Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Domestic Duties Made Easier

Last month, I mentioned not liking being called a housewife or a homemaker. Bilbo suggested I just call myself a domestic engineer. Well, in true engineering fashion, I do try to do things like improve efficiency and cut down time.

I came across this book, "1001 Little Housekeeping Miracles" and borrowed it for a few laughs. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I knew of a few of the tips but there are probably another 990 that I didn't know about. Here are a few random ones for today's post:

The Kitchen
- Vinegar Descaler: Cover the element of your kettle with a solution of half cold water, half distilled vinegar. Leave for a couple of hours then rinse.

- Stain Free Tupperware: Tupperware stains can be bleached out by strong sunlight. Put containers in the garden and leave for several hours.

The Bathroom
- Cola Cleaner: Toilet bowls come up shiny when cleaned with old flat cola. Pour a can into the bowl then leave at least an hour and flush - lime-scale dissolves easily.

- Mirror miracle: Make up a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water. Wearing rubber gloves use old newspapers to wipe the surface of the mirror with the mix. Add extra shine by rubbing with a clean blackboard eraser.

Children's Rooms
- Bread Line: Although it sounds obvious, most pencil marks can be removed with a white eraser. Alternatively, press a piece of fresh bread into a wall stain to extract it.

- Pristine Prams: Clean buggies and prams with a sprinkling of baking soda on a damp paper towel. Wipe down and rinse with warm water. More persistent marks can be removed with the suds (not water) from a solution of washing up liquid.

Try them out and let me know. The only one I have tried is the Vinegar descaler and the mirror miracle and they worked.

4 comments:

Mike said...

There are whole books on just the use of vinegar. One of these days I may buy one of them. Until then I'm cutting and pasting your tips into a file. I'm keeping count. 6 down, 984 to go.

Fiona said...

there was a book on 101 uses of baking soda alone too, i think..
interesting. :) might give the last one a try.

Bilbo said...

At our house, the way we clean up most messes is to apply Bilbo as often as needed.

Amanda said...

Mike - Look at this list : http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7

Fiona - And to think I used to only use it for deodorizing the fridge!

Bilbo - That's a handy, multipurpose product to have around the place!