Basic Homemade Cleaning Solutions

Homemade cleaning solutions are not only good for the environment they are also good for your wallet.  You can make them quickly and easily with items you can find in your pantry. Some of the most popular are baking soda, distilled white vinegar, olive oil, lemon oil, and a good squirt bottle always helps.

Vinegar Clean

The general all purpose cleaner is good for cleaning kitchen counter tops, bathroom countertops and anywhere you would need to clean daily with a mild cleanser. You can make a quick solution by mixing one part vinegar and one part water into a spray bottle.  You can also use this homemade cleaner on glass countertops and toilets. You should never use this on granite countertops or wood because vinegar is acidic and can damage those surfaces.

When doing the laundry, especially if you have hard water, adding 1/2 cup of vinegar during the rinse cycle will help soften your clothes and also will cut down on odors.  This will leave your cloths feeling soft and fluffy.

Baking Soda Clean

When cleaning the bathroom mix baking soda and water to form a paste. You can use this paste to scrub fixtures and tile. This works really well on tile and bathtub stains.  Baking soda is also good at cleaning the toilet, just sprinkle some into the toilet bowl and add a splash of vinegar. The vinegar and baking soda will react and starts to create carbon dioxide. This bubbling action is a great way to clean the toilet without having to get out your scrub brush.

Lemon Clean

Mixing two parts lemon juice and one part olive oil makes a great wood cleaner. Pour a small amount of the cleaning solution onto a rag and wipe down any finished wood you have in your house. This works exceptionally well on kitchen cabinets.

Making your own homemade cleaners is easy. Not only will you save the environment you also save a lot of money. No longer will you have to drive to the store  to buy more cleaner.  Next time you are starting a new cleaning project, think about using one of these homemade cleaning recipes.

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• White Vinegar, Eco Cleaning's Number One
• Baking Soda, Eco Cleaning's Number Two
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Chester's Laundry Stain Removal Guide

If anyone tells you that they enjoy doing the laundry, you have to question their sanity. Laundry is just a fact of life, it has to be done. I don’t mind doing the laundry, but I do hate stains! Especially the set-in ones! Here are some of our best tips for removing laundry stains.

Table of Contents:

• Blood Stain Removal
• Coffee Stain Removal
• Deodorant Stains Removal
• Grass Stain Removal
• Ink Stain Removal
• Laundry Soap Residue Removal
• Red Wine Stain Removal
• Tough Laundry Stain Removal
• Share Your Tips

Blood Stain Removal

Hopefully you don’t have to use this great tip too often! The best way to remove blood stains, even dried-on blood stains is to make a paste out of meat tenderizer and water and apply to the stain. Let it stand for about an hour and rinse off with water. If the stain still exists, repeat and this time work the paste into the stain. Rinse off and launder as usual.

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Coffee Stain Removal

Coffee stains happen, luckily making your own coffee stain removal solution is easy. The first thing you should do with a coffee stain is rinse out as much of the stain with water as possible. The best way to do this is to turn the garment inside out and place it under a running faucet. Next mix 1 cup hot water with about 1 tsp of dish soap. Blot with a sponge and dry with a white terry cloth. If the stain is still there, try mixing 1 part distilled vinegar and 2 parts warm water. Again blot the area with a sponge and dry with a terry cloth towel. Do not rub, that will only spread the stain. Wash regularly and verify that the stain is completely removed before you dry it. You can repeat each of the coffee stain removal methods as needed. As always test for color fastness.

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Deodorant Stains Removal

Deodorant stains can ruin any dress or shirt. I have two different tricks for dealing with these stains, however, you must test each one first in a inconspicuous place to make sure that they do not cause the color to fade or damage the fabric. The first trick is to wipe the stain with white vinegar as a pre-treatment for the stain. Launder as usual and the stain should be gone. The second trick is to soak the deodorant stain with denatured alcohol. Once you have soaked the stain, wash with the highest temperature setting that you safely can use.

