White- Not the Forbidden Color With Children

My goodness every woman knows with children that white is the absolute forbidden color; not anymore.  Recently, my children and I moved into a beautiful California home.  One major problem, we were surrounded by nothing but white, white, and more  white.  White walls, white carpet, white floors, white everything. 

A mother of a six and eight year old, I knew white was not going to last for too long.  I was going to be a slave to all this white. It was a matter of time before the carpet was getting stained from Tiffany’s artwork, Christopher’s clumsy acts of spilling food, and my friend spilling black coffee. 

White carpet had become white no more.  Let me not forget to mention the  fingerprint marks on the walls, the drink stains on the countertops, and well lets just say the list goes on and on and on.

All of us moms have gone through this and are still dealing with this.  What are we to do?  Well slave to the color white or any other colors; we are slave to thee no more.  I have discovered some wonderful quick, easy, and safe cleaning solutions to it all.

White Carpet Stains

To get those irritating stains out of white carpet, simply use a little three percent hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore, blot on the carpet with a clean white towel, works well for colored carpet also.  I do recommend that you test a sample of the carpet not visible to anyone, preferably in the closet.  Hydrogen Peroxide takes away the marker, food and coffee stains right away.  For quick spills, hot water and a clean white towel.  Works like a charm.  Your carpet will forever be grateful to you.

White Wall Stains

We all know how children run their hands up and down the walls, leaving behind their fingerprints for all to admire.  Soap doesn’t work; bleach leaves behind gray spots, so here is a very safe and effective cleaning tips for all walls.  For washing walls, you will need; 1 gallon of warm water, ½ cup ammonia, ¼ cup white vinegar, and ¼ cup baking soda.  Combine all the  ingredients into a bucket.  If you have a drop cloth or large towel, place it on the floor under the wall. Dip a clean white towel into the homemade solution until its thoroughly wet.  Always when cleaning walls start from the bottom to avoid water streaks. Wash the wall in a circular motion. Never stop in the middle of  the wall, always wash the entire section.  Washing a wall halfway will only leave marks showing where it was and was not washed.  This may take a little extra time, but definitely worth the nice clean look in the end. 

Now if you don’t feel like washing the walls, you could always paint.  That’s a bit more tedious than washing.  A quick tip on painting, to avoid that awful smell, add one tablespoon of vanilla extract to the gallon of paint and the smell goes away.

Countertops

I have found by using laundry detergent to clean countertops works well. If it works great on laundry, it works great in the kitchen.  I will say that after I clean my countertops, I wipe down the counter tops with  bleach and water solution; 90% water and 10% lemon bleach.  Not only does this sanitize your counter, but leaves a very clean fragrance.  Taking these little steps will ensure no trips to the family doctor or emergency room.  Salmonella and ecoli are not good to have. 

I have to admit I was being lazy, and went to the store and purchased those new mops, you know the ones that you apply a pad at the bottom.  Oh I thought, how great this is, look at the time I am going to save. Wrong was I.   Not saying that the product doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work well for floors that are dirty.  I think they are really made for quick spills and cleanups.  I found just using a good old fashion ring out mop really does the job.  Why do a  job twice, like we as mothers have that time.

Well to sum things up, I have saved my white carpet, the white walls, the white counter tops, and the white floors.  Now if someone could just give me a tip on how to convince my significant other, that he needs to bring in  color into the house other than white.

Dr. Zoe Simmons

Dr. Zoe Simmons, mother of two beautiful children, Naturopathic Doctor, and Hip Hop Dance Instructor offers the expertise of safe, effective, and quick house cleaning tips that wont hurt your checkbook.