It seems like every place I’ve ever lived in as an adult has had at least one nasty rust stain somewhere, usually a reddish column running from the overflow drain into the basin of the bathroom sink or tub. You may think this reveals something negative about the general level of cleanliness in my home, but actually I’m kind of neurotic about cleaning. In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time scrubbing at those rust stains, and several times I’ve even committed, in desperation, what I now know is the cardinal sin of rust removal: I tried using chlorine bleach. So it wasn’t a lack of fastidiousness that doomed me to years of rust-stained bathrooms; it was a lack of knowledge. Now I know. And what I know is that cleaning rust isn’t so hard after all. Since I’m not the kind of girl who keeps things to herself, I wrote an article about how to clean rust. So now you know.
Author Archive for amber
Every time I clean my floors, I have this debate with myself over whether I prefer hardwood or carpet. Usually, the winner is whichever surface I’m not cleaning right at that moment, because each is unruly in its own special way. Hardwood has its dust bunnies and its drying time after mopping. Carpet would be easier to care for (Just vacuum!) if it weren’t for the layer of filth that gradually builds up in high-traffic areas. To get rid of it, you’re pretty much stuck begging, renting, or buying a carpet extractor, and then let’s talk about drying time. Also, what exactly is in the soap you have to put in those machines? I’m only curious because every time I clean my carpet, I end up dumping a ton of it down the drain, and for the next week I have a constant layer of it on the soles of my feet. I’ve always thought it would be reassuring to know that cleaning carpet wasn’t tantamount to pumping the environment and my body full of toxic chemicals. So imagine my joy when I learned how to clean carpet without mysterious detergents. The details are all in my latest article.
When I’m not busy writing how-to articles, I work for a large chain of retail stores that recently replaced its DOS-based cash register system. The new registers have LCD touch-screens, and every time I start a shift at the register, I have to fight my gag reflex, which gets all excited by the greasy fingerprints (and fingersmears and fingersmudges and sometimes fingerchunks) the last person left all over the screen that I’m expected to touch. Our managers have instructed us to clean the screens with window cleaner and paper towels, so I do (I didn’t pay for the registers, after all), but deep down in my heart I know it’s wrong. LCD screens are not glass, and they require different cleaning methods than glass. Fortunately, except for the need to perform a tiny bit of simple chemistry, cleaning an LCD monitor is just as easy as cleaning a glass-screened CRT monitor. My latest article goes over all the steps. Maybe someday, if I’m feeling charitable toward the Man, I’ll forward the link to my employer so they’ll know how to clean an LCD monitor without gradually destroying it.
Eric and I recently splurged on a brand new 32-inch LCD TV after a year of making do with a twenty-year-old hand-me-down 13-inch set with fake wood paneling on the sides. We were, as you can probably imagine, excited. So we got it home, carefully attached it to the stand, transferred it to the top of a bookcase, stood back, and saw…fingerprints. A week later, it was coated with a fine layer of dust and cat hair. It was, without a doubt, time for me to learn how to clean an LCD TV. Safely, you know, so as not to ruin this thing we spent several hundred dollars on. Turns out, cleaning an LCD TV is not as difficult or expensive as you might expect. All the details are in my new article.
Before I started researching methods of cleaning leather, I was braced for the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to do this article. In my head, leather was too delicate and easily damaged to clean with natural household products. But in reality, leather is durable. In fact, that’s why we use it. The main trick to cleaning leather is avoiding products that will dry it out or change its color. And that, it turns out, is easy enough to do without spending a ton of money—or maybe, any at all. My latest article shows you how to clean leather using environmentally friendly products that I already had around the house, and that you probably have, too.
Porcelain sinks are not as common as they used to be. They still show up in bathrooms pretty regularly, but in the kitchen, where colorful substances are routinely poured or washed into the sink, builders usually opt for non-porous, easy-to-clean stainless steel. But if, like me, you’re easily charmed by old apartments or houses, there’s a good chance you have a porcelain sink in your kitchen. And if you have a porcelain sink, you know that it will gradually become disgusting with stains and then in desperation you’ll scrub it with chlorine bleach because there’s no other way to get it clean. Right? Wrong. I know a method of cleaning a porcelain sink that requires no harsh chemicals and only the tiniest bit of scrubbing. And now I’m sharing it: check out my latest article, and I swear you’ll never clean a porcelain sink the same way again.
When I mentioned to some of my coworkers that I was planning to write an article about cleaning grout, the unanimous response was groaning. Everyone hates cleaning tile grout. Which is too bad, because ceramic tile looks nice, and you can’t have tile without grout. But—good news—cleaning grout doesn’t have to involve hours of tedious scrubbing. While researching for the article, I learned about an environmentally friendly cleaning product that does the hardest part for you. My latest article features step-by-step instructions for how to clean grout with minimal work and without stressing out your health or the planet. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not—take a look.