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[Rachelle]

Forget about buying all those expensive cleaners they keep advertising on the telly ---- there are LOTS of ways to achieve the same results for relatively little outlay of cash.

For instant, I have been using white vinegar for all sorts of things, from room deodoriser to laundry conditioner. And believe me, the stuff really works! (The vinegar smell evaporates after 5-10 minutes)

Here's an excellent place to get started. If this whets your appetite, you can easily find more info through internet search engines ---

http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod02/mod02a.html

To give you an example, here's a few excerpts:

Laundry Products

White Vinegar. Eliminate soap residue by adding 1 cup of white vinegar to the washer's final rinse. Vinegar is
too mild to harm fabrics but strong enough to dissolve
alkalies in soaps and detergents. Vinegar also breaks down uric acid, so adding 1 cup vinegar to the rinse water is especially good for babies' clothes.

To get wool and cotton blankets soft and fluffy as new, add 2 cups white vinegar to a full tub of rinsewater. DO NOT USE VINEGAR IF YOU ADD CHLORINE BLEACH TO YOUR RINSEWATER. IT WILL PRODUCE HARMFUL VAPORS.

Baking Soda. 1/4 to 1/2 cup baking soda per wash load
makes clothes feel soft and smell fresh.

Baking Soda. You can cut the amount of chlorine bleach
used in your wash by half when you add 1/2 cup baking soda to top loading machines or 1/4 cup to front loaders.

Vinegar. To remove smoky odor from clothes, fill your
bathtub with hot water. Add 1 cup white vinegar. Hang
garments above the steaming bath water.

Cornstarch. For homemade laundry starch, dissolve 1
tablespoon cornstarch in 1 pint cold water. Place in a
spray bottle. Shake before using. Clearly label the
contents of the spray bottle.

Lime And Mineral Deposit Remover

Vinegar and Paper Towels. Hard lime deposits around
faucets can be softened for easy removal by covering the deposits with vinegar-soaked paper towels. Leave the paper towels on for about one hour before cleaning. Leaves chrome clean and shiny.

For Plastic and Metal Showerheads: Vinegar. To remove
deposits which may be clogging your metal shower head, combine 1/2 cup white vinegar and one quart water. Then completely submerge the showerhead and boil 15 minutes. If you have a plastic showerhead, combine 1 pint white vinegar and 1 pint hot water. Then completely submerge the showerhead and soak for about one hour.

***********
Anyway, as I said earlier, I am quite happy with the results and it has certainly saved this household ££££!

(Bet this is where the "How Clean is Your House" gang get their tips.)

[mistral]

Fantastic Post Rachelle, A matter close to my heart . I need to get some White Vinegar but do not know where to buy large quantities eg 5 litres.
I invested in a steam cleaner which I love and the use of vinegar with this is great.
I am getting to the stage where I need to get a cleaner due to my the fact my back is giving up with 5 damaged disks but I do like a clean house and I am a man ! lol
Any ideas re the Vinegar source would be helpfull

[merrik]

I use products bought from Wilkinsons which tend to have very cheap quality products

For example. A litre of Turtle Wax Car Shampoo was £3.49 recently . In halfords , a 300ml bottle was the same price.

I pop in regular and every so often they have quality products at mega cheap prices. Often with foreign instructions , but hey if it saves a small fortune the who am I to complain

[carly]

white wine vinegar is def not the same as white vinegar. it also costs a lot more.! most supermarkets sell white vinegar (also their own brand white vinegar). sometimes referred to as distilled vinegar. Although i havn't seen it in huge bottles, only 500ml or1litre bottles. try a cash and carry or caterers or chemists wholesalers.

[Rachelle]

Gee it's nice to see so many converts! I've found that white wine vinegar is fine for most of the chores, but have also used cheap malt vinegar (the colourless one) with good results. (Especially for zapping the grease off the stove tops!)

I also do not know where to buy large quantities of the stuff so I usually restock at ASDA. Anyway, even buying a half dozen bottles there ends up being much, much cheaper than the equivalent amount of cleaning products.

What I find amazing is the vinegar's ability to absorb odor. As my mother is disabled (from a stroke) she has a commode in her room and as you can imagine, it can tend to smell quite unpleasant. I spent ages trying this and that, but every commercial deodoriser I bought gave her a headache. That's when I found out about the vinegar method and tried it, even though I was sceptical at first. To my utter surprise, it worked!Her room is now odourless. The only thing is it will take ten minutes or so, for the smell of vinegar to dissipate before it starts taking effect. (I'll take the smell of vinegar over pee-pee anyday!)

Hey, if any of you find vinegar/bicarbonate of soda etc in large quantities --- let me know. It may be worth our while to join up to split the cost of a couple of cases between us?

I think you can get large boxes of american baking soda from the web (uk based store), but haven't yet checked the prices.

[colin.mclean]

Don't use vinegar for removing limescale deposits on gold-coloured taps or shower heads with "gold" parts - it will leave a black deposit on the gold.

