Cleaning Day!

I am trying to clean the house really well before we leave for Florida next week. We have friends visiting shortly after we get back and I would rather fruit flies didn't set up camp while we are away. Today, I started with the bathroom.
Cloth diapering Mina has led me to look at other ways I can easily be more eco-friendly and save money. Surprisingly, these two things often go together which is awesome! I now do almost all my cleaning with just vinegar and baking soda. I made an all-purpose cleaner that is one part vinegar to three parts water. I added a few drops of lavender oil to combat the vinegar smell. It works great on floors, counter, sinks and even mirrors. Since I added the lavender, it makes the bathroom smell lovely too. to clean the toilet, I sprinkle baking soda around the bowl, then pour some vinegar into the water. I let that sit while I do some other cleaning then it is easy scrubbing with the toilet brush. For the tub, I sprinkle baking soda all around and then scrub with a vinegar-soaked rag. It takes a little more elbow grease then a bleach-based cleaner but it gets the tub shiny, white and beautiful. The best part is I don't have to worry what chemicals I might be mixing together or inhaling. This is a lot more important to me now with a baby around as she is more sensitive than me.
This way of cleaning is also much nicer on my wallet. Baking soda and white vinegar are super cheap. My one-gallon jug of vinegar cost around $2.00. I don't think I could get any other cleaner for that price. I still keep one disinfecting spray and bleach on hand for the really germ-y things (raw meat, mold, etc.) but vinegar easily handles most jobs. I think vinegar is actually a disinfectant too but it doesn't kill everything and needs to be fairly concentrated. I figured it was easier to have another cleaner just for occasional use than worry about whether things were actually getting clean.
Now that my bathroom is looking lovely, I can move onto bigger and better things - the kitchen! Maybe I will finally get rid of these crazy fruit flies. I've already taken some steps like dumping the compost out after every meal, taking the trash out daily, and generally keeping things clean. I just don't want to leave for over a week if there are any still in the kitchen.