Cleaning Tips for Around The Home and More

 Helpful tips for around the house :

1. Vinegar will clean your windows. Use a piece of newspaper and you won’t have to worry about not having a window cleaner, because straight vinegar will do the same thing. If you wash one up and down on the outside and then sideways on the inside, this will help you know where your streaks are coming from.

2. The chlorine tablets that you get for you pool, will work wonders if you place two of them in the back of your toilet. If you pick them up, you will find they are not cheap but in the long run they are cheaper then toilet bowl cleaners because they will last forever. You will notice when you first place them in the back of your toilet bowl that there will be a slime for the first couple of days because it not only cleans your toilet bowl but also the back of the toilet where you place the tablets. In a couple of days if you check the back of your toilet you will be amazed at how clean it looks and your toilet bowl will be so much cleaner looking with less hassle.

3. Hairspray will take ink stains out of your clothes. Just spray the stain with hairspray and throw in your washer. You can also use the chlorine tablets in your washer to help reduce stains as well by throwing them in the spot on your washer that says fabric softener. All washers are different so this might only work for some washers but if you can find a place to throw them in, you will notice it helps prevent some of the stains on your clothing.

4. Mayonaisse will take burn marks out of your table. Just put some on a cloth and wipe where the burn mark is and you will notice the burn mark blending in with your wood. Reducing how bad the stain looks. In some cases I was able to blend in the burn mark so that you couldn’t even tell the table had been burnt.

5. Baking soda and water will clean your microwave easily and with little effort. Put some baking soda in a measuring cup and fill with water. Put in the microwave for a couple of minutes. When you open the microwave, you will only have to wipe the excess water away and you will be amazed at how easy it was. No more scrubbing to get all the baked on food off.

6. Instead of spending extra money on fresh scented kitty litter, you can use baby powder and just sprinkle in the kitty litter yourself. I had so much baby powder left after I had my children and it cost me more to buy baby powder fresh scented kitty litter, so I started buying the cheaper brands and putting the baby powder in myself. It does the same thing ! I didn’t find it helped reduce the smell for long but either did the more expensive brands of kitty litter.

7. Running vinegar through your dishwasher will help reduce some of the soap build up.

8. Use your broom to reach those cobwebs that are out of reach without a chair.

9. Someone in your household has allergies so you are unable to use air freshners from the store but want to make you house smell good. Add some cinnamon to boiling water, throw in an apple and you will have a nice smell throughout your house in no time and don’t have to worry about sprays.

My husband has bad allergies and is allergic to so many of the store bought air freshners, and candles so I had to come up with another idea to achieve a nice smell.

10. To dust inside wall heaters or any small areas you can use a paintbrush. If it gets a build up of dirt you can use a wet Q-tip to get inside easily to wash it clean.

11. Your candles that have reached the point where the wick is no longer good. Throw all your extra wax, from all your candles in a pot, be careful taking out the left over wick when it starts to melt. Get a piece of string and place it in your wax for your new candle. Use a utensil to take out the string and set some place to dry. When your wax is all melted, have someone hold the wick in the middle of your glass container and pour ( you can even use one that you took the wax out of ). Be very careful doing this because it is hot wax and if you spill it, it will leave a nasty burn. This is just a way to make more candles with your left over wax so you don’t have to go buy more when your candles have reached the point they are no longer any good.

12. A little baking soda and water will make you kettle, toaster and other appliances shine again.

13. Peanut butter will remove gum your children have stuck to things it doesn’t belong, even their hair. In the hair you will have to rub the peanut butter and it will take a bit of time but will eventually release the gum and this way, you don’t have to cut their hair off.

14. Alcohol will help take stickers off of glass that your children have stuck it too.

15. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, really will take the crayon off the wall and will work on so many other stains you have around the house. This is one of my favorite household products !

16. You can place bounce sheets around your house to have a fresher smell, such as your clothing, garbage can etc.

17. Lemon juice will remove nicotine stains from your hands if you are a smoker.

18. Clothes with a smell to them such as fishing or work clothes, you can throw in some lemon Mr. Clean to help get rid of the smell.

My husband fishes and the smell is hard to get out of the work clothes, so I have found that if I pour some Mr. Clean or any lemon cleaner in with my wash, it helps reduce the smell on his work clothes.

19. Squeeze your toilet roll before placing it on the holder and this will prevent younger children or pets from unrolling your roll as fast.

20. If you cut up an onion and add pepper, you can place this beside your bed at night, to help with a cough.

I don’t find this tip helps all that great for myself but others have tried it and found it worked wonders when they had a bad cough. Give it a try and see if it works for you !

21. To make your own Neo Citran, boil water and add lemon juice and honey. A tablespoon or two of lemon and honey to taste. If you like it stronger you don’t need to add the honey.

22. If you are trying to quit smoking a tip to try to quit, is to place a cup of water with cigarette butts in the cup. When you are craving a cigarette, look into the cup and the smell mixed with how bad it looks may help with the craving.

I have not found this worked for me but others have found it helped. A tip to try if you are trying to quit !

23. If you have a problem with ants you can sprinkle oatmeal around your house. The ants are attracted to the oatmeal but when they eat the oatmeal they die. This will not get rid of all of them but will help get rid of some of them.

24. If you have a problem with ear wigs and you know where the nest is, you can fill it with water or spray them with water. They drown when there is too much water.

25. Bay leaves in your cubboard will stop food bugs from wanting to hibernate in with your food.

26. If you are trying to trap a mouse from around the house, I have noticed that they prefer sweet things to cheese. Set some chocolate or even peanut butter on your trap and they will be more interested.

27. If the power goes out and you still have small children that kick the blankets off, you can dress them in their ski doo suits to keep them warm through out the night.

I used to do this with my little one’s when they were really small and we would lose the power. I was so worried about them kicking the blankets off and wanted to make sure that they would stay warm.

These are just a few idea’s that I have tried and done around the house for cleaning and other tips on when you are sick or trying to quit smoking. Hope you find some tips that will be useful for you around your household.