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Grass Stain Removal

Grass stains are horrible. If you can get to them before they completely set, then just use a pre-wash stain remover such as the Spray and Wash Stick. It will keep the stain from setting even if you pre-treat and ignore until your normal laundry day. However, if the grass stain has set completely, you have to take more drastic measures. Mix two parts of ammonia with one part vinegar. Work the mixture into the stain and then launder as usual.

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Ink Stain Removal

Ink is one of the hardest things to get out of clothing. Inks are made in many different ways, so it is hard for me to tell you what will work best for removing your ink stain since I don’t know what kind of ink it is. The strategy for ink stain removal is to use a solvent to remove the stain from the fabric. Not all ink can be removed but you will not know about your stain until you try. In the worst case the following solvents will at least lighten the stain.

When working with all of these solutions soak a clean terry cloth rag with the solvent and blot at the stain. Never rub an ink stain because you will only work it further into the fabric. If you get an ink stain, treat it immediately if possible to make ink stain removal easier once you get home. You can treat with waterless hand sanitizer or just plain water if that is all that is available.

Hairspray is the most common ink solvent, and it works fairly well. Be patient and keep spraying and blotting. It will take some time for the stain to come up. Sometimes I will let the hairspray soak for a few moments before I blot. Rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover (acetone), Lestoil, and turpentine all work well on removing ink stains. Some ink formulas may need the use of one or more of these solvents to remove the ink.

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Laundry Soap Residue Removal

If you start to notice that your laundry is coming out of your washer with soap residue or your clothes seem to be getting stiffer the more you wash them, then you have a detergent build-up in your washer. Adding one cup of white vinegar to your laundry will help to break up that residue. I recommend adding vinegar about once a month to keep your washer clean. Just make sure to never add vinegar to any load of laundry that you are adding bleach to.

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Red Wine Stain Removal

We have all been there before. You are having a wonderful time at a party and turn around to talk to a friend when you accidentally bump into a glass full of red wine. You new dress is ruined. To get the red wine stain out mix 1 tsp of dish detergent and 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide into a bowl. Use a clean towel or sponge to dab the area. Start from the outside and dab your way around the stain slowly working toward the center of the stain as it is removed. Hydrogen peroxide can bleach your clothing so test before you begin.

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Tough Laundry Stain Removal

If a stain has been completely set-in and even if it has already gone through the dryer, Lestoil can still save the day. Work the Lestoil into the stain and launder as usual. Make sure that you never use Lestoil on any garments that are dry-clean only. Also, test in an area that will not be noticed to make sure that it does not fade or damage your clothing.

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Share Your Tips

Do you have a great laundry stain removal tip? Please add it to the comments or email it to us so that we can share it.  Together we can knock out even the toughest stains.

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Cleaning Tips Galore - First Edition

Welcome to the first edition of cleaning tips galore.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Dear Press: Clean Up Your Own Damn Mess! posted at Mad Kane's Humor Blog, saying, "Spring cleaning humor."

Household

Aparna presents Beware of dust mites on your pillows posted at Beauty and Personal Grooming, saying, "Dust that gets accumulated in our houses is a host to millions of germs and microorganisms. Dusting and cleaning the house in itself is a cumbersome task, what with dust settling on sofas and beds, carpets, curtains and clothes. We all bother so much about insects, mosquitoes, houseflies and do our best to get rid of them. But we often forget about the tiny, almost invisible creatures called dust mites, which are present and booming in millions in the cozy comforts of our homes."

Tips

Samantha Marks presents Gutter Cleaning How-To Guide | Backyards And Gardens.com posted at backyardsandgardens.com.

Fred Lee presents Hand Washing: A Great First Defense posted at Parenting Squad.


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Cleaning Tips Galore using our carnival submission form.  Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

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Leather Cleaning Tips

Leather is a popular fabric for furniture, jackets, boots and belts. It is becoming more popular every year because of its versatility, strength and ease of maintenance. We have had several leather sofas over the years and they have always lasted longer than their fabric counterparts. One the reasons we have enjoyed our leather furniture is how easy they are to clean. Here are some leather cleaning tips that will help you enjoy your leather for years to come.

