phooljari786

Hey guppies! I wanted to start a thread on some secrets of cleaning around the house and yard. I was inspired by a show I saw many many years ago where this guy showed how you can use everyday products (like vinegar,tea bags etc) to clean around your house. I don't remember his secrets but I have a few of my own which some I have tried and others I have not. Share any ideas/secrets you may have that will amaze us and of course work..P.S.-this doesn't have to be just about cleaning but I would rather stick to cleaning since its the right forum but you can tell us if something works for beauty too.

Some of my cleaning secrets:
Have kids who like stickers? After even a few days stickers can be hard to remove from children's walls, dressers and bed posts, especially if they have been there for months or years. A secret I learned from a BBC t.v. show about 2 British ladies who give cleaning tips and clean the messiest of houses was this: mayonnaise. Yep you heard right! Slap on some mayonnaise on all over the sticker and wait for a few minutes and then take a butter knife and scrape the sticker off and it will come off completely and cleanly. I should know, I tried it! I don't have kids yet but I peeled off this sticker from a product I bought home and a few days later noticed I had accidentally dropped the sticky part on the floor and it was stuck and to no avail would come off by scrubbing with a sponge, fork or knife! Then I remembered the mayo trick and spread it all over the sticker and left it for five minutes and it came off with no problems!


Another mayo use:
Make plant leaves shiny
Professional florists use this trick to keep houseplant leaves shiny and clean. You can do the same thing at home. Just rub a little mayonnaise on the leaves with a paper towel, and they will stay bright and shiny for weeks and even months at a time. Never tried it but you could!

Mayo used in beauty:
Soften and remove dead skin from elbows and feet. Rub mayonnaise over the dry, rough tissue, leave it on for 10 minutes, and wipe it away with a damp cloth.

Fresh smelling freezer:
Get rid of the smell of spoiled food after a freezer failure. Fill a couple of bowls with used or fresh coffee grounds and place them in the freezer overnight. For a flavored-coffee scent, add a couple of drops of vanilla to the grounds. Never tried this but a friend did and said it works well.

Round pancakes and muffins:
To make picture-perfect pancakes, cookies, and muffins, simply fill your baster with batter so that you can pour just the right amount onto a griddle or cookie sheet or into a muffin pan.

Paint knick on car:
A friend returned to her parked car to find that while she was gone, another vehicle got a bit too close for comfort. Luckily there's no dent, but now her car had a blotch of "paint rub" from the other car on it. To remove paint-rub stains on your car and restore its original finish, spray the affected area with WD-40, wait a few seconds, and wipe with a clean rag. She tried this when her brother told her too and it worked!

To rid of blood or period stains:
I once had blood stains on my clothes that had been there for at least 10 hours and didn't notice till later..I remembered a trick I learned on some show..I rubbed some meat tenderizer on the area and it kind of worked but not fully. Then I sprayed glass cleaner on it and dabbed meat tenderizer on it then left it there for a minute and pat wiped it and it came off 97%!!

I'll post more secrets for using extraordinary items to clean ordinary things later when I learn about them or come up with more. Now if you have a secret you have used or know of,post it!

*Jeena*

Thansk for the very useful tips....

phooljari786

^ No problem at all..when I get more time I shall get more secrets for you and everyone else. I'll ask my friends/cousins/aunts if they know of anything and if they do I'll post whatever they have told me..

Pareezay

I learnt alot of these from my mother in law. To wash the pots, she puts in a little bit of vinegar and puts it aside for a few minutes. This dissolves any oil, grease and becomes so much easier to clean. Also, I made kheer once and you know how milk burns at the bottom of the pot, I left it for poor her to wash it and she used vinegar for that as well along with alot of scrubbing and it came out realy clean. She uses lemon and vinegar to clean the oven, stove, kitchen counters, tiles, everything and they are always so sparkly. Also before using any vegetable, she dilutes a bit of vinegar in water and dips everything in there. Supposedly it kills off any kind of germs/pesticides.

TLK

Always wash your hands after using the restroom .. very important but often neglected cleaning secret ...

redvelvet

vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda make good cleaning agents.

*HNK*

what can be done to remove cheewinggum from clothes?

redvelvet

They say that rubbing ice will harden the chewing gum and reduce the stickiness....so that it comes of easier from the clothes. Rub with ice and scrape off with plastic knife.

Interestingly enough, petrol dissolves gum. But you have to careful when using this technique. Other ideas include using vinegar or peanut butter. Below is a link containing a list of ways to remove gum from clothes.

How to Remove Gum from Clothes - wikiHow

RupayHalwa

For a properly black burnt pan, soak in a solution of fabric conditioner and water for a few hours. Then boil and simmer for a while, it will loosen everything up.

I think I picked up this from "How clean is your house" which is a Channel 4 show that phooljari may have been referring to.

Kangan

Add some baking soda into meat ball sough(kofte) they wont be hard.

phooljari786

Rupay Halwa, you are absolutely right, it is a BBc show called "How clean is your House?"A British entertainment/lifestyle t.v. show in which expert cleaners visit filthy homes and then clean them. For me, I saw it on Lifetime network and it also comes on BBC America. Anyways, thanks for telling us how to get rid of gum from our clothes, very helpful..Here are some more tips as promised that I learned about through my Mom, friends and some I found on net:

Broken Glass:
Picking up the large pieces of a broken glass or dish is usually easy enough, but getting up those tiny slivers can be a real pain (figuratively if not literally). The easiest way to make sure you don't miss any is to press a slice of bread over the area. Just be careful not to prick yourself when you toss the bread into the garbage.

Perfect boiled egg:
Ever wonder whether there's a secret to peeling hard-boiled eggs without breaking the shell into a million tiny pieces? There is. Add a teaspoon of salt to your water before placing the eggs in it to boil.

Stop bleeding:
To stop bleedings on minor cuts and scrapes just put a few drops of lemon juice directly on it and let sit for a while or dab a cotton ball in lemon juice and apply directly to scrape/cut and hold it there for a minute and the bleeding will stop in no time.

What to do when you're all out of breath mints? Just suck on a coffee bean for a while and your mouth will smell clean and fresh again. ( I heard this one on Tyra Banks talk show)

MORE TO COME SOON

phooljari786

Oh and thank you Shay9164 for your awesome secrets taught to you by your mother in law. Wonder where she learned them from? I'll be sure to be using those tips in the near future..back to work for me..tata for now..keep those "secrets" coming everyone..

PygmyPuff

well...an aunty of mine uses Dentonic (the classic dental powder) to clean the blackened silver and jewelry alike...it makes it really shiny....

phooljari786

^Cool..I don't know if we get the detonic brand in America..Maybe another brand would work? Thanks for the tips to the contributors so far. Keep em coming. Bye for now.