by Hannah Kampen

Created on: March 16, 2010

There are a few things you can do for spring cleaning to help you get in the mood to do it. I prefer to green clean my bathroom; I used to like the bleach-y smell that I had associated with "clean", but then I started learning about green cleaning, and how nice it smells.

First things first, fill your bathroom sink with HOT water - even if you have to microwave it first. Put a few tea bags in it, preferably lavender, chamomile, or thyme (all three are cleaners and antiseptics). For a normal bathroom sink, I would suggest 8 tea bags (yes, it's a lot, but read on). While you're cleaning everything else, this will steep and make a cleaning solution for your bathroom. Next, open your bathroom window (if you have one) all the way. The fresh air will do wonders to invigorate you, and the natural light will make you feel SO much better.

Starting with your ceiling. Did you know that when you flush a toilet with the lid up, the stuff that's in the toilet (that's right, that really gross stuff) goes flying into the air over 6 feet? That means six feet in every direction of your toilet, even up, has those particles on it. EW! For spring cleaning, I normally get my stepstool out and make my arms go numb from scrubbing the ceiling. What I use is either vinegar soaked into a reusable rag, or a paste made from baking soda and water (which helps eliminate odors, too). You can also drape a vinegar, cidar, or lavender soaked rag over your broom bristles, and use that to scrub the ceiling, but I just don't think that would be as efficient as doing it with your hands. While you're up there doing your ceiling, you might as well get those corners, too - well...why not the whole ceiling? Swipe it all down...you don't know what has been on your ceiling in the past [fill in the blank with the last time you deep cleaned your bathroom]. 

Next, clean your walls. I'm lucky - I have tiles on my walls. For my walls, I use just vinegar to rinse them down with. If there's a particularly stubborn mess or stain, I squeeze a slice of lemon over baking soda to make a paste. I apply this paste to the stain (the natural acid in lemons will eat away the stain), and wait fifteen minutes. If I feel particularly scrubby, I can add a bit of salt as an abrasive and scrub with a toothbrush. You can also slice a lemon or an orange and just go over your walls with the slices, squeezing slightly. Their both antiseptic due to the amount of acid in them. After a few minutes, wipe your walls with a damp

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