Spic n' Span Liquid Cleaner

When I was growing up my mother was a cleaning fanatic. She washed the walls and ceilings down in the entire house (and its a big house) at least 6 times a year. She was a frugal woman (we had to be we were poor). She was a woman of just a few cleaning products. The one product she swore by was Spic n' Span powder. We used it wash walls and ceiling and mop floors with. It was a great product it smelled good and worked rather well. Sure you had to dissolve it in hot water but who is going to wash walls or mop floors with cold water?

So I used it as an adult myself. But a few years back I noticed it was gone from the stores. I switch over to other products but they were never quite as good. But I dealt with it. I missed the smell of spic and span cleaning my home. Then a while back I found the liquid version. The first few times I bought it was in a milky white plastic bottle and the liquid was green it smelled the same and worked pretty well. It was manufactured by good ole Proctor and Gamble. A company that I have come to trust. I never believed the hype about them being Satanists or worshipping the devil. I figure that was a lie started by a competing company. Think about it devil worshipping ceremonies using Tide and Jif peanut butter? Well I guess they could clean the mess up with some Bounty paper towels but I digress.................

So a while back I noticed Spic and Span as it is now called changed itself and was now in clear streamlined bottles with multiple scents available. I seen a Lavender Version, Citrus and Sunfresh. I didn't like the Lavender it smelled just like Fabuloso (thats a whole other story). I didn't much care for the Citrus or the Sunfresh but decided on the Sunfresh verison. I need to wash the walls down in my new house and this would do or so I thought!

So I get my trusty old bucket and some rags and the ladder out to start the job. Actually it was a new bucket and the very first time I used the bucket I ligthly it the inside of it with my hand and knock a gigantic fist size hole in it! So I go back to the store and buy another bucket to get started. Cheap plastic anyway!

The old lady that lived in this house prior to me smoked like a freight train and this house heats with gas. I think she had had the walls painted within the last few years but they were very yellowed and had a 1/4 inch of crud built up on them. The lighting is very poor in this house and when I get the money I definetly investing in new lighting. So I fix up a bucket of hot water and Spic And Span and get busy. I am washing away dancing to the Dixie Cups and really noticing the solution in the bucket is staying rather clean. My mother had called earlier and said she would come over to help (she should after all the walls I washed as a child, I am just kidding). So when she swings the door open and the natural hits the walls OMG. They were streaked terribly with a mixture of smoke and gas. The first thing my mother says it smells like wet cigarette ashes in here and that I wasn't cleaning very well. I was in a full sweat I had been rubbing and scrubbing for an hour. She asked me if I had started smoking again. I told her no that I think I was getting my nicotine fix my osmosis washing these walls. She looks at the water in the bucket and says to me "You can't just lightly dab these walls and think they'll come clean". When I told her that I had been really scrubbing for at least an hour she didn't believe me. She went and got a new bucket of water and Spic and Span and started helping me. She immediately commented that this new stuff didn't work. "Yeah Mom, I already figured that out". So she said we needed to go to the store to get something that worked. She did say she was surprised at the new Spic and Span and that it used to be a good product. We read the bottle and seen that it was no longer made by Proctor and Gamble. I live rather close to a Family Dollar so we went there for more cleaner. They had a very limited selection and I told her that is where I bought the Spic and Span. She said "Well no more of that crap" and we went in. So we go to the back of the store where they keep the cleaning products. They mostly carried Spic and Span and just a couple of other brands. I thought about the Clorox clean up but I did want bleach spots on my lovely burnt orange shag carpeting (hopely soon replaced). So we looked at Fabuloso but I told my mother it made me sick to smell it and it didn't work well either. So we had two choices Lestoil or Mr. Clean. My mother informed me that the "New" Mr. Clean didn't work either she had already "been there, done that". So we selected the Lestoil (another tried a true product she used to use.

So we go home and fix up buckets of Lestoil and immediately notice the rags and bucket of solutions turning brown from the amount of crud that was coming off the walls. We scrubbed and rubbed for hours and the walls were coming sparkling clean. We changed water often and were very pleased with the results. The house actually quit smelling like an ashtray and more like a pine forest. We were quite pleased.

I don't know why Proctor and Gamble sold off Spic and Span. I guess the younger generation doesn't clean much. But why the new company that is making it changed the formula to scented water is beyond me. If something ain't broke don't fix it is my motto and for the Love of God bring back good ole Spic n' Span powder in the original scent!