Natural cleaners vs. commercial

By Nanci Hellmich
USA Today

Gannett News Service

In one corner is Linda Cobb, nicknamed the "Queen of Clean," who spouts cleaning tips using household items such as vinegar and baking soda in her new best-selling book and on talk shows such as "Oprah."

She recommends using vinegar to wipe out the refrigerator and club soda to sop up carpet spills.

She suggests using a teaspoon or two of Tang on the toilet bowl. It'll clean the toilet, and "if your dog drinks out of the toilet, the worse thing that can happen is he'll have orange lips," she said.

It's tips like these that catapulted "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean" (Pocket Books, $8.99) to USA Today's Best-Selling Books list, where it reached as high as No. 4 in December.

In the other corner is Don Aslett, nicknamed the "King of Clean" and the "Dean of Clean."

He says that many of the natural products Cobb uses aren't good for cleaning at all. "If they were, the pros would be using them. The vinegar-and-baking-soda stuff is just garbage. They don't have any cleaning power. They won't clean dishes, clothes or hands, so why would you use them" on your house? said Aslett, who has owned a cleaning business for 42 years and written more than 30 books, including "No Time to Clean" (Marsh Creek Press, $12.99). He has his own line of cleaning products.

He said water would be better for wiping a spill off the carpeting than club soda. What cleans the spill is not the club soda, but the fact that you're cleaning it up immediately, he said.

"Stuff like this just kills me. It's from the '40s or '50s or back even further," he said. Products such as Mr. Clean and Simple Green are better and more efficient than concoctions you mix yourself, he said.

Cobb's response: "He sells a lot of cleaning products."

This is the time of year when many start thinking about spring cleaning. And household cleaning is a big business, with plenty of people dishing out ways to mop up dirt and round up the dust bunnies.

The natural way

Cobb said she favors using simple or natural products because they are healthier and cheaper than many commercial products on the market. There are five cleaning products that no home should be without, she said: vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, club soda and your favorite carpet cleaner.

"When we clean our homes, we will open up to seven containers of cleaning products. All of those aromas, fumes and chemicals go out into the area, and we wonder why our children have asthma and allergies," she said. "When Mom and Grandma were cleaning, they were using these kinds of natural products, and we were healthier. I started using these in my own home because I have quite a few allergies."

Cobb now has two books — the general cleaning tip book and a second, "Talking Dirty Laundry With the Queen of Clean" (Pocket Books, $9.99).

Her books are full of bite-size cleaning tidbits:

• Use WD-40 to clean crayon marks off the walls. Follow up with a soft cloth and solution of hot water and a little dishwashing liquid, washing in a circular motion.
• Wipe out the refrigerator using a cloth or sponge moistened with white vinegar. It leaves a clean, fresh scent and helps prevent mildew. "Vinegar is nature's acidic cleaner, and works wonders on soap scum and mineral deposits," she said. A dab of vanilla extract, lemon extract or orange extract on a small pad of cotton will keep the refrigerator smelling fresh without a perfume odor. To kill strong odors, a container or nylon stocking with coffee grounds in it works wonders.

Recycling advice OK

Other household hint mavens have delivered advice similar to Cobb's over the years.

Heloise, who has been dispensing hints since 1977, taking over for her mother who began in 1959, said many of Cobb's tips are old and have been offered up by others before.

"Every 10 and 15 years there is somebody new who comes along and recycles information, and that's OK," Heloise said.

But offering housekeeping tips isn't as easy at it seems.

"You have to research the suggestions and often add caveats, because if you don't, some of them could be dangerous and damaging," said Heloise, author of "In the Kitchen With Heloise" (Perigree, $22.95).

She loves cleaning with vinegar. "I'm the queen of vinegar." But for people who don't like the smell, there are a lot of very good commercial products.

"But with the basics you have in your household (vinegar, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, ammonia and hydrogen peroxide), you can clean and take care of 90 percent of the problems in your house. Here's the caveat: Don't mix all of these together," she said, laughing.

Home guru Mary Ellen Pinkham, 52, author of "Mary Ellen's Complete Home Reference Book" (Crown, $12) and host of "TIPical Mary Ellen" on cable's Home & Garden Television, said Cobb has "rehashed old stuff" that has been around for years in her book. It's selling because people like to read the "whimsical stuff," Pinkham said.

Cobb agrees that most cleaning advice has been around for years because "all of us learned it from the same place — our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. There is room for all of us. We all have different takes on our ideas of what makes good cleaners."

Clean smarter

Aslett has a different approach. He said people could spend much less time cleaning if they were smarter and more efficient about it. And part of being smarter is not mixing your own products, but buying the good products already on the market.

"Whatever you see professionals use, you'd better copy," he said. "These big chemical companies are super-careful about any liabilities. The new cleaners are wonderful."

Aslett said four basic cleaners will do almost any type of cleaning:

• All-purpose cleaner. A gentle cleaner that can be used for almost any type of cleaning.
• Glass cleaner. A fast-evaporating, alcohol-based cleaner for small windows, appliances, some counters, mirrors, knickknacks.
• Disinfectant cleaner. A cleaner that contains disinfectant and detergent for bathrooms and other areas that need germ-killing action. Super easy on fixtures, too.
• Heavy-duty cleaner/degreaser. For tougher, harder-to-break-down greasy grime and soil when spot cleaning, appliance cleaning, kitchen cleaning.

Most household cleaning chemicals are safe if used as intended, he said. But often cleaners are used carelessly in the wrong strength or on the wrong thing. He said bleach, acids, ammonias and homemade cleaning brews can damage surfaces.

There are five things you can do to cut cleaning time, Aslett said: dejunk, use better cleaning tools, use professional cleaning techniques, get help (from family members and/or professionals) and design your house to make it easier to clean.

Both Aslett and Cobb agree that clutter gets in the way of cleaning. People spend hours taking care of it, stepping over it and being stressed by it, Aslett said. "Probably 40 percent of cleaning time is junk or excess-related."

The thing that takes the longest is moving stuff that's in the wrong place, Cobb said. Her suggestion: Get a laundry basket and fill it with what doesn't belong in the room. As you go along, put things back where they belong. That way, you're not constantly running from room to room.