The Slackers Guide to Easy Cleaning

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Squeaky Green Clean: A slackers guide to housekeeping

By Alex Brooks

Cleaning and easy aren’t  words that usually hang around in the same sentence. But who wants

to waste all day cleaning a house? A quick tidy-up, spray some clean-smelling  chemicals around

a room, flick a cloth and that’ll do.

Convenience drives the need for products  that magically shine surfaces and cut-through grease

in no time at all.  It deludes us into thinking (or hoping) the scent of disinfectant or  ammonia is

what ‘clean’ smells like.

Kermit the Frog said it’s not easy  being green. Ha! Try being clean and green. The strongest household

 cleaners can contain chemicals that make you wish you knew your neurotoxins  from your endocrine disruptors.

Ammonia is bad. Petroleum-based surfactants  are bad. Phosphates suffocate our waterways.  And as for chlorine…

The easiest and greenest way to clean  is to, well, be a slacker. Try these suggestions on for size.

Streamline your household cleaning plan  and become efficient. If you hate spending

all Saturday cleaning, then  don’t do it. Try dedicating 15 minutes each night or do a whip

around  in the morning before you leave for work.

Warm soapy water, microfibre cloths  and a clean, absorbent rag (old baby nappies are perfect)

 are essential  tools to keep a house clean. Gradually replacing a household’s stock  of cleaning

 products with greener, yummier smelling products might even  make you smile while cleaning

– hey, it’s got to be better than  coughing and spluttering, right?

Some of us need an extra helping hand  to embrace the cleaning love – and music

is the great motivator. Turn  it up loud, make your home proud. Allocating a time (or an album)

 to  your cleaning tasks can also make them seem less like drudgery.

Most of us have cleaning ‘hot spots’  – a place in the home that we like to look ordered

 and shiny and happy  and clean. For some of us, it’s making sure the lounge room coffee  table

 is tidy. Others prefer the kitchen benches to remain in perfect  order or want their entry foyer

 immaculate. Find your ‘hot spot’  and tend to it daily to maintain cleaning zen.

Instead of chlorine bleach, which can  create toxic gases when mixed with ammonia,

try using hydrogen peroxide  in its place (yep, the same stuff our mothers used to dab our

scabby  knees with). Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer that will whiten clothes,  kill mould and

clean like bleach, without the respiratory hazards of  chlorine.

Reduce the amount of detergent, laundry  powder or surface spray cleaner by one quarter

 and see if you get the  same cleaning result. If you can clean using less, take it one step

  further and reduce the amount by one third. Using too much detergent  or soaps (especially

 plant-based) can reduce their effectiveness and  leave a dull coating.

Mean & Green Spray ‘N’ Wipe

This Australian-made and owned company  makes phosphate and chlorine-free cleaners

 that are greywater safe.  It’s powerful and works. It’s $3.99 for 750 mL, available in

Woolworths  and Safeway.

Cinderella Multi-Purpose Spray

It’s smells like toothpaste but cleans  like a demon. This peppermint-powered spray

works on bathroom, kitchen  and living room surfaces – it’s also made in Australia and is

100  per cent biodegradable, breaking down within 28 days. It’s $4.99 for  500 mL,

available in Coles, IGA and health stores.

Bosisto’s Eucalyptus Spray

You can’t use this where you might  prepare food, as eucalyptus oil can be a poison,

but it sure creates  a mighty fine shine. The CFC-free aerosol can holds more than 1000

sprays  off the anti-bacterial pharmaceutical grade oil which can be used as  a surface spray

and wiped away. It’s $8.95 for 200 g, available in  supermarkets and pharmacies.

Ecostore Citrus Spray Cleaner

Beautiful packaging and a great spray  and wipe for cleaning fiends who prefer to avoid

 petroleum-based cleaners.  The zesty scent of citrus is combined with plant-based surfactants

 to  give an anti-bacterial clean. It’s $8.95 for 500 mL, available in  health stores.