Need some safe, non toxic cleaning products that may even help you to hate cleaning a little less? Notice I didn't say anything dumb like, “How to ‘love' cleaning.” That's impossible if you ask me. BUT I really do hate it less now, yippee!
And get this: the kids have been fighting over who got to mop the floor, pushing each other and everything. For real! Usually this is annoying, of course, but this time I thought it was kind of funny. Pictured above is our almost teenager, and on the right is our ten year old.
I started with these cleaning cloths. I have to admit they were sorta fun because they clean much better (shinier surfaces) than a plain rag and with less elbow grease.
The mop starter kit was my favorite, though. (You can get the pieces separately, but I wanted the whole shebang.) Not only because it's fun to push around, but when you're done with the slimy grimy pad, you just tear it off the mop (velcro) and wash it, so it's ready for next time. Love that.
The last thing I wanted to share with you was that I love not worrying about chemicals when cleaning with these products, since everything I've used so far just needs water!
Now don't get me wrong, if my income ever increases enough to justify a regular once or twice-a-month house cleaning, I'll be all over it, but in the meantime, at least I'll hate it less. As a matter of fact, we host bible study Friday and are having a family birthday party here Saturday, so I'd better get off the computer and get to it.
I'm curious, do you hate it, too? Or are you one of those crazies who actually enjoys cleaning?
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Erin says
Hi, I got Norwex a few months ago, and I just hosted a party last night. It was super painful for me to do that because I hate MLM, and I cannot sell, especially to my friends. But I did it because I like the product so much I thought surely they would, too.
Then last night, before I went to bed, it dawned on me… I thought it’s not healthy to have sterile environments. Besides the chemical factor, we aren’t supposed to bleach everything because it is good to have bacteria around. Unless someone is sick, or perhaps the toilet, for the most part, it is good to be clean, but not sterile. If Norwex is killing 99% of germs, isn’t that pretty sterile? I always used vinegar before (another reason I love Norwex, btw, is there is way less elbow grease required than when using vinegar), and am wondering how much bacteria vinegar kills?
I’ve also been reading around, and there seems to be an off-brand (e-cloth) that seems pretty good, although it doesn’t have the silver. They have one cloth with the silver, but I think it has nano-silver. So I’m still feeling good about my Norwex, except they say what actually cleans the bacteria is not the silver itself, but the extremely tight microfiber weave, and the silver just cleans the cloth so you don’t have to wash it as much. AND, they said it take 18-24 hours for the silver to suffocate the pathogens, so cross contamination (cloth from the floor to the counter, to the toilet, etc) is a bigger deal than Norwex claims.
What do you think of all this? I have $100 of Norwex products that I bought, and I’ll probably get another $300 or so from the party. I’m obviously not throwing them away, and I really do like/love them. I’m just starting to wonder if I ripped off my friends having the party It is a great product, so I shouldn’t feel bad. I am just looking at the evidence and trying to make sense of it all.
Here is one blog where she talks about it. (I found a few). She has several posts on the subject. I find her to be frank and she seems honest, although she admits she is selling the e-cloth:
https://cleaninup.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/confessions-of-a-norwex-consultant-why-i-switched-to-e-cloth/
KitchenKop says
Hmmmm, I’m not sure, I just know that I still don’t clean *enough* for anything around here to be sterile for long, even if it is that way for a few minutes!
Kelly
Cleaninup Kate says
Erin – thanks for providing the link to my blog! I love to know when people find it useful.
I just wanted to address a couple of your points and hopefully answer your questions:
1) e-cloth stopped manufacturing cloths with silver in them earlier this year. In addition to the added strain on the environment and cost to the customer, we found many customers were confused as to just what exactly the silver did. You’ve got it right in that it’s the microfiber that cleans the surface and the silver cleans the cloth. But a lot of people misunderstand the silver’s function and put a little too much faith in the cloths – thinking they never have to rinse/wash them and that the silver is cleaning the surface. In any case, Norwex and e-cloth are both high quality microfiber products that pick up over 99% of bacteria
2) You’re right,we don’t want to live in a completely sterile environment but I know in my case – with 2 small boys – everyone in my house is subjected to plenty of germs so I’ll never have to worry about cleaning them all. The difference between using e-cloth (or Norwex) and a chemical disinfectant is that the e-cloth just picks up the dirt/grime/bacteria and then you can rinse it away. Whereas repeated exposure to disinfectants can result in creating bacteria that can not only resist the cleaning product, but some antibiotics as well. Super-germs!
Thanks again for mentioning my blog. I could go on and on and on about how much I love e-cloth but I’ll leave it for today 🙂
Kate
https://www.eclothusa.com/
nicolesj says
Best cleaning ever. I hated cleaning so much I started my own cleaning company! Silly huh? In 9 years I have never come across a cloth I love so much! Norwex has saved me so much time and it’s amazing how far these rags can go! I do about 1/5 the laundry I used to have to do for my company. have 70 clients and each and every one of them has their homes cleaned with Norwex products, and they are as clean as ever…if not a lot shinier too!!!!!!
