Archive Category: 'Cleaning Tips'

• 10 Laundry Boosters Using Vinegar: Color Brightener: Add 1/2 cup vinegar to a load of laundry (wash cycle). Color Protector: Soak new items in a straight solution of vinegar to protect dyes from running. Whiter Whites: Add 1 1/2 cups of vinegar to the rinse cycle to whiten clothes. Restore Whites: Fill a large stock pot half full with water and 1 cup [...]
• How To Clean A Clogged Iron & More Tips: Is your steam iron acting a little sputtery and doing an inconsistent job when ironing? It’s probably just clogged with mineral and lime deposits, all it takes is a simple cleaning job to get it back to like-new shape. Here’s how to do that (plus a few more tips & goodies): How To Clean A Clogged Iron Fill the [...]
• Nitty-Gritty Guide to Cleaning Household Surfaces: Today’s feature is from RealSimple with Nitty-Gritty Guide to Cleaning Household Surfaces: With just one bucket of supplies, you can scrub the entire house — here’s which products clean what … You’ll find 18 quick, no-nonsense tips for cleaning all kinds of household surfaces: How to Clean Butcher Block How to Clean Ceramic Tile How to Clean Cork Flooring How to [...]
• How To Make Wool Dryer Balls: Never buy fabric softener again with today’s feature from Good Mama: Make Your Own Wool Dryer Balls, how cool are these! The balls will cut your drying time yet leave clothes soft, fluffy and static free without the use of chemicals or dryer sheets. Based on the old “tennis ball in the dryer” trick, but [...]
• Quick Tips For Kitchen Cleaning: Cracked Egg Cleanup: If you’ve ever dropped an egg on the counter or floor, you know what a sloppy, slimy mess it is to clean up! Next time try drizzling salt generously over the egg, wait a few minutes until it’s dry–then the mess sweeps up easily. *ETA: Careful not to leave the salt sitting [...]
• 10 Household Cleaning Quick Tips: Cleaning Louvers & Venetian Blinds: Use a soft paint brush to get in and wipe away the grime in between louvers (slats) and venetian blinds. If you do this regularly, the paint brush technique should be enough to prevent a grime buildup that will need more scrubbing power. Here are more types of brushes you [...]
• 50 Laundry & Mending Tips – A Collection Of Timeless Wisdom: The timeless tips are back! This next batch of tips is collected from magazines and books dating from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. I’ll be posting a collection once a week for the next few weeks. Many of the tips are still useful today, some I’ve included for a glimpse into the day-to-day homemaking life [...]
• How to Fold Anything: Today’s feature is from RealSimple with How to Fold Anything, you’ll find information on how to fold all sorts of clothing & household items. I’ve also included a neat video at the bottom explaining how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds. Here’s a list of what’s available from RealSimple (found via Unclutterer.com): How to Fold [...]
• Quick Tips For Laundry: Here are a few tips for laundry & ironing that were previously published on Tipnut as Quick Tips that have been moved to this single page. Before washing items with grass stains, try dabbing a generous amount of vinegar into the stain first. Launder as usual. This should help lift the stain right out. If you have [...]
• Wallpaper Cleaning & Repair Tips: For grease spots apply a paste of cornstarch and water to the stain and allow to dry. Brush or vacuum off the cornstarch after a day, the grease should be gone. If you have a little nic or tear in the wallpaper, you can conceal it by coloring in the damaged area. This won’t work for [...]
• Quick Tips For Mattress Care: Use a mattress cover to protect the mattress and wash at least once a month. You can make your own to fit perfectly, see Perfectly Fitted Mattress Pad. Remove stains by lightly dabbing with liquid dish detergent that has been well diluted in water. For tough stains like blood spots, try blotting with hydrogen peroxide. For [...]
• 10 Tips For Mastering A Messy Home: Living a clutter free and bare-bones minimized possessions lifestyle would be great and easy to manage in single or adult couple homes–but here are 10 practical tips for mess-free family sized living: Regularly Junk Hunt: Practice the 27 Fling Boogie made popular by FlyLady. Race through the house and grab 27 items to throw away. Then [...]
• 10 Easy Household Time Savers: Keep the dishwasher open and fill with dirty dishes as you cook. Have a sink full of hot soapy water to hold the hand wash items so they can soak and be easily cleaned. If you don’t have a dishwasher, wash the dishes by hand while you’re waiting for the meal to cook. No more [...]
