My "Cleaner" post

OK... so what you may not know about me is that I had my four little kidlings pretty young. In fact, I had may fourth child when I was twenty one. I spent the first six years of my marriage...ok ok maybe eight years of it... in a state of shock and horror. if you see pictures of me during that time you can totally tell.
Not that babies aren't cuddly and cute, but having three kids in diapers is really quite a drag! And once they turn about 3 months they decide they are their little lonesomes and they have opinions and they start to share them... and sometimes they aren't pretty (they are usually big screaming tantrums in the middle of a store or church). AND they make BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG messes and have, Oh SO awesome, adventures that they NEVER clean up themselves.
Koolaid was quickly banned from being within ten feet of my front AND back door. I had to hide all the scissors and ALL the crayons and all the pencils and all the pens and all the paint and all the markers (especially the permanent ones) and I would spend days crying when the relatives would give my children play dough which shouldn't be allowed in houses period. Oh and don't get me started on Bubbles. Ugghhh.
Well lets just say I have had my fair share of experiences with having to get EVERYTHING out of carpets and off of walls. If they leave the hair on their head (and don't cut it all off for fun) I can get things out of hair also.
I am a "cleaner" freak. Not a clean freak! We don't want to get that mixed up. My house seems to usually be in a state of chaos, so I wouldn't want you to think that I have this pretty, spotless house that you can wear white gloves in. If you want white gloves leave them in the car before walking in because they will never be white again once you step through the door...
BUT... I have found pretty awesome cleaners along the way of trying to "fix" some of the disasters that my children have caused. And i am going to share my finding with you cause i am so awesome...
so first....
**I have been having a huge problem with toilet rings. I tried everything. I could get them off with a lot of elbow grease and a scrubby with Bar Keepers Friend... but it took me over 3 hours to do three toilets.... But just today I found myself a little friend that removes my toilet rings in 15 -30 seconds. It is called a "bathroomstone" made by Earthstone and it cost $3.09 in the scrubby pad section at Wally World( WalMart). TOTALLY worth the money IMO. It didn't scratch my porcelain and it says it works for grout. And bonus....it is earth friendly (which you can't say for The Works, which is another product people rave about, but it has never done a darn thing for me).
**OK so I mentioned Bar Keepers Friend. This is a powder that comes in a round golden tube like Comet does. It isn't as abrasive as comet and works way better. It is great in sinks and on counter tops. It is my all time favorite product. It also works on flat stove tops, but they have a liquid for flat tops that is suppose to be better for them.
**My favorite carpet stain remover is a product that use to be called "Up and Out". They changed the name and made it a lot harder to find, but it is now called "Citrus Magic-instant spot and stain remover" it removes most stains from my carpet. When it doesn't work it is usually because whatever is in my carpet has a dye in it and then i have to use the wet towel/iron treatment to pull the dye out of the fabric. Get a WHITE towel (old one you don't mind ruining ) and lightly DAMPEN it. You will also need a clothes iron. Spray the stain area with some carpet stain remover. Place towel over top of area then put the HOT iron on top of towel. DO NOT ALLOW IRON to come into direct contact with carpet. It WILL smell a bit! You will notice that the iron will steam...let it steam for about 20 seconds. Remove towel and iron, and repeat as necessary. If you don't see any dye on the carpet after the second time it probably won't work. usually it starts taking the dye out with the first treatment.
**For crayons on the walls and things they shouldn't be on and for gum the best product I have found is "GOO Gone".
**For permanent marker on most things just cheap toothpaste will usually do the job of removing it. This requires elbow grease and my take off some paint depending on what the marker is on.
**For wax in the carpet (like a whole 26 oz Salt City Candle) then an iron and paper does the trick. You can use paper towels or any more absorbent type of paper (such as a brown paper bag). you put that over the wax and then sit a hot iron (low to medium heat) on top of the paper for a few seconds (20 at most). then you repeat as necessary. For a 26 oz candle this requires about four hours, a lot of tears, and a whole roll of paper towels. We don't use candle warmers anymore in my home just for this reason!
**For Stainless... just don't buy it... it is pretty for about three seconds until your kids touch it... then it is just WORK. I use microfiber clothes. Plain or soapy water does the trick of getting off the grim. Then I polish it with Stainless Polish (stuff at Costco). Then I admire it for a little while since it is so pretty when it is clean. I try to avoid cooking so that I don't have to clean it every 30 minutes. Then I get to do it all over again.
**For mopping I only believe in flat mops. They have a ton out now. The microfiber ones work well.
**For wood floors I use a product called WoodWise. It leaves my wood floors sparkly and clean.
**For water wear on my cupboards I use a product called Restor-A-Finish. You find it at Home Depot. The pine color usually works for most cupboard shades. You just rub it on with some silky type material rag... leave it there for a minute, then wipe it with a rag (that you don't care about). It makes dull cabinets look new again.
**Magic Erasers are awesome little products that work for crayons, pencils, pens, and scuff marks on walls and moulding...and they work awesome on white fridges, boats, trailers. These little things dissolve quickly, but do great when they are a live. The original ones work a little bit better than the new super strong ones... but the super ones hold up way better.
**Swiffer Dusters are kind of expensive but clean blinds so quickly they make themselves worth the money!
**For glass I use micro fiber with a cloth or Windex. I have tried everything from newspaper and vinegar to expensive specialized products. None of them have taken my breath away. If you have something that works great for you please do share!

That is my post for today. Can you tell I have cleaning on my mind.