If anyone has streamlined their cleaning products please tell me what they are

[wastedtwenties]

I have countless cleaning products but ideally I want to whittle it down to just a few.

Can you tell me what your essentials are and what you use them for please?

Diluted white vinegar in a spray bottle for most things as harsh cleaning products aggravate my eczema,
Pink stuff paste for stubborn stains
Harpic for toilet

Harpic in the black bottle for the loo
Method bathroom spray
Method rhubarb kitchen spray
Cream cif
Bleach
Viakal (hard water area)
Windowlene
Mr sheen/pledge
Method almond floor cleaner

Loads of microfibre cloths

My list seems much longer than everybody else’s. I wonder whether it’s actually longer than the list you’re trying to whittle down OP!

I tend to weaken and buy toilet tablets to tackle the limescale. Will more regular scrubbing, or using a little liquid soap on a daily basis, tackle limescale in the loo, @Solosunrise ?

@picklemewalnuts

Tell me about the 2p piece for limescale?

I'm trying to get down to two or three products, but that's harder because I only use a minimal amount of product very occasionally. I only need to be momentarily seduced by a new product and that's another year to go to cupboard nirvana.

Basically white/homemade vinegar/citrus enzyme, bicarb, washing up liquid are all I use, with various left over products for particularly stubborn jobs.

I use scrubby pads, wiper blades and brushes for better cleaning, rather than products.

Any limescale on taps/ round showers etc- wet it with water or vinegar then rub gently with a 2p piece- it’s magic!

Pink stuff, clay and spray

Elbow grease

Fairy liquid
Bicarb
White vinegar
Cif or Pink Stuff
E-cloths / squeegee / magic eraser
Thick bleach for toilets and drains

@wastedtwenties

What about oven cleaning? I seem to have a few things for this but not really found the holy grail

I love zoflora so will defo get a bottle and dilute it.

For the glass inside the door, a dishwasher tablet works really well. I buy the solid cheap ones for this (don’t think it would work with a pod). Get the glass wet with warm water then rub the tablet on it all over and leave it for a bit then clean it off. It dissolves a lot of the baked on grime! For the oven shelves if you put them in a bath so they’re covered in water and add a dish washer tablet then leave for a day the baked on stuff wipes off really easily. Any other baked on stuff inside the oven or on the door you can use a job scraper ( basically a blade that scrapes it off) - you can get them on amazon for about £5

Different products work for specific things so I think I would keep a variety. You wouldn’t wash your floor with a limescale remover. Or clean the toilet with washing up liquid. The chemical needs to be right for the job.

Splosh (refillable/eco): washing up liquid, bathroom cleaner spray, toilet cleaner, kitchen spray (plus hand wash, shampoo & shower gel)

Steam cleaner for kitchen & bathroom floors (no product)

Ecloths.

Whatever window & glass cleaner needs using up from the cupboard!

Do also have Pink Stuff paste, Stardrops and Zoflora but only use these once in a blue moon.

@picklemewalnuts

I tend to weaken and buy toilet tablets to tackle the limescale. Will more regular scrubbing, or using a little liquid soap on a daily basis, tackle limescale in the loo, *@Solosunrise* ?

Yes, if the loo is cleaned daily (takes seconds) it doesn't get a chance to build up. I noticed a small build up of limescale in those little corners at the bottom of the loo by the u bend because the brush doesn't get in there properly, so I used a pumice stone to get rid of it (limescale remover didn't work because gravity meant it sank straight to the bottom) No sign of it coming back. Soap so much less toxic, and I just use a bit of toilet duck gel under the rim every now and again because the design on mine means I can't get in there with the cloth. I get very enthused about keeping my loo clean and shiny every day

@wastedtwenties

What about oven cleaning? I seem to have a few things for this but not really found the holy grail

I love zoflora so will defo get a bottle and dilute it.

Again, I've found just doing it regularly is key. I only rarely use the oven for things without a cover (ie a roast) so I'll wipe it down afterwards with a got soapy cloth, then rinse. Those soapy brillo pads work well for a good clean if something is really baked on. Another trick is a bowl of water with bicarbonate of soda in it, put it in the oven and then the heat high for 20 mins to soften grot with steam. But that obviously uses fuel, and in my house its become unnecessary due to a regular quick wipe. I'd still do it as a one off over horrible toxic cleaner if I was charged with cleaning a filthy oven though

Thanks @Solosunrise . Two good tips there.

I've moved across to bar soap though, so will have to have a think. DH's shower gel, maybe.

Ok so I've come to the conclusion that I just have multiple things for the same job

I need to use stuff up before being seduced by a new great looking product

@picklemewalnuts

Thanks *@Solosunrise* . Two good tips there.

I've moved across to bar soap though, so will have to have a think. DH's shower gel, maybe.