• Tip: Clean The Refrigerator Daily In 10 Minute Chunks: If you dread the chore of a thorough refrigerator cleaning job that should be done regularly (or your fridge turns into one funky mess), here’s an easy way to avoid the big task: Break the job down into 10 minute daily chunks of time. To get started, divide the fridge into a maximum of 7 sections: The inside [...]
• How To Speed Clean Your Kitchen: Today’s tip is from RealSimple with How to Speed-Clean Your Kitchen: The best timesaving tips, techniques, and to-do lists for polishing off the kitchen The tips include: Start with your sink, keep it empty and shining (this helps motivate you to keep the rest of the kitchen clean)…also see How To Clean A Stainless Steel Sink Do quick cleanup [...]
• Cookware Cleaning & Stain Removal Tips: Copper Cookware: Sprinkle tarnished area with salt then drizzle fresh lemon juice to cover. Gently rub clean, rinse then towel dry. Also see the Copper Cleaner Mix listed towards the bottom of this post. Cast Iron Cookware: To remove rust, slice a fresh potato in half and cover the cut end in liquid dish detergent. Rub [...]
• Spring Cleaning: Motivation Tips: Here are a few tips that will help put a little bounce in your step and some fire in your belly while doing the best job you can this Spring… Spring Cleaning: Motivation Tips Start the cleaning when the weather is warm and Spring really is here. I haven’t started Spring cleaning yet because it’s been chilly [...]
• Spring Cleaning Outdoors – Chore Chart: Yesterday’s big list of Spring Cleaning tips was for indoors, but the yard and outside of the house has a bunch of chores that need to be tended to–plus there’s plenty of prep work to be done for the upcoming season (whew!). Here’s a chore chart to help you get organized… Spring Cleaning Outdoors Chore Chart Check & [...]
• Printable Recipe Cards For Homemade Cleaners: Today’s feature is from the David Suzuki Foundation with printable recipe cards for environmentally friendly homemade cleaners (pdf download). There are four recipe cards available: Liquid Laundry Soap (also see Tipnut’s list of 10 laundry detergent recipes) Powdered Laundry Soap Fabric Softener (also see Tipnut’s recipes here) Furniture Polish These recipes were found in Nature Challenge Newsletter for April, 2008. If [...]
• Tipnut Mailbag: How To Remove Chewing Gum From Clothing: Jane Dane from lavenderridgefarms.com sent in a great remedy she found to remove a wad of chewing gum that was hiding in a shirt pocket–not discovered until after the shirt was washed and dried (eek!)… How To Remove Chewing Gum From Clothing I found a really great solution that worked and was easy so I wanted to [...]
• 40 Household Jobs In 5 Minutes or Less: Today’s feature is from Woman’s Day Magazine with 40 Household Jobs In 5 Minutes or Less, I’ve also included another 12 ideas below: You’ve done it, you know you have: looked at a messy room, sighed and walked away. Just thinking about cleaning the house is enough to exhaust, and deter, most of us. Then one [...]
• 27 Ways To Use Citrus Fruit Around The House: Today’s feature is from Re-Nest with 27 Household Uses For Citrus Fruit: A staple in most homes, citrus fruit, including oranges, lemons and limes, makes a beautiful, fragrant display that can piled in a bowl. We also like to use them in a flower arrangement. Peeking out from the bottom of a clear glass container, they [...]
• Homekeeping – A Natural Shine To Cleaning (Recipes): Here’s a tip list of over a dozen natural cleaning recipes I compiled from an article published in the first issue of Martha Stewart’s magazine (Martha Stewart Living, Winter 1990). I went through a slight obsession years ago to own each and every Martha Stewart Living magazine, this picture is a scan of my copy of [...]
• Homemade Lavender Water Recipes: Lavender water can be used in a variety of ways around the house. Some ideas: When washing bedding and linens, add some lavender water to the rinse cycle. Your bedding will have a light lavender scent (lavender helps those with sleep problems). Use when ironing, spritz a bit of the lavender water on the items being ironed. [...]
• Tipnut Mailbag: Clip Sponges & Cloths Used For Dirty Jobs: This tip was sent in from Margie and it’s a great way to keep sponges & cloths used for nasty cleaning jobs separate from your good stuff: Clip Your Cleaning Sponges & Cloths If you are going to use old face cloths, dish cloths, tea towels or sponges as dust rags or for messy cleaning jobs cut [...]