Here is a fun guide on how to clean you house in Mexico!
# 1 Fabuloso
If you have spent anytime in Mexico you have smelled Fabuloso cleaner. Each morning businesses and house cleaners scrub down, mop up, and squeegee down tile floors all with a unique smell that is sure to get stuck in your head. These scented cleaners are so popular in part because everyone has tile floors.The most common smell is “Lavanda” or “Lavender”, the purple Fabuloso product. I like smelling it just because it reminds me of vacations. It is a most unique smell that has become part of the fabric of life here. There must have been some research that has gotten people addicted to it and now it is the unofficial smell of Mexico, which is not really a bad thing. 
If you want your house to smell Mexican in just a few minutes, drop 1/4 cup Fabuloso in a gallon of water and mop away. You can also use it for cleaning walls and fabric, it really is an all purpose cleaner. Fabuloso comes in different scents and you can vacation away from lavender every once in a while. When shopping in the grocery store you will notice a whole side of an isle full of different scents. This is serious business here in Mexico.
#2 Bleach
Bleach is the all purpose disinfectant that can be very handy for life in the tropics. If you don’t want to use Fabuloso on your floors then adding a little bleach in a bucket of water and moping your floor comes in handy. If you have pets that have accidents inside, then this is a thorough clean up behind them.
Bleach comes in handy in the kitchen as well. Cutting boards that you have just cut meat on or rinsing off dishes in a bleach water solution can sanitize things. This is good because some houses do not have hot water all the time in the kitchen. Grout in the kitchen and bathroom that have started to grow mold can be cleaned up by bleach as well. The sponge that you use to clean dishes can get smelly fast here in Mexico, so a little soak in a bleach water solution will have it smelling new again.
Sweaty clothes. Living in the hot weather means coming home sweaty. If you have tried to clean you clothes but noticed that once you put them on again the smells start to come back, then you know how important it is to do a deep clean. If you have very sweaty clothes, rinse them in water first, then add a cap full of bleach to fresh water and soak the clothes for a few minutes (longer soaks will start to wear down fabrics). Then rinse and wash the clothes like you normally would. This will kill all the bad bacteria and leave you with fresh smelling clothes. It does take its toll though and will shorten the life of the clothes but that is just part of what you have to deal with to be fresh in the tropics.
Do you have the black mold that is common on the outside of your house? Well bleach is your friend. Mix with water and spray down your house to kill this mold. After a while you may come to not mind the look of it and accept it as part of the “patina” or “charm” look of the Yucatan.
#3 Muriatic Acid
This is the strongest chemical and care should be taken when using this product. Always make sure you have ventilation and when using in a house with pets, move your pets away to protect their respiratory system. NEVER mix this product with another product.
This yellow acid can be found in most grocery stores and amazingly enough, even though it is so powerful it seems to come in the wimpiest container, thin plastic bottle with a small cap.
The water here is very hard and contains minerals that build up on faucets and shower heads. Muriatic acid will work wonders on fizzling this off just like magic! If you do have cheap faucets it will take its toll on them after a while but this is just part of the natural process of owning a house and you should expect to replace faucets often.
Your toilet will often have stains on it and muriatic acid will work wonders on these. If the stains are below the waterline then you can flush the toilet and pour the acid on while the water is going out or if that does not work, turn off water and sponge out the remaining water in the bowl to expose the stained porcelain. Once the water is out you can let the muriatic acid do its trick.
Do you have grout in your floor that has gotten unsightly? This acid will magically turn it from black to white, or what every color is should be. It should be noted that this is not for weekly use. It will damage and weaken the grout so this is more or annual cleaning.
So there you have it, your whole house is clean from your bathroom to floors to clothes. In just three simple cleaners that are so popular here in Mexico. Do you have some cleaning tips that you would like to share? Add them below.
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Distilled white vinegar is another wonderful cleaner/deodorizer; it dissolves mineral deposits, cleans counters, and gets rid of that “old sweat” smell from laundry!
I just added green fabuloso to my laundry as last ditch effort to get smell out. its working already and load isn’t even done. I just wanted to say great site good tips. thank you. and also to have the freshest clothes add suavitel fabric softener. the yellow scented one is my favorite !
Thank you so much for your comments. Clothes can get pretty mildew here at times and smelly fast. Glad you found a way to get smells out.
Every time I smell fabuloso I remember my vacations. The smells are so common in Latin American.
Do you have any recommendations for where to buy cleaning supplies here in Playa Del Carmen besides the grocery stores? I need to buy in bulk more of less and want to find a good place.
Hello. There is a store on Constituyentes Avenue just above the highway on the north side of the street. It is a small yellow storefront. There you can buy cheaper and in bulk. They also have house sprays. These are nice scents you can spray to make an area smell good. They even have bubble gum!
We are always using bleach in our kitchen and walls on the house to kill mold. Lavender is a popular small to use in Mexico.
Do you have more environmentally friendly cleaning suggestions? Everything we clean with here goes back into the water supply at some point so I am trying to find products that contain less chemicals and are more eco friendly. Thank you.
There are some cleaning supplies at Bio Organicos Store on 26th Street and Bio Natural. There are also some independent sellers around the city but it is hard to write about them since they move often.
Hi S. Vaquez, I agree with you totally. Everything recommended on this post is detrimental to the environment. Go to Pinterest and google environmental cleaning supplies.
Thank you to those trying to find more environment ally friendly products. The amount of bleach used here is terrible for the environment and the people working with it. I’m now looking into making my own stuff.