Car Wash

BEFORE and AFTER

Click  to enlarge 

Today I did my very first guilt free car wash! In the past I have felt bad about the soap getting out into the environment. Because I have seen cats and crows and raccoons drinking out of puddles after washing my car I  would flush out the water as best I could which of course was using up extra water.

In traditional car washing with soap you rinse, soap, rinse and then repeat on the spots you missed. The mitt or cloth you used would end up black and never come clean again. I always hated doing the inside windows because you are in a small space with stinky window cleaner. I would spray it on a paper towel outside the car to try and minimize it. Those paper towels would end up in the garbage.  More waste, more concern.

But today was different!

I did a quick rinse of my car, mostly to wet it, and then went to it with the Norwex microfiber Car Mitt. I kept the mitt good and wet to prevent scratching. The design of the mitt (not flat surface) with is plush microfiber fingers greatly reduces potential scratching. I was finished washing my car in about 10 minutes!

I then did the bits that the thick mitt couldn't get at thoroughly around windows, windshield wipers, rear view mirrors and such. Also used it on some bird poop the mitt couldn't get.

Then I polished the windows on the outside to get rid of water spots using the Norwex microfiber Car Cloth. It is also meant for polishing the car (and chrome and other shiny bits) but I didn't bother with that. Then I got inside the car. I think it's been at least 6 months since I've done the inside of the windows so I wiped them with a damp enviro cloth first and then with the Car Cloth (which is very much like the Window Cloth). Wow. Getting them streak free used to be nearly impossible. Always seemed to miss a spot no matter how careful you were. This cloth did a beautiful job in a fraction of the time and effort (far less wiping) with no chemicals : )  Made me wish I had chrome all over my car to polish!

Next was my fabric car seats with the Enviro Cloth. I have done great things with this cloth on fabric and carpets. There were just a few little dirty spots on my seats and they came out easily.  From now on I'm keeping a mini Enviro Cloth (travel size) in my car so I can dust when it gets bad and wipe up spills right away.

Last was the interior. I hate the texture of my dashboard! It's very grabby. In the past nothing has done a very good job and it was always such a struggle to get it clean. The first time I tried to clean it back in 2004 I made it worse!   The Enviro Cloth left it looking like new! I love this thing! It really grabs and holds things. With paper towels, sponges, cotton cloths, shammies, etc. only  a little dirt sticks to them because they are wet but about 75% of the dirt just gets pushed around, collected in pile and left behind. You would have to wipe it OFF or OUT and then vacuum it later. This cloth picked it ALL up and HELD onto it!

The Enviro Cloth also made cleaning the cup holders and the hand pocket (don't know it's technical name ; ) in the door a breeze! Didn't have to scoop scoop scoop scoop scoop to get the dirt out. Just one or two wipes!

Norwex says it cuts cleaning by 75%. Outside my car was cut by about 80% and inside my car by about 70%. So yah, they speak the truth in my experience. I LOVE MICROFIBER! LOL I should note here that most microfiber you will find in the store is 1/6th or 1/10th the thickness of a human hair. Norwex Microfiber is finer than 1/200th the thickness of a human hair. It kicks other Microfibers' A#@!

Normally I wash my car twice a year and the service centre wash it twice a year when I go in for an oil change. I probably won't wash it more often than that but if for some reason I do need to I won't mind at all! Will for sure clean the windows and dust more often as I can now do that easier, faster and with just water.

I wish Norwex was selling shares in the company because I would buy them in a heartbeat!  Microfiber is going to explode in the marketplace but I don't think it will be the same quality.  Plus it's a pretty tough sell in the store because nobody believes it can do what it can do!  But it can!  Many have to see it or use it to believe it.

Notes on the photos:

The picture of the Car Mitt is from AFTER I used to clean the car.  It's still wet and you can't even tell I used it as it is not dirty.

Yes that is the Enviro Cloth I used today.

Here's my pretty eco-friendly (excellent gas mileage) baby, a 2004 Toyota Echo Hatchback, all clean and shiny. : )

 

Cat Puke and Crispers

Today I got to clean cat puke out of my rug!  Sorry for being so blunt and excited about such a thing.  Be grateful there are no pictures!  I thought I would at least spare you that.  My cat throws up on the rug quite regularly.  The apartment is hardwood floors with little rugs here and there.  She always does it on the rug!  In the past I would try and clean it with a sponge or paper towels.  Neither worked very well.   It was also a long process.  Now, I can have it clean is less than a minute!!!  You guessed it..... with JUST WATER and my Norwex Enviro Cloth.  I used to dread mornings and what I would find on the carpet.  Not anymore!  The other day she must have done it just after I left for work.  I got home 10 hours later when it was dry and soaked in.  I was still able to get it all out in less than a minute.  Amazing!  I also love how absorbent the cloth is.  After I clean something and there is a lot of moisture or water left behind I just squeeze as much moisture out of the cloth as I can and then use it to dry.  It gets it just as dry as a paper towel would.

Of course that got me in the mood for cleaning so I cleaned the inside of my  fridge in record time! I have always hated cleaning inside the fridge because it was a hassle taking my room mates' condiment collection out and because using mild soap and water just didn't seem to cut it.  Last time I did it I used a little vinegar and baking soda.   Still was a bit unhappy with it.   I also have this thing about the fridge door being open.  It's irrational but it's how I feel.  I get upset if the door is open for more than a second.  I'm working on that.  Happy to say that I cleaned the entire inside of my fridge in about 20 minutes.  I love microfiber!!!!!

