Keep It Clean: Removing Blood Stains

 Well, I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things. I've been busy since we moved. After unpacking, I built some shelving and started sewing as well. My mom bought me a sewing machine while she was out visiting and I've been having great fun playing with it. Those of you who follow me on Facebook have seen the sweet little dress I made for my daughter and the matching one for her baby doll. I'll include a picture because they're too cute not to share and I'm proud of the first article of clothing I've ever sewn.

Taeya loves both the dress and that her baby doll matches her dress. I'm so happy that she is enjoying them so much.

Anyways, on to the real topic of this post. How to remove fresh blood stains. It's a little gross but it works! If you get fresh blood on an article of clothing or some type of material, just spit on it and let the spit soak it for a little while and then rinse out. It works best if the person who made the blood stain spits on it themselves. Something in the saliva is able to break down the blood. If it doesn't come out completely the first time, after you rinse it out, repeat the process and then wash it. Before you dry it, check to be sure the stain is gone.

Keep It Clean: Magic Erasers

I don't think I've mentioned it yet on here, but I'm in the middle of a big move. I'm packing, cleaning, trying to rent our house, find housing for where we're moving to and above all, care for my two little ones. Whew. I'm a bit busy these days.

As I do all of the above, I try to do little bits of cleaning here and there to make it easier when we move out of the house. One of my favorite cleaning tools is...you guessed it, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

If you've never used a magic eraser before, they truly are just that, magic! They are white, spongy and are able to easily clean up dirt that other cleaners have trouble getting off. If you've not used them before, you need to try them.

The first time I saw a magic eraser, I was in college at one of my babysitting families' homes. Holly, the mom, had just given her kids magic erasers and had them clean up the walls of their house. She didn't have any marks left that she could easily show me how the erasers worked so she took a pen and wrote on her wall. Yes, they work that well that she willingly wrote on her wall to demonstrate what a great tool the magic eraser really is. It just took a moment of gentle scrubbing and the mark was gone.

I use them to scrub little, dirty fingerprints off of walls, shine up the grime left around light switches, door knobs, on the edges of doors, bathroom sinks, tubs and more. I've even purchased ones that take all the grime off of the hubcaps of our car. With just a wipe of the magic eraser, all the built up greasy gunk was removed and the hubcaps were once again shiny. They're so simple to use and chemical free that I give them to my 3 year old and let her help me clean with them. As I continue to prep for our move, I have my magic erasers handy to help me clean up all the little marks that I discover throughout the house.

Have you ever used magic erasers? If so, what do you use them for?

Keep It Clean: Cleaning Glass Shower Doors

I have clear, glass shower doors in our master bath. I'm not one that really cares that they sparkle 100% of the time. However, when I clean them, I want them shiny and clean with as little effort and scrubbing as possible. I live in an area where we have a lot of minerals in our water and when it gets on a solid surface and dries out, it definitely leaves deposits behind. I have used store-bought cleaners in the past where I have to scrub-and-scrub and can still feel soap scum and mineral buildup remaining. I now avoid the commercial cleaners and go for something much more simple that works.

Here are two thrifty cleaning methods for different styles of cleaning.

Weekly to Monthly Cleaning
For those that don't care if there's a little build-up from day-to-day but want to easily clean their glass shower doors, use vinegar and a sponge with a scrubby side to it. You can easily pour vinegar onto the sponge and scrub the shower doors with the rougher, scrubby side of the sponge. It takes very little elbow grease and will leave your doors sparkly clean when you're done. Sometimes I have to scrub areas of the doors twice because it's hard to see if there's any build-up left unless you squeegee them. I have found vinegar to be the best product to remove the mineral buildup left from our water. This also works well on my refrigerator water tray. I can scrub off a moderate amount of build-up in about 30 seconds to 1 minute fairly easily.

Daily Cleaning
My sister also has glass shower doors and she prefers not to allow any build-up to occur because she doesn't like having to scrub the doors. Nearly every time when showering, she applies a light layer of conditioner to the glass and leaves it on while she takes her shower. At the end of the shower, she rinses the door off. Her glass doors are always sparkly clean and don't need to be cleaned at other times because this method leaves them constantly clean.

Both of these methods are very thrifty because you don't need to buy harsh chemical cleaners and can use what you already have. If you use expensive conditioner, you might consider picking up a bottle of inexpensive (or free with coupons) conditioner for cleaning if you like the second method of cleaning. Vinegar is always inexpensive and is great to purchase in large quantities.

