SOOO OT : Some (I hope ) helpful tips..

I have stumbled across some things lately that are so useful to me, that I wanted to pass them along. Please forgive me if this is a yawn to you !

My children use re-usable aluminum water bottles ( about 4 a day ). They started to complain that the water "tasted funny" after I stopped buying an expensive fizzy powder to clean them. So I discover that vinegar and baking soda fizzes like crazy and cleans out the bottles and any after-tasted ( this is apparently true for plastic too ). Just rinse really well after.

I was getting rust stains on our tub and on shelves from rusting shaving cream cans. Well, if you ring them with a couple of coats of nail polish, this will prevent it !

( I haven't tried this next one, but I will this weekend ; spray vinegar around your toilet bowl and it brightens it, kills germs, and odors. )

I hope some one finds this helpful. : )

Do you have any ? I am particular interested in eco friendly solutions - but I will take ANY suggestions to make "clean and odor-free" happen.

14 years ago

Kim

Veteran

Vinegar and baking soda are some very eco friendly secret weapons! I use strictly vinegar and water to clean my hardwood floors, nothing else needed. No footprints (we go barefoot around here all summer) and no streaks from cleaners.

Straight vinegar for cleaning your counters after handling raw chicken. It kills the bacteria.

Straight vinegar for getting the salt stains out of your leather winter boots (a problem here in Canada, not sure where you might live).

Vinegar and water (or plain vinegar) for cleaning all the glass or shiny things in your house. You can add a drop or two of soap and use it for cleaning almost anything in your house!

Baking soda does a myriad of things, but one I like is that I can use it to make my own facial scrub. Simply mix baking soda and water in your hand, and gently scrub your face. Be CAREFUL it only takes a bit, and you can easily do too much here. Less is more! LOL

There are tons more tips on the internet, I've learned alot over the years!

HeleenH

Baking soda is great to clean ovens. Just make a solution of baking soda in water in an old spray bottle and spray in the oven. Leave it for a while and eventually you can just wipe it of easily. Somewhere online someone has made a complex explanation on the internet, but basically this is it.

Isabel

Kim and Heleen, these are great !!! Coincidentally, I was driving home wondering if I could use vinegar in my hardwood floors without destroying them...thank you !! ANd I will try the exfoliation !

And I LOVE the idea of cleaning my oven naturally. My little girl has asthma and those oven cleaners smell awful.

Thank you again to you both !!!!

PS _ I use Castille soap too.

quelinda

Active Member

I make a paste of Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds soap & baking soda to make a soft soap for scrubbing sinks, toilets & the tub. I spray vinegar & hydrogen peroxide on the cutting board to disinfect it. I soak perfume-y hand-me-down clothes in vinegar to get the smell out.

The only "real" cleaners I buy are Seventh Generation laundry soap & dishwasher detergent.

Isabel, you can leave the baking powder on while cooking, I believe that helps the baking soda dissolve the carbons that have formed on the inside of the oven. Apparently if you are real patient it will form a dust on the bottom of your oven, but I am not patient and just use a microfiber cloth every now and then to remove what will come off.

Vani

I use vinegar and baking soda for so many things its not even funny. I add a cup of vinegar to every load of laundry, even use vinegar in my hair. Once I had an extreme case of gnats from some potatoes that had rolled to a corner of the kitchen pantry. I places a yogurt tub filled with vinegar and a few drops of lemon joy with tiny holes in the lid on the counter for a day - all the greedy gnats were caught and vanquished in no time. If vinegar was a person, he/she would be superperson

Lynne

another vinigar fan here, I have a big bottle in each bathroom and one in the laundry. Do remember not to use it on marble, as it can stain it.

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