All-Natural Home Cleaning
Want to make your home sparkle the old-fashioned way? All you need is five simple ingredients.
Baking soda
- For sparkling silver, line a porcelain sink with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Load it with silver you intent to polish, making certain that every item touches the foil liner. Cover with boiling water and add a cup of baking soda. The tarnish will jump from the silver to the foil in almost no time. For any remaining traces of heavy tarnish, make a paste of water and baking soda and polish the surface until it shines.
- Make a tile cleanser by mixing two cups of baking soda with a half cup of lukewarm water. Brush the mixture into the grout and scrub, scrub, scrub.
- Sprinkle baking soda onto your upholstered couch to deodorize it. Let it stand for an hour, then vacuum.
Lemon
- Mix two parts olive oil with one part lemon juice to create furniture polish. Just a few drops on a soft cloth will make your wooden furniture shine. Buff the surface with a dry cloth to remove any excess oil. Store your polish in a glass jar.
- Remove ink stains on cloth by placing lemon juice directly onto the spot. Allow it to sit overnight before laundering as usual. Repeat if necessary.
- Take rust off household tools and chrome by using salt and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Make a paste and rub onto rusty area with a dry cloth.
- Brighten white fabrics by soaking them in a pot of boiling water with a sliced lemon.
Borax
- Add one quarter of borax to two cups of water to make a bleach substitute.
- Pour one quarter cup into your toilet bowl to help clean and deodorize it. Swish the mixture with a brush and let it stand for at least an hour or, even better, overnight. Flush.
Salt
- Remove perspiration stains from clothing by pre-soaking the garment in salt water.
- Soften new jeans by adding one half cup of salt to the wash along with your regular laundry detergent.
- To get rid of coffee stains on the inside of a glass coffeepot, add four teaspoons of salt, one cup crushed ice, and one tablespoon of water. Gently swirl until clean, then rinse.
White vinegar
- Polish patent leather in cloth dampened with vinegar. Wipe it on until shine is fully restored.
- Use a solution of two tablespoons of white vinegar to one gallon of warm water in a spray bottle to clean mirrors, glass, and windows.
- To reduce odor from a pet’s urine in your carpet, dilute a cup of vinegar with a cup of room-temperature water. Apply and blot with a clean rag.
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