The deposit will eventually come off with time though if you've already made this mistake!

[mini]

From that How clean is your house tv programme, they put some white vinegar with water in a small bag & tied it round the taps so the end of the taps were immersed, I think they said to leave it for 10 minutes but you have to ensure you rinse it off really well.


mini

[Sarahsaver]

Adding a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate - cheapest from chemists - makes the vinegar fizz up and is a great way of cleaning plugholes and sink overflows. When its fizzed enough just tip some hot water down to wash it away. I also used white vinegar to put in the soaking water when my little ones were in nappies - terries of course, the cheapest, though i suppose i should start a separate thread abput nappies soon...
I heard that denture cleaning tablets were good for cleaning teapots but i can never manage to nick my mum's when she visits, im sure she hides them!

[mini]

I use Asdas sterilising tablets for tea stained pots & cups, one box of them lasts ages.

I shall look forward to your nappies thread, disposable v's washable?

mini

[kit]

Try going here: http://www.hintsandthings.com/

Loads of good advice for saving money!

Lemon Juice also has excellent uses especially for descaling round the base of bath and kitchen taps and for descaling a kettle. Squeeze the juice from two lemon halves and pour into kettle with with just enough water to cover the element and boil. If the kettle is particularly bad you may need to do this several times. Use a washing up brush to scrub away the remains. Fill with clean water and boil. repeat once more and your kettle is ready for use and as well as saving on cleaning products it will save on electricity because it will boil quicker than before!

my daughter was recently given a second hand fridge that her grand parants had, it worked perfectly well with no smell, it was turned off for about three weeks and now smells really bad, like a fishy smell, she has tried all sorts to clean it but still the smell persists. any ideas?

Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in warm water ( 4 tblspns to 4 pints) and wash out the fridege with this to clean and get rid of the smell.

[Nix]

Howdy,

Just a quickie about the magic qualities of CYDER VINEGAR. Did you know that it is not only an antiseptic but an anaesthetic as well? And you can use it (diluted of course!) internally and externally? Nothing else can match those unique qualities as far as I know. In days of old, it was regarded as a panacea. Great for insect bites, cuts, sore throats, bad breath, etc. A must for the medicine cabinet methinks!

Nix

PS/
Cider's pretty good too... ;D

Another great and cleaning tip I've picked up is to use baby oil to clean stainless steel - kettles, toasters etc. Just rub it on with kitchen towel then rub in gently. It gives a lovely shine - far cheaper than all those very expensive stainless steel cleaners +just as good.

[Erin]

I've been using vinegar for yonks - the brown stuff is quite ok for most cleaning jobs but *not* for clothes. (might stain) I boil it in my electric kettle to descale it. Don't all laugh but I told a friend how to use it to keep her plastic showerhead limescale free and she boiled the showerhead and not just for a few minutes!!!
when you've cleaned your oven shelves wipe them with some Bicarb on a damp cloth - leave a residue, it wont smell- and the shelves are easy to clean next time. Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda stock "white" (i.e., water coloured) vinegar. I think someone mentioned it's called distilled malt Vinegar and the brown just malt. More please from anyone with useful moneysaving tips
Erin

[Erin]

sorry everyone. I said Baking Powder for keeping your oven shelves easy to clean. I meant Soda Bicarb.
about 20 tears ago the man servicing my washing machine told me to forget water softeners (we live in a very hard water area) and to use soda crystals - washing soda in some places- I use a spare coffee measuring scoop and heap it slightly. It not only gives lovely soft water, allows use of minimum quantity of detergent; it also keeps your pipes clear as it discharges
Erin

To keep your stainless steel cooker shiny, after washing it to remove the grease, use windolene, it works a treat and doesn't attract dust etc. like baby oil. I use the baby oil on my splashback though.

[Rachelle]

Ok folks, you asked for it!

1. DIY cleaning solutions from Canada;

http://www.consumermanitoba.ca/household.html

2. Yet more baking soda magic:

http://www.newhomemaker.com/cleanorg/soda.html

3. Omigosh more vinegar! (Good resource site, but too many @#&! pop-ups! Grrrr.)

http://frugalliving.about.com/library/blvinegar.htm

4. Here's one of my favoritest sites:

http://www.tipking.com/

5. Last but not least, a homegrown version

http://pages.ivillage.com/lindjemp/ukfrugalliving/

Have fun y'all! (Believe me, trawling through all this stuff will keep you occupied for days!)

;D ;D ;D

[Carole_Hardy]

I enjoyed reading this thread - now a question...

How can I remove those grease spots that accumulate on the tiles behind my hob. !I'm guilty of not cleaning the tiles every time I cook and so end up having to use brillo pads to scrub them off. !Will vinegar dissolve them? !

Any tips gratefully received.

UPDATE!! Have just tried bicarbonate of soda and it worked brilliantly.....!