Household Tips

I love to use fabric softeners as the scent really helps pick up an otherwise bad day. But do you know you can also make use of fabric softeners in other areas outside of doing laundry?

• The television screen is a dust trap that no matter how many times you wipe it, it stills gather more everyday. Because the screen has static electricity, dusting isn’t easy. Wipe off a few drops of fabric softener on it at least once every week and you will see that you won’t have to do the dusting of the TV set every so often.
• Hair gets static, too. When that happens, you get uncontrollable hair that flips and isn’t easily tamed. Smoothen it out with a fabric softener sheet and your hair will stay in place, afterwards.
• Use the same for Venetian blinds, which also tends to get quite static.
• Add a cup of fabric softener to a pail of water and use this to mop the floor. Not only will your house smell really nice, you will have shiny floors, too!
• Keep a pack of fabric softener inside your luggage or bag when you don’t plan on using them, that way, they smell nice and fresh when you are ready to take that trip. In the same way, keep fabric softeners in sleeping bags.
• You can also place fabric softeners in laundry bags or hampers so as to cover up the pile of stink that comes with clothes scheduled for washing.
• Mosquitos for some reason are repelled by fabric softener. Rub off a softener sheet on your skin, when you are outside or spending time in the backyard, to keep the skeetos from biting.

We are so used to the way bleach smells that for years, it was what “being clean” smelled like. When you step into a bathroom or kitchen that smells of bleach (usually filled with ammonia right?), the first thing that comes to your mind is that this is a hygienic, germ-free room. Over the years, the bleach smell has been replaced with slightly less-harsher scents. Floral and potpourri-smelling products were in vogue then. But the evaporating smell of alcohol and chemical still lingers faintly.

Today though, many companies making cleaning products are so very conscious of introducing other special scents into their chemicals, such as the introduction of soothing scents like vanilla or lavender. Apparently, they are changing the way our senses process when we think of the word “clean”.

Procter and Gamble has even invested in a test facility that sets up mock homes, with testers walking around and commenting how the room smelled. They call this facility the Consumer Village, with main headquarters in Cincinnati.

A test participant is paid averagely $25 by the company for their time.

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Since I don’t have one, I’ll have to thank The Maids for posting this great list of “easy” tips for housekeeping!

– Place a doormat outside of your front entry door to reduce the amount of dirt tracked into the home.

– Leave a squeegee inside the shower and have each family member squeegee the walls after each shower. This reduces hard water buildup and a lot of scrubbing later on. A towel can also be used in place of a squeegee.

– Pour 1 cup white vinegar in the toilet bowl and leave overnight. Flush in the morning and the waterline ring should disappear.

– Enlist the family’s help by assigning age appropriate chores. Kids ages 10 and under can make beds and pick up rooms, while children older than 10 can vacuum, dust and wash floors. Convince your husband to move and clean behind appliances!

– Break up chores by scheduling common tasks for certain days of the week. In the past, women used to do chores by the day of the week. This traditional method breaks down the long list of weekly chores into seven days, making tasks seem more manageable.

housekeeping, cleaning, toilet ring

It’s so frustrating, and it just seems to multiply, doesn’t it? I live in an old house with hardwood floors. Old houses with hardwood get very dusty! I’m sure all houses get dirty, but I have no carpet to grab my dust! Here are some tips for dusting your hard to reach places:

dusting, cleaning, household tips

I hate it when my shower head starts squirting water everywhere except directly onto my body. We have relatively hard water — lots of limestone in the area — and our shower head gunks up (yes, that’s the technical word) with a visible crust. We often buy Lime-Away to clean this off, but if you want a quick and cheap at-home solution, good old vinegar will do the trick.

Simply fill a sandwich bag with vinegar and use a rubber hand to securely fasten to the bag to your shower. No need to take anything apart. Leave the bag on overnight or while you’re at work.

