Cheaper, Better, Faster (5 page)

Gum

Raw egg whites will remove chewing gum from anything, including hair, without leaving a trace.

Gum—on upholstery

To remove bubble gum from upholstery, make a loop of duct tape around your fingers with the sticky side out. Press on the gum and jerk your finger up quickly. Repeat until all the gum is pulled away.

Heel marks

To remove black scuff marks from any hard-surface floor, rub them with a paste of baking soda and water and a plastic pot scrubber like a Scotchbrite pad. Use as little water as possible to ensure best results.

Ivory

To clean anything ivory, like piano keys or carved objects, wipe with a solution of 1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide and 1 cup water. No need to rinse.

Jeweler's professional cleaner

Here's the fine-jewelry cleaner professional stores use: Mix equal amounts of household ammonia and water. Drop jewelry into a small container of this cleaner. Allow to sit for a few minutes and brush with an old toothbrush. Rinse well in clear water. It's cheap and it works. Caution: Never use this solution on opals, pearls, or other soft stones.

Jewelry

Dissolve a denture-cleaning tablet in a cup of water. Add diamond rings, earrings, and other jewelry. Let them sit an hour. Do not use this with opals, pearls, or other soft stones.

Keeping up—one bite at a
time

Set aside 15 minutes each weekday to clean one area of your house. By the weekend, you won't have much more cleaning to do.

Keeping up—photo
instructions

To remind everyone in your family what has to be done to call a room in the house “clean,” take pictures of each room and put them in a flip photo album. On the reverse side of the photos, list the chores to be done in each room. If someone asks if a room is clean enough, you can just tell them to check the list.

Keeping up—tidy
up for the evening

After dinner, set a timer for 5 minutes and have everyone in the house pick up and put away the day's accumulated clutter.

Keeping up
—touch-ups between cleanings

Cut some old rags into small squares and stuff them into a jar. Add water and a bit of pine-scented cleaner. Keep these handy for between-cleaning bathroom touch-ups. When finished, simply wash the rags and use them again.

Keeping up—use gloves

Wear white canvas work gloves sprayed with polish to speed up cleaning. Wash and reuse each week.

Kitchen disinfectant

We know how important it is to disinfect cutting boards and countertops. Instead of buying expensive kitchen disinfectants for this job, make your own: Combine 1 teaspoon liquid chlorine bleach per quart of water. Flood your food-cutting surface with the solution, let stand several minutes, then rinse.

Knives and scissors

To remove rust from knives or scissors, soak them in a mild solution of water and ammonia (
½
cup household ammonia to 1 quart water) for 10 minutes. Scrub off rust with a steel-wool pad. Rinse and dry.

Lime buildup

Apply a paste of cream of tartar and vinegar to faucets to remove lime sediment easily.

Liquid detergent—cut harshness

To make liquid dish detergent easy on the hands, add 3 tablespoons of white vinegar to a full bottle and shake well. As a bonus the vinegar will help make your dishes shine.

Liquid hand soap, homemade

Save all those little slivers from your bar soaps. Grate them on a cheese grater, mix with water (the amount depends on how much soap you have, but generally speaking you want about 1 part grated soap to 3 parts water), and melt in microwave or on the stove. Beat with a rotary beater until smooth. If you don't want to bother collecting little slivers of soap, but like the idea of making your own liquid soap, follow these instructions
grating a new bar of soap to about 3 cups of water.

Liquid
hand soap for kids, homemade

If your small children are really into washing their hands and go fairly nuts with the soap dispenser, make up a special batch of liquid hand soap just for them: Mix 10 parts generic shampoo to 1 part water.

Louvered doors

To clean, dampen a disposable foam paintbrush and wipe between the slats.

Metal furniture

To clean aluminum, steel, or wrought-iron furniture, wash with a mild liquid detergent and water, then rinse and dry thoroughly. Once a season, apply a coat of automobile wax. If a scratch occurs on wrought iron or steel, apply matching exterior paint with a small artist brush.

