Peach trees and housework

I have had a great week this week. Kougra did not cry once during school drop off.

We went for a day trip to peach trees on Wednesday (out past kenilworth, near Jimna) and went for a bushwalk and had a BBQ. Uni had the day off work and so Kougra took a day off school too.

We plan to go to Peach trees for our next camping trip and thought we would take the opportunity to look around. Next camping trip will be two nights ... last year it was one night. Am looking forward to it ... not so apprehensive ... will probably be in May so we will need to rug up!

Today I had a very productive day. I managed to get up at 6am and do some fence painting ... have been rather lax with that this week, preferring to catch up on sleep instead!

I also cleaned the bathroom and toilet, swept the kitchen floor, did a load of laundry and some weeding.

I have been cleaning with vinegar and bicarb soda and sometimes lemon, instead of regular cleaning products.

I read a great book called "green cleaning" which detailed all the cleaning applications these products can be used for.

I like the idea of not using lots of different chemicals and I like the idea of saving money so it made sense to me to try these things out.

I have been really thrilled with the effect on my bathroom. Particularly the shower!! Nothing I had previously used was working very well on my very old shower. I tried scrubbing it with vinegar and a scrubbing brush and it looked terrific. After two weeks of this I had a go using bicarb soda sprinkled in the shower pan and mixed in a bit of water to make a paste. I covered the base of the shower very liberally and anywhere the paste covered scrubbed up so clean and white!!!

I reckon if I use vinegar one week and bicarb soda the next, my bathroom will sparkle!!!

You can also use a blend of vinegar and bicarb soda ... apparently the two together generate a fairly strong chemical reaction with fizzing etc ... I might try them together at some stage ... but so far I haven't needed to.

I used bicarb soda in the toilet too and the interior is soooo white. The only problem though is that I don't want to mix chemicals so I have to wait to do the toilet until my toilet deodorising block is empty.

Another thing that works a treat on the toilet is leftover softdrink poured in and left to sit for overnight ... (eg. coke or lemonade or soda water) ... I think its the carbonated water.

I have also been using a tip I learnt from http://www.simplesavings.com.au/a.php?a=238654" which involves cleaning the ring in the bathtub with shampoo. I usually use shampoo I don't like very much which I am trying to finish ... or I buy a cheap shampoo for this purpose.

I have been shaving my legs with cheap conditioner too instead of shaving cream. It works well and is much cheaper than shaving cream....although I do buy shaving cream for uni to use on his face!

Some time last year I realized that I was spending a fortune at the supermarket and very few of the things in my trolley were food ... most things seemed to be for cleaning ... or things like toilet paper, paper towels, food wraps, garbage bags, tissues, soap, toiletries etc.

I have cut down on the number of some of these things by using vinegar ($1.09/2L) or bicarb soda $3/kg (mixed with water) or dishwashing liquid or shampoo for cleaning. Vinegar instead of rinse aid in the dishwasher, vinegar or bicarb soda instead of shower power. Bicarb instead of toilet cleaner. Dishwashing liquid mixed with water for floors.

Feeling quite houseproud at the moment!!!