You’ve been a good helper, but you are being replaced.

I hate to say it but my daily steamer has been forced into retirement.  Taken off today with other items my husband had loaded in the truck for our city’s trash clean-up day.  It has been a loyal companion in my home for many years.  Almost a year ago it wouldn’t shut off unless I unplugged it but I refused to toss it out.  A few weeks ago, when I poured water into the tank, it leaked out onto the floor. It was time to be replaced.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved it and even it’s ugly yellow and gray color so long as it got the surface dirt off my floors.  Today it is being replaced!  By a newer model in a much more soothing color.

My floors are getting a once over with my new steamer and next week when my energy level is up I will pull out the big guns and do a thorough scrubbing of the tiles.

So, here is my new companion.  Isn’t she pretty?

Enviro Cleaner

Eureka Enviro Steamer

I have mentioned in past posts about my more “heavy duty” cleaners.   I use the Koblenz for deep scrubbing on my tile floors (Why did I ever agree to tile with so many little pits and crevices in it?).    I also use the machine that ozinates ordinary tap water into a powerful cleaner.

Have any of you used this cleaner or other steam cleaners for your hard surface flooring?

Less Toxic Cleaning Products

Finding cleaning products that don’t cause me to have an allergic reaction took some time. A great resource that I purchased to help me live with less toxicity was, “Less Toxic Alternatives” by Carolyn Gorman  with Marie Hyde.

For me I have found that most free and clear products from Seventh Generation are ok.  I also have found that Super Clean by AFM works as a heavy-duty cleaner and diluted to make a pre-wash spray.  I can tolerate borax and plain baking soda (not the arm and hammer laundry soap).  I use Bon Ami for scrubbing and chlorine free bleach agents made from peroxide.  AFM makes a product called Safety Clean for toilets.

The downside is that my whites don’t get as clean as they used to with all the chemically loaded products and bleach that I used to tolerate.  It is something that I am willing to live with in exchange for less chemicals.

Recently I purchased a system by Lotus that ozonates the water for cleaning.  The water has very good cleaning and sanitizing properties.  I use it for several of my cleaning needs.  I use it for cleaning my floors, kitchen counters and showers.

Another very important purchase for me was a scrubber for my tile floors.  I had tried just using my steamer with pad but it didn’t get the dirt out of the grout or the pits in the tile.  I purchased a scrubber that did a little better on the surface but still did not clean the grout, edges of the tile or get  the dirt out of the pits and crevices in the tile itself.  Out of desperation I decided to purchase a commercial product by Koblenz.  This works great and it turned out to be less expensive that the noncommercial scrubber I had.

I would love to hear from those that read this post how they manage to safely clean their homes.  Please let me know what you have found to be safe.  I am sure others will also benefit from your ideas and suggestions.