Product Review: Eco Mist Wood & Laminate Cleaner

So I just started working with a new client.  She has beautiful laminate flooring and wanted a specially-designed cleanser so they look as wonderful as possible for as long as possible - I wanted something green.  My mission commenced.

The Basics: How to Buy a Vacuum

I find buying vacuums confusing.  There I said it.  Even though I am a cleaner and have used tons of different vacuums in my time I still find the vacuum section to be a bit of a maze.  Do I want an upright?  A mini?  Bags or bagless?  If I buy this bright and flashy vacuum will it even work well?  Argh!  Who knows?  What I hope to do in this post is offer a few guidelines for buying a vacuum, these are things that I look for and hopefully they will be helpful.

The Basics: Wood Flooring Finishes

The last thing you want to do after getting a beautiful wood floor installed is ruin it with improper cleaning!  Before you attack that floor with a mop and bucket make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.  There are three main types of wood flooring finishes: surface finish, wax finish and acrylic finish.

Renovations: Bathroom Counter/Sink Design

Sinks get pretty grungy.  However, there are design features that make it get grungy even faster.  On the flip side if you pay attention to a few key things during the design process, you could find yourself with an easy to clean, non-grungy sink/counter area.

In my experience, the key design features of an easy to clean bathroom are:

1) Counter level
The biggest issue I find with counters is that when they are installed they slope towards the back wall so that water pools by the grout.

Green Products: My Recipes

A lot of green products are green washed.  Green washing according to the Greenwashing Index, is "when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be 'green' through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact."  Once you start to read ingredients on cleaning products, you will notice that they use a lot of fancy words.  

The Secret: A Clean House

It is nice to have a clean house and keeping it clean is a fairly easy proposition as long as you follow some simple guidelines.

Don't Buy This For Home: Mr. Sisal

I have an arch-nemesis who I call Mr. Sisal...