The only gotcha? Make sure you remember to take the bag off BEFORE turning your shower on!

shower, mineral deposit, calcium deposit, limestone, vinegar

Here are some handy tips for cleaning the ceramic tile of your shower.

1. Before you start cleaning, run the shower on hot for several minutes to allow the steam to loosen some of the dirt.

2. Spot the stubborn stains and apply a paste of scouring powder and water and let those sit for five mintes.

3. Scrub mildew and dirt spots with a nylon scrub pad, rinse and wipe dry with a soft towel.

4. To avoid future stains accumulating in the grout joints, wash with a solution of 2 tablespoons of bleach mixed in one quart of water. Dry thoroughly and apply an acrylic sealer.

5. Once the mildew is removed, make your tiles sparkle with a solution of ammonia and water.

But!

I have a good shower cleaner.

We just moved into our house last December and in the master bathroom we have a stall shower. It seems people either love or hate a stall shower. You definitely shouldn’t hate your stall shower simply because it collects soap scum and water deposits and looks dingy.

I’ve been using Seventh Generation, Natural Citrus Scent, Shower Cleaner. It costs less than $5.00 and has a very mild natural scent. I really hate some of the overpowering toxic smells from the stronger cleaners, and this one doesn’t make you gag or need to hold your breath.

I spray it on the glass walls of my stall shower and wipe it off with a paper-towel. There is no residue or streaks left behind and it leaves my shower clean and shiny.

I highly recommend this product.

Seventh-Generation is non-toxic and biodegradable. The cleansing agents are hydrogen peroxide for stain removal and citrus-oil for grease removal.

If your oven looks anything like mine, it isn’t pretty. I can’t ever remember actually cleaning an over, except that one time just after college when I was moving into an apartment where I swear to God I could smell the lead from the seventy years of paint layers. But, that was just a “mild” cleaning.

Now that I am much older, slightly wiser, and far more cynical I am ready and able to clean my oven.

For a just happened spill or overflow, cover the area liberally with baking soda. When the over cools off, you should be able to scoop up the gunk with a metal spatula. The baking soda works by absorbing any liquid and gunk, like, pie filling, or pizza grease. However, it won’t stick to the surface of the over. The key for this home remedy for over cleaning is to catch the spill while it is still wet. Once it gets baked on, you will need a harsher cleaner.

Another earth-friendly over cleaning product is vinegar. Regular old white vinegar is one of the best household cleaning agents out there. It is pure and clean, doesn’t leave a residue and is not toxic. It also leaves a nice pleasant scent in your home without being overpowering.

Vinegar will cut grease and soften the baked on deposits if you cover the area thoroughly. Obviously, as it is a liquid, you can’t just coat your oven with it, as it runs off and that is a mess I don’t want to think about cleaning. It will work really well on the floor of the oven if you can pour a little into the bottom welled-out area. Also, the vapors will soften the gook on the walls after several hours. If you are in a hurry to see your reflection in your oven, try this: mix one quarter of a cup of vinegar and a drop of fresh dish detergent in a pint of hot water. Let it sit for a few minutes and then scrub.

Last, and definitely least on my list of choices is ammonia. Ammonia is not 100% safe. It can cause dryness and irritation of the skin, eyes, nose and throat and it IS toxic if ingested by children or pets. If you are using ammonia and you inhale enough vapors to cause you to cough, you are too close and should seek fresh air immediately. Ammonia is a very harsh chemical that will erode many materials. Glass is safe to use with ammonia. To rid your oven of baked on goo, fill a shallow glass baking dish with ammonia and let it sit in a cold oven overnight. After about 8-12 hours, the grease will scrub off the doors and walls fairly easily.

The best way to “clean” your oven is to not have to scrub it! Line the bottom with foil to catch drips and just replace and recycle it when it gets dirty, and, wash off the front window of the oven weekly, or after baking a particularly messy food.

If you think anyone has ingested anything toxic or potentially harmful, don’t hesitate, call the Poison Control Center immediately. It is a toll-free call! 1-800-222-1222