Friday, March 2

Will the real Gigibird please stand up

I am so pleased my last post struck a chord with so many of you – I really think that there needs to be more authentic discussion amongst us bloggers – if I want to read fantasy I can pick up Country Living or the like – but here in blog-land I want to read about how life is for real.
I have leanings towards perfectionism – although you wouldn’t know if you saw my house, but it is very easy to get caught up in wanting a perfect marriage, a perfect home, to make perfect cakes etc and have work/life balance that is spot on. There might be a few people out there that achieve it and good luck to them, but here at Gigibird you will find my life with all it’s imperfections. It’s very easy to read about other people and think your own lot is – crap. Thinking about the starving and homeless of the world doesn’t help me; it just makes me feel guilty. Comparison shopping is a dangerous thing and for the most of it what we hanker after very probably doesn’t exist.

That's the heavy bit over you're be pleased to hear, what I want to share with you today is my up and coming experiment regarding cleaning products! Don't flick to the next blog I promise to make it fun, honest:)
I don't know about you but I have always wondered if I went back to using cleaning products of "yester-year" whether my house would sparkle like we are lead to believe they did all those years ago? I think that a lot of that had to do with the fact that housewives were spending up to 7 hours per day cooking and cleaning; that's more than today's housewife does in a week according to a survey I read about in the Telegraph last week.


While I was at the village ironmongers on Wednesday buying my mixer I bought borax, bicarbonate of soda, and white vinegar. I have also got a few ecco products so there will be 3 tests. I could say for the sake of this experiment I have allowed my kitchen to get really dirty but I haven't, it is just really dirty!. The Good Housekeeping Institute has nothing to worry about, it's just a bit of fun.

19 comments:

  1. I am so happy to read your post today, Gigibird! With four children in my tiny home (and I do mean TINY), if I am spending time playing with my kids & my crafts, you KNOW I am not spending that time on cleaning! I clean what is necessary to be healthy & happy... Martha Stewart is never coming to my home, and I have no need to impress! My hubby and I make an effort not to use harsh chemicals around the house (he won't even allow me to buy "Draino" - a powerful cleanser that unblocks drainpipes).

    I can't wait to see what you come up with! You know I'll give it a try (along with those fairy cakes and lemon curd dessert)!

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  2. Who were those sloppy houswives interviewed by the Telegraph? When the experiment is over I am coming round to adjudicate:)

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  3. Stella - I thought you might like to help me?
    Louise - hello,I swear by Soda Crystals for putting down my sinks and of course never pouring fat down them which a lot of women do!
    I am looking forward to seeing how the Borax works at de-greasing.

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  4. I've never seen soda crystals around. I'll have to scout them out. As for the grease, we have the good old-fashioned "Grease" tin sitting on the stovetop (which we use for its intended purpose)!

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  5. I'll take some photos of the soda crstals so when you see them you might know them by another name.

    Glad you have a grease tin:)

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  6. ok...i can do with any cleaning tips going...i am the daughter of a very tidy + organised mother...i got my dad's genes in that department! my major real life confession is that i hardly ever iron...is that really bad??

    happy weekend! don't be doing too much housework now : )

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  7. Kelly that is very bad, so bad in fact I want you to stand in the corner the whole weekend:-)

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  8. Apologies in advance for sounding like an advert...

    I'm slowly trying to get into using more eco products, partly because chemicals are bad, but mainly because I'm allergic to a lot of detergents and harsh cleaners.
    I started talking to a neighbour one day and it turns out she runs a company, Summer Naturals selling eco products. The main thing she told me about was Soap Nuts. I've been using them to wash my clothes for about 4 months and I'm now trying to convert everyone I meet.
    So far they've got everything clean, my skin is far less itchy, and they're so cheap! I spent £8.50 on a 500g bag 4 months ago and I've still got over half a bag left. The only extra thing I add is a bit of essential oil to make them smell nice.

    I've not tried borax yet, only vinegar and bicarb (not together), I'm not sure why but borax seems a bit scary to me:)

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  9. Hello Celeste

    I think Soap Nuts are worth a try just for the name alone!

