With Spring Cleaning Time here, you may be doing some cleaning to prepare for Summertime guests in your home. You may also be looking for some tricks to clean up those stains that just don’t seem to come out, or inexpensive ways to shine stubborn surfaces like stainless steel. I’ve pulled together a collection of those amazing home cleaning tips that, once you try, you won’t be able to do without. After searching the Internet I've come up with these tried and true tips. I used these over the years and have tweaked some for improvement.
Floor Scuffs
WD-40: the magic ingredient to removing tough scuff marks from the floor. Those tough black scuff marks on your kitchen floor won’t be so tough anymore if you spray them with WD-40. Use WD-40 to help remove tar and scuff marks on all your hard-surfaced floors. It won’t harm the surface, and you won’t have to scrub nearly as much. Remember to open the windows if you are cleaning a lot of marks.
Dirty Shower heads
Use this ”explosive“ homemade cleaner to blast away all of those hard water deposits that are blocking your shower head:
-1/3 cup baking soda -1 cup white vinegar
-1 plastic bag
-1 large bag twisty tie
1. Mix baking soda and vinegar in bag over a sink. Caution: Pour vinegar into bag slowly, there is an “explosive” foaming action that kicks in.
2. Place bag over shower head. Be sure it is submerged in the baking soda/vinegar solution.
3. Secure with twisty tie.
4. Let the shower head soak in the solution overnight or for at least 2-3 hours.
5. Wipe off shower head prior to use
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Cleaning Fruits and Veggies
Do you like your produce clean but don't want to spend a ton to do it? Use white vinegar.
Fill a new clean bucket (that you will only use for your produce wash) halfway with lukewarm water.
Add 1 cup of white vinegar.
Mix.
Add your fruit. Don’t over fill your bucket with fruit.
Soak for about 10 minutes
(shorter for berries – about 2 – 5 minutes).
Rinse well.
The Result: Clean. Fruit.
And how did I know they were clean?
The water was dirty, and the apples had that white sheen left on them after the wax has dissolved off.
And if you rinse well, there is no vinegar taste. Even in the berries.
Dryer Lint
Get down into the link trap of your dryer to remove debris using chopsticks. Your vacuum cleaner works well too if you use the crevice tool. Also be sure to wash your lint screen on a regular basis to remove dryer sheet build up that clogs the screen. You will notice water beads up and runs off prior to washing. You can use a little dish soap to rid the accumulation. Clogged screens makes your dryer work harder.
Cleaning Blinds
This difficult task is made easy by using white vinegar. Mix equal parts of vinegar and warm water in a bowl. Slip an old sock on your hand and wipe all the grimy dirt away. When your sock gets really dirty, rinse it in some clean water and repeat the cleaning process.
Grease Stains
Have a stubborn grease stain? Use corn meal to soak it up. Cornmeal absorbs grease on light colored fabric or upholstery. Pour enough on to cover the soiled area and let sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Vacuum to remove the grains.
Ice and Citrus Peel for a Clean Garbage Disposal
You can combine two cups of ice cubes and a cup of rock salt to make a great cure for malodorous garbage disposals. Fill the garbage disposal with the ice cubes and then pour the salt over the ice cubes. Run cold water and turn on the garbage disposal for approximately 5-10 seconds. The combination of ice and rock salt will help knock sludge and debris off of the grinding elements so that they can make their way down the drain. If you don't happen to have rock salt, substituting a cup of vinegar will also work.
Keep your disposal smelling fresh by dropping a few peels down the drain and flipping the switch.
Citrus Peel as Coffee Mug Cleaner
Remove coffee or tea stains from a mug by rubbing them with a lightly salted citrus peel.
Car Wax as Stove top Polish
Preserve a pristine stove top by applying a thin layer of car wax, then wiping it off. Future spills will lift off easily.
Drain Unclogged Use Baking Soda
To get your drain running again (without resorting to chemicals worthy of a hazmat suit) pour ½ cup soda, then ½ cup vinegar, down a clogged drain. Cover it with a wet cloth, wait 5 minutes, uncover, and flush with steaming-hot water.
Eggshells or Rice as Bottle and Vase Cleaners
Here’s an idea for all those eggs you hard-boiled: Use their broken eggshells to clean the hard-to-reach places in bottles and vases. Drop some crushed shells in the bottle, add warm water and a drop of dish washing liquid, and give it a good swirl. The shells will scrape off the gunk you can’t get to, so you can save your elbow grease for the dinner dishes. You can do the same with raw rice!
Cotton Ball as Rubber Glove Protector
For leak-resistant gloves at your fingertips, push one cotton ball into the end of each finger of a dish washing glove to keep sharp nails from splitting the rubber.
Coaster as Drip Catcher
Once you have your shelves clean, keep then that way! Catch the sticky stuff from bottles and jars in cupboards with coasters. No more shelves that require a full wipe-down after every spoonful of honey, slather of jam, or glug of olive oil.
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Baking Soda as Silver Polish
To polish silver: Wash items, then place on aluminum foil in the bottom of a pot. Add a baking-soda solution (¼ cup soda, a few teaspoons salt, 1 quart boiling water) and cover for a few seconds. The result? A chemical reaction that gets the black off the gravy boat.
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Aluminum Foil as Glassware Scrubber
To get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dish washing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad, says Mary Findley, president of the cleaning-products developer Mary Moppins. It's one way to recycle those used but perfectly good pieces of foil you hate to throw out.
Baby Oil as Chrome Polish
Forget keeping skin soft, baby oil also polishes chrome. Apply a dab to a cotton cloth and use it to shine everything from faucets to hubcaps. You'll end up with shiny, happy surfaces from a medicine-cabinet staple. (Who actually owns chrome cleaner, anyway?)
Olive Oil as Sap Remover
If dragging and decking out or pruning fresh spruce leaves you with sticky digits, pour a tablespoon of oil onto a cloth, then rub until clean. Bonus: The oil is a great moisturizer for dry winter skin.
Panty Hose as Candle Cleaner
Revive a forgotten flicker. Slide a dusty candle inside a stocking and roll/rub it around to remove any collected grime, hair, and dust.
Baking Soda as Stain Remover
Clean discolored teacups and teapots by making a paste of baking soda and water. Gently rub over the stain to remove
Baking Soda as Tub Scrubber
Rub tub stains away. Create a paste made up of equal parts Baking Soda and Cream of Tartar and a little Lemon Juice. Let sit for 30 minutes, then rinse.
This started out as passing on some tips to make cleaning faster and easier...but has turned into a procrastination method for me to put off my cleaning
Guess it's time to get busy...
