50 Great Household and Outdoor Cleaning Tips
Clean your glass shower: To clean the glass in your shower easily, apply lemon juice to the glass with a sponge. Then, take newspaper and wipe the lemon juice off the glass. It will be clean and sparkle with no scrubbing!
Bathroom mirror: Apply a top coat of shaving creme to the bathroom mirror. This practice keeps mirrors from steaming up.
Reheat Pizza: Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. Seen on the cooking channel and it really works.
Reheat Pizza: When reheating a slice of pizza, run the bottom under the faucet. The water will cause a small amount of steam in the microwave which will keep the crust from becoming hard and brittle.
Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
Bee Sting: Applying mud to a bee sting will take away the sting, as well as the stinger.
Car Battery: Cola poured on a car battery will eat away the corrosion.
Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.
Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
Ants: Sprinkle cinnamon and cheyenne pepper along house exterior to prevent ants from entering your home. Ants will not cross the line.
Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home,” & can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, ESP. If it rains, but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
Newspaper weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
Soft Cookies: Place a slice of white bread inside the cookie jar to keep cookies soft. An apple slice also is effective, but it can attract fruit flies.
Dusting: Use fabric sheets to pick up that unslightly dust on the TV, end tables and other areas.
Broken Glass: Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass-the fibers catch ones you can’t see!
No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
Squirrel Away: To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.
Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
Room Freshener: Dab perfume on light bulb to scent a room.
Pet Stains: Never use ammonia on urine stains-it strengthens the smell. Blot the spot with plenty of soap and water, then let dry. When completely dry, use baking soda and vinegar as a scrub. This should eliminate the ordor.
Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and – voila – static is gone.
Measuring Cups: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
Foggy Windshield: Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
Hair Rinse: A cup of vinegar goes a long way to reduce tangles and keep your hair soft and shiny. Apply as a final rinse.
Hair Rinse: Another good hair rinse and hair lightener is lemon juice. Again, use the lemon juice as a last rinse, then stand in sun for a sun-kissed look.
Carpet Freshener: Baking soda dumped into carpets takes out odor. The recommended method is to sprinkle the baking soda thoroughly throughout the carpets, leave for several minutes, and remove with a carpet sweeper.
Fresh Lettuce: Never cut lettuce with a metal blade-it will turn the edges brown-use a plastic knife or tear the lettuce leaves off of the head. The tearing method is preferable.
Reopening envelope: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.
Conditioner: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…
Good-bye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
Take baby powder to the beach: Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When your ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.
Ink on Walls: Toothpaste applied to a wet washcloth is a good ink remover, especially on walls and wallpaper. But, be careful with wallpaper. It will still work, but don’t press too hard or you’ll rub the wallpaper finish off, as well.
Fleas: To find out if you have fleas, and then to attract them quickly before they breed to intensively, spread a white sheet on the floor. Set several shallow dishes of warm water on the sheet, then light a lamp. The warmth will attract the fleas and drown them. A nightlight will also work, but remember to put a dish of warm water right underneath it.
Cooking oil: Use applesauce in place of oil when baking. This will cut down on the fat content.
Air Freshener: Boil cinnamon to eliminate house odors. But watch the pot, it boils over very easily!
Chimney: To keep your chimney clean, throw a handful of salt on the fire
Chrome: To remove rust from chrome, wipe it with aluminum foil dipped in Coke. To polish chrome, use a crumbled up piece of aluminum foil and rub!
White-Out / Liquid Paper & Permanent Marker Stains: Dab some sunscreen over the stain and rub off with a paper towel. Repeat until stain is gone.
Copper: To polish copper, rub an ample amount of catsup on the copper and let it stand for 5 minutes. Rinse off the catsup with hot water and dry to find an incredible shine.
Cleaning Artificial Flowers: To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!
Removing Burnt on Food From a Skillet: To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop.
Cleaning with Alka Seltzer: Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer. Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets,wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China.
Microwave Cleaner: Place a bowl of vinegar in the microwave and run on HIGH til it comes to a boil. Wipe the interior clean with a rag dipped in the vinegar.
Hair Spray on Walls: Put a few drops of shampoo and warm water on a sponge or cloth to wipe down the wall. Rinse with clear warm water to remove any residue.
Tarnish remover for silver: Fill a pan large enough to hold the silver with water. Add your silver, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of baking soda and few sheets of aluminum foil. Let the mixture sit for an hour or so. You may notice a mild sulphur smell as the tarnish is “magically” pulled from the silver onto the foil. Then simply rinse the silver in hot water and dry with a soft cloth.
Improving air quality: According to a NASA study, common houseplants help filter chemicals out your home – the more plants in an enclosed area the better! English ivy absorbs benzene, spider plants and boston ferns remove formaldehyde, and aloe vera and potted chrysanthymum are said to filter numerous toxins
George Foreman Grills: After removing the cooked food from the grill, place a paper towel soaked in water on each of the 2 cooking surfaces. Unplug the appliance, allow it to sit for 5-30 minutes (while you eat), then use the paper towels to effortlessly wipe out the grease and food particles.
Kitty Litter: To keep cat litter fresh smelling, mix baby powder in with the litter.
Smashed Down Carpet: To make the carpet stand back up after moving a piece of furniture, place an ice cube on the spot. As it melts, the piles will go back up.