Microwave

Steam clean the interior of your microwave with this method: Stir 2 tablespoons baking soda into a cup of water. Set in the microwave and allow to boil for at least 5 minutes. Remove the cup and wipe the inside of the microwave with a sponge.

Mildew—caulking

Get rid of mildew in caulking between the walls and tub by saturating paper towels with diluted chlorine bleach. Allow wet towels to sit for a few hours or until all traces of mildew have vanished.

Mildew—in corners

To remove mildew from the corner of the tub or other hard-to-scrub places, place a cotton ball saturated with bleach on the mildew for an hour or two. Rinse with warm water and repeat if necessary.

Mildew—refrigerator

To prevent mildew from forming in the refrigerator, wipe the inside with white vinegar. The vinegar acid effectively kills mildew fungi.

Mildew—shower curtain
bleach soak

If mildew and soap scum are only at the bottom of the shower curtain, fill the tub with enough water to cover the spots, add a little bleach, and let soak. Rinse the curtain and the tub well to remove the bleach.

Mildew—shower curtain in washing machine

To clean mildew and soap scum from a shower curtain, place the curtain in the washing machine along with two or three white towels. Fill with warm water and then add detergent and
½
cup baking soda. Add 1 cup white vinegar to the rinse water to prevent mold from forming. Hang on the shower rod to dry.

Mildew—shower
stall

Here's a way to get rid of mildew buildup in your shower stall without using harsh, household bleach. Fill an empty spray bottle with vinegar and a cup of salt. Shake to encourage the salt to dissolve more quickly. Spray the stall, allow the solution to sit for at least a half hour, and then rinse thoroughly. Tougher jobs may require a second application.

Mildew—tile

To remove mildew from tile, wet surface with water and then spray with a solution of 1 cup liquid chlorine bleach mixed with 1 quart water. Let the solution remain on the tile about 15 minutes, then rinse. Caution: Never mix chlorine bleach with other cleaning products that might contain ammonia. A potentially fatal gas may result.

Mildew—tile grout

Borax and baking soda mixed together make an effective nonabrasive cleanser for
removing mold and mildew from tile grout.

Mini-blinds—cleaning
on driveway

Clean metal or vinyl mini-blinds the fast and easy way: Simply lay the mini-blinds in your driveway and spray them with an all-purpose liquid or foaming bathroom cleaner. Rinse with the garden hose, then hang the blinds on a clothesline to dry.

Mini-blinds—quick
clean

Use a dampened fabric softener sheet to quick-clean mini-blinds and reduce the static cling that attracts dust.

Mini-blinds—superclean

Put on a rubber glove and an old sock over it. Douse the sock in straight rubbing alcohol and clean away while blinds are in place.

Mirrors
—hair spray removal

To remove hair spray spots from the mirror, dampen a soft cotton cloth with rubbing alcohol and, using a circular motion, wipe them away.

Mirrors—use cold
tea

Clean mirrors with cold tea. They'll really shine.

Mops

Has floor wax made your favorite mop stiff and foul-smelling? Soak it for a half hour in a gallon of water mixed with
½
cup of no-suds ammonia. It will look brand-new. To prevent repeat performances, clean the wax mop thoroughly with an ammonia-water mixture after each use. Never clean a wax mop with soap or detergent, and use it only for the purpose of applying liquid floor wax.

Odor—food containers

To remove odors from food containers, fill them with water and several tablespoons of baking soda. Let them sit overnight, then wash and rinse.

Odor—garbage cans

To inhibit the growth of odor-producing molds and bacteria, sprinkle
½
cup borax in the bottom of the garbage can.

Odor—smoke in upholstery

To get rid of the unpleasant smell of smoke on chairs and sofas, sprinkle baking soda on the fabric and allow it to sit there for a few hours—then vacuum.