Keep It Clean: Windows & Mirrors

I love taking items around my house and re-purposing them for another use. If you coupon and order the newspaper, here's another way to use that newspaper. Whenever you wash your mirrors or windows, spray them with a window cleaner and then instead of using a paper-towel or rag, use a crumpled up piece of newspaper to clean and dry the glass. Newspaper works better than anything else I've used. It will easily leave your glass streak-free and without little pieces of dust left behind. It's also great to use when you're washing your car windows both inside and out. You may end up with a little newspaper ink on your hands if you're cleaning a lot of glass but it won't leave any ink on your windows or mirrors. Try it today!

Simply Homemade: Laundry Detergent

EDIT: I've updated this post as of June 2012 to include some things I've learned about laundry soap in the past year and a half.

This past year, in trying to save money everywhere we possibly could, I decided to try making homemade laundry detergent. I was incredibly pleased with the process and results. It is super easy to make and so economical as well. The ingredients will cost approximately $10 or so to start but you will be able to make laundry detergent for approximately two YEARS with what you purchase. One recipe makes 5 gallons of soap and there's enough borax and washing soda to make approximately 6 batches of soap before you use up the washing soda. That means, you can make approximately 30 gallons of laundry soap with your supplies (I am not counting the bar soap that you have to buy as well).

Supplies Necessary for Making Laundry Detergent:
1/2 to 1 bar of soap. You can use Dr. Bronner's if you want a great scented bar. You can also use Ivory, Dove, 1/2 bar of Zote or 1/2 Fels Naptha bar. (The last two are specifically laundry soap bars but are bigger than regular bars which is why you need to use only 1/2 a bar).
1 cup washing soda. This is also found in the laundry detergent aisle.
1/2 cup borax. Yup. Same place.
Optional: 5 drops of essential oils if you would like your soap to have a specific smell.

A pot to cook the soap in. You can use one of your own kitchen pots. It just needs to hold about 6 cups of liquid.

A Five Gallon Bucket. This is what I make my whole batch of soap in.

My big container and my two smaller containers that I refill over and over.

One or two large containers to store the soap in. I actually use a recycled plastic kitty litter container that the litter comes in. It is huge and will hold one full batch of soap.


An old laundry soap bottle or two. I fill these up from the larger container. This makes it much easier to measure and pour from a regular sized bottle than having to use the huge storage container. My detergent tends to separate over time so these smaller bottles are also convenient to shake up right before pouring.



Directions:

Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. Cook over heat in 4 cups of water until dissolved. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half way with hot tap water. To this hot water add the pot of melted soap and water from the stove. Next add 1 cup of the Washing Soda and a 1/2 cup of the Borax Laundry Booster. Stir to mix.

This is what it looks like when it separates. I just give it a quick shake and it mixes up fine.

Allow to cool overnight and then mix well and pour into your containers. I do have to shake my bottles each time I use them as it tends to separate. I used a full-bar of Fels Naptha the first time and think it was too much which is why I cut the recipe back to 1/2 bar. Two different recipes I referred to said two different things. I tried it one way the first time and found that 1 bar made it too thick. The 1/2 bar of Fels Naptha is perfect. It is very similar to regular laundry detergent consistency.

The only thing I don't like about the process is cooking the soap on the stove. It makes my house smell very strongly of whatever soap you use. It's not a horrible smell but it is strong. I try to melt the soap as fast as I can and then air out my house quickly. I love making laundry soap. It doesn't take much time or money and it lasts forever and works just like the store-bought products. 

Yields approximately 70 loads of laundry per batch if you use 1/2 cup of detergent.

My big kitty litter container of laundry soap. It was full to the TOP when I made the recipe.

Best of all, if you want to make homemade dishwasher soap, you can use the washing soda AND the borax for that recipe.

We made about 6 batches of laundry soap at my MOPS group with all the moms. We were able to make 6 batches in about an hour and a half! It only takes about 15 minutes per batch to make 5 gallons. So many of the moms were so excited about the laundry soap. A lot of them thought it would be a huge process and were surprised by how simple it was in the end.

Here's where I found my supplies:
Washing Soda-approx $4.00 at Walmart
Borax-approx $4.00 at Walmart
Fels Naptha-$2-4/bar. I found mine at City Market but you might find it at Walmart
Dr. Bronner's soap-$3.50/bar at Vitamin Cottage or a store that carries natural products

Enjoy!!

Keep It Clean: The Many Uses of Vinegar

Since having children, I have definitely begun to be more aware of the chemicals I use on a daily basis to clean my house. I have not made a decision to give up cleaners that have chemicals completely, however, if I find a natural, biodegradable and safe product that works just as well or better than the chemical counter-part, I definitely will use it.