Anything soapy will do! Washing up liquid, shampoo, the bubble bath you got for Christmas that you never use. DH shower gel is fair game, and so is the lovely scented but skin killing liquid soap that my friend passed on because it dried out her hands....etc 🙃

@wastedtwenties I think there's a lot to be said for that

White cleaning vinegar.
Seriously.
You can buy it in 5 litre bottles from Amazon - it's scented with lemon (still smells a bit vinegary but it dissipates fast).
It's brilliant on:
Glass
Stainless steel
Chrome fixings , taps and sinks etc
It also dissolves and removes urine deposits on toilet seats (the hardened yellow staining you can get round the underside of the toilet lid)

It is a natural disinfectant
It is a natural deodoriser

Chemical free?

Very cheap

Re. the dishwasher tablet / oven door thing. I tried this with my last oven and it scratched the hell out of my oven glass. I would be very careful trying this. Also Brillo pads. I use them for the oven racks, but NEVER for the oven glass. It scratches it to bits, may not be obvious at first but when the sun shines on the oven door you will see the swirly/scratch lines where you have scrubbed.
I spray the glass with the vinegar and leave it for 5 minutes, then scrub with a microfibre cloth. It takes all of the brown staining off and no chance of scratching the glass.

Apart from that, I use bleach occasionally, and am trying to use up all the other pointless things I have bought like specific toilet cleaner, floor cleaners shower cleaners etc.
After that, I will mainly be using the vinegar and bleach.
I now get the solid bleach tablets and make up my own solution. It cuts down massively on the plastic waste too.

we are down to

• laundry powder (to dissolve in warm water to wash floors/toilets)
• white vinegar as descaler
• washing up liquid for kitchen surfaces

I use very few products:

Harpic toilet bleach weekly to scrub the loo bowl with a toilet brush.

Antibacterial disposable wipes to wipe the toilet cistern/handle/seat/rim as needed

Soft broom, dustpan and brush, for sweeping floors before mopping and brushing the dirt off the front door mat. This is weekly too.

Flash (or similar, it was Stardrops I had before, equally as good) for floors, cleaning bath and sink, diluted into a spray bottle for wiping down surfaces/door handles/stair rails etc. and also for cleaning windows. All part of my weekly cleaning.

Mop and bucket for the floors, re-useable cloths for wiping things down.

Fairy liquid or equivalent with a sponge with added Brillo pad side, for washing up dishes. I do my dishes daily.

I occasionally use drain unblocker down the plug holes if they start to smell.

Clothes washed in Persil powder. Usually a load of washing per day.

Not saying at all that anyone is wrong.
But do not some of the products rely on how old your furniture/work surface/shower/supboards are, for example?

Plus what type of water?
We have spring water, and I find that things I try out, much of it does not work the same for me, as for others.

Splosh kitchen
Splosh bathroom
Splosh floor cleaner
Bleach

A lot of it surely depends on what kind of stuff you need to clean? What kind of flooring you have, what colour furniture etc.
Anyway, my house is very dusty thanks to the tumble drier and my generous use of dry shampoo. I dry dust with a microfibre cloth, then if needed use either fabric softner diluted in water in a spray bottle with a new microfibre cloth. I have zoflora or fabulosa disinfectant diluted in another bottle too for muckier surfaces. The fabric softner can be sprayed on soft furnishings to make the room smell nice too.
White vinegar in another spray bottle which is fantastic for making windows, mirrors and my hob look shiny, also my cupboard fronts and stainless steel sink. The fabric softner can do it too, but sometimes might leave a smear. The white vinegar makes it perfect every time.
I have pink stuff paste for getting marks off walls, cleaning the inside of oven and cleaning the marks of plastic toy boxes and the bath as the kids destroy it with their toys transferring on to the plastic. Oh and also gets scuff marks off upvc, so fab for the door frame or window frames. It also brings off marks on the hob too without scratching, which I then polish with white vinegar so the hob looks brand new.
The only other thing I use on occasion is bleach when nothing else cuts the mustard.

My main cleaning product for kitchen, bathroom and windows is white vinegar (with lemon juice usually, excluding windows). That started as more an 'eco' cleaning experiment rather than trying to streamline, though. I buy the vinegar in bulk.

I only use bleach, washing up liquid, vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, nothing branded, pre made, scented etc anymore just classic household basics.
Do have some zoflora and windolene as well.
Washing is bio powder. I do use Lenor just a little bit though.
I used to have different things for different rooms so eg. Kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, etc. Now it's just one of each thing. So the bleach I use on the loos is the same bleach I dilute to make bleach spray, and the same bleach I mix with warm water to mop the floor with etc.

I am planning to improve on it further, but have a stock pile to get though first 😂