And…this is the best product ever for stainless steel appliances. Enviro rag and polishing cloth are all thats needed! I will never have to buy greasy stainless steel cleaner again! It’s fun to be excited about my job again, who knew a cloth could change so much!!!!!
Therese - Artistta says
This post made me smile because I just signed up to be a rep for Norwex too, but waiting to host a party in two weeks before putting up my website. They seem to have some great products. We are preparing to move to a new home and it’s my goal to be chemical free in our new place, so Norwex should fit in perfectly.
Nicole says
Carrie, thanks so much for your post!! I am definitely a bare minimum cleaner, for sure!! Your post makes sense and I think I will write a list of bare minimum weekly tasks. I too almost never clean the kitchen/dining floor, it’s slate and you just can’t tell when it’s dirty, so why stress??? I thought maybe I was the only one around who didn’t mop!!! 😛
Kelsey says
I’m one of those crazies that actually likes cleaning. Although I wish I had more time for it. But I get so much satisfaction out of seeing the fruits of my labor! 🙂 I’m going to check out the Norwex products – mopping is one chore that I admittedly hate (and we have mostly laminate flooring in our house with a dog who gets lots of puppy prints all over), so a mop that makes it easier would be amazing. I agree that a cleaning schedule that fits into your weekly plan is a huge help – I hate it when it gets to Saturday and I have to spend half the day cleaning because I put it off all week. A little each day is much more enjoyable!
jason and lisa says
hey i was going through old posts and something led to something led to something and i ended up reading about water and fluoride.. lots of people were commenting about doing whole house filters to get chlorine out of their water.. please make sure guys that you have called your water provider to make sure that they aren’t adding ammonia to the water.. if they are adding the ammonia, it binds with the chlorine and forms what is called “chloramines..” standard filters will not filter this.. it is much much harder to remove than the standard free chlorine and more dangerous.. in fact, a few states have made the addition of ammonia illegal but not here in my home state.. again, please follow up on this, it is far more common than most people realize!!
-jason and lisa-
leigh says
this is a subject i’m going to be working on for my lenten fasting: prioritizing my children over my chores. i’m one of those who can’t sit down until everything’s in order (and by everything, i mostly mean the dishes and any clothes/shoes that aren’t put up). i’m always telling my kids that we can play ‘x’ only after we pick up and i never get there with them.
i start training my babies to help put the laundry in the wash as soon as they can figure out how to push a chair over to the counter – so at 2, 4 and 5.5, they all pitch in with the laundry. one man’s on sock duty, rounding up those babies and bagging them up in a garment bag while the others play ‘catch’ (one tosses the laundry to the one manning the machine and he throws it in) while momma’s sitting turning everything right side out.
so i think a schedule is in order. i think one of the things i struggle w/ the most is timing the washing machine. the hubs and i are on split shifts so he showers when i get home and since all of my laundry gets hot water (bacterial infection control) i have to wait about an hour for the water heater to warm back up and then another hour after that load is done before bathing the babies. yeesh! we need one of those tankless water heaters. my oldest sister has 2 in her new house and they can have 2 showers and both the dishwasher and washer machines going at the same time and the hot water doesn’t run out!!! i would LOVE to have 2 washers and 2 dryers for our lil’ family of 5. ah, someday 😛
sheri says
Thanks for this post! I love a clean home but don’t love cleaning. I use microfiber cleaning cloths that I purchased from Wal-mart. I also bought a mop from Home Depot with removable/reusable microfiber pads that get tossed in the wash. I am interested in knowing how the Norwex microfiber products are different from the products I am currently using because Norwex is quite a bit more expensive than what I paid.
Erin says
I wanted to comment on the difference between the Norwex microfiber and what you might find at Wal-Mart. The first difference is the size of the microfibers-Norwex is 1/100th of a human hair. Average microfiber is 1/6th-1/30th of a human hair. The cloths are much more dense, like when you would buy sheets with 600 thread count vs. 100 thread count. Norwex packs massive amounts of fiber in their cloths. One Enviro cloth has about 1700 miles of fiber woven into it. The microfiber is what picks up the grime, and the silver is what inactivates any growth in the cloth. You don’t get the stinky cloth issue. Norwex microfiber can also be washed in the hottest water you can find! It is advised to boil your cloths twice a year to allow the fiber to open and release any grime that is trapped inside the fibers. Most other microfiber has to be washed in cold water. All of the microfiber has a 2 year warranty, as long as it has not been washed with bleach or fabric softener (horrid chemicals you want to avoid at all costs), as well as a 60 satisfaction guarantee. The life span on the cloths is going to be about 5-7 years.
Amy says
I get concerned about these silver antimicrobial fibers. Generally they use nanotechnology, and the nano-silver ends up getting into the water supply and then who knows what it does once ending up in people’s bodies. Not sure if anyone has confirmed this is what Norwex is using, but as a citizen trying to do my part I do not feel right using any products with nano-silver.
Erin says
As I stated above, Norwex does not use nano silver, they use micro silver.
