Happy Earth Month! As a company, Nellie’s strives to make planet friendly, simple, and honest products for your whole home!

This Earth Month (and always) our commitment to you is to stay true to the following guidelines when developing new products.

Spring Cleaning Tips with Nellie's

Alternate Uses for your Favorite Nellie’s Products

 
Since we’re all spending so much time at home these days, there’s no better time than now to start those big projects - and we have a few Spring Cleaning tips to help. While you might have started a few tasks already, it seems like there’s always more to do. If your “I’ll get to it one day” list hasn’t been ticked off in a while, it’s time to channel your inner Marie Kondo and tackle the items that you’ve put on the backburner.
 
Did you know that most Nellie’s products have many alternate uses? That’s right – Laundry Soda can be used for things other than laundry! We’ve put together a list on how to use your favorite Nellie’s products when tackling those big Spring Cleaning jobs, while encouraging you to use the products you already have at home.
 

Here are our top Spring Cleaning tips:

 

 

Reusable Water Bottles & Travel Mugs & Decanters:

For those impossible-to-reach-the-bottom items: your trusty Nellie’s Water Bottle, your Thermos, or that beautiful wine decanter with a red ring on the bottom from that time you left a tiny bit of Cab Sav in – no matter how long you soak them in hot water, they just won’t clean out. We have a solution!
To remove those tough stains that you can’t reach, add half a scoop of Oxygen Brightener and top with hot water. Let it sit for 1-3 hours, depending on the stain, then rinse thoroughly. The sodium percarbonate from the Oxygen Brightener will oxidize the stain and give you a cleaner mug. Be sure to place the item you’re cleaning in your skin as the powder/water combination might suds up and overflow!
*If you don’t have Oxygen Brightener, you can sub it for Laundry Soda or Dish Powder, however Oxygen Brightener will work best.

 

Kitchen Oven:

Another Spring Clean must-do. It seems like everyone has been spending their time during social distancing by baking sourdough or becoming master chefs. Safe to say, our ovens are busier than ever. Unless you do this regularly (kudos to you), chances are your oven has been in need of a deep clean for a while now.
For a non-toxic cleaning hack, make a paste with 1 scoop of Oxygen Brightener and hot water, and apply with a sponge or cloth. Let it sit for a few hours and rinse off with a sponge or cloth wrung from clean water.  The sodium percarbonate will oxidize the stain and lift off soil, while sodium carbonate will neutralize any fatty acid residue.
 
 

 

Bathroom Grout:

Tile is generally easyto clean, but cleaning grout? No thank you! Because of its porous composition and light colouring, grout is prone to staining. Depending on which rooms in your house have tiles, discolouration can be caused by dirt, grime, spills, mold or mildew.
To clean your grout, make a paste with 1 scoop of Oxygen Brightener and hot water and scrub (with a little bit of elbow grease). We recommend avoiding using an abrasive sponge/scrubber that may scratch the grout. Use a clean, soft cloth and clean water to wipe. Rinse well.
 

 

Shower Head:

Cleaning the things that clean you is a no-brainer. Think about how old your shower head is. Did it come with your house? Has it ever been replaced? While you generally don’t touch the shower head while showering, it can still get clogged with build-up from years of water running through it, get mildewed, and even develop some nasty bacteria. And if you live somewhere with hard water, chances are your shower head needs some descaling.
Combine 1 scoop Dish Powder + 2 oz of Shower & Bath Cleaner and hot water in a plastic bag. Tie the bag around the shower head and let sit for a few hours. The citric acid in Shower & Bath Cleaner will help unclog your shower head, clean off any mildew, and remove hard water deposits and rust scale.
* If you don’t have both Dish Powder and Shower & Bath Cleaner, you can swap one for 1 oz of distilled vinegar.
 
 

 

Porcelain (sink, toilet, or bathtub):

While porcelain is a highly durable surface, it’s susceptible to chips, cracking, and a dulling of the finish. If you use the wrong products, you will do more harm than good, potentially damaging the surface, so it’s important to know what not to use. Abrasive cleaners such as scouring powders, white vinegar (or other cleaners with a high acidic content), and steel wool should all be avoided.
Nellie's Shower & Bath Cleaner was designed for this surface. Apply the solution to a damp sponge or directly on the surface. Allow the solution to sit, then rub or scour. Avoid using an abrasive sponge that may scratch the surface. Use soft cloth to wipe. Rinse well.
* If you don’t have Shower & Bath Cleaner, you can use Oxygen Brightener. Combine 1 scoop and hot water to make a paste, let sit for 20 mins, and scrub gently. Sodium percarbonate will oxidize the stain and sodium carbonate will neutralize grease or oil.
 