    Thanks for stopping by and for the link - I'll check it out:)

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  10. Anonymous1:52 AM

    will be interested to see how this said experiment turns out...my cabin is usually a sty in fact 95 of the time it is a sty...unless my feet stick to the floors ummm well nuf said on that..grease? we toss it outside is that bad? :) love this post life isn't pretty 100% of the time...it's hard to pretend 100% of the time! what are your thoughts on pine sol? that is my favorite cleaner...also those housewives cleaned 24 7 they could have used plain water and always had a clean house...those days are over* that what me thinks anyway...and what about germs? ok hahahahahha! I keep coming up with stuff to say....ok later.....

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  11. I am probably like a lot of people - I would like my house to be a place of calm,with clutter free, crumb free surfaces.

    BUT I am that character in the Peanuts cartoons who is followed by a trailing cloud of dirt. I also collect too much clutter and start too many projects and try to run a 3 part business from my kitchen/dining room.

    I posted a photo of the mess pre-Christmas but I don't think it did the horror justice!

    Actually the house is clean - as I have a cleaner - but it is very very untidy.

    The only proviso my husband made when I gave up paid work in 2000 was that I wasn't to become a housewife. I am so very bad at it.

    I can cook though.

    I'll be interested in your cleaning experiment though - we have a septic tank so that restricts our cleaning products anyway.

    I thought I would try the soap nuts - they can't be worse than the ecover/bio D washing powders - our washing may be clean but they certainly isn't white.

    I think that we should start a movement of honest non-gooey blogs.

    Thats just the way it is.

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  12. Wow, when I go to find new blogs to check out I really hit the big one. LOVE THIS POST!!!!

    I was once having problems seeing all those beautiful "corners of your home" photos that folks do on blogs and I felt awful about my home because those photos remind me how much I don't do with decorating. I have a hard enough time keeping the house clean enough with the little kids running underfoot and destroying what I just cleaned.

    Somedays it just doesn't bother me but today I've had one of those moments when I went outside and screamed because I just finished cleaning the second room and went back to check on the kids. Guess where they were? Yep, in the first room I cleaned and it was destroyed of being uncluttered as I had it.

    I'll be checking back to see how your cleaning turns out.

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  13. Hello Jane and welcome Melissa, you don't know how relieved I am to find I am not alone in being untidy. And not an uber housewife, not that I proud to say that - it's just the truth!
    I have indeed been very busy today doing my very unscientific experiments involving different cleaning products resulting in an unusally clean kitchen!
    I'm not a mother but I feel that your children and your own sanity is surely more of a priority than having tidy corners and "styled" homes, and the sooner we all stop beating ourselves up about not being perfect the better.

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  14. Gigibird - I'm totally diggin' the last couple of posts you've started, and all the wonderful comments you've been getting! I'm tempted now to take some photos of my kitchen and LR by standing from a distance, so you can see the entire happy-clutter, as opposed to little vignettes that make it look all tidy. =) By the way, I spent over 1/2 hour the other day just vacuuming cobwebs by the ceilings in my house!

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  15. Anonymous2:21 AM

    Hi Lynn, The boys who used to live opposite you swore by white vinegar for keeping the bathroom taps shiny!

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  16. Anonymous8:43 AM

    I can tolerate a certain level of mess before it gets on my nerves and I have to do something about it. I hate dusting - what's the point as 2 minutes later the dust has resettled! Seven hours cleaning a week sounds like too much to me!

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  17. Really great post! Again! I do like reading some of the pretty and perfect blogs but I like the idea of the honesty too. My home is far from perfect which is why I very rarely post any corners of my home. I live in a smallish one bedroom flat and as I work full time, am trying to develop my own business in my spare time, and have a lovely but very untidy boyfriend, my place is definitely not perfection. It doesn't belong to me so I can't decorate it how I would like and although it's clean, it is very rarely tidy. It's really great to know that others are the same.
    I'm extremely interested to see how your experiments turn out. I use a number of ecover products but I do still use some bad products mainly because I don't know what the alternatives are for certain jobs. It would be great to find some new cleaning idea.
    Good luck.

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  18. I've used vinegar for cleaning for a while now... you can use it as a good bathroom cleaner, but the smell is a bit off-putting at first. I dilute it about 1:5 with water and add some essential oils. I'm so please that there are real women out there with real homes and a real attitude to living, but I have to say i love looking at the ideal home pictures, too.

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  19. Lynn, I started a post the other day on my blog and I wanted to dedicate it to you... how freeing it was to let everyone know in blogland that I don't have that "fairytale" cottage by the ocean on Cape Cod!

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