Baking soda and vinegar

Today filled an old shampoo bottle with a half and half mix of vinegar and water (about a cup total) which could be dabbed on a cloth for general cleaning or squirted into nooks and crannies that were really gunky. I used this on nearly everything that needed cleaning in approximately the following order: the walls, the cabinets and shelves, the basin, the surfaces in the shower, and finally the cleaner surfaces of the toilet. This dealt with the majority of scum and residues wonderfully. In some places I had to let the water and vinegar sit for a bit, so I would rub a bit on and then go and work elsewhere for a while before coming back to give the problem spot a good scrub.

The baking soda was used on the pervasive blue stains in the sink and the shower tiling (Why blue? Who knows... I'd guess that your stain colours may vary). I had heard that you could use the soda with a cloth but that didn't seem to work as well as just rubbing it in with my hands so I ended up pouring a couple table spoons of soda onto a plate and taking pinches of it and rubbing it in by hand. Yes, I loosened the majority of grunge build-up by scrubbing with my hands. It was immensely satisfying and I have yet to notice any ill effects on my skin (other than a slight soapy feeling until I washed my hands in the sink). After such handy scrubbing it just took a bit of a wipe with the vinegar cloth to finish up.

Conclusion? I feel more comfortable working with things that I'm happy to put in my food. It also did a perfectly respectable job of cleaning as judged by my intuition, visual check, and sense of touch. And I'd recommend everyone try it at least once.