How to....

Trying to get rid of skunk smells in your house? When your pet gets sprayed by a skunk and they venture into your home, they spread the skunk odor throughout. If your pet has been sprayed, keep them outside!

Get rid of skunk smell with deodorant spray!

For those unlucky enough to have their skunked pet spread the smell into their home, try this deodorizer spray. This aerosol can deodorizes approximately 10,000 cubic feet. Traditionally, this air freshening spray is for getting rid of smoke and fire odors. But it can also be used to treat other offensive smells! Try it to freshen your home after an unexpected skunk attack.

Do you have a skunk smell remedy? How do you handle skunk odor problems?

Cleaning grout and tile floors can be a challenging task if you don’t know what cleaning product to use! An easy solution… Oxygen Bleach!

Use Oxygen bleach in mop water when cleaning tile floor grout. After you scrub the floor using the oxygen bleach solution, allow the liquid to soak into the grout. If you wait 30 minutes, the oxygen bleach will permeate the grout and clean it without getting down on your hands and knees with a scrub brush! For more stubborn stains on grout, the solution can be allowed to sit up to 6 hours.

What’s the difference between Oxygen Bleach and Chlorine Bleach?

Chlorine bleach is sodium hypochlorite, and releases toxic chlorine gas fumes. It is usually sold in liquid form, and is a great sanitizer. Oxygen bleach is sodium percarbonate, without any toxic qualities. It is sold as a powder to be used with water as a cleaning product. Both are very effective cleaning products.

How does powdered Oxygen Bleach work?

Oxygen bleach is activated when you mix it with water. The instant that water is added to oxygen bleach, it releases the extra oxygen ion from the hydrogen peroxide molecule.

Flood Recovery Supplies include Mops and Buckets

With the rise of recent flooding disasters, it is important to know how to properly clean up after flooding to prevent water damage and mold. Once the flood waters have receded and you are no longer taking in water in your basement, assess the flood damage and start the recovery process.

Tips for Basement Flood Cleanup and Recovery

Turn off electricity and power supply.

Since water conducts electricity faster than air, flooding could lead to electric shocks and electrocution.

Get rid of flood water by draining and mopping.

For major flooding, a sump pump may be required to get rid of water. Remaining water can be cleaned up with wet and dry vacs. Floor mops and wringers are also useful for cleaning up wet floors. Once you’re down to the floor and can’t soak up any more water, use an air moving floor fan to dry out the basement floor faster.

Spic and Span Floor Cleaner with Bleach

Prevent mold and mildew by cleaning floors with bleach.

Prevent mold and mildew by cleaning the floor with a floor cleaner that has bleach. Spic and Span Floor Cleaner with Bleach is a powder floor cleaner that will sanitize floors while it cleans.

Don’t get caught unprepared for your next flood clean up, or replace cleaning supplies from your last flood disaster. Buy Flood Recovery Supplies from CleaningProductsWorld.com.

Earth Day is only 2 weeks away! If you’re wondering how to make your workplace more environmentally friendly, take this time to evaluate the recycling program. No matter how big or small the company is, there are ways to reduce your carbon footprint. This could be as simple as encouraging people to recycle waste paper or aluminum cans that would normally end up in the trash bin.

How to Make a Greener Workplace with Recycling

First develop a plan for making your employees aware of the benefits of recycling. You will need employees getting on board to make a recycling program work.  Then you can get started helping reduce waste and being more environmentally friendly.

If you aren’t the president or CEO of your company, suggest creating a recycling plan and explain how it can benefit the image of your company and contribute to the bottom line.

Office Recycling Bins Encourage Recycling

One easy way for encouraging recycling in the workplace is providing office recycling bins for depositing recyclables. Employees will be visually reminded to dispose of their trash and potential recyclables properly. With every desk wastebasket, place a  Rubbermaid recycling bin for paper too. You can buy garbage and recycling receptacles at www.CleaningProductsWorld.com.

Small steps like providing recycling containers in the workplace will add up to creating a greener, cleaner world.  A green employer can encourage reducing waste and attract responsible employees and clients. How have you helped contribute to your workplace or company by going green?

A recent spring cleaning survey by The Soap and Detergent Association, named the top reasons for the ritual seasonal cleaning as

1. Removing clutter.
2. Thoroughly cleaning the house.
3. Getting rid of allergens.

60% of the 1,008 Americans surveyed said that they perform spring cleaning regularly. Out of those who do, 65% will take a week to clean.

For all those spring cleaners out there or for those new to spring cleaning, here are some spring cleaning tips to help you reach your house cleaning goals.

