Lemon and vinegar? Those are house cleaning staples. But...Kool-Aid and Coke? Find out what these unexpected items can clean around the house after the jump!
15 Cleaning Tricks with A Few of These...
Dirty Microwave: Put a dish of water in the microwave with a lemon slice and bring it to a boil. Wait until there is plenty of steam, then open and wipe out the inside with a damp cloth.
Greasy Pans: Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your dishwater to help remove the grease more easily.
Dirty Pots and Pans (with baked on food grime): Boil Coca-Cola in the pan and the burned, baked-on grime should come right off.
Ice Trays: Soak your trays in vinegar to remove hard-water buildup.
Musty Books: Place several dryer sheets between the pages of the book and place in a Ziplock bag for a couple weeks. Placing a book in clean kitty litter is also known to remove musty odors.
Brass Tarnish: Soak your brass in cherry Kool-Aid for 10 minutes to remove tarnish.
General Carpet Stains: Rub club soda onto the stain with a sponge and blot with paper towels.
Wine Stains on Carpet: Pour some household salt onto the stain. Salt should cause stain to disappear.
Glass Coffeepot: Fill the stained pot with Coca-Cola and let it sit overnight. By the morning you should see a clean pot - just wash out the Coke.
Crayon on the Walls: Use a hair dryer to heat the wax from the crayon, then wipe with a paper towel.
Garbage Disposal: Freshen your disposal with a quarter cup of lemon juice. Let it sit in your drain for 10 minutes.
Mirrors: Toothpaste cleans mirror tarnish. Applesauce also will clean a mirror.
Paintings: Use a slice of bread to run off dirt or grime from oil paintings.
Crock Pot: Fill your grimy crock pot with soapy water and cook on high for one hour.
Dirty Glassware: Use a vinegar-saturated sponge to clean glassware.
Tips courtesy of J.A. Young at DoItYourself.com
Comments (5)
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Wow, wonderful tips!
view Nevis's profile
Great tips, at my old place my roommate had an incident with a candle, we ironed over some paper bags to get the wax out of the carpet. It worked for the wax, we should have used the club soda for the remaining dye stains.
view Linnealoves's profile
Please do not use bread to clean your oil paintings. This is a myth and will not do your paintings any good. If you don't want to spend the money on a professional conservator, there is only one truly safe method: q-tips and saliva. If it won't clean up with a q-tip soaked in your mouth, leave it be or consult a professional. As a curator, I get questions about this stuff all the time, and this is the info I send out:
American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works
http://aic.stanford.edu
(the AIC has a searchable database of qualified conservators)
National Park Service Conserve-o-Grams
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/conserv.html
Conservation and Art Material Encyclopedia Online
http://www.mfa.org/_cameo/
Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute
http://www.si.edu/mci/
Saving Stuff: How to Care for and Preserve Your Collectibles, Heirlooms, and Other Prized Possessions by Don Williams and Louisa Jaggar (Fireside, 2005)
view Jezebella's profile
It always amazes me what coca cola (or other sodas) can eat through.
Anyone know how to get white dried paint out of gray carpet? It's about 6 months old. Seems previous renters did not care enough to lay down a drop cloth. There isnt a huge spill, but some drips and small drops and fallout from paint splatter. The local hardware store suggeted taking an exacto knife and carve out each drop. Didn't think this was the greatest idea, but tried it anyway . . . didnt work.
view 4ddh's profile
I use alcohol to wash the mirrors, it never leaves any resedue, but it smells :-( You can also use vodka instead of the window washer fluid in the car. It works great, especially in the winter.
view Nudik's profile