Pine-Sol (the original formula) was my go-to household cleaner for decades, until they discounted making it with real pine nut oil.
My standard go-to household cleaner now is Lysol Power & Fresh (Orange). Love the scent.
Have always kept a bottle of ammonia handy for tough jobs such as stripping wax off floors, scrubbing grease off walls, whatever have you. For really tough jobs I'll sock a cloth in a little bit of straight ammonia and go to work on whatever it is that I was clean.
When it comes to true disinfecting I like household bleach (Javex or Clorox brand). I love treating my dishcloth to a bleach soaking the night before. A splash of bleach in one of the kitchen sink basins, a little water, let cloth soak all night, rinse and wring in the morning.
Regular household vinegar is another friend of mine. I descale the water kettle twice yearly of hard water buildup with a few vinegar treatments. Half a cup of vinegar inside the kettle, top off with water, bring to a boil, repeat.
Back in the day when my kids were in diapers I used to launder their diapers regularly with vinegar (once or twice monthly). Washed the diapers normally in hot water with detergent and bleach, then on the last fill cycle I'd add a cup of vinegar to the load. Not only did the vinegar help soften the diapers, but adding vinegar to the final wash cycle removed any detergent buildup in the diapers while at the same time helping balance the pH level in the fabric, which helped to reduce the occurrence of diaper rash and diaper irritation.
For stinky rubber pants nothing beat the old original Pine-Sol. I used to fill my laundry utility sink with a little warm water, a splash of Pine-Sol, let rubber pants soak for an hour or two, rinse (by-hand), pin on the clothesline to dry.
Shout stain remover, another favourite of mine. For stubborn stains, soak and rub the stain gently, let sit for an hour before laundering, overnight for serious stains.
I used to go through a bottle of Shout every 6-8 weeks when my kids were at the baby stage. Mealtime stains on t-shirts, sleepers, pyjamas... Shout, kept all looking clean and fresh and stain-free.
Speaking of cloth diapers, nothing got stains out better than hanging them on the clothesline on a sunny day. Amazing how bleaching the sun is when it comes to staining on whites, not to mention natural sunlight kills germs and bacteria.
