Home Hacks: Cleaning and Pest Control

Miggy and I lived in my parents home until Sweetie and I got married. It was honestly a shock for me when we moved because it was our first time to live on our own. Mom sent someone to help clean every week and she also sent food for the first few weeks (well it was Christmas time and there was always a lot of food). Eventually, we were on our own and early days adventures are chronicled on Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal. 

We've been on our own for 14 years now. We are now on our 9th home and we also experienced living abroad. I didn't chronicle much of our time in Singapore since I considered it as one long business trip. I don't know why, but I only felt Singapore as my second home in the last few years we lived there. I had a hard time adjusting since my boys were in Manila. 

Anyway, we're far now from our band-aid filled early days. We get help when needed, but here's a list of home hacks we learned through the years:

• 
  Keep Roaches Away. Baygon roach bait (the tablets you stick on the wall) - we use this all the time to keep roaches away since I'm allergic to it (even just the smell). 
• Stain Removal. Baking soda - for cleaning and removing stains. Best paired with vinegar to remove hard water stains. Babad containers that are hard to wash to remove oil. 
• Repel Animals from Using Your Garden as their Toilet. Lemon juice + apple cider vinegar + water - don't want cats to use your garden as their toilet? Spray this and they'll stay away. 
• Plant Pest Control. Baking soda + neem oil + castille soap + water - best pesticide for your garden. Keeps annoying aphids and other insects away.
• Glass/Mirror Cleaning. Dishwashing liquid + baking soda + vinegar + water - spray on glass/mirror to keep it clean. 
• Floor Cleaning. Pine Sol or Pledge Floor Cleaner - best for wooden floors. Also, always ask the floor provider (or landlord if you're renting) what to use. 
• Remove Algae. Clorox or Domex - best for removing algae. Soak the algae with it and it will die. Brush or wash off after. 
• Disinfect Tools. Hydrogen peroxide - to disinfect tools (i.e. I use it mostly for garden tools). I also use it to restore used soil especially if it was infested with insects. I mix a little in a gallon of water and soak the soil. Then I put it under the sun. 
• All Around Cleaner. Young Living Thieves household cleaner. One bottle goes a long way. I have spray bottles of it all over the house and use it to clean coutertops, tables, bathroom countertop and sink. I also disinfect the dish sponge in water with half a cap of Thieves cleaner every so often. 
• Baking Soda + Joy. Did you notice that Joy dishwashing liquid is less bubbly now? I don't know if they changed anything because it takes more now to really clean. I added a teaspoon of baking soda to the Joy + water mixture and that helped a lot. 

I have severe allergies, so we've avoided using commercial pest control sprays. We got help from a pest control company though for termites. They advised never to DIY that because the termites will just move. Best to have a professional do it. They also offer insect treatment and we do it quarterly since we had a really bad higad infestation last year (lot's of trees around us). 

I don't have a wide array of cleansers in my cupboard. My staples are Domex and Clorox and I just mix baking soda with other ingredients for other needs. A box of baking soda lasts me months since I just use a teaspoon or two whenever I make concoctions.