One of the household products that I use on a regular basis to clean around my house is vinegar. Vinegar is an awesome cleaner and has so many uses! Here are some of the ways I use it.

* Add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to each load of laundry. This will help get rid of smells and stains.
* Use vinegar to remove hard-water deposits. I use it to clean the water dispenser tray on my fridge. It still requires a tiny bit of elbow grease but it breaks down the build-up pretty quickly.
* Clean your glass shower doors with it. While I'm showering, I will use it on a sponge that has the thicker, rough, scrubby side. It takes just a moment to clean the doors and I can easily spray them off without worrying about getting wet since I'm wet already. You can clean the rest of your shower with it as well.
* Multipurpose and give the kids a bath and wipe down the tub walls at the same time. The vinegar is safe for the kids and allows you to accomplish two things at one time. I have even let my daughter help me scrub which is a great way to involve kids in cleaning. My daughter is 3 and almost always love to help me clean.
* I have occasionally washed my hair with vinegar. It cleanses it really well and makes it feel silky smooth. I wouldn't use it on a regular basis in place of shampoo but it does help every now and then to strip any build-up off your hair.

* Use vinegar to help remove stains. Just tonight, we were eating calzones with red sauce on the side. It was a casual evening so we were in the basement and eating over our carpet. My daughter knocked my plate off the chair it was sitting on and about 1/2 cup of red pizza sauce splattered on our beautiful 1 yr old carpet. My husband about blew a gasket, although he managed to hold it together and not show that he was mad. I casually said, don't worry about it. After carefully picking up as much sauce as I could without rubbing it in, I then used carpet cleaner and blotted. Then I absorbed as much as I could with a cold, damp cloth. Finally, I poured small amounts of vinegar over the stain and let it sit for 20 minutes. We vacuumed a short while later and our carpet looks as good as new. I wish I had taken photos documenting the process. When it happened, my husband said, "That's never coming out." It took a little work...and vinegar...but it did come out!
* Of course, I also use vinegar to cook with as well. My favorite recipe in which I use vinegar is my mom's homemade BBQ sauce. If you're looking for an amazing BBQ sauce for chicken on the grill, you've got to give this one a try. It has a strong vinegar smell while cooking and a tangy taste but if you grill with it, it's sticky, sweet and delicious! Give it a try. BBQ chicken made with this sauce is one of my very favorite things to eat in the summertime!

Just do a simple search for "vinegar uses" and you'll find so many it'll blow your mind! Here's a link to a website that's titled, 1001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar. If you get a moment, read their fun facts on the right-hand column and you'll learn some interesting facts about vinegar.

Those are the ways I use vinegar in my home, how do you use vinegar in your house?

Keep It Clean: How Well Does Your Dishwasher Clean Your Dishes?

Have any of you noticed that your dishwasher doesn't seem to clean your dishes as well as it used to? There's a good reason for this. My dad, who fixes major appliances for a living, wrote the following post to help people learn how to use their dishwasher better and to help it last longer as well. There are some great tips! Thanks for sharing your wisdom Dad!

DISHWASHER NOT LIVING UP TO ITS NAME?

Dear Customer,

The summer of 2010 marked a Sea Change in dishwasher detergents. The Federal Government banned the use of all Phosphates in dishwasher detergents in July or August of this year.
What does that mean for you? It means that when you run out of your current box of D/W soap (which may have Phosphates in it), you will not be able to buy another box with Phosphates--ever!
Those of you who are wondering why your dishwasher is doing such a lousy job lately need to check the box or bottle of dishwasher detergent and see if it is Phosphate Free--or ECO-Friendly, as some manufacturers like to boast. Phosphate Free D/W detergent is worse than useless. By itself, it will leave your dishes increasingly dirty, spotted, and covered with a white, ugly film. Your dishwasher interior will also suffer the same fate as time goes by.
I had a customer recently who bought a house. The previous owner prided herself in using nothing but ECO-Friendly detergents in her home. She had used this soap in her dishwasher for the last 4 years. The outside of the dishwasher looked beautiful. It was spotlessly clean and shiny--like it had just been installed new last week. However, the interior looked like it was sprayed with concrete. I could not even chip it with my putty knife. This lady had to throw the dishwasher away and buy a new one.
There is a product I recently heard about from a fellow appliance repairman. It is called LEMI SHINE. It is sold in Target and Wal-Mart stores. It is a powder that is used in conjunction with your powdered, Phosphate Free detergent. It will restore your dishwasher back to what it was designed for---Washing dishes---and doing a good job at it, too.
I have listed some pointers below that will help you get the most out of your dishwasher--regardless of brand or age.

