Clean simple with your own home-made solution pt.2: Baking soda to the rescue!

Sometimes I think I'm just way behind the times, but I figure I can't be the only one who doesn't know this or that, however basic it may seem.

My mother has grandchildren, not from me but my sister who has two little rascally boys made all the more rascally when staying over at grandma's, for as the saying goes "it's the grandmother's duty to spoil her grandchildren" - she does this quite well by the way, and then she wonders why they don't listen to her.

On such one over-night occasion, her two darling rascally grandchildren took a blue ink pen to the sofa as if it was their very own canvas!  This large arc sectional has been in the family since I was born, and has been reupholstered once with beautiful sea-green velvet-like textured fabric.  The drawing stayed on the sectional for quite some time and then one day I came over and realized the large pen marks were gone, as if they were never there.

And what did Mom tell me?  "Baking Soda, water and a small soft cleaning-brush".  I have yet to try this but my eyes do not deceive me.  I'm sure I'll have to use this home-solution some day and when that day comes, you'll hear about it.

Clean simple with your own home-made solution

Clean simple with:  Bleach & Water solution

Fill a spray bottle with half bleach and half water, add more bleach if you'd like.  Remember to label the bottle.

Spray your tub, your grout, your white tiles and your sink to get it to whiten and/or (my favorite way to use) to get mildew that is black or red to whiten resulting in clean and re-whitened areas!

There are limits to the Bleach & Water solution however, let's just remember that it can't perform magic.  If your mildew is out of control and is blacker than black you'll find that you'll have to spray multiple times to whiten that mildew.  If you've been spraying all day and can't seem to get that mildew around your sink edges to whiten as much as you'd like it might be best to start thinking about stripping and re-caulking those areas.

My all-time favorite way to use bleach & water solution is on shower curtains.  After some use your shower curtain can start to mildew, after a shower simple spray down the shower curtain on the areas that are needed, wah-la!  You'll have mildew free shower curtains in no time!

Clean simple with:  Vinegar & Water solution

Fill a spray bottle with half vinegar and half water, add more vinegar if you'd like.  Remember to label the bottle.

Vinegar charms me with its abilities to make metal shine and to remove rust, yes rust!  To remove rust soak a paper-towel in vinegar and wrap or lay on-top of area that is rusted, leave for a couple hours or even over night, douse the paper-towel again with more vinegar if need be or if it'll give you a peace-of-mind.  With a slight scrub your rust should fall right off!

I always keep a spray bottle of vinegar & water solution handy to wipe grimy and gross areas, it works wonders to get crud off the top of the stove as well!  Sure it doesn't smell all that pleasant but I find that it works better than most cleaning agents and is chemical free, another big plus in my opinion.

Unclog that sink with this simple home remedy

It seems to me that it really doesn't matter how careful you are of taking care to keep that kitchen drain clog-free, sooner or later the inevitable happens, a slow-drain, and then eventually a clog so awful that using your kitchen sink has become an ordeal.

In a situation like this I am a person who immediately reaches the phone to call for help it just seems simpler to me do this, fortunately my husband is a bit more handy.  With our first and most recent kitchen clog he used a simple home remedy that worked wonders!

Ingredients:
1 cup of baking soda
1 cup of table salt
1 cup of white vinegar
A kettle of boiling water

Directions:
Wait until there is no water in the sink and the pipes are believed to be somewhat dry
Pour 1 cup of baking soda and then 1 cup of table salt and then 1 cup of vinegar, in this order
Wait 10 minutes and flush the drain with boiling water

I have also read that the home remedy below also works well for clogs, so if you do not have baking soda, salt and white vinegar handy maybe you'll have a liter of coke in the refrigerator to use instead.

Ingredients:
1 liter of cola
A kettle of boiling water

Directions:
Pour the liter of coke down the drain and let it sit over night
The next morning before use flush the drain with a kettle of boiling water