It's the pits

There are some stains that just that are the pits.  Armpits that is.  That nasty yellow stain on tee shirts and under shirts.  I have finally found something that works.  It is super simple.  Make a mixture of one part dawn dish detergent (the plain blue kind) to two parts hydrogen peroxide. It works on all kinds of stains. You can use this as a spot remover for small stains or make a larger batch and submerge the garment in the solution. 





This awesome stain remover was found here: http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/slaves-to-fashion/2008/10/style-secret-the-only-spot-rem.html

Natural way to unclog drains

We have a drain in our bathroom that gives me fits from time to time.  It starts draining slowly and progressively gets worse.  The solution is the same concoction used in science projects to make volcanoes.  Baking soda and vinegar.  I love that combo.  Ok so what you do is take a funnel and pour about 3/4 cup of baking soda.*  Follow that up with a cup of vinegar and watch the bubbling start.  Wait about thirty minutes then run warm water through to clear out the drain. 


* I eyeball the baking soda so this is an estimation.

Dirty Dishwashers Beware

 Would you eat off the inside of your dishwasher?  I am going to guess the answer is no.  Then why would you eat off plates that were washed in a dirty dishwasher.  There are commercial products to clean your dishwasher.  These  cleaner sells for around four dollars a bottle.  Now to be fair I don't know how many uses you get per bottle but I bet the cleaner I have found is cheaper.  I use lemonade.  Yep powdered no sugar added lemonade.  The citric acid busts up scum and grime.  You take two of the single lemonade packets (think Kool Aid but any brand will work*) and place them in the soap dispenser in your empty dishwasher.  Run a regular cycle.  Your dishwasher will be sparkling clean and smell much better.

*It has to be lemonade.  Other powdered drink flavors will not work.  Also it needs to be the kind you sweeten when you make it, not the kind that is pre-sweetened

Pretty Pictures

Has your little one ever drawn a picture for you on your wall?  Walls must call out to toddlers “Look at me all nice and mark free.  Now go get your crayons and draw Mommy a picture” There is an inexpensive way to clean it.  You put some toothpaste on a damp cloth, rub the stain, and then rinse with a clean wet cloth.  Make sure you use the plain old white non-gel toothpaste.  Nothing fancy like whitening toothpaste.  Use the cheap stuff like the original Colgate

Plop plop fizz fizz oh what a relief it is...

Company should be here any minute and the toilet could use a cleaning.  No toilet cleaner... No problem.  You can drop a couple of Alka-Seltzer tabs into the toilet.  Let them set in there for about twenty minutes then clean as you normally would.   Denture cleaning tabs will work for this also.  I have seen both of these products at the dollar stores.

Paw print removal

                                                                            

We have an all glass front door.  My two year old can't keep his hands off it ...literally.  His finger prints are all over the inside and outside.  He calls them his paw prints.  I have heard about using vinegar to clean windows before but had never tried it.  I won't post something I haven't tried myself.  This afternoon we got home from shopping for groceries and I began to clean.  I went to the laundry room to get the window cleaner.  None there.  I don't remember using the last of it.  I am pretty sure my husband "borrowed" it and forgot to bring it back in from the garage.  I decided to give the vinegar a try.  To my surprise it worked very well.  I was worried it would leave a pickle smell behind but it didn't.  Here is what I did:

Take a spray bottle (I used on like you use to wet down your hair) and fill it 4 parts water to 1 part white vinegar.  No more paw prints.

A hairy situation

I cut my husband's hair last night.  Afterwards he took a shower.  A little while later I went into the bathroom and it looked like a hair bomb went off.  What to do what to do??  I took a dryer sheet and attached it to a swiffer.  The sheet picked up all the hair.  I use one everytime I clean the bathroom.  When you are finished sweeping the floor toss it in bathroom trash.  It helps keep your bathroom smelling nice.  I don't have indoor pets but I bet they would also pick up pet hair.  Who would have thought that dryer sheets would be the answer to a hairy situation.