Odor—thermos

Here's an easy solution for a sour-smelling thermos. Fill the container with 1 quart of water and 4 tablespoons baking soda, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, wash as usual. Do this every week or so as preventive maintenance.

Odor—use a match

You can buy all kinds of room deodorizers and pretty-smelling things for the bathroom that do nothing more than cover up bathroom odors. Or you can simply light a match and blow it out immediately to completely eliminate the odor.

Oven

Sprinkle water and then a layer of baking soda on oven surfaces. Rub gently with very fine steel wool for tough spots.

Oven racks

To clean grease buildup from oven racks, bathe them. Put enough hot water in the bathtub to cover the racks, add
¼
cup automatic dishwasher detergent and
¼
cup white vinegar. Stir to dissolve the detergent. Wait for an hour or so, then rinse and dry the racks. Drain the tub immediately, or you'll end up with a major-league bathtub ring.

Oven spills

Pour salt on oven spills when they occur and while they are too hot to clean up. The salt will make the cleanup easier once the spills have cooled,
and it will prevent the spill from smoking or flaring up.

Paper towel substitute

As a substitute for paper towels, coffee filters will shine glass, mirrors, and chrome perfectly without lint or streaky marks.

Permanent marker stains

Tough stains from permanent markers are easily removed from most surfaces with rubbing alcohol.

Pet hair on carpet—spray

To remove unsightly dog and cat hair from your carpet, spray a mixture of 1 part liquid fabric softener to 3 parts water on your rug, wait a minute or two, and then vacuum. No more animal hair.

Pet hair on rug—squeegee

To remove pet hair from a rug, try a window squeegee. Just pull the rubber edge toward you and let physics do the rest. Static electricity will cause the hair to cling to the rubber strip.

Phones

Use a clean, soft cloth dipped in a bit of rubbing alcohol to remove grease and grime from your phone. Use an ordinary cotton swab dipped in alcohol to clean around the buttons.

Picture frames

To clean a carved picture frame, reach in all the nooks and crannies by using an empty plastic squeeze bottle. Just squeeze a few times and you'll blow the dust away with a puff of air.

Range drip pans

Before cooking on the range top, give the stove's burner drip pans a light misting with cooking spray. Any spills will clean up fast with soapy water.

Range hood
filter

Many metal mesh filters found in range hoods can be removed
and washed in the dishwasher on the normal, hot-water wash cycle. Wash them as a separate load to provide for plenty of water action.

Refrigerator

When vacuuming the kitchen floor or nearby, take a couple of minutes to remove crumbs and other dried debris from refrigerator shelves and food bins while narrow vacuum attachments are handy. Check the freezer area, too, where crumbs have a way of collecting.

Rubber gloves that stick

Rubber gloves difficult to put on? Sprinkle a little baby powder or some baking soda in them first.

Rust—porcelain

To remove rust rings or stains from porcelain fixtures, make a paste of cream of tartar and hydrogen peroxide. Apply a small amount to the stain and gently scrub with an old toothbrush. Repeat as necessary. Rinse thoroughly.

Rust—pots and pans

Remove rust from pots and pans with white vinegar. For quick action, heat the vinegar before applying. Or remove rust from household items by soaking them in a cola soft drink.

RV holding
tank

If you have a recreational vehicle with a holding tank, flush
½
cup to 1 cup of baking soda down the toilet once a week while the RV is in use. Baking soda helps maintain proper pH and alkalinity, controlling sulfide odors, according to the folks at Arm & Hammer.

Scouring pads—no rust

Cut scouring pads such as Brillo or SOS in half or quarters. Now you can use a new, smaller pad every time, throw it away, and avoid a rusty, yucky mess.

Scouring powder—avoiding waste

Scouring cleanser is often wasted because holes in the containers are too numerous or too large and the cleanser comes out too fast. To avoid this, cover half the holes with tape.

Scouring powder, homemade

For a basic scouring cleanser, mix together 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup borax, and
¾
cup salt.