The weather’s warming up and along with spring weather comes spring cleaning. Get rid of all the dust and dullness the winter has left behind. Closets are getting reorganised, bathrooms are being scrubbed top to bottom, and the list of spring projects is getting longer and longer.
1. Deodorising drains
What goes down sometimes comes back up. To deodorise your sink and tub drains, and keep lingering odours from resurfacing, pour 1/2 cup baking soda and then 1/2 cup of vinegar. Cover up the drain during the chemical reaction. Wait 15 min and pour a pot of boiling water. It totally clears up the clogged drain caused by hair and it’s easier on the pipes than Drano. Works every time!!
2. Salt as iron cleaner
Eliminate sticky residue from an iron. Run the hot iron (no steam) over plain paper sprinkled with salt.
3. Fix scratches on wood
Mix about 1/2 cup vinegar with 1/2 cup of olive oil. Take a kitchen rag and just dip it in and rub it on. Keep going until you had gone over the whole table and used almost all of the mixture.
4. How to clean your ceiling fan
A great idea for dusting the blades of a grimy ceiling fan without getting a face full of dust. Simply slide each blade, one at a time, into a pillowcase and wipe off the blade with the inside of the pillowcase. All the dust, dirt, and debris will stay inside. Then simply shake out the case outside and throw it in the laundry bin.
5. Rubber Gloves to remove pet hair
Dampen one of your rubber gloves a little, and then use it to remove pet hair from furniture. The damp rubber material is like a magnet to hair.
6. Squeegee hair picker upper
A new use for an old item! Turns out your squeegee has a brilliant use other than getting your windows squeaky clean. Use one as a quick and easy way to wipe pet hair off of your carpets and rugs.
7. Sanitising sponges
Sponges can harbour millions of germs. Using the rough side of a sponge for scrubbing out hard-to-clean pots and pans works brilliantly, but one tends to end up throwing them out before their life cycle is over. Instead, put them in the microwave for a couple of minutes and watch as the microbes sizzle away.
8. Cleaning slime
Place 1 tablespoon of white wood glue in a cup, add about 1 spoon of water and mix well. Then in another cup put 2 tablespoons of borax and 2 tablespoons of water. Pour the glue solution and the borax solution together and you get slime. Add some food colour to the glue first if you want it to have a colour.
9. Inexpensive and effective homemade leather cleaner
This leather cleaner not only cleans but also conditions your leather to keep it healthier. It works really well on leather car seats and even those great leather jackets that you have hanging in the closet. The recipe is simple. ¼ cup of olive oil, ½ cup of regular vinegar and a spray bottle. Just mix the 2 ingredients together in your spray bottle and shake it well. Now you just have to spray the leather down and wipe it clean with a cotton cloth. Note that you can add a few drops of eucalyptus oil or your favourite essential oil if you want to give it a better smell than vinegar.
10. Using vinegar to clean stainless steel
Vinegar doesn’t just clean the insides of appliances, but it can clean the outsides, too. There’s really no need to buy the expensive stainless steel cleaners to rid yourself of greasy fingerprints all over your fridge, dishwasher, and microwave. All you need is vinegar. Just soak a sponge or cloth in vinegar and wipe them down. Then buff dry with a dry cloth.
11. Three Ways To Keep Towels Soft
There is nothing better than getting out of a hot, steamy shower only to wrap yourself up in a super soft towel. However, towels don’t stay soft past the first couple uses and tend to become less absorbent. So how do you go about fixing this?
Gather all towels that need to be washed/softened. When your washer has reached its rinse cycle, add 1/4 cup of vinegar to the washer. This will strip away any residue and leftover detergent. The best part is, vinegar will also fight against any odours that have embedded into your towels.
Another way to keep towels soft on a regular basis is to wash towels in very hot water. Start by checking the tag to see what it suggests for temperatures. Then set your washer to that temperature and wash as normal. This will make the towels very soft and will strip away any oil or greasiness left on the towels.
The final suggestion on keeping your towels soft is to not use fabric softener. When it comes to towels fabric softener tends to works against them and will reduce towel absorbency. So instead use the vinegar suggestion above to keep towels soft and skip the softening products all together!
Issued by Engel & Völkers Southern Africa.
