Vinegar and Vodka

Ram's mom gave me the book Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck. She is trying to do laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. in a more healthy way. She thought that I might like to see some of the ideas in this book too.
When I was pregnant with Lamb 2 and 3, we paid for a cleaning lady so that I wouldn't have to smell the cleaning stuff. This post talks about why we quit paying for a cleaning lady.
Since I started washing cloth diapers a little more than a year ago, I've been more willing to try other natural cleaning for my family. My mom washed out my refrigerator a few years ago using water diluted with baking soda. I was convinced at the time that she needed to use more than that to get it really clean. I've changed my mind since then-sorry mom!
Yesterday I bought tea tree oil and more washclothes to start making my own baby wipes. I'll let you know how that goes soon.
Recently I started reading Organic Housekeeping. I've only read a little bit, but I was interested in the chapter on cleaning the bathroom first. She recommends first designing your living areas to make them easier to clean-example: no carpeting in the bathroom. We live in a parsonage so this is not an option. So I jumped right into reading how to clean. She says to clean with vinegar or hydrogen peroxide if sickness has been in your family. If your inlaws are coming to visit or you are trying to sell your house, then get out cheap vodka and clean with that. I had taken Susan's advice and bought vodka for vanilla, but I guess I should have bought more vodka for cleaning!
So tonight, I cleaned our big bathroom with vinegar while Lamb 1 and 2 were taking their baths and showers. (They play in the bathtub after Lamb 3 is done taking his bath and then after playing for awhile they take a shower to wash their hair. Lamb 3 went first tonight and took a bath and then went to sleep while Lamb 1 and 2 were taking their showers.) I didn't clean the tub because the Lambs were in it. But the vinegar worked great to clean the toilet and counter top. I tried spraying the vinegar directly on the mirror and that didn't work as well as when I put some vinegar on a rag and cleaned the mirror that way. Organic Housekeeping has more ideas for other nontoxic cleaning agents and ways of cleaning too.
What I like about this is I can trust Lamb 1 to start cleaning the bathrooms now. If he is just using vinegar, I trust him much more than with a can of Comet. I haven't cleaned the Lamb's bathroom for awhile so I think I'll give it a good cleaning myself and after that assign that chore to Lamb 1! He loves to clean so I think he'll enjoy the squirt bottle of vinegar too.