[Mika @ Lund] Eco living from Sweden - July 2020

Hi, this is Mika!

Since the beginning of July, the weather has been bad and chilly; and where has summer gone?

Recently, the maximum temperature is about 17 degrees Celsius, and it drops to 13-4 degrees Celsius in the evening, so it's cold when you’re wearing short sleeves.

Just before this, there were days when it was hot and the maximum temperature was 30 degrees Celsius which now seems like it was all an illusion.

Since the weather is not too good and the current global pandemic, I can't go out much everyday.

So, I thought of making my own cleaning detergent!

I think baking soda is well known as natural cleaning in Japan.

Recently, it has been gradually known even here in Sweden but baking soda is not yet popular.

Speaking of natural cleaning, in Sweden there is a vinegar called ÄTTIKA.

ÄTTIKA” has a high acidity.  There are several types of it ranging from higher degree of acidity (24%) to ones that are most commonly used for cooking which has an acidity of 12%. (By the way, general Japanese vinegar has an acidity of 4% ~ 5%)

Interestingly, in Sweden people eat a lot of pickled foods, which is something I didn't know until I started living here.

Pickled herring, pickled vegetables, red cabbage and soup, which are indispensable as a side-dish for pork in Sweden. I use vinegar for various dishes. Therefore, ÄTTIKA is a food that is always available in every home.

In addition to natural cleaning, it is also used as a herbicide in gardening.

Descaling pots and coffee makers is an example of how to use natural cleaning. It can also be used as a detergent for washing dishwashers. After washing the dishes, it feels shiny in the dishwasher! Furthermore, the brilliance of glasses and cutlery is different. It’s nice to know that it is safe to use in a pot or dishwasher without any health risk.

So far my only cleaning method using ÄTTIKA has been descaling and dishwashing, but the other day I found a recipe for window polish spray (fo ̈nster puts) on Instagram.

I decided to try various cleaning with this spray, which was introduced on instagram account called Ekotipset, which introduces many eco-friendly techniques that can be used on a daily basis!

Ekotipset
https://www.instagram.com/ekotipset/

I use ÄTTIKA 12% (200 ml), water (300 mi), and 5 drops of dishwashing detergent.

It's a recipe for window cleaning, but it seems that you can clean various things, and when you look at the comments, many people try it and it seems that they are impressed by the effect.

I started cleaning from the window, and then started spraying on various places such as the kitchen, walls, stairs, baths and so on. The surprises are the handrails and walls of the stairs. Usually, when I wiped stains with normal detergent, some of the paint were also removed, but when I used this spray, the stains fell off nicely but the paint was intact!

Put this liquid in a container and microwave for 5 minutes. The dirt inside the microwave oven came out so that I was able to clean it just by wiping it off!

When sprayed, there is a slight odor of vinegar, but it disappeared immediately, so there was no need to worry about the smell.

I want to continue to enjoy cleaning with ÄTTIKA power!

See you next month!