When it comes to house cleaning homeowners generally do not look for the cleaning industries “best practices” for a solution. Instead people often try to remember what their parents taught them or do internet searches to find home remedies for their cleaning problems. Home remedies in some cases work great, but sometimes they can create more problems than they solve.

1. Vinegar Can Clean Anything: Vinegar is a great green cleaning product that can be found in your home. Not only can it remove small stains and disinfect, but it also is great at deodorizing bad smells. The problem with vinegar is that it is very acidic and can be damaging to some surfaces. Hard surfaces such as marble and stone, waxed surfaces, electronic screens and light metals such as pewter or aluminum can all be damaged from vinegar.

2. More Soap = More Clean: Wrong. Using more soap, detergent or bleach will not increase the effectiveness of the product. In fact using too much of a cleaning product will leave you with a residue which will attract more bacteria and dirt. We encourage people to consider the phrase “Less is More” when cleaning because it is more efficient and will save you money spent on cleaning supplies in the long run.

3. Green Cleaning Products are Non-Toxic: Green Cleaning products generally are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made from renewable resources, but some green cleaning products are on the fence when it comes to these three categories. For example, products might have labels with terms such as eco-friendly or environmentally safe, but this is only a message from the manufacturer and there are not many standards in place to actually qualify a green cleaning product. We recommend consulting MSDS before using any cleaning chemical or product.

4. Newspaper is Great for Window Cleaning: Remember as a kid putting silly putty on a newspaper to find the news print has magically stuck to the silly putty. Well when using newspaper to clean the news print dissolves in water. This can stain wooden areas around your windows and leave you with streaks. We recommend taking a trip to your local super market and purchasing a squeegee or microfiber cloth instead of using newspaper to clean your windows.

5. Scrubbing a Stain Hard Enough will Remove it: Never scrub a stain! Scrubbing a stain will only force more of the staining solution deeper into the fabric you are cleaning and can untwist carpet fibers. Always blot stains with an absorbent cloth or sponge to soak up as much of the stain as possible. Continue blotting while adding your stain fighting solution of choice.