My new favorite cleaner

I have another kid that gets ear infections with no fever. My oldest would spike a fever and we would know immediately that he had another ear infection. My second never ran a fever with ear infections. Now number five is following suit. He had not been sleeping well and fussy with a bit of congestion. No fever so I kept giving him allergy medicine and hoped it would clear up. I got him looked at this morning. Yep, ear infection so we'll be headed to the ENT this afternoon. We really should get a group discount!

At the dr office, in each room is a tall shiny trash can that you open with your foot. My fourth is fascinated with it and always touching it. Last time that he had some allergy issues and visited the doctor, we came home with hand foot and mouth disease. Totally don't want to go there. So I saw a can of Lysol in the room and used it on the trash can and cabinet/drawer pulls. Problem solved!

Not so fast! While the Lysol was still wet, John Micah runs his fingers over it and I holler just as he sticks all four fingers in his mouth. Ugh! He grins like a Cheshire Cat. I think he enjoys getting his mom riled up!

So in light of my child's bright idea, let's talk cleaners. I found a cleaner called Replenish. I think it is available at Walmart normally but the Real Lavender scent that I got isn't on their website that I can find. I really hope it's not discontinued. It smells so awesome! Makes me want to clean just to smell it.

That's a thought. What if they made cleaners with the smells like our favorite candles? Instead of burning a candle to make our house smell good, we'd wipe down counters and sinks. A great motivator and treat for cleaning.

But I digress, not only did the Replenish cleaner smell wonderful but it also cleaned better than any cleaner I had used. Plus it's good for the environment!

I looked through a list of ideas for cleaning kitchen cabinets. They aren't in bad shape but I've only spot-cleaned in the two years we have lived here. The kitchen cabinets could use a good scrubbing. So I mixed 1/4 cup of a generic brand of Dawn dish soap with 3/4 cup of borax and a bit of water to make a paste. I scrubbed all the cabinets, rinsed with a wet towel, and dried.

I then used a mix of mineral oil with tea tree oil (to kill any microbes) and lavender oil (to repel scorpions) and wiped it over all the cabinets with a microfiber cloth. Now I'm not brave enough to take before and after pics but trust me, the difference is amazing. I ended up using the last of the borax/detergent mixture on the floor. It cleans beautifully and so simple.

Now lets just hope that trash can was cleaner than I imagined.