Everything you need to know about Ammonia -- but wouldn't bother to ask.

Ammonia, ammonia... I live and breath ammonia!! When it comes to cleaning supplies, ammonia is the living end. It cleans everything. It cleans floors, it cleans windows, it cleans paint, it cleans plastic (it isn't supposed to clean granite, but, shhh, sometimes it does) When it comes to cleaning supplies, ammonia very nearly does it all. It cuts grease, grime, hairspray, stuck on food, floor wax. It serves as an excellent pre-treater in heavy traffic areas prior to carpet cleaning. Ammonia is the house cleaning workhorse.

HOWEVER -- the key to working safely with ammonia depends entirely on it being adequately diluted. Chemists know that ammonia is a gas and in usable household form it has been suspended in water... blah, blah, blah, on and on, whatever. All we want to know, no offense to the chemists intended, is how to make ammonia work as a quick, easy and cheap cleaner.

I buy regular household ammonia -- not Professional Janitorial Strength, which will strip the veins off the inside of your eyelids.  This little two quart bottle is about $2 and compares itself to Parsons (which is wonderful stuff). My preference is lemon scented... not that it really smells much like lemons... In a 25 oz. spray bottle pour between 5 to 10 oz. of ammonia. Fill the bottle with water.

There, for about .35c, you have a perfect blend of ammonia in a perfect vessel to flit about the house cleaning way up high and way down low.  Grubby finger prints on the fridge, God knows what on the counter, paw prints on the floor, that icky place between the window and the screen... windows, switch plates... it's all ammonia all the time.

If you are wondering how I go about cleaning floors with this stuff, you might not like what I have to say -- I clean floors on all fours. I know, everybody uses one of those cute little mops... if your cute mop allows you to fill the water reservoir then you can fill it with ammonia and water. What I do is sweep the floor of excess dust and debris. With a roll of paper towels in one hand and a spray bottle of ammonia in the other, I get down on all fours, spray the dirty floor, wipe it up with paper towels. (We'll have a whole paper towels vs terry cloth rags discussion another time.) I don't know what other floor cleaners cost, I do know that with an ammonia water spray and a length of paper towels I can clean a floor for under $1 and leave no residue behind.

As an aside, when I attack a kitchen or bath I clear away all the clutter, then I can spray away from left to right, top to bottom all the way around the room.

Mirrors: The key to a sparkling mirror is in the dry, not the wet. Dampness left on a mirror will result in    water spots. Wipe mirrors and glass dry for the cleanest possible clean.

Grimy surfaces: Let the product do it's job. Allow the ammonia and water solution to sit on a heavily soiled surface for several minutes before wiping it up. This can be tough on vertical surfaces but spray and spray again.

Water spots in a shower: This is not a job for ammonia -- next product discussion will be on Limeaway/ CLR (Calcium-Lime_Rust). Ammonia can clean quite a lot -- but it can't do everything.

Meanwhile De-clutter, Dust, Shine and Done!

If you have any specific cleaning questions please leave them in the comments and I will answer them here.