1.  Do not use Liquid Dishwasher Detergents. Most Hi-End dishwashers have sensors in them that determine how dirty the water is at the beginning of the wash cycle. If it determines that the water has a lot of food particles in it, it will, in many cases, run the dishwasher through the longest wash cycles with the most fill cycles. This adds time to your wash cycle and uses a lot more water (which costs energy to heat). The liquid detergents tend to coat the sensors so that they can not function. It is like smearing Vaseline on your glasses and then checking outside to see if it is foggy or not. With dirty glasses, you won't be able to tell. That is what happens to the sensors when they are covered with residue from the liquid soap.

2. Use Lemi Shine, along with a good quality powdered dishwasher detergent (like Cascade).
The first time you use Lemi Shine, it is recommended that you use it in an EMPTY dishwasher. Fill the main detergent cup FULL of Lemi Shine, run it on the Hottest, Longest wash cycle you have. This will help clean out the dishwasher and pump assembly.
After you have run the dishwasher with just Lemi Shine, use a 50/50 mixture of your dishwasher soap and Lemi Shine in every wash load.
I would recommend that you only add this mixture to the main wash soap cup, and fill that cup only about 1/3 the way full. Leave the other soap cup EMPTY. You will be using about 1/4th to 1/6th the soap you normally would if you were to fill both soap cups full.
The manufacturers always tell you to fill every soap cup FULL, for best results. They tell you that because they are SELLING SOAP!
Using too much soap etches your glass ware that much faster, often leaves spots and soap particles on the dishes and tastes like soap when you drink from the glasses.
When you back off on the amount of detergent you use, you can often stop using Jet Dry for spotting problems. I often tell my customers, if you cut back on your use of detergent and stop using Jet Dry, you can go to Hawaii once a year on what you save.
An easy way to use this Lemi Shine with your dishwasher soap is to fill a sugar dispenser half and half with the two products. Then just fill the one soap cup 1/3rd full and you are good to go.

3. When starting your dishwasher, run the water in the kitchen faucet until it is HOT. Then, shut off the faucet and turn on the dishwasher. That way your dishwasher gets hot water immediately and you won't be filling your dishwasher with COLD water at the start.

4. While waiting for the water to get hot at the faucet, run your disposal for a few seconds to make sure it is empty. Most dishwashers drain through the disposal and this ensures that you won't overflow the sink and flood the floor while the dishwasher is running.

5. If your dishwasher has a "Water Heat" option for the Wash cycle--use it. This ensures that the water will be hot enough for the dishwasher to do an excellent job of cleaning the dishes. If you have young children at home, your home water heater should be set no higher than 120 degrees. This will minimize the chance of scalding accidents in kids or grand-kids.
The Maximum temperature for young children is 120 degrees.
The Minimum temperature for dishwashers is 120 degrees.
There is no overlap. Use the "Water Heat" option on your dishwasher--it is the most important button on your dishwasher.

6. If you want to save energy on your dishwasher use, select "Air Dry" for the dry cycle. Leave the door closed on your dishwasher once the cycle is complete in order to keep the heat in the dishwasher. This helps the dishes to dry without using the HEAT Dry Option.

7. If your dishwasher has only one spray arm (located below the bottom rack), it is important to load the bottom rack in such a way as to allow the water from the spray arm to go through the lower rack to the upper rack so those dishes can get clean. Big pots or bowls or cookie sheets in the bottom rack will block the water and not allow water to the upper rack.

If you follow these steps, you will ensure that your dishwasher has the best chance possible of doing an excellent job in cleaning your dishes. Without the use of Lemi Shine, many people will end up replacing their dishwashers, thinking that the dirty dishes are a result of a worn out machine. They will find out too late that there cleaning problems did not leave with the old dishwasher.

Please feel free to pass this information on to your friends and co-workers. They too, will be looking for an answer for their dishwasher problems.

Sincerely Yours,

Karl Reynolds

Appliance Pro

Wow! What great advice. Thanks for sharing Dad! I personally started using Lemi Shine in October 2010 and it has made such a huge difference in how clean my dishes are when I remove them from the dishwasher. My cups actually are clear and sparkly again! Have you had trouble getting your dishes clean? Are you willing to give Lemi Shine a try? Please feel free to pass this information on to your friends and co-workers. They too, will be looking for an answer for their dishwasher problems.

*Please note that neither I, nor my dad, were sponsored by the producers of Lemi Shine. It is just a product that works and we wanted to share it with others.