primitives discuss good cleaning ideas

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11282212

Oh my.

Little Star (10,933 posts)    Sun Feb 24, 2013, 07:47 PM

Some Good Cleaning Ideas (I got these in an email)...

Some I've seen before, some not. I swear by the wrapping celery in aluminum foil one.
 


Use Empty toilet paper roll to store appliance cords. It keeps them neat and you can write on the roll what appliance it belongs to.

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For icy door steps in freezing temperatures: get warm water and put Dawn dish washing liquid in it. Pour it all over the steps. They won't refreeze. (wish I had known this for the last 40 years!)

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To remove old wax from a glass candle holder, put it in the freezer for a few hours. Then take the candle holder out and turn it upside down. The wax will fall out.

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Crayon marks on walls? This worked wonderfully! A damp rag, dipped in baking soda. Comes off with little effort (elbow grease that is!).

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Permanent marker on appliances/counter tops (like store receipt BLUE!) rubbing alcohol on paper towel.

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Whenever I purchase a box of S.O.S Pads , I immediately take a pair of scissors and cut each pad into halves. After years of having to throw away rusted and unused and smelly pads, I finally decided that this would
be much more economical. Now a box of S.O.S pads last me indefinitely! In fact, I have noticed that the scissors get 'sharpened'' this way!

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Blood stains on clothes? Not to worry! Just pour a little hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time! (Now, where to put the body?) LOL

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Use vertical strokes when washing windows outside and horizontal for inside windows. This way you can tell which side has the streaks.. Straight vinegar will get outside windows really clean. Don't wash windows on a sunny day. They will dry too quickly and will probably streak.

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Spray a bit of perfume on the light bulb in any room to create a lovely light scent in each room when the light is turned on.

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Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You can also do this with towels and linen.

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Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.

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To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!

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To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet , simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stove top. Or, fill pan with water, add a fabric softener sheet. Let
it soak overnight. Food will just wash away.

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Spray your TUPPERWARE with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.

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Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

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When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn's natural sweetness

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Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half, and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away..

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Don't throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces ......... Left over wine? What's that?

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To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area and you will experience instant relief.

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Ants, ants, ants everywhere .. Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So, get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march. See for yourself.

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Use air-freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still, leaves a lovely smell to the shine.

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When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, and then pull it off.. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.

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Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer........ Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China .

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Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets.

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Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.

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Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary)

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Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, and then run the hot water.

Curmudgeoness (9,759 posts)    Sun Feb 24, 2013, 08:24 PM

2. I love it....some things sound improbable, but I am willing to try it. The only suggestion to save more money, instead of Alka Seltzer tablets to clear a sink drain, put baking soda down, then add the vinegar (doesn't have to be Heinz and doesn't have to be white). Another option I have used, and it works, is to pour hydrogen peroxide down the drain. It will react with all the crap in the drain and fizz like crazy----and the fizz will loosen things up. Neither of these have worked for a totally clogged drain----that takes a plunger.

^^^the primitive with a sensitive bottom.

Little Star (10,933 posts)    Mon Feb 25, 2013, 08:36 AM

4. I love hydrogen peroxide it's useful for quite a few things. I actually buy the the cheapest...no-name brand by the half gallon. I also buy white vinegar by the gallon.

One of the new one's on this list for me was to use vertical strokes washing windows outside and horizontal for the inside so that you can tell which side has the streaks. Why didn't I ever think of that by myself?

Curmudgeoness (9,759 posts)    Mon Feb 25, 2013, 06:34 PM

5. I read that horizontal/vertical trick years ago.

And it really does help, but it isn't as easy as it sounds---at least not for me. For some reason, my brain does not want to deviate from the back and forth that I have always done. So what I do now is clean back and forth, but the final buff is the one I do up and down. It really does make it easier.
 
The one that I am really skeptical about is cleaning mirrors with air freshener. WTH. I rarely use air freshener and have the same can that I have had to 20 years, just in case someone visiting feels the need to use it. I also think that this is a more expensive product to clean glass than most others. However, I am going to try this out, just for grins and because I can't believe it would work.
 
The hydrogen peroxide removing blood is the best suggestion I can give to anyone. Someone had a bad bloody nose once and got a lot of blood all over the carpet, and this totally cleaned it. The blood was gone----although it took a lot more than a little on a rag. I actually poured some of the spots.

[BlueStateSaint]

Well, this one is useless to them:

To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area and you will experience instant relief.

That's akin to telling a vampire to heal cuts with Holy Water.

[BattleHymn]

Well, this one is useless to them:

That's akin to telling a vampire to heal cuts with Holy Water.

Every time I think of the primitives with soap, I think of Mark Twain traveling through Europe, trying to obtain soap:

In Marseilles they make half the fancy toilet soap we consume in America but the Marseillaise only have a vague theoretical idea of its use which they have obtained from books of travel just as they have acquired an uncertain notion of clean shirts and the peculiarities of the gorilla and other curious matters.