (a small bottle fell off the shelf and the top popped off) . How screwed are we? Mrs. Scoo and I managed to clean it up within two minutes of the spill with soap and water. About 5 minutes elapsed for the entire epiode. There is some visible staining hours later. Will the sanding take care of this? How deep in to the wood could the oil have penetrated?

Litter Me This

abbyladybug — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:45:52 -0800

I use Fresh Step Premium Cat Litter and a Littermaid litter box for my two cats. Recently, when emptying the vacuum cleaner and cleaning the AC filters, I have realized just how much litter dust there is in the air. I really like the scoopability of the brand I'm using, but I'd like to find another type of cat litter that works well with the Littermaid, yet doesn't stir up so much dust all the time. Got any recommendations?

Getting stains out of a white formica kitchen counter

CunningLinguist — Thu, 12 May 2005 05:30:51 -0800

Have I hopelessly stained my white formica kitchen counter? After some recent debauchery, there were some stains on my counter the morning after. Not sure what: could be red wine, could be coffee, could be raspberry juice. I wasn't worried in the least because a little Soft Scrub with bleach always took care of such problems instantly in the past. But not this time. When it didn't, I thought, "hmm, well, maybe more bleach" so I poured a flood of straight bleach on the stains, covered them with a damp paper towel and went away. When I got back, to my horror, the stains have now become much more prominent and have turned a hideous, bright Halloween-y orange. No amount of scrubbing even begins to minimize them. What the hell did I do? And is there any way to fix this?

Has anyone used a Dyson, or the DC07?

carter — Mon, 05 Jan 2004 12:27:09 -0800

After living together for four years, my sig other and I are ready to take the plunge - and buy a good vacuum cleaner. We have a dog, she has allergies, I googled and quickly came up with the Dyson DC07 'Animal', which has 5 stars on Amazon but which costs $500. Simple? Well, other reviews, including some other Amazon reviews, say it's a bit of a dog, and one accuses Dyson of padding the reviews with their PR material. Has anyone used a Dyson, or the DC07? [More inside]

Clearing the Air

tirade — Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:47:37 -0800

What's the best way to clear the air in a smokey room? I'm a non-smoker, but someone in an adjacent apartment is chain smoking and it's stinking up my place. It's getting too cold to just crack the windows. I'm working with the apartment managers, but I'm not sure that's really going to go anywhere. In the mean time, does anyone have any clever suggestions? I'm considering air purifiers, but my ceilings are fairly high (i.e., lots of air to filter) and I don't know if they would to much good. Are there any good models out there? Google searches have gotten me a lot of conflicting reviews.