Magda says
I used to like cleaning okay when I had time… I’d take a stereo into the bathroom, crank it up and go at the shower!! Now with two kids (ages 2 and 7.5) plus DH with his unpredicrable hours I just don’t have time. I have recently started using a cleaning service (twice a month) and I love it. I still wipe spills, do some light dusting and vacuuming but that’s about it! All I have to do is keep the house (fairly) clean between cleanings. I have heard Norwex mentioned over at Cheeseslave and I put it on my Amazon wishlist so I won’t forget. If/when I go back to cleaning regularly again, I’m definitely going to get it.
Rashel says
I have tried a couple of the rags before and love them, although I don’t yet love cleaning 🙂 I have used the microfiber mops from the store, do you think the Norwex mops are better than those? I have wanted to get one but I am not sure about investing the money in one if it isn’t way better than the store bought I have. Thank you!!
Blessings,
Rashel
Naomi says
This is something I’ve wondered about too. I understand there is some sort of silver in the mop and cloths that makes it antimicrobial (why you can clean without chemical cleaning agents). I guess this is why the price is so high (well, it is for me anyway, on my S.S. income. But if I ever get an inheritance from a rich uncle or something I’ve determined to get one of these. :))
Amy says
Yikes, that may mean nanotechnology.
Erin says
The silver agent in the Norwex microfiber is actually micro silver, not nano silver. The micro silver does not wash or fall out of the fibers, because it is chemically bonded to the fibers during the production process. There are some cleaning cloths out there that DO use nano silver, so it would be wise to avoid those because the nano silver is harmful. The difference with the Norwex micro silver is like the difference between buying a silver plated (like nano silver) platter or buying a sterling silver (like micro silver) platter. Silver plate washes off, sterling silver is silver through the entire piece.
Amy says
Ah, thank you for clarifying. That makes me feel better.
Laurel says
I hate it too! My mom always cleaned house Saturday morning, without fail, and she always worked a 40 hr a week job. It is a good habit to get into if everyone helps. My first cleaning job was washing down the stairs (wood) which was very easy. Later I had to pick up throw rugs, shake them outside, hang them on the fence, then bring them in later. Eventually, I graduated to cleaning the bathroom, etc. I think it’s good training for the kiddos. We weren’t allowed to go out and play until the house was clean.
If you can enlist the whole family it gets done so quickly!
Nicole says
This reminds me of Enjo products which we use, the only reason our house is still messy and dirty is because we don’t use them enough!!! I hate cleaning and will always opt for doing something else, downside is living in chaos. Would love to hear any cleaning tips or motivation tips. Does anyone have a weekly plan?? I have just done one of these for our meals, just wondering if anyone has a simple one for house-cleaning? I’ve tried fly lady but I just don’t like all those emails. Ta!!
Carrie says
Hi Nicole,
I actually post my weekly chores plan on the wall right below my weekly meal plan for quick reference. (The hard part is actually sticking to it!) Each day has a theme:
– Groceries (and other errands)
– Bills (and other paperwork)
– Projects (such as painting, filling photo albums, setting up a garden)
– Cleaning
– Yardwork
– Family Day
One of the most helpful tips I’ve seen is to figure out the bare minimum that your house needs to function, and put those things into your daily or weekly routine. My daily routine includes things like loading/unloading the dishwasher, wiping down countertops, and doing a load of laundry. For the weekly cleaning day, I’ve distilled it down to these items:
– replace handtowels
– refill handsoaps
– sweep kitchen
– vacuum living room
– wipe down one bathroom
It would also work well to split the cleaning chores up into different days (or get your kids to help if that’s an option). Here are my favorite tips:
1. Don’t be a perfectionist! Better a mediocre cleaning that gets done, rather than a fantastic cleaning that never gets done.
2. If you do the bare minimum, you’re doing pretty good.
3. It’s easier to use a wet cleaning rag than to pull out all the specialized cleaners for everything. Sure it doesn’t sanitize, but do we really expect things to remain germ-free for very long? (I only bother sanitizing if I get raw chicken juice on the counter or something.) Also, you would be surprised how much difference it makes just to scrub a used towel over the bathroom floor with your feet before throwing it in the laundry hamper. Same goes for a used handtowel over the sink area.
4. It’s more satisfying to clean when you can see a noticeable difference. I found there are some things that I can get by with doing almost never: sweeping bathroom floors, mopping any floors, vacuuming bedrooms, dusting. I just do these when they start to irritate me. And you know what? In spite of this, my mom still thinks I’m a good housekeeper.
5. It’s much easier to clean when there isn’t much clutter — but that’s a whole series of posts in itself.
Hope you can find something helpful in this comment. I’m certainly not a perfect housekeeper myself! The ultimate tip is to figure out what works for you and stick with it. Good luck!
Carrie says
Oh, and I almost forgot, when it comes to cleaning mildew from shower walls, I like to let bleach do the work for me. I keep some bleach in a spray bottle, diluted with a lot of water. To clean the shower, I turn on the bathroom fan, then spray down the shower walls and let it do its thing. (Be careful not to get it on fabrics or painted walls.) No scrubbing required. Just keep everyone clear of that bathroom while the chlorine evaporates. 🙂
Joy says
This is great! Looks like you ‘hate cleaning less’ because your kids are doing it for you! Who wouldn’t? haha