Posted
September 2, 2010 by
deb under
Remedies I grew up with a spotless home. My mother was very good about keeping everything in tip-top shape. I picked up quite a few pointers from her, but dealing with hard water stains was something I didn’t know anything about.
If you have hard water, you’ve more than likely have seen stains appear in your bathroom or kitchen where there is a water source. The minerals from the hard water build up over time, and are not easily scrubbed off. I’ve found the best cleaner at attacking hard water stains is vinegar.
Here is my kitchen sink faucet before I started cleaning.
Yikes, huh?!
Here are the steps I took to treating this baby.
1. I took a few paper towels, soaked them in white vinegar and wrapped them around the faucet.
2. I’d pop in with a toothbrush every 6 hours or so and scrub away the hard water stains and then reapply the paper towels. After 1 day of letting the faucet soak, it looked like this.
It was looking much better already. But it still wasn’t clean enough so I reapplied the paper towels, added a little vinegar and let it soak for about 3 more days, still popping in with a tooth brush every once and a while. Here’s what it looks like now.
It looks much better. Although, it’s still not completely back to new, I couldn’t deal with the vinegar smell anymore. I’ve heard that you can mix a little lemon juice in with the vinegar to help it along. Has anyone tried this? If you have any pointers, I’d love to hear them.
Tags: faucet, hard water, Kitchen
Posted
August 21, 2009 by
erin under
Remedies Now that the children are back in school you can’t be there to change their clothing as soon as a stain happens. Here are a few reminders for easily removing various stains.
Ink: Use hairspray. You probably have that right? The alcohol in the spray helps to break up the ink. Just spray and let it sit, the spray again. Repeat this until the ink is gone. Then wash it out with your regular detergent.
Fruit Juice: Make a paste with cream of tarter and warm water and spread on the stain. Let it sit for 1/2 to 1 hour and then rinse and wash regularily with your other laundry.
Oil: Scrub some dishwasher detergent on the oil spot and let it sit for a little bit. Wash in warm water as normal.
Crayon (or melted crayon from those ones that accidentally stayed in someone’s pocket): Place the item in the freezer until the crayon is hard and brittle. Shatter and shake off the excess. Sponge the excess with a spot stain remover and you’re good to go!
Do you have a special remedy you’d like to share? Be sure to leave us a comment!
Tags: How to, laundry, stain remover, stains
Posted
August 19, 2009 by
erin under
Remedies I don’t have children yet, but I do know that mornings can be a rush, especially when everyone is getting ready and has to go in many different directions. Here are a few tips to get your day started right:
by squarepants2004j/auntyhuia
1. Set out homework, signed slips, and anything else that needs to go to school the next day, better yet, get it all packed so the backpacks are ready to grab and go.
by ex.libris
2. Use the weekend to get lunch items ready for the upcoming week. Make a couple of batches of jello, pudding, salad, or cut up veggies and put into small plastic containers. They stack nicely in the fridge and are tons cheaper than buying the pre-made ones. When you’re ready to pack lunch in the morning, just grab a few of your pre-made containers and add to the lunch box.
by exile in suburbia
3. Help your child set out two outfits the night before. In the morning they can choose between the two and hopefully this will reduce the amount of disagreements over what can be worn!
Tags: school, time-saving tips
Posted
May 20, 2009 by
deb under
Remedies 
image from HGTV
It’s a little embarassing to admit this, but my washer stinks like rotten eggs. I have googled endlessly for ideas on ways to get the stink out, but haven’t had any luck.
The other day I received a $1 coupon for Tide Washing Machine Cleaner in the mail so I decided to give it a try. It comes with three treatment packages. Since my washer already smells, Tide recommends using one package a week until the box is gone and then using one treatment package a month after that. I just did my second treatment on Monday and so far, my washer is cleaner and doesn’t smell like rotten eggs anymore.
Do you have any funny issues like this at your house that you are having trouble with?
Tags: cleaner, eggs, Remedies, rotten, smells, tide, washer