 

Patio Cushions

As warm weather is popping up, it’s a great time to get your patio summer-ready! If your cushions have been sitting in storage collecting dust, or even worse, sitting outside during the entire winter, they’re probably in need of a good refresher.
To revive your cushions, add 1/2 scoop of Oxygen Brightener and warm water into a spray bottle and shake gently to mix the solution. Spray stained areas and scrub gently with a soft brush. For more serious stains, use a WOW Stick.
 
 

 

Baseboards

This is probably something you do regularly, but we have a trick to make it easier than ever. Even if your entire house is shiny and clean, if you forget about cleaning your baseboards, it’s quite the eyesore. Did you know you can clean them without even bending over?
Position your WOW Mop’s Scrub & Polish pads so they stick out about 3-4 inches on the same side. Angle them up at a 90-degree angle, turn your mop on, spray, and go! Make sure that the part of your pads covering your baseboards get a bit of Floor Care (or the solution of your choice) on them. Ta da!
 
 
Most importantly, keep in mind that not everyone needs to be super ridiculously productive while we’re dealing with an unprecedented health crisis. For some, crossing off a to-do list helps, but if you don’t get anything done, that’s fine too! Just remember the number one tip that we can offer: practice self-care and be kind to yourself. Now go ahead, pour yourself that glass of wine!
 

2020 Vision: Nellie's New Year's Resolutions

December is a great time to reflect on the year that passed, to look ahead at what 2020 has in store, and to set New Year's resolutions for what we hope to achieve. We wanted to take a minute to thank YOU for being a part our eco-friendly online community and providing us with valuable feedback throughout the year, which we're proud to put into action.
Here are our 2020 goals:
GLASS
We're moving to replace our plastic liquid containers with glass bottles. Why glass? There's too much plastic on Planet Earth. Glass is endlessly recyclable, eventually turns into sand, and won’t harm our oceans.
STRIVING TO BE PLASTIC FREE
To help eliminate plastic waste, our liquids (like our new Fresh Mist) will come without a spray nozzle. We're asking you to please consider reusing one from home first. If you don't have one, you can order one from our website for free.⁠⠀
NEW METAL TINS
We've heard you loud and clear: that small plastic bag inside our Laundry Soda tins has got to go! Right now, we've had to include that bag as our powders were causing corrosion with the metal inside the tin. We've developed new packaging that won't spill during shipping, won't cause corrosion, and is still recyclable.
USING LESS

One of the biggest pieces of feedback we've received this year is that our customers want to use less packaging and to see more bulk options. We will be adding a few more options for bulk buckets and introducing liquid refill options!
REUSE... THEN RECYCLE
You already know that you can reuse your WOW Mop floor pads over and over - just throw them in the wash! But as for packaging, our goal is to offer items that can be reused first... and recycled second. Whether it's our metal tins that can act as storage containers or plant pots, or our Wool Dryerballs tin that doubles as a piggy bank, we will work to make sure all our packaging has a second use. We will also replace as much of our packaging as possible with more sustainable options, such as metal and glass, as those are some of the most easily recyclable materials and can be reused over and over.
 
What are YOUR New Year's resolutions? Tell us in the comments below!

Your Fall Cleaning Checklist:

What to Tackle in October

As the leaves begin to fall, the change of seasons is a great time to tackle big cleaning tasks to prepare your house for the winter.
Read below for what you should do make sure both the inside and outside of your house is in good shape once the weather gets unpleasant!

Inside Your House

Windows: Use All-Purpose Cleaner, or add a bit of One Soap in a spray bottle filled with water, and wipe down with a microfiber cloth. Pick a cloudy day so you can better see any streaks.
Vacuum: All those spots you’ve been neglecting. Yes, we mean take off your couch cushions and get right in there. Vacuum your drapes, vinyl shades, light fixtures, too. Spray your drapes with Wrinkle-B-Gone for that crisp, clean, wrinkle-free look.
Closets: Go through all your clothes and donate whatever you can. While homeless shelters see donations spike during the holidays, they are in need of items year-round. Donate what you can before it gets cold, and be sure to make sure it's washed well (with Laundry Soda, of course)!
Heat Sources: Replace your furnace filter, especially if you haven’t changed your furnace filter within the past three months. Sweep your chimney. Have a wood-burning fireplace? With chilly weather coming in, it’s a good time to have it professionally inspected and swept, before you start using it more frequently.
 

