Throw away scrubbie

The big mesh plastic bags of oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and onions are great to save for later. They make great little scrubby dishcloths when you have a really messy pot or messy job to do. Just cut a large square from the bag and use it to scrub pots filled with day old mac and cheese or oatmeal. I used some the other day to clean the underside of the rubber garbage disposal thing (if you haven't cleaned that before, it is very gross and slimey) When you are done just throw it away. Then your regular sponge doesn't get so yucky.

Homemade Laundry Soap

While visiting a sister in Washington, she showed me her huge 5 gallon bucket of homemade laundry soap. She got the recipe from our grandma. She has been using it for several months and says it works just great at probably about 1 cent per load!!! I am going to make some as soon as I can find washing soda and then share it with 4 friends so we each have one gallon worth (2 gallons when diluted properly or 128 loads each)

Ingredients:
4 cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 c washing soda
1/2 c Borax

Directions:Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.Fill a five-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Sir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.Stir and fill a used, clean laundry soap dispenser (or a gallon milk carton) half full with soap and then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use. (It will gel)

Optional: add 10-15 drops of essential oil per each 2 gallons.

For a front load machine add 1/4 cup per load

Yield: Approximately 640 loads

Rit Color Remover

Pink towels next to a white towel before using Color Remover
Towels after using Color Remover

I saw this at the store the other day by Rit Color Dyes and the regular detergents. I thought I would give it a go since all of my dishtowels are pink (I washed a little tiny red handtowel with the dishtowels and it wasn't very forgiving). It worked great! You can either put it in your washing machine and let the fabric soak and agitate for 30-60 minutes or in a big stainless steel pot on the stove with hot water. I have a front loading washer so I didn't think the product would work as the water level is very low in these washing machines. I also didn't have a stainless steel pot (it said not to use aluminum or non-stick pots). I just filled my stainless steel kitchen sink with hot water and added a quart of boiling water to make it extra hot. Then I added the Rit Color Remover packet and the towels. I let them sit for about an hour, stirring it all around a couple of times. Then you rinse and wash as regular with detergent. For $1.66 at Walmart (it cost more at the regular grocery store), this is a great find to save clothing from washing accidents.

Another plug for Fels Naptha soap

Back on 2/22 I wrote a snipet about Fel Naptha soap for getting out stains. My sister told me about this soap. Since that time I bought a bar for less than $2.00 at the grocery store (look on the very top shelf of the detergent aisle). I have used it on so many stains and it has so far always worked great. I never am good about pretreating a stain. All of our stained clothes just go right in the laundry basket until laundry day. Before putting the stained clothes in the washer I just wet the dirty spot and rub on the fels naptha. It gets everything out including red punch stains, baby stains, and chocolate stains.

Clean Smarter Not Harder

(Top: Before Cleaning; Bottom: After Cleaning)

Since we have lived in our home (about 1 1/2 years) I have had a battle with the kitchen tile grout. When we moved in I thought the grout was this grey color until I saw underneath the refrigerator the actual grout color was ivory. Since then I have always know it was dirty and gross. I have spent hours on my hands and knees with toothbrushes and Mr Clean Magic Eraser Sponges to try to get it clean. All I got from that was a repetitive stress injury on my wrist from scrubbing. I was going to have the grout professionally cleaned and sealed. Yesterday I had a person come over to give me an estimate of the cost (it was more than $1 per square foot). I don't know if the person was just really nice that day, but he told me exactly how I could clean my own grout with minimal effort! And I did it today and it is great! He suggested phosporic acid mixed 50/50 with water and a nylon deck brush. You also need heavy gloves and a big sponge. He said it was all at Home Depot. I went to Home Depot and I didn't find the phosporic acid, but there was a professional grout cleaner with the active ingredient being hydrochloric acid. I bought a bottle for $6.50. I also got a nylon deck brush for about $7 and a pair of gloves for a couple of bucks. I squirted the cleaner on the grout, let it sit for 3 minutes and then lightly scrubbed with the deck brush. I then used my big tile sponge to rinse with clean water. The last step is to dry the tile and grout with a clean towel. It looks awesome! It was fast and easy to do!

Another suggestion for regular cleaning of tile by the professional cleaner. When you mop, rinse with clean water and then dry the floor, especially noting the grout lines. The dirty water tends to flow to the grout lines and if you don't dry it up then the grout will look dirtier much faster.

Thank you Mr. Professional Grout Cleaner Man! I appreciate your help!

Electric toothbrush heads

This idea is from my sister Jill. Thanks for the tip! I'm going to try it soon, since I have a Sonicare toothbrush. Instead of throwing the old brush head away, keep it with your bathroom cleaning stuff and attach it back onto the toothbrush to scrub around the edges of the sink and faucet handles. You could also use it for baseboards or doors to get the dirt and dust off.

Fels Naptha Soap for Stains

My sister learned about this old fashioned yellow bar of soap in home economics class several years ago. It is a champion to get out stains on clothing and is very inexpensive (less than $2 for a bar that will last a long time). Simply wet the spot, rub the stained area with the bar. Throw it in the wash - and relax, the stain will be gone forever! My sister said it removed some very tough ring around the collar stains on her husband's white shirts. At my house there are a lot of stains from juice and baby poop on my kids clothing. Look for this in the soap aisle at the grocery store.

Oxi Clean is also a good stain remover and whitener. Kaitlyn is wearing a blessing dress which is 31 years old. It was my baby blessing dress. It had yellowed over the years and I soaked it overnight in warm water with a couple scoops of Oxi Clean and it whitened right up. Oxi Clean also works well for all of Kaitlyn's little stained clothing.