Photograph Credit: Flickr (stst31415)

When cleaning, I often wonder if I make the process more difficult than it needs to be. Following the marketing push to need a different product to clean each item in my home, I find I have a shelf full of products. Seeing my stash as normal, I’ve been considering unconventional or back to the basics alternatives for cleaning my home.

My Cleaning

Coming as no surprise, I use all the products I have in my cleaning closet, and they work great. Of course, I purchased all of them on sale and paired most of them with coupons or received FREE samples or products – saving our family money. My thought process here is not about the money spent, but rather the investment of time in using multiple products.

Though I am not abandoning all my supplies, I am considering a better way to using time wisely. My time might be better spent if I had fewer products to gather at the store, transport from room to room, and switch from within one room.

I know many make their own cleaning supplies and use one or two products to clean everything in their homes. If that works for you, then great! I am not against making my own, but I am still brand loyal and find my Lysol, Fabuloso, Scrubbing  Bubbles, and Windex time-savers for me.

My Discovery

Recently, I used about half a bottle of white vinegar to clean my tea maker. (Let’s just say, it had been a few years since I had given this well-used appliance a good cleaning.) With the entire container of vinegar costing less than $2, I was pleased with the results and the cost.

After that success, I was chatting with my mom about her house renovations, and she mentioned how soaking her shower heads in white vinegar overnight completely cleared out the mineral deposits and debris in the holes. As I shared my success with white vinegar with my tea maker, we had a discussion about cleaning products.

Shortly after that discussion, I found 150+ Household Uses for Vinegar from Reader’s Digest. With this topic on my mind, I have started looking at white vinegar for other uses around my home. For example, the grass or weeds that grow in the creases of our driveway and sidewalk are eliminated with a day when sprayed with white vinegar.

In evaluating my cleaning supplies, I am amazed at the unconventional or back to the basics alternative found in white vinegar. With my interest peaked with other uses for a less-than-$2 bottle of white vinegar, I am learning.

Still embracing my tried-and-true cleaning supplies, I am on a mission to using time wisely. This journey is on-going, and I’m not opposed to trying something new.

Pleased with the progress had with white vinegar, I am more open to other uses which may be the start of a new cleaning style – only time will tell. Keep on using time wisely, and happy learning!

Question: Have you found a new discovery causing you to consider why you do what you do?