Cleanups Around the Ktichen

Appliances:

• To rid yellowing from white appliances:  1/2 cup bleach, 1/4 cup baking soda and 4 cups warm water.  Apply with a sponge and let set for 10 minutes.  Rinse and dry.
• Use WD-40 to shine stainless steel appliances.  Follow the grain of the stainless steel.

Dishwasher:

• Run a cycle with white vinegar to help clean filters.
• Fill dishwasher with dirty dishes.  Put a bowl in the bottom of the dishwasher.  Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into the bowl and let the dishwasher go through the entire cycle.  This will remove all film not only from glasses but from your dishwasher too.  (Never put silver, aluminum or brass in the washer when doing this method.)

Clogged Drains:

• Pour a cup of salt and a cup of baking soda into the drain followed by boiling water. 

Garbage Disposal:

• Grind a half lemon or orange rinds in the disposal to remove any unpleasant odor.
• Grind ice cubes to loosen debris.

Refrigerator:

• An open box of baking soda will absorb food odors for at least a month or two.
• A little vanilla poured on a piece of cotton and placed in the refrigerator will eliminate odors.
• To prevent mildew from forming, wipe with vinegar.  The acid effectively kills the mildew fungus.

Sinks:

• For a white sink, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with household bleach.  Let set for 1/2 hour.
• Rub stainless steel sinks with lighter fluid if rust marks appear.  After the rust is gone, wipe with your regurlar kitchen cleaner.
• Use a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol to remove water spots from stainless steel.
• Spots on stainless steel can be removed with white vinegar.
• Club soda will also shine stainless steel.

Similar Posts:

Stainless Steel Friend or Foe
Laundry Tips

Laundry and Life

Laundry is a bit like life.  Each day it builds from the day before.  There are things to be sorted out.  Sometimes there is dirt to be dealt with. Some problems need to be tended to quickly and others can be put at the bottom of the pile. Some items need to be handled with care while others can take a beating.  And if it's not tended to daily it will undoubtedly become overwhelming!

Vinegar

I have a Home Economics degree, so I guess you could say that makes me a home economist.   I sometimes wonder why I chose that field.  But then when I look at all the things that have intereseted me in my life and my hobbies I guess I get my answer.  A Home Economics degree is kind of like vinegar IT COVERS IT ALL!   There is a saying that, "All I ever needed to know I learned in Home Eonomics." (Today it would be Family and Consumer Science.)   Well one thing you can't do without in your home is vinegar.  Did you realize vinegar has many uses?  Here are a few of my favorite vinegar tips: 

Cleaning:

• Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.
• Remove the grime on the top of the refrigerator with a paper towel or cloth and full-strength white distilled vinegar.
• Remove soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a whole cycle.
• Spray shower doors with full-strength white distilled vinegar after you’ve squeegeed the glass, or before you step in and turn on the water. This helps release the hard water deposits so they don’t remain on the glass.

Laundry:

• Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.
• Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy? Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Health and Beauty:

• Make nail polish last longer. Wipe fingernails with cotton balls dipped in white distilled vinegar before putting on nail polish.
• Get rid of heartburn:  Take 1T. of apple cider vinegar for heartburn.  (Heartburn has to be really bad for me to do this.  But it works.)

Cooking:

• Tenderize meat with white distilled vinegar. Use it in marinades or when slow cooking any tough, inexpensive cuts of meat.
• Make onion odors disappear from your hands by rubbing with white distilled vinegar.

These are just a few of my favorite tips.  I actually found a website that list over 1001 uses for vinegar.  Check it out:
1001 Uses for Vinegar