Green Cleaning: Mildew Remover

The holidays are over and once again I set my mind to preparing for my homebirth. Any thought of baby preparations was put on hold so all my energy could go towards making it through December. And let me tell you, I feel like I blinked during Thanksgiving and opened my eyes again to New Years--a whole month lost in a blur.

But now, things are slowing down and I can begin to grasp "life" once more. An ongoing thread you'll see over the next few months is Green Cleaning. Having a homebirth, it's important to me have my home as clean as possible and in tip-top shape. Not easy to do with five other kids running around! But it's my goal. I am in the transition of "going green", switching out my old, non-green, store bought products with greener versions and if possible homemade. As I find, and try, new cleaner recipes I'll be sharing them with you.

Today, I'll share with you a mildew cleaner. I found this one, plus a few others, on Healthy Child Healthy World. I have a downstairs bathroom in our split-foyer house with a terrible mildew problem in the shower. I'm not sure if it's because it's virtually in a basement--dark, damp--a perfect breeding ground for the stuff, but I'm determined to fight it with a vengeance. While I would have liked to stay away from chlorine bleach, I thought it was necessary in my tactical plans to at least begin with a product using it to tackle the mildew and get it under control. Later I can switch to a less abrasive cleaner for maintenance.

Mildew Remover for Hard Surfaces

1/4 cup chlorine bleach

1 1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon borax

• Mix all ingredients, put in spray bottle.
• Spray on area, let sit 1/2 hour.
• Scrub.
• Rinse.
• Let dry.

Repeat every couple days to be sure to remove mold spores.

I thought this product worked well. The 30 minute wait period is important to the process to give it time to do it's magic. I was able to get rid of a majority of the mildew, and as the directions state, I will be continuing the process every couple days to make sure it doesn't return, keeping it under wraps. I will win this battle with my basement shower, with perseverance and persistence!


By all means, if anyone out there has any tips on mildew control, PLEASE share. My upstairs bathroom doesn't have any issues, it's just the basement shower?!  I am always open to new cleaning tips, hints, suggestions, and resources :)