Friday, January 11, 2019

Cleaning The Green Way by Diana McCollum

Friday, January 11, 2019


Let me just say up front, this is a repeat of a post from 2012. Cleaning is what I'm doing everyday. My mom passed December 5, 2018. We all lived together for  7 years. I've been cleaning out closets, coming across pictures, letters and cards from my mom's past. Believe me when I say I've cried a river,  because I have. I'm not quite up to writing a new blog post. I hope to in February. 

Enjoy!

First let me say that I am so-o-o envious of Paty Jager’s writing space pictured in her April 2, 2012 post right here on Romancing the Genres Blog.

Up until our move to the High desert in OR I had a spare bedroom that I had turned into my writing room. There were bookshelves that lined the walls, a magnificent computer stand with doors that closed and locked when not in use and even room for my exercise bike. The computer stand stood in the corner by the window. I could look out into my garden whenever I wanted to. I had all the room I could possibly need or want.
Fast forward to now. I have a small stand cramped into a corner of our T.V. room. I do have a window I can see out to the bushes and the road. My writing books are packed in the garage, except for one shelf of “How to…” and research books that have found a home on the one free shelf in the closet.

I have found with this smaller space that I have become a neater writer. My stacks of notes and papers have to be organized, dealt with or thrown away because there is no room for those stacks to grow. No free space on the floor either

Now to get back to the subject at hand, cleaning the Green Way is not only good for the environment it is good for the pocket book. 

My friend and one of my critique partners, Louise P. lives in Kansas and last week sent me a list of Green Cleaning Recipes. I spoke with her today (since I haven’t tried any of the recipes) and asked her if she had tried them.

Louise said she made and tried the furniture polish and it works wonderfully. Her dining room table has never been so shiny.
So here’s the Green Recipe for wood polish:

1 cup mineral oil
25 drops of pine essential oil 

Mix in a spray bottle by shaking up. Do this each time before using.
Then when you polish in the different rooms of your house it will smell like Yule time. If you don’t like pine, try cedar or clove essential oil.

What cleaning short cuts, saving time or money, do you use?

6 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

Diana, I made the decision last year to have someone come in and do the cleaning I just wasn't doing - dusting for one. Even though I did a massive decluttering, there is still "things" on tops of flat surfaces. I also can no longer do things that require me to be on my hands and knees. It is so very worth the $50 a month to have all the floors cleaned, shower scrubbed down and some dusting done. I have her rotate through different rooms each month so every three months a room gets a more thorough cleaning. May try the furniture wood polish recipe with another essential oil...I'd love to have my house smelling like cloves or lavender or Four Thieves.

Lynn Lovegreen said...

My condolences, Diana. Losing a mother is tough. Take all the time you need.

Diana McCollum said...

Thanks for stopping by, Judith. Wish I could afford a house cleaner :)).

Thank you Lynn!

Sarah Raplee said...

Great post! For cleaning doggie nose prints off the outside of my sliding glass deck doors when it's below freezing outside, I use a mixture of 1/3 cup water and 2/3 cup automobile winter window cleaner in a spray bottle. Shake to mix. A squeegee works best. The colder it gets, the less you dilute the cleaner.

Z. Minor said...

I liked the article. I try to keep everything picked which helps. Take my friend

Barbara Strickland said...

Great post, and my warmest regards for this difficult period