Category: Home Cleaning

The identical lovely handmade doilies your grandmother and great-grandmother so adored are still a classy, charming touch in any room. Many of the doilies today are machine-made instead of handmade, but you scarcely notice. When you stiffen a doily and use it to get a lacy decorative table setting, the effect is guaranteed to be breathtaking. You have many alternatives to get stiffeners, from watered-down white glue to chemical-laden sprays bought at the store. Attempt your grandma’s and great-grandma’s recipe rather. At times the old-fashioned things are best, just like your doilies.

Fill a small saucepan with 1/2 cup of water. Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and stir thoroughly. A whisk works best but a spoon will suffice as long as you focus on the pan bottom borders.

Put the pan on a stove burner set to low heat. Keep stirring as the sugar water heats. A low simmer is fine, but do not let the mixture boil. Watch for the sugar water to turn a clear color with a fluid texture, not sugary and white.

Turn off the burner — eliminating the pan in case the stove is electric — and permit the sugar starch to cool to about room temperature.

Dip each doily into a sink filled with very warm water. Put the doilies in an absorbent bath towel and roll up the towel to blot the excess water. Wetting the doilies prevents the fibers from consuming excessive starch. The fibers are fragile when wet, nevertheless, and wringing, pulling and twisting on a doily will stretch it out of shape, particularly when it’s moist.

Drop each doily, one at a time, in the sugar. Wait a minute or 2, then recover the doily and, holding it above the pan along with your sink, gently squeeze the doily or press it between the two of your hands to remove as much excess sugar starch as possible. Avoid wringing, twisting, stretching actions.

Lay each doily on a fresh, absorbent bath towel, leaving a little space around each one. Shape the doilies as appropriate — squaring or rounding into a circle for instance and smoothing out ruffles.

Tack the doilies with stainless steel sewing needles or hooks to avoid shrinkage since they dry. Leave them at an undisturbed place where they will not be exposed to dirt — moist, sticky surfaces like produced by sugar starch pull dirt — for a day or so. Remove the pins and use as desired once they’re dry.

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A cup of java in the morning may be what you want to place yourself on the right foot. But knowing how to use the leftover reasons when your budget is kept by cleaning your house on the right track also. Whenever you’re done with your morning blend, get stains from your hands by rubbing them with coffee grounds .

Absorb Odors

Set of coffee grounds in the fridge or in a room to neutralize. Add two to three drops of grounds to sweeten the odor that the motives produce. Coffee grounds are also used to wash dishes, pots and pans that have hard-to-remove stains. Place a couple teaspoons of coffee grounds and scrub them over food particles and the stuck dirt. Do not use coffee grounds on dishes that might be porous or absorbent, as the dish ware can be stained by the reasons.

Scrub Grit

When cleaning your fireplace or stove out, sprinkle damp coffee grounds over the ash. This minimizes the amount of dust and debris that’s dislodged throughout the space and into the atmosphere as you clean. Griddles and grills can appear to be cleaning jobs that are daunting, but scrubbing coffee grounds helps remove what might otherwise take.

Conceal Scratches

This suggestion can ease your anxiety levels the next time you spot a scratch on your furniture. Dip the tip of a cotton swab into coffee grounds and brush to mask scrape marks on the scratches of your furniture. You shake the mix and could also combine a 1/4 cup of warm water and coffee grounds. Allow mixture. Dab on a rag in the mix and use it into the scratches. Both of these application methods darken the scratch and make it less noticeable. You might want to test the colour in a spot before treating the scratch to make sure it blends well with the overall colour of the furniture.

Trap Pests

By adding approximately 2 inches of moist reasons into a 24, if cockroaches take up residence in your home, provide them the oust. Line the neck of this bottle on the interior with double-sided sticky tape. Lay the jar on its side to create a trap for those undesirable pests. The roaches are attracted by the smell into the jar, in which they get stuck onto the tape. Coffee grounds do the job for keeping ants away. It deters them from inviting themselves, by pruning small quantities of grounds in the areas that ants input.

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A plastic shower curtain liner helps to keep the actual shower curtain clean and tidy. The disadvantage is the liner itself becomes covered in soap scum, bacteria or even mold and mildew in the damp conditions in the bathroom. Instead of throwing the liner away, clean it up in the washing machine, but skip the dryer as the liner will melt in the heat.

Soap Scum Treatment

Soapy buildup is a vital concern in regards to the shower curtain liner, as this is often what causes it to seem dirty or grimy. Set the curtain liner in the washing machine with various towels. Add your favorite laundry detergent, along with a cup of vinegar, and then run the machine to a delicate or gentle cycle. Following the spin cycle stops, lift the curtain liner out and carry it so that it drips over the washing machine or clean tub for a moment or so. Hang the liner back to the curtain hooks together with the bottom of the liner in the bathtub or shower area, allowing it to air dry.

Fundamental Washing

Keep the shower curtain liner looking its best by running it through the washing machine with bleach added into the laundry detergent. Since the machine fills, add 1/2 cup of bleach, and 1/4 cup laundry detergent. Toss from the shower curtain liner and many white towels which may withstand bleaching. Run the washer on a delicate cycle using warm or hot water, then remove the liner after the rinse cycle and then hang up it on the shower curtain pole.

Mold and Mildew Treatment

Instead of adding bleach to the wash cycle — that will also get rid of mold and mildew — run a gentle wash cycle using 1/2 cup of baking soda added to the detergent in warm water. Add several blankets or towels to the load. Add a 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle. After rinsing, hang the shower curtain to drip dry in the shower curtain pole or outside in sunlight, which also kills mold and mildew. The vinegar helps eliminate stains and helps you to avoid mold and mildew.

Keeping it Clean

Mold, mildew and bacteria build up on the folds of this shower curtain liner over time. To help prevent this from happening, pull on the shower curtain liner over the room after using the shower — this allows the liner to drip dry, instead of creating folded regions that remain wet and damp for long periods of time. Open a window or leave the bathroom fan on near the shower, whenever feasible, so you can dry the liner quickly.

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