4 week cleaning schedule

Gah!  There's so much going on that I want to share right now, but I've been told that I have to wait...

...So for now I'm sharing a cleaning chart that I made incorporating At Home With Nikki's "1 Hour Home Cleaning Routine".  It works when I remind myself to do it...

(click for a printable version)

Find more of my cleaning and organizing posts here.

Quick Tip: natural rust inhibitor

After sharing my recent post about rust removal, a friend who works with metal informed me that, while lemon juice and salt might have removed the rust from my cheese graters they would also expose the metal and make it rust again and faster.  He suggested that I oil them to add some protection.

Between my friend and Google, I found that it's best to use food safe oils in the kitchen (for what should be obvious reasons).

So, here's what I did:

I laid out a towel over my workspace
and gathered my materials
(food safe oil [I used olive], a washcloth and the stuff i'm trying to protect)...

...I put a few drops of olive oil onto the washcloth...

...I dripped oil right onto the smaller hard-to-get-into areas...

...and buffed it in...

...then I wiped off the excess oil with a clean cotton cloth...

So shiny!

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to get rid of/prevent rust?

Comment and share your knowledge if you do!

Natural rust removal...

I recently discovered a new-to-me YouTuber, Melissa Maker and her channel "Clean My Space"  thanks to one of my "old favorites" ("Organized Clutterbug") mentioning her in a video about natural cleaning.  Of course, I've spent most of my time over the past two days watching TONS of her videos!

This morning, I came across this one: "Clean My Space" - "Shine Your Flatware & Glassware | Day 5 of The 12 Days Of Clean!"  In this video, she goes over basic shining, but what really caught my attention was when she started talking about removing rust from flatware.

I have a couple of vintage cheese graters that are horribly rusted, but they look so neat that I can't bear to part with them (I only show the circular one here, as that was the rustier of the two)...

Note: none of these photos have been edited more than cropping (and text on one), I didn't want a filter to mess with how the rust looked.

This is how I cleaned them:

I started with my rusty grater...

Then I gathered my tools:

my (kitchen) cleaning toothbrush, 

a clean rag, a bowl with equal parts salt and lemon juice

and a towel or paper towel to work on.

I got some of the salt/lemon juice mixture on the toothbrush...

...and scrubbed it all over.

Then I buffed it out with the rag,

using the salt/lemon juice mixture as needed.

After washing and *thoroughly* towel drying.

NOT BAD!

Now, I will say that I probably still won't be using them for cooking,

but they look a lot prettier hanging on my wall without significantly less rust.

Check out my post about preventing rust from coming back once you've removed it!

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to get rid of/prevent rust?

Comment and share your knowledge if you do!

More natural house cleaning...

Thanks to Hulu Plus, I have a slight obsession with an Aussie show called "Lush House" (you can watch full episodes here).  I swear the host, Shannon Lush, is a flippin' genius.  Who knew you could disinfect with lavender oil?  ...or tea tree oil?  I didn't, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you didn't either.  I really want to check out all of Shannon Lush's books now!

I also discovered an amazing resource for family friendly, eco-friendly and budget-friendly cleaning.  Howtocleanthings.com helped me seriously decrease the nastiness of a rust stain in my kitchen sink (which was left by a metal thing that the people who lived here before us used to protect the bottom of the sink)....  I think that, with another treatment or two, it should be completely gone soon!

So, here are a few things that I've tested personally and learned really do work!:

• Lemon oil works wonders.  It not only smells good, it keeps bugs away and can work as a deterrent for cats who like to make nasties on the floor (I'm lookin' at *you*, Fluffy!)
• Clove oil makes my house smell like I just baked Christmas ham and it acts as a mold inhibitor!  Taking Miss Lush's mold spray one step further, I've made an after shower spray for our bathrooms that's easy and non-toxic, so the kids can spray the shower down when they're done!
• Fill a spray bottle halfway with white vinegar, add two or three drops of clove oil and top it off with water.  Give it a shake before you spray it!  Easy peasy.
• Cream of tartar can not only be used for baking delicious goodies, but it can also be used to clean aluminum and rust (as I mentioned earlier)

Do you make any of you own natural cleaners or do you have any "weird" cleaning tricks?