Jan 252012
 

No work today.  School is closed.

No, we didn’t get a buttload of snow.  The tribe is celebrating Treaty Day, so some of the tribal affiliates are closed, which includes the college.

*happy dance*

So keeping with my theme of putzing around the house on my days off, cleaning here, throwing out stuff there,  I decided to do one of the worst jobs around the house.  One that I avoid at all costs.  One that puts the “suck” in suckage.

I cleaned the shower/tub in the bathroom.

I know *GASP*, right?  Yeah, I’d rather have more teeth ripped out of my mouth that clean that thing.

So here’s the problem:  with the hard water we have up here, our shower does not really ever get “clean” per se.  Yes, it’s technically clean, but stained in areas from hard water deposits and what appears to be a light sheen of rust.  Not terrible, just enough to be annoying.

Believe me, I’ve tried everything to get it back to shining splendor that I can think of short of acid.  But since that’s not readily available, I found this:

For the record, I hate, Hate, HATE using chemicals.  H A T E !!! I’m a greenie… a lover of the environment… reduce, reuse, recycle damnit!

Call me weak, call me desperate, revoke my Friend of the Environment membership card.

I had to try it.  I was reaching for hope against hope.  This was my last ditch effort to get my shower clean.  I mean, it turned colors when the surface it was used on was clean!  How cool is that!!

So, did it work you may be asking?  Ummm… yes and no.  I wasn’t expecting miracles, so I wasn’t really disappointed.  Some of the areas actually got clean.  I was impressed with that.  But the heavier affected… notsomuch.  And how did some of these areas get so bad?  Who the hell knows.  Is there such a thing as high traffic shower areas?  Well, if there is, we’ve got ’em.

Oh, and one other reason why I HATE using chemicals (especially in a small area like a shower with no windows or ventilation):  contact high.  The fumes aren’t that unpleasant, but I can sure tell that they had an affect on me.  Whee!!

OK, maybe I’d better go outside and get some fresh air now.

Oh, and would somebody please get me some frickin ACID!!

Thank you.

 

  24 Responses to “Beware of Contact Highs”

Comments (24)
  1. LOL, you so funny! I feel for you, we had so much iron in our water before the filtering system, that the Cullegan Man could retire after putting in our system.

  2. I absolutely love the well water we have up here, but it certainly does a number on the bathroom “appliances”!

  3. I’m sure you’ve already tried it (and I know bout the whole “chemical” thingy) but have you tried CLR? Or even just making a concentrated paste out of OxyClean? I mean, look how well I did with that with Dad’s suit, even better than the dry cleaners could do!

  4. Nope haven’t tried that one yet. Yay, more chemicals 😉

  5. I can’t say much – I’m a fan of chemicals. I do like the whole vinegar /~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney baking powder method to unclog things but yea for the scrubbing the toilet /~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney tub I want chemicals. Have you thought to /~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney considered trying Mr. Clean’s eraser?

  6. I’m a first time visitor {via the Archive Link Up}. I have to agree with this entire post. I am yet to find a cleaner that will get the ‘high traffic’ areas of my shower clean. If you do find something, be sure to let us know 😀
    -Jessica
    {Sugar in My Grits}
    http:/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooneymommiesblog2011.blogspot.com/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney

  7. Oh I feel you on that! Cleaning the shower and tub is terrible. Actually, I can’t stand the entire bathroom! Yuck.

  8. Yep, I’ve used that product before, and I think I would have needed 5 of them and arms like Mr. Clean for it to work properly.

  9. And if you find something, please, please let me know 🙂

  10. And I’m a glutton for punishment… I just used it again and I think I’m going to be ill (but the shower is a little cleaner 😉 ).

  11. Hi there. I’m a new follower through the Tues Archive Link-Up.

    Not that it would help with the stains, but I kept passing them up thinking how ridiculous they seemed … when someone finally made me try the Mr. Clean sponges, I fell in love with them. I have a really hard time cleaning tubs, etc. because of an old back injury, and those sponges are like little miracle workers – quick and easy.

  12. UGH – bathrooms. I cleaning them too! I have never found a cleaner yet to get rid of hard water stains. Hate them things.

  13. We have a small motel. We do alot of cleaning. Get so frustrated trying to find a good hard working cleaner that won’t kill us off. Hubby has COPD so he especially needs a gentler product. We haven’t found a non chemical one that will do the heavy duty cleaning we need from time to time. We have very hard water. We do have a water softner but from time to time we get rust on the sinks, showers, inside toilets and the worse one is in laundry.

    We have tried the CLR and it just didn’t do it. We use a Rust Off product now just for the rust areas. Always trying different cleaners.

    For a quick clean we often will use vinegar, baking soda.

    My first visit to your blog. Enjoyed it, and will return.
    Ann

  14. I’m all for a new bathroom 🙂

  15. I may have to try them again, maybe they have gotten better.

  16. Sounds like your in the same situation as me, Ann. Hopefully some day someone will invent a cleaner that is safe for the environment and get rid of those nasty rust stains!

  17. I hate useing chemicals too and yet the one way I can get my kids to help clean is with any kind of foam!

  18. Have you ever cleaned the shower walls WHILE taking a shower. Talking about light headed! Wooooooo.

  19. You can actually get your kids to clean? You get a medal in my book!

  20. I think that would be the longest shower in history!

  21. UGH, bathrooms are the worst. Here in hot, humid North Cackalacky we get mildew in our bathrooms so we have to use pure bleach to get rid of it. There is somethin’ special about smellin’ like Clorox lemme tell ya.

  22. Yep, know that Clorox smell well. Even that stuff has little effect on any kind of rust build-up in the Northwoods.

  23. Have you tried vinegar & baking soda. Works great – need a bit more elbow grease…and of course, there’s no contact high!

  24. Will probably give that a shot on the tougher areas.

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