• Cheap Cleaning Ingredients
• Cleaning Products Our Solution
• Home Cleaning Remedies
• Budget Cleaning Tips

• Home
• about SMTM
  • Save Money
  • Make Money
  • Protect Money
• Online Mag
  • Spring 2008
  • Contributors
  • Autum 2008
  • Winter 2008
• Store
• Media
• Advertisers
• Contact us
  • Raising a Business Login

Home Cleaning Remedies

Iron

Ironed a motiff and need to clean the base of your iron? Wait until the iron is cold - with a cloth apply rubbing alcohol wiping over the base of the iron.

Oven

1. Clean glass oven doors with a damp cloth dipped in bicarbonate of soda.
2. If something spills in the oven pour salt over it. When oven cools brush salt away.
3. To clean inside walls of oven, make a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water. Apply to walls and leave overnight. Next day remove paste with a stiff brush, then wash out oven with warm, soapy water.

Microwave 

Need a faster microwave de-grimer? Put 1 cup of water and 2 tsp. baking soda in a 4-cup microwave-safe container. Microwave for 4 to 5 minutes, then wipe the inside with a sponge, or

Put half a lemon in a three-quarters-full bowl of cold water and cook on high in the microwave for three minutes. The fresh citrus smell gets rid of cooking odors and the condensation from the steam loosens dirt and makes it easier to wipe off with a damp cloth afterward. 

Pots /Pans & Crockery:   

• To remove burnt-on food, fill pan with water, add a dessertspoonful of bicarbonate of soda and boil. Allow to cool, then clean off with a scourer.
• For severe cases, pour olive oil over the burn marks and leave overnight, then scrub with a scourer in hot, soapy water.
• Remove tea and coffee stains, left in the bottom of a cup by rubbing with either salt or bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth. 
• To clean the dark rim left behind from boiling eggs - boil in the same pot a piece of lemon and water, adding vinegar also works just as well.

The fridge

• Wipe the insides of the fridge with a weak solution of bicarbonate soda and warm water
• Wipe over the inside of the fridge with white vinegar to prevent mould from growing
• To eliminate fridge smells add a dash of vanilla essense in a small saucer, leave in the fridge, a saucer of bicarbonate soda left in the fridge will also absorb odours.
• Clean the fridge seals with a damp cloth dipped in methylated spirits.

Bathroom 

Use pure vinegar in the toilet bowl to get rid of rings, pour the vinegar around the inside of the rim, then scrub the bowl.

Mop bathroom floors with a solution made up of ½ cup of vinegar with half a bucket of warm water. Vinegar works to eat away soap and scumthat can build up especially on tiled floors. 

Bath Stains - remove stains by making a paste of hydrogen peroxide and cream of tartar.  With a scrubbing brush rub the paste into the stain and rinse thoroughly. For dark stains (like rust) rub with a paste of borax and lemon juice.

For light stains, rub with a fresh cut lemon.

Laundry

Use vinegar as a natural fabric softener, this is also an ideal rememdy for family members with sensitive skin. The acidic properties of vinegar can help break down laundry detergent more effectively. Add ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle in place of store bought fabric softener.

Plumbing

Pouring 1 cup of baking soda down a drain and following with 4.5 litres of vinegar will degrease the drain. Of course this is a large quantity. You may need to reduce the quantity to suit your needs. 

Windows

Add into a spray bottle
1 part vinegar
3 parts water

Shake well, spray onto window or glass and wipe off
  

Dishwasher

Placce a cup filled with white vinegar in the top rack of the dishwasher. Run the dishwasher with nothing else in it to deodorize and remove soap film.

Floorboards

To clean wooden floors, drop a couple of used teabags in hot water. The tannin in the tea cuts through grease and feeds the timber.  

about SMTM | the book | media | store | free stuff | contact us