Make a Spring Cleaning Checklist

For some, spring cleaning can be a daunting task. Start by creating a list of the rooms that need cleaning and write down what tasks need to be done in each room.

Get the Cleaning Products you Need

List the type of cleaning products that you will need for each task, and if you will need to buy those cleaning supplies, or if you already have them. You can save money and buy in bulk online. Trash bags, Windex, and Paper Towels can all be found at discount prices at CleaningProductsWorld.com.

Prioritize your Cleaning

Clean a room from the top down. Start with curtains and windows. That way, you will only have to clean the dust and dirt that may get stirred up onto the floors and carpets once.

Get Rid of Clutter

When you declutter your home, you will notice that you will have more space and save time trying to find things! Some find it helpful to set a reward for completing this task. Sort through items, designating piles to throw away, donate to charity, or keep.

Once you have completed your spring cleaning, celebrate your clean home!

In honor of National Spring Cleaning Week, I wanted to highlight a cleaning product that I could not live without. Many people, like me, suffer from severe dust and mold allergies, with symptoms like sneezing and watery eyes. Whether it is pet dander or dust mites lurking in your carpet, there are vacuum cleaners specifically designed to help eliminate allergens from your home or office. Using HEPA filter products can help prevent and reduce allergy symptoms, so you can breathe again.

Get rid of dust mites and mold spores with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner. You should clean your carpets with a HEPA vacuum at least once a week to filter out mold particles and other allergens. Other vacuum cleaners may only stir up mold and dust mites into the air, only prolonging your allergy agony!

See more floor cleaning supplies at CleaningProductsWorld.com. Happy spring cleaning and easier breathing!

Hello Cleaning Products Blog Readers!

My name is Molly and I will be your new CleaningProductsWorld blogger. I am excited to share stories about my favorite cleaning products with you!

Here’s a funny cleaning story about my favorite drain cleaner, Liquid-Plumr®. Last night, I came home from work and found my bathtub filled with an inch of dirty standing water. The drain cover was lying on the floor with a screwdriver next to it. It seemed as though my Mr. Fix-it boyfriend had tried to unclog the blocked drain, but failed to solve the problem before he left for work. We both have a lot of hair, so it was only a matter of time before our drain was clogged!

I turned to drain cleaner, Liquid-Plumr® to get my shower working again. I poured it in, and waited to see the results. After waiting all evening, the standing water still had never drained. What was the problem?

After agonizing over how I was ever going to shower again, I found the simplest solution. I flipped the open/close lever to the bathtub drain, and the water went rushing down. I’m not sure how it happened, or if the drain was ever clogged, but I was just relieved that I could finally take a shower without standing in dirty water.

Check out the Liquid-Plumr® website for The Clog Buster Tool to troubleshoot your drain problems!

If you have any ideas, comments or questions for me about this blog, please feel free to e-mail me anytime.

Last night I had a bit of an accident.

I dropped a bottle of nail polish.

It looked like a crime scene. The hot pink nail polish splattered all over my carpet. I tried to wipe it up and it made it worse. Within minutes, it was dry.

I decided to consult the internet and found a bunch of sites claiming Windex would work. I was suspicious (were these people watching too much “My Big Fat Greek Wedding?”) but I had some windex so I gave it a shot. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. So today I went out and bought about a gallon of non-acetone nail polish remover. Basically I poured it all over the spill and scrubbed with a rag for about 45 mins. I also tried Windex, Shaving Cream, Dish Soap, Oxi Clean, and Shout. I don’t think any of them really did anything besides the nail polish remover.

Now my rug looks like this. Tinged pink but at least much better than before.

My landlord is sending the carpet cleaners to see if they can finish the job.

Bottom line is, if I ever spill an entire bottle of nail polish again, I would move rather than try to clean it up. I feel sick from the fumes and the stain is still there. Bad start to a monday!

With Christmas less than 3 weeks away, now is the perfect time to consider what steps you are willing to take to give yourself a truly ‘green’ Christmas.  Below are 12 Steps to help make sure both you AND the environment enjoy this holiday season:

1.    Purchase an “Environmentally Responsible” Christmas Tree
I completely believe that nothing says “Merry Christmas!” like walking into a house and being overwhelmed with the smell of fresh balsam.  And while some green enthusiasts may believe they are doing the environmentally responsible thing by purchasing a fake tree, artificial trees carry a gigantic carbon footprint, the PVC used to make them is NOT biodegradable, lead is often used as a PVC stabilizer. So, when you’re shopping for a tree, look for a green certified, cut tree. If you need help looking, the Coalition of Environmentally Conscious Growers can help you find one.

