Our bathroom floor is covered with a zillion little tiles. The grout gets dirty, and none of the sprays or foams I’ve tried, green or otherwise have been able to get it clean again. Turns out, the secret to getting the grout clean doesn’t come in a bottle.

We’ve evolved in our cleaning to the point where we expect the bubbles to do our scrubbing for us. The result is more and more potent products with more and more harmful fumes that don’t necessarily clean any better.

Scrub! Get a scrub brush and scrub the floor. Use a mild detergent (like Ecover’s dishsoap or all purpose cleaner) and a stiff scrub brush. I cleaned my bathroom floor in thirty minutes and the grout looks brand new now.

My method: Spray a little eco-friendly all purpose cleaner on the floor, rinse the brush in warm water and scrub. I worked back and forth across the floor in strips of about two feet at a time, and mopped up the excess water with a rag.

Put a little elbow grease into it. Not only can you clean better with safer products, but you’ll get a little exercise too. Wax on. Wax off.