Furniture Leather Cleaning

Furniture leather needs special care to keep it from becoming too dry. If the leather dries out it becomes brittle and prone to cracking. To help prevent this you want to use a leather cleaning solution that also conditions the leather. The first step is to determine if you leather is finished. Almost 90% of leather furniture is finished. You can tell by looking at the surface of the leather, if it is rough and nappy like a pool table's felt, it most likely is not finished. This type of material is often called suede or nubuck. If the surface is smooth and shinny it most likely is finished leather. You can double check by taking a small amount of foaming leather cleaner and letting it sit on the surface of the leather. If it soaks in the leather is unfinished.

Homemade Leather Cleaning Solution

If you look at most commercial leather cleaners you will notice the same ingredients used in all of them. Olive oil, lanolin and Neats oil are the most commonly used. You likely have these ingredients at home and making your own leather cleaner is easy. Just mix one cup distilled white vinegar and two cups food grade linseed oil or olive oil. Just wipe the solution evenly over the leather’s surface using a lint free cloth, microfiber works great. Then use a second lint free cloth to buff and polish the leather surface. Use every three months to clean and condition.

Automotive Leather Seats

If you car has leather seats this cleaner will also clean and condition them. You can also take a few steps to protect your car’s seats. Heat is leather’s enemy, so try to park in a shaded area or use a windshield sun shade. If you have small kids, use a blanket under child car seats to protect against scratches and indentations from the seat rubbing against the leather. If you have a dog, a blanket can protect the seat from the dog’s nails.

Removing Leather Stains

Many stains can be removed from leather. Try these on your tough leather stains:

• Toothpaste – Lightly scrub the area with a terry cloth and a small dab of toothpaste.
• Hairspray – Ink stains can be tough to remove from leather. Spray the area liberally with hairspray and use a terry cloth two wipe away the ink. It may take several attempts to get the desired results.
• Mayonnaise – Water rings can be removed from leather by covering the stain with mayonnaise for a few hours. Use a terry cloth to wipe the area clean. Use our homemade leather cleaner to make it look like new.

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The Best Home Floor Polisher

We have tile in our kitchen and bathroom. It gets dirty, but we always try to keep up with our spills and messes. However, after a while it just looses its shine and starts to look dingy and dull. Without regular polishing, tile floors start to appear to be dirty even when they are completely clean. This is due to the minor abrasions in the surface and to the small amounts of polish that are left over on the surface. Once your floor has hit this point, there is only one thing that you can do. Strip off any remaining wax and polish your floors!

Without a floor polisher, be prepared to spend a lot of time on your knees!

Now, when commercial companies need to strip and polish their floors, they bring in the big guns. They use large orbital buffers that can throw a man across a room. I know, I have wrestled with these things before! For home applications, there are only two choices. Going completely manual, and getting on your hands and knees and slowly stripping and polishing the floor. Or, number two; get a home-size floor polisher. I had a chance to play around with two different home floor polishers and I have to say that if you have more than one room with tile floors, these are a must have!

 

The Gloss Boss Buffer

This is a compact floor buffer with two heads that is perfect for small areas. It is very lightweight and quite powerful for its size. The buffer heads can be covered with different pads and scrubbers and it comes with two microfiber pads. It also cost under $100, making it perfect for homes with only a few tile floors.

Koblenz P-2500 Floor Scrubber/Buffer

Koblenz makes a large number of commercial-grade floor polishers. So, naturally, I expected a lot out of their home model. This unit cost just under $200, but it does boost a more powerful motor. It also has two rotating scrubbing heads and comes with a couple of different scrubbing/polishing pads. However, the weight is significantly higher than the Gloss Boss. This floor polisher is perfect for the home with multiple, large rooms with tile floors.

Both of these home floor polishers have major pros and cons. If cost is your only concern, the Gloss Boss is perfect for you. If speed and power are required, the Koblenz is the right choice. Either way, both units really impressed me. If you have the chance to demo these models, I highly recommend it. Just make sure that you use the right polishing liquid for your floor type. Check with the manufacturers’ website to find the perfect fit.