2.    Re-use Christmas tins and fill them with baked goods
Every year, we all get tins upon tins of Christmas baked goods, fudge, and popcorn. Instead of throwing the tins away, fill them with your own, homemade baked goods and give this new package to your loved ones.

3.    Need teacher presents? Give the gift of green, recycled toilet paper, paper towels, & tissues
While it is never expected to give teacher gifts, if you plan on doing so, why not give them something they can use in the classroom and most likely do not get funding for?

4.    Give the gift of green clean to Mom & Dad with a year’s green cleaning service
One Christmas, I prepaid a cleaning service to clean my parents house for an entire year.  To this day, they still say it was the best gift they ever got. And as you select your service, make sure the cleaning service uses green, natural cleaners and practices.

5.    Give vintage or used gifts
Vintage gifts are undeniably trendy – so as you hunt for gifts such as purses, furniture, or even books, don’t be afraid to check out a vintage shop. You’ll come away with one of kind gifts!

6.    Purchase fair trade, ethical products
As you make your list and check in twice, be sure to look for fair-trade products. These products are manufactured  in Asia, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world and provide low-income artisans and farmers with a living wage for their work. Check out the Fair-Trade Online Store for great gift ideas.

7.    Be conscious of your added electricity usage
As your house glimmers with its impeccable display of lights, be aware of this  added electricity usage. As you turn your outdoor lights on, why not turn the indoor ones off?  Try lighting some candles or your fireplace – the effects are magical!

8.    If you need to purchase new Christmas lights, buy energy-efficient LED Christmas lights
These energy efficient Christmas Lights are Energy Star approved and have an endless list of perks  including 95% energy reduction, capable of lasting 100,000 hours, fire safe, and the strings stay lit even if one burns out.

9.    RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE all of the Christmas wrap, boxes, tissue paper, etc

10.     Use Green Cleaning Products & Recycled Trash Bags when getting your house sparking clean
As you get your house in tip-top shape for the holiday season, don’t forget to use green, natural and biodegradable cleaning products and recycled trash bags. In fact, make this your New Year’s resolution to make the switch to green cleaning products permanent!

11.     Send electronic Christmas cards
When you send out your family Christmas cards this year, skip the old fashioned way and do it electronically. It will not only save you postage, but it will reduce paper waste and fuel emissions in the process.

12.    Buy local for your holiday get together’s
Why buy tomatoes from foreign counries when there are fresh ones in your local area? Buying local helps promote local businesses and farms, reduces fuel emissions, and promotes sustainability. So the next time you go to purchase carrots for your holiday spread, remember the average carrot travels 1,838 miles before it gets there.

With Thanksgiving only three weeks away and the flu season in full force, you may want to reconsider how you usually serve, cater, or eat at holiday events.  We are more susceptible at the holidays than any other time of the year to spread harmful viruses and bacteria since we are generally indoors in large crowds, we tend to eat/drink more at the holidays while sleeping less (reducing the effectiveness of our immune systems), and we travel more, increasing the chance of bringing more germs back home with us.

While I know many of us already take extra care to reduce the spread of germs at our gatherings, keeping our families and friends as healthy as possible, coupled with the added risk this year thanks to the H1N1 virus, these extra precautions may be necessary and are worth the extra effort for our safety.

Individual serving sizes are essential
Think about how many double dippers there are in your family – do you (or your guests) really want to be dipping into the same vegetable dip as these culprits?  Whenever it is possible, put your offerings up as individual servings. For example, if you are serving any type of dip, try placing it into paper or plastic soufflé cups first. That way, Uncle Frank can double dip as much as he wants, without putting the other guests at risks. Serving a fruit & cheese platter? Place toothpicks into ever piece of cheese & fruit, that way, no will be tempted to use their fingers.

Hold a drink in your right hand
Its no secret that the more hands you shake, the more germs you are spreading. Since it’s not always possible to pull out your instant hand sanitizer after shaking someone’s hand, another blogger recently suggested always carry a drink (Water is always a good choice) in your right hand. This way, you won’t offend someone by not shaking his or her hand, while your hands will stay germ free.

Little reminders go a long way
We all know good hygiene practices, but sometimes we (especially our children) need a little extra reminder of good table manners. At any non-black tie affair, it would not be inappropriate to include a line in your toast or speech reminding everyone to please use caution while self-serving so everyone stays healthy during the holidays. If you are afraid you might offend some guests, simple place friendly reminders about the flu epidemic on tent cards on the buffet or throughout your home (Don’t place them on the dinner table though – no one wants to look at flu reminders while they are eating).

I hope these hints help make your holidays more enjoyable for you and your loved ones. From the CleaningProductsWorld.com family to yours, we wish you a happy, healthy, safe, and enjoyable holiday season.