The holiday season is just moments away, and with it comes visiting family, parties and gatherings, and lots of extra clean-up. Our friends at The Optimist Co. are sponsoring the giveaway this week, to help us all breeze through this season of messy togetherness easily, and without a toxin in sight.
Devin Donaldson founded The Optimist Co. after conventional cleaning products left her with a nasty asthma attack. Her products are simple, effective, and non-toxic (all made with simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen) and will help you keep your home spotless without compromising your health or the planet.
My favorite product from The Optimist Co. is their Make Your Own Cleaning Products Kit (for the right person, it could be an excellent holiday gift!). This six-piece kit includes two spray bottles, a small bottle of concentrated soap, and three small bottles of essential oils.
The bottles have recipes on the side so that you can create a cleaning and shining sprays. There are suggestions for scenting them, but you can also devise your own essential oil formula. Oh, and if you’re not into making the products yourself, the Green Your Home set comes with everything ready made and ready to go!
The Optimist Co. recently added a new scent to their line-up. While it’s not part of the MYO kit, a bottle of the Time to Shine cleaner with Rosemary and Mint is a winner for every stinky mess.
Thanks to Devin and her team at The Optimist Co., I have three Make Your Own Cleaning Products Kit to give away this week. Here’s how to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and share a favorite cleaning trick.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, November 15, 2015.
- Giveaway open to United States residents only. Void where prohibited.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Disclosure: The folks at The Optimist sent me the kit you see here for review and photography purposes at no cost to me. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions remain my own.
for shiny sink faucets wipe with rubbing alcohol. They shine wonderfully with no elbow grease
I make a paste of baking soda, castile soap and essential oils to put on a scrub brush to swish around in the garbage disposal side of the sink. It gets rid of the stinky!
i throw used citrus peels in white vinegar for a few weeks and then use the infused vinegar as all purpose cleaner.
My dog had a bladder infection a few months ago. I spray undiluted vinegar on the pee spot and then cocver the spot with baking soda. You can SEE it lifting out the urine from the carpet. Once the vinegar is dry, vacuum it up. (Keep pets away from the mixture til its dry.)
I find baking soda to be the best for scrubbing things like sinks and bath tubs!
I’ve been using baking soda and vinegar water to clean grease off my range hood.
I clean my cast-iron pan with salt and a sturdy paper towel after every use.
The Pinterest trick to use aluminum foil dipped in water to remove rust from a bicycle works like magic. It’s the best that I’ve found!
If your shower grout is gross, mix bleach and baking soda into a thick paste, paint it on the gross areas, and cover with plastic wrap for an hour. Rinse clean and admire beautiful grout!
I keep a bottle of vinegar for cleaning and add my orange peels to it. It smells better and the orange oil adds to the cleaning power.
My favorite trick it to get someone else to clean. It rarely works.
Clean your stainless steel appliances with windex wipes.
My favorite trick isn’t much of one… white vinegar and water are universally usefull…
Baking soda + boiling water gets rid of coffee & tea stains in mugs with minimal effort. Also I use a palm brush with a soap dispenser filled with citrus castille soap for difficult dishes.
I use baking soda, with a little water, to scrub pots and counter-tops instead of abrasive cleaners.
When cooking in a skillet, throw a bit of hot water in immediately after removing the food. The hot pan/hot water combo does a great job cleaning out the stuff that would otherwise harden up.
I use pumice stones to get the rust stains off my toilet, bathtub, and anything porcelain. It works great and you barely have to scrub!
Borax and vinegar to clean away mold.
A baking soda-vinegar-peppermint castille soap slurry is wonderful for cleaning and shining the sinks and tub at our house. I used to pre-mix it into a pleasant creamy paste, but these days I just dump approx. amounts of soda + soap in the sink, scrub away, then spritz with vinegar and rinse off.
A mix of white vinegar, water, dawn dish soap and olive oil to clean the surface of hardwood cabinets.
We pour boiling water down our drains to keep them running clear. Even plumbers say it is the thing to do! And it is a great way to empty a water bath pot after canning! Also, baking soda on burned on pots and pans. Other than that I am so not a cleaner…wish I was! These sound wonderful.
baking soda, baking soda, baking soda!
I like cleaning stinky cutting boards with lemon and salt.
I made a paste of liquid castile soap and baking soda and covered the floor of my shower…..a few hours later I wiped/rinsed it up. Wow, was it beautiful!
Newspaper to clean windows 🙂
My favorite trick is for greasy pans (the bacon pan in particular) – add the soap and scrub it in before you get the pan wet. It emulsifies into the grease and then it all rinses right off and you aren’t left with a greasy film like can happen when you try to rinse the pan first.
I love vinegar for cleaning!
Spot cleaning! Why move all the furniture/whatever when you can just hit the dirty parts?
I use white distilled vinegar on towels with very hot water to remove any smell.
I use baking soda with a drop or two of water to scrub my stove and any tough pan when I wash dishes.
Barkeeper’s Friend – non abrasive but gets off all those stains that I’ve been too lazy to go after for too long….tub, sink, stove – it’s a sanity saver.
Cleaned the bottom of the bathtub with a leftover bath fizzy and my foot while taking a shower.
White vinegar!
I use a toothbrush to get all the residue off my food processor blade when I make peanut butter. Also, about a month ago I cut the weighted part off the bottom of my cloth shower curtain with a pinking shears, and so far, so good about nothing growing on the curtain (red shower mold was a problem).
Got a big package of baby wipes at a discount store – quick cleanup of spills on the stove and floor – then toss the gunk away. Do they disintegrate in the landfill?
I use a paste of baking soda and water to loosen up baked on messes – it softens it up and can then be used to scrub it away.
Regular vinegar and baking soda does keep my tub drain running and clean.
When my tub needs cleaning (too badly…) I spray it with vinegar and let it sit for an hour or longer, then all the grime just washes away so easily.
Oh which one to pick! The lemon and salt rub for my brass pots is a particular favorite!
I put my shower curtain liner in the washing machine with some towels to buffer for an easy clean.
I use a kitchen scrubby, sponge on one side, green scrubby on the other, to clean my shower and bathtub.
My favorite trick is that, if you’re in a rush before company arrives, a dry cloth will take off water spots from bathroom faucets reasonably well, so it looks a lot cleaner really quickly.
nothing beats lemon and salt for copper pans. Love the look of these products — thanks for sharing
I love using newspaper to clean windows! No streaks!
Vinegar cleans almost everything for me.
Vinegar with fragrance oil to dilute the smell is my favorite home cleaner!
Clean as little as possible.
I went and got fleece on sale and cut it to make reusable swiffer cloths instead of paying for them over and over. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
If I am washing my pots/pans and there’s something stuck that’s hard to remove, I”ll use table salt as an abrasive.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Cindy
I use steel wool to clean my stove top… for my stove, it doesn’t seem to cause damage and gets all the burnt-on bits off.
Doesn’t the steel wool scratch? I’m looking for a new method to get the gunk off but don’t want to scratch up the stove!
Favorite tip…..a little service called Merry Maids, I get fliers from them in the mail weekly, must be a hint for sure!!! Just kidding, can’t afford Merry Maids.
So my tip to share with your readers is…..rolll drum please……enlist the husbands help. Make him that ole honey do list, haha and pray it works!!!