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Different Types of Wardrobes for More Bedroom Storage

I constantly run out of storage room in my bedroom. My closet is very shallow and can barely hold my suits and hanging clothes, much less my wife’s. When we got married we inherited two dressers, one large, one quite small. My wife uses the smaller of the two and I quickly overloaded the largest. The problem with dressers is the fact that you cannot hang cloths to keep them from getting wrinkled. This is what started my quest for the best wardrobe for our needs and for the different needs of our readers.

I was surprised by how many different types of wardrobes existed!

First of all, there are many fairly inexpensive wardrobes commercially available. My brother and his wife bought the IKEA Hopen wardrobe system with two vertical storage units and one horizontal storage unit that they placed in the middle for shoes and folded clothes. This was a great wardrobe for their needs, but is simply too large for what I needed. My wife and I have a fairly small bedroom. We need to find the best wardrobe for our limited space that fits are needs. Here is how I broke down the floor space verses clothes needs wardrobe options.

First, determine the amount of hanging clothes space that you require. This is determined by how many hanging items that you have multiplied by their average horizontal space requirements. My hanging clothes require an average of two and a half inches of horizontal space to not become wrinkled. So my calculation was 15 articles of clothing times two and a half inches or 37.5 inches of horizontal hanging space. I also needed room for my folded winter sweaters and fleeces. This means that I also needed a large shelving area. I started shopping for different wardrobes that could meet our needs.

After an exhaustive search, here is what I found. There are a number of wardrobes that are designed to fit in corners. This would be fantastic for us, given our limited space, but all of the different corner models that I found have very limited space for hanging clothes. What I decided on was the 48” Ameriwood Oak Wardrobe. The wardrobe provides over 46” of hanging clothes space and the price was right around $200, which was the limit that I allowed myself to spend. It has adjustable shelves for my folded clothes and has two separate areas for hanging clothes so that I can separate my pants and shirts and jackets. I also was able to purchase it at our local Meijer store so that I didn’t have to wait.

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How to Clean Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors are beautiful and can easily last a lifetime if you take proper care of them. First of all, when we talk about hardwood floors we are talking about sealed hardwood floors. Unsealed floors have not been installed in homes for a very long time. If you think that your floors are not sealed, they must be sealed immediately or they will absorb every liquid spilled on them and will quickly start to dry out and fall apart.

Great Homemade Cleaner for Hardwood Floors

There are a wide variety of commercially available wood floor cleaners. Many of these are quite expensive and contain harsh chemicals. A very simple homemade cleaner can be made from adding a few drops of basic dish soap with distilled water. Put the mixture in a misting spray bottle and clean your hardwood floor in small sections. Make sure that you spray the area that you want to clean and then wipe up immediately with a micro fiber cloth or clean towel. Never let any area remain damp for any period of time as moisture is your floor’s enemy. Adding a splash of white vinegar and lemon juice will add some major cleaning power to your homemade floor cleaner. However, if you add these ingredients to your cleaner, you will have to do a quick wet mop with clean water before you dry each section.

Quick tips to maintain your hardwood floors:

• Sweep your floors at least every week with a Swiffer or with a soft bristled broom. To save time, I have found a get trick for cleaning your floors. If you are sweeping your floors, sweep the dust and dirt onto a carpeted area of your home. Vacuum the carpet thoroughly to remove all of the debris and to help keep abrasive dirt off of your hardwood floors.
• Always wipe up all spills immediately. Water and other liquids can do severe damage to even sealed hardwood floors.
• Protect your hardwood floor by placing furniture pads under the legs of each piece of furniture. This will spread out the weight of your furniture over a larger area and keep your floors from getting scratched.
• Use area rugs to protect your hardwood floors in highly trafficked areas. Also, use floor mats in all entrances to your rooms with hardwood floors. This helps trap dirt and debris and keeps them from scratching the surface of your floors.

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