Home and Garden

Lemon, baking soda, vinegar salt and borax are used every day in our homes but have you ever tried to use them in cleaning? Believe me they are amazing. Cleaning is a hard work but after using these five materials you will find how amazing these environmental friendly substances work. Here are some recipes for using these substances in cleaning and brightening your house.

? Salt:

*Pick up a dropped egg: If an egg breaks on the kitchen floor, sprinkle salt on the mess and leave it there for 20 minutes. You'll be able to wipe it right up.

*Clean up oven spills: If food boils over onto the oven floor, sprinkle salt on top to stop smoke and odor from forming. When the oven is cool, it'll be easy to brush away the spot.

*Clean a cutting board: Cover it with bleach and salt, scrub it with a stiff brush, then rinse with very hot water and wipe with a clean cloth. Repeat with each use.

*Clean coffee cups: in case of glass cups; fill the cup with 4 tbsp salt crushed ice cubes and 1 tbsp water, swish the mixture around, and let it sit for half an hour then rinse with cold water. In case of china cups just rub the inside with salt before washing it.

*Remove perspiration stain from clothes: just soak in salted water before washing

*Soften new jeans: add 1/2 cup salt to the water along with detergent

? Vinegar:

*Remove the odor of cigarette smoke: Leave bowls of vinegar around the room, or saturate a towel with vinegar; wave it all around the room.

*Clean a slimy sponge or loofah: Soak it in a strong solution of vinegar and water for a day, then rinse several times in cold water. Let dry in the sun.

*Remove dried paint: Heat white vinegar until it's lukewarm and apply with a plastic scrubbing pad.

*Rinse clothes thoroughly: Add a cup of white vinegar to the last rinse water and the mild acid will neutralize the alkalis in soaps.

*Remove wallpaper: Pour a cup of white vinegar into 2 gallons of hot water, and then transfer that into a spray bottle. Apply to wallpaper until very wet. Let stand about 15 minutes or until wallpaper is loose.

? Baking soda:

*Clean (plastic) piano keys: Baking soda is a gentle abrasive.

*Remove the sour milk smell from baby's plastic bottle: Fill it with warm water, add a teaspoon of baking soda, shake it well and leave it overnight.

*Polish the silver without elbow grease: Fill a non-aluminum pan with hot water, place a small square of aluminum foil in pan, add baking soda (1 teaspoon per quart) and bring to a boil. Drop silver in briefly and remove with tongs. Wash with soapy water and rinse and buff to a polish.

Not recommended for figured pieces: it will remove shading, so fine silver may look like plate.

*Your dishwasher smells good when you're away: Sprinkle some baking soda inside the dishwasher and leave it open just a bit. It won't smell musty when you return.

*Substitute for other toiletries on a trip: You can use it as toothpaste, as deodorant and as a balm for bug bites.

? Lemon:

*Making furniture polish: Mix 2 parts of olive oil with 1 part lemon juice. Put a few drops on a soft cloth and it will make your wooden furniture shine. Buff the surface with a dry cloth to remove any excess oil. Store the rest of the polish in a glass jar.

*Removing ink stains: Put lemon on the cloth directly onto the spot. Leave it overnight before cleaning it as usual. Repeat if necessary.

*Refreshing your home: Put lemon slices into a pot of water and bring to boil then simmer after an hour the citrus will refresh your home.

*Brightening your white fabrics: Soak them in a pot of boiling water with sliced lemon.

? Borax:

*Making a bleach substitute: add one quarter cup of borax to two cups of water.

*Cleaning the toilet: Pour one quarter cup of borax in the toilet bowl to help clean and deodorize it. Swish the mixture with a brush and let it stand for at least an hour or better overnight then just flush.

*Removing mildew: from many surfaces by using equal parts borax and white vinegar.

Using those substances will need more effort but in the end it will give you an amazing result. Try them and you will never regret.