Cleaning a Hardwood Floor with Tea

You might be surprised to find that a lot of people recommend cleaning hardwood floors with plain black tea. This actually works because of the tannic acid in the tea. It's simple, cheap, green, and effective.

The steps are fairly simple:

• Make a pot of tea with two tea bags. 
• A quart of water should be just about right. 
• You don't have to use high quality tea, the cheap stuff will work just fine. 
• But don't use the instant stuff. 
• Let the tea cool down until it's warm or at room temperature. 
• You can discard the tea bags. 
• Clean the floor the way you normally would, but using tea instead of your normal cleaning solution.

Remember, wood floors don't like lots of water and that goes for tea water too.

If you are like me you will probably want to use a damp sponge mop, but the best way to clean a wood floor is to get down on your hands and knees and scrub it with a damp cloth. Make sure to rinse the rag out with clean water periodically and then dip it in the tea and squeeze it out before proceeding.