Outside Your House

Weather Stripping: Check your weather stripping and caulking around your doors and windows, so you don’t lose any precious heat. It’ll be much easier to do it now, rather than when it’s freezing and you’re working with an open window!
Gutters: This is a great time to check your gutters and make sure they’re ready for the upcoming weather changes. Don’t forget your downspouts!
Patio Furniture: Time to store away your patio cushions! Don’t forget to give everything a good wipe down – it’ll make your life easier when spring rolls around.
Did we miss anything in our Fall Cleaning Checklist? Tell us in the comments!

There are some cleaning chores that actually have very little effect on the visible cleanliness of your home. If you never lift your cushions to vacuum the seats of your upholstered furniture, no one will know (until they reach for a lost remote). And if you never declutter your closets, well… the mess is literally behind closed doors. But there are other chores—even some very small ones—that, left undone, snowball into a much bigger mess and a much more annoying task to tackle.
To keep your home humming, pay attention to the following small jobs:

Folding the clothes when the dryer beeps

You might be great at washing clothes when they’re dirty, but do those baskets of clean clothes pile up while you’re waiting for a Netflix night to fold them all? Folding clothes when the dryer beeps and they’re still warm isn’t just cozy. It helps prevent wrinkles and having to iron (or wear wrinkled clothes, or avoid said clothes) down the road. Using the dryer cycle ending as your folding cue also keeps folding and putting away clothes a small, manageable task you can do in a few minutes rather than a monumental obstacle you have to set aside a whole day to get under control.
Tip: Try setting your wash cycle to start on a delay so you’ll be home to switch clothes to the dryer and to be there when it beeps.

Putting shoes where they go when you take them off

We’re definitely guilty of this! We don’t wear shoes in our house, and we all take them off by the front door. Having a home for everyone’s shoes – and making sure they are put away – keeps your foyer looking spic and span, and makes it easier when you’re rushing out the door in the morning. No more searching for that favourite pair of sneakers, because you know exactly where they are!
Tip: No matter how good you are at putting away the shoes, sometimes mud and dirt will still make it in to your entry. Keep the WOW Mop nearby so you can easily clean up any messes!

Washing dirty dishes

It’s easier to put just one or two more dirty dishes in a sink that already has a couple dishes waiting to be washed in it—but it should give anyone pause to put dirty dishes in a clean, empty sink.
Washing dishes right away keeps the sink clean and empty, and with any luck, reminds others in your household to do their own dishes. In addition, washing dishes right when they’re done being used keeps you from having to scrub off dried-on food and, again, makes most daily dish-washing a job that takes a couple minutes rather than a mini-marathon at the end of the day before it’s time to prep dinner.
Tip: Keep your favourite One Soap next to the sink, so that when you’re doing the dishes you’ll have a beautiful scent to enjoy.

Keeping counters and tables wiped

If there’s one thing that drives us nuts, it’s having to dodge sticky spots on counters or the table. To dispel the anxiety of wondering where you can sit something down (homework, mail, a casual cookie), keep the All Purpose Cleaner and a cleaning rag handy to take care of any spills or messes as soon as possible, and wipe the table down immediately after it’s used. This habit also keeps you from having to clean up the things that get dirty from being set down on messes as well as the spaces that get dirty from having those dirty things put away (such a snowball).
This habit will also save you from spreading the mess around. For instance: If you set a container down onto a splatter of syrup, and then put the container away in the fridge, you now have three sticky spots to clean up rather than just the one quick swipe you could have made at that initial syrup spill. This keeping-surfaces-clean habit has the out-sized reward of keeping the interior of your fridge and cabinets clean for much longer.
By staying reasonably vigilant to take care of clean laundry, doffed shoes, dirty dishes, and messy surfaces when they are small problems, you’ll empower your future self to enjoy a perpetually clean home. Next thing you know, your friends will be asking for your secret!