- Add vinegar to your bucket
Add a few drops of white vinegar to your mopping bucket to remove traces of soap. If the floor is linoleum or vinyl, adds a little baby oil to the mop water to bring a soft gleam to the surface — but use a mere 1-2 capfuls at most or you’ll turn the floor into a skating rink.
- Bleach painted walls
Mix a solution of 8 litres water and 1/2 cup (125ml) chlorine bleach to give your kitchen walls a brightening sponge-down after you’ve done a lot of cooking in a frying pan.
- Erase pencil marks with rye bread
Remove pencil sketches from the kitchen wall with a slice of fresh rye bread (seeded or not). An artist’s eraser can also get rid of the marks.
- Wash away wallpaper grime
If your kitchen walls are covered with water-proof wallpaper, remove excess dirt with a vacuum cleaner, then wash the walls with a solution of 1/2 cup (125ml) lemon juice, 1/2 cup (125ml) washing-up liquid and 4 cups (1 litre) water. Before starting, wash a tiny section in an inconspicuous place to make sure the paper will tolerate the mixture.
- Keep stainless steel stainless
Stainless-steel kitchen sinks aren’t quite as immune to stains and marks as their name implies. Here are solutions to various problems:
- Rust marks Rub the area with a drop of lighter fluid and then clean it with non-abrasive scouring powder and water.
- Water marks Rub with a cloth dampened with surgical spirit.
- Other marks Rub marks with white vinegar or soda water, both of which are excellent stainless-steel polishers.
- Lemon stain lifter
Getting a tomato sauce stain off a benchtop or cupboard door is easier than you think. Just wet the stain with lemon juice, let sit for 30 minutes or so and then sprinkle bicarbonate of soda onto the abrasive side of a kitchen sponge and scrub the discoloured area. Most stains will vanish and your kitchen will smell fresher, too.
- Sterilise your sink
Germs can lurk around in a sink on microscopic food particles. To kill them off, fill a spray bottle with full-strength surgical spirit. After you have finished washing dishes, spray the sink with the surgical spirit and then rub it down with a clean tea towel or paper towel.
- Tea thyme for porcelain
Attractive though they are, porcelain sinks can be hard to clean because abrasive cleaners dull (and often scratch) porcelain surfaces. Take the gentle route and clean your sink with fresh lemon thyme tea. Place 4-5 bunches of fresh lemon thyme in a large metal bucket and fill it with boiling water. Steep the thyme for 5-6 hours, and then strain it. Put the plug in the sink, pour in the tea and let it sit overnight. When you drain it the next morning, you will find a gleaming white sink with a delightfully fresh smell.
- Almost-free all-purpose cleaner
Why buy an antibacterial spray cleaner if you can make one in less than 5 minutes? Combine 1 cup (250ml) surgical spirit, 1 cup (250ml) water and 1 tablespoon white vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray onto kitchen surfaces, including tiles and chrome, then wipe off and watch how quickly the germ-killing polish evaporates.
- The dynamic grease-busting duo
The chemistry between bicarbonate of soda and vinegar is so powerful that the mix can flush grease out of kitchen drains. Pour 1/2 cup (90g) bicarbonate of soda into a blocked drain, followed by 1 cup (250 ml) white vinegar. Cover the drain for a few minutes as the chemical reaction dissolves the grease — then flush the drain with warm water. Caution: you should never use this method after using a commercial drain cleaner, which may react with the vinegar to create dangerous fumes.
- Ice-cold degreaser for waste disposal units
Degrease a waste disposal unit by occasionally grinding five or six ice cubes along with 1/3 cup (60g) bicarbonate of soda. The ice congeals the grease, priming it for attack by the bicarb and sending it down the drain. To flush out any residue, fill the plugged-up sink with 5-8cm hot water and run the water through the unit.
Credit : Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit : Google