Homemade Housecleaners PART 2

[Guest guest]

Homemade Dust and Furniture Polish

 

I tried this one and it is not only easy, but cheap and very

effective. No more pledge for me! I have a lot of woodowork in my

home, and was very excited to find a cheaper polish!

 

1 cup vegetable oil

½ cup lemon juice

 

Pour oil and lemon juice into a squirt bottle or jar. Stir to

combine. To use, dip dust cloth or rag into oil, blot the oil by

folding the cloth together, and then dust your furniture. Leaves a

beautiful finish!

 

All purpose quick shiner

 

This shiner is mild and safe to use for all surfaces

 

1 ¼ cups white vinegar

1 ¼ cups water

22 ounce spray bottle

 

Pour vinegar and water into the spray bottle. Shake gently to

combine. To use, spray on

and wipe off.

 

All Purpose Window and Glass Cleaner

 

Vinegar cuts grease and leaves windows sparkling clean. Best of all,

this mixture is

absolutely safe. It's the best choice if you have young children in

the house.

 

¼ cup white vinegar

1 quart of water

 

Pour vinegar and water into a bowl or container, or mix the

ingredients in a spray bottle. Clean windows directly with a sponge

dipped in the bowl of cleaner or spray on and wipe clean. I have

heard that you can use newspaper to clean windows quite well, I have

always used old cloth diapers.

 

Sink Cleaner

 

Replace Comet and other abrasives with this homemade one. Combine

baking soda and salt (I am guessing in equal amounts) to scrub

stainless steel.

 

Oven Cleaner

 

¼ cup ammonia

2 cups of warm water

 

Pour ammonia and warm water in a baking dish and leave in a warm oven

overnight. This will loosen the grime in the over, which you can then

clean with an ammonia-based cleaner or soap and water. You can also

scour with baking soda.

 

Cleaning Silver

 

Don't buy one of those metal plates that you put in warm water to

clean silver. This is the same thing! I found this trick in " Make it

Last " by Earl Proulx, one of my favorite books on maintaining your

home and possessions. I have done this on some silver plated forks

and spoons that I got very cheap at a yardsale and they came out

great! This trick works like magic and kids love it.

 

Aluminum foil

Baking soda

Salt

Very hot water (can be boiling if you like)

 

Combine the above ingredients in a clean kitchen sink. Put your

tarnished silver and silver-plated items into the sink and let set

for a few minutes. Watch as the tarnish disappears from the

silverware and reappears on the foil. This is a natural chemical

reaction, and a great way to teach the kids some science!

 

Note: This trick works so well that it will clean out the nooks and

crannies that give some silverware the " aged " look, so you may only

want to do this occassionally. I had to include these formulas from

Homemade Cleaners because they were actually tested and compared

against commercial brands. We like that!