The first thing I cleaned when I received my Enviro Cloth was the outside of my fridge.  It has to be cleaned regularly.  I have two young nieces (2 and 4.5) who visit every weekend.  There is a small dry erase board on the fridge.  They prefer to draw on the fridge!  Of course!  There are those magnetic letters too.  Lot's of dirty little fingers touching the fridge.  To top it off the fridge is quite textured as you can see in this close up photo of my now shiny clean fridge.  This makes it a tough clean.  In the past I tried fantastic with paper towels and with a sponge.  Even tried vinegar and baking soda.  Not so good and no fun!  One thing that did work was the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  However it is small and disposable (adding to landfills) and took awhile to clean such a large object.  Of course now I don't need to use that anymore because the Enviro Cloth did a fantastic job!  I wiped in a circular motion and it easily got into every little crevice!   I still can't believe how fast and easy it was.  Now I can clean my fridge faster, chemical free, with no waste.

On Top of the Fridge (OR: We All Have Our Dirty Little Secrets : )

If cleaning wasn't such a pain in the butt because of the horrible chemicals that don't work that great and which I feel guilty for using AND I worry about my cats being exposed to them I would probably do it more often.  I like clean.  Now I love cleaning!   Since I've put over 36 hours in 2 weeks testing out my new Norwex Enviro Cloth and have cleaned everything in view with JUST WATER I had to work a little harder to think of what else to try it on. The top of the fridge!  I grab a chair and drag it over to the fridge.  Oh my #*(^*@&^!!   Holy crap!  Do you see that!  I'm so embarrassed!  I'm 5'1".  I never see the top of my fridge.  I guess I kinda forgot about it.  This furry blue thing is a canister that was sitting on top of the fridge.  We have 3 cats.  2 have long hair.  It floats.  This is gross!  : (

Lucky you, clicking on the photo will get you a bigger version of it so you can see just how bad it was!  LOL

This is the comparison shot on the left of your screen.  On the left is what the fridge looked like to start with.  The middle is what Fantastic and a paper towel  could not clean.  Right is what the Norwex Enviro Cloth did with JUST WATER! This is not just black furry dust people.  It was glued to the fridge by old grease!  the fridge is only about two or 3 feet away from the stove.  It was bad!  This cloth cleaned it all quickly, easily and squeaky clean.  Seriously!  We know how hard it is get old grease off of anything.  It's HARD!  The reason there even is a comparison shot is because I doubted the Enviro Cloth could do it.  I started by trying to wipe and the cloth wouldn't move!  The grab of it was like trying to wipe fly paper.  Then I was afraid I would ruin my cloth trying. So I busted out the cleaner and the paper towels.  That is the middle section.  Some of the surface dust and fur came off but it didn't even touch the grease and the paper towel was falling apart.  So, I thought, what the heck.  Back to the Enviro Cloth!

I made the cloth a little wetter and pushed a little harder.  I made sure to try and keep the cloth flat (you fold it in half twice) and not ball it up as the more fibers in contact with the surface the better it works and the faster and easier the job is.  Cotton cloths don't work and that is why we bunch them up and try to scrub harder.  It helps a little with cotton.  You see, cotton cloth fibers are round so mostly they just push stuff around.  Bunching them up makes them rougher and creates spaces for the dirt to go making them a little more effective. However it is nothing compared to what the exceptional quality microfiber produced by Norwex can do. Imagine splitting a human hair 200 times!  That's how fine the fibers are. Now just try and wrap your head around the fact that there is 10 times as much space in between the fibers as there fibers! Mind boggling!  That's a lot of fibers working at cleaning a surface and a lot of space to trap and hold EVERYTHING!  Back to my story.... Once I broke through the grease to the surface of the fridge, which only took a few hard rubs after all, it got easier.  The more dirt, grease, etc. the more water you need to get the job done. I kept my cloth nice and wet and before I knew my fridge was literally squeaky clean!  I still can't believe it! That's another cool thing about the Enviro Cloth. You can feel the dirt as you are wiping even if you can't see it with your eyes.  You can feel the cloth grabbing it and you know it's clean when the cloth no longer meets with any resistance!  LOVE IT!

This is what the fridge texture looks like. It's not smooth. Even when the front of the fridge was only a little dirty it was difficult to clean with conventional cleaners and paper towels or even a sponge.  It's so easy now with an Enviro Cloth and literally giggle whenever I clean it in just seconds.

This is both sides of the Enviro Cloth after cleaning.  WOW!

My fridge will never get that dirty again!

After a really tough job like this with so much dirt and grease I boiled the cloth (hard boil) for 10 minutes, turned it off, added a tsp Norwex Ultra Power Plus Laundry Detergent and let it soak or about half an hour until the water was cool enough for my to use my hands to give it a bit of a hand wash. The water was black! This got out most of the grease and stains and then I threw it in the laundry for a machine wash and dry to finish the job.  I have only had to do this to my Enviro Cloths twice.  This time and then another time after cleaning my car.  Do not boil your cloths regularly as you will decrease their lifespan.  Machine wash and dry. No bleach, fabric softener or dryer sheets.  A filler free detergent (hard to find) like Norwex's Laundry Detergent is best.  Fillers, fabric softeners and dryer sheets coat the cloth making it less effective. Wash with lint free laundry or the cloth will end up with little lint balls all over it! LOL  New towels are the worst for creating lint.

Welcome!

Welcome to Clean Cleaning! Here I will share my adventures in pursuit of clean cleaning and I hope you will share yours!