What is Wet, Pink, And Gross All Over?

I am in Spring Cleaning mode here at LBR I have been feverishly scrubbing down the kitchen all week. When it came time to rinse out one of my rags I noticed the water from the faucet was coming out a bit strange. Upon further inspection it turned out to be just a kink in the hose but what I found while figuring that out was a big eye opener to me...

First let me start by saying I love our faucet. E picked up this Hansgrohe faucet at Costco...to be honest, it wasn't love at first sight but over time it has grown on me. Unfortunately, something else decided to grow on IT...this moldy mildewy grossness!! After calling E over to show him what he has been drinking from and seeing the sheer horror register on his face (I LOVE to gross him out!), I immediately took to scrubbing. This little clean up only took an old toothbrush and some orange vinegar water (more on that below) and all was better.

AHHHHH...I feel much better!! There is still a bit of water and suds on there but I can assure you all the yuckyness came off. We have only had the faucet since June of last year (when we did the big kitchen remodel) so it isn't like we went years without cleaning the head but I can honestly say I have lived places where it was never a thought to clean the actual faucet head. I am happy to say that that will no longer be the case!! This baby will be cleaned every couple of weeks from now on. I mean, I clean the faucet anyway - why not clean the head of it?!

On to my newest vinegar solution. I recently subscribed to Angela Coffman's Grocery Shrink. What this woman can do with a budget is amazing!! In the past few years my everyday cleaning solution has been that of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. I have no exact mix but I tend to do half and half...that may seems like a lot for some but it works for us!! At first the smell was a little off putting but I quickly warmed to it as it reminds me of dying Easter Eggs as a kid. Do you guys do that? Use white vinegar in your Easter egg dye mixture? Anyway, E has never quite taken to the smell and some people have a real aversion to it. Once I subscribed to Angela's newsletter I was promised a recipe collection for her cheap, non toxic, environmentally safe cleansing products...and she delivered!! The next day in my inbox was part #1 of her solutions and the day after came part#2.

My first project was to spice up my cleaning solution. Angela suggests infusing the white vinegar with orange peels to make it smell better but also to harness the cleaning properties that citrus fruit oils contain. We already had oranges on hand (as we have started juicing them each morning) so all I had to do was collect the peels and soak them for a few weeks...super easy!! Since we weren't peeling our oranges before juicing them I simply juiced them and then scraped out the gook leftover to come up with just the peels. I was afraid if I left the gook then the sugars from the juice would make the solution sticky...no beuno for cleaning!!

Then I just let them sit...and sit...they even made it into a few posts of mine!!

My famous $1.50 Notes Zone post...

AND my Oh, My Achin' Back post...

After 2 weeks I strained the dark orange vinegar out and placed it in a new container. I then took my spray bottle and filled it 3/4 of the way with water then added the orange infused white vinegar to the top...yes, it is more than Angela suggests but I figure what the heck - it's my orange vinegar and I can do what I want with it! :) I forgot to take pics of that but I think ya'll are smart enough to figure it out!!

E is very happy with the new smell as am I. You can use any type of citrus fruit for this potion. I think lemons and limes would be delightful!! Or perhaps a grapefruit!! The great part about this is you can add additional fruit peels as you go so there is no need to cut and peel your whole 8lb bag of oranges all at once. These 2 bottles (old pasta sauce jars) took about 5-6 orange peels each.

It's your turn now...have you found anything super gross while Spring Cleaning? Do you have any safe and cheap cleaners to share?? Feel free to leave a comment or even a link to show us what you're up to!! :)

Now get back to cleaning!!

Bianca

PS - I am linking up to share this cleaning tip with others...don't ya' think that's important?? Please follow me over to the lovely ladies blogs by clicking here!!