TPP members offer some more suggestions
Save Space with Multi-Purpose Cleaning Products
Instead of lots of dedicated products just use traditional ones which work for lots of different jobs.
- Liquid soap like Dr Bronner’s Castile soap is good for dishes and laundry but gentle enough for hair and body too.
- Combine liquid soap and white vinegar to clean almost anything except fine wood and electricals.
- Soda crystals (a heavier duty version of baking soda) are good for cleaning your washing machine, stopping drains getting clogged, removing burnt on stuff on pans, and boosting your laundry wash.
- Instead of bleach to whiten sheets, t-shirts etc, use baking soda and/or white vinegar.
- Baking soda also strengthens the effect of the detergent and helps eliminate smells. White vinegar also has a natural whitening effect and works as a fabric softener. Try adding half a cup at the beginning of the wash cycle, or soak sheets and pillowcases in vinegar and warm water before putting them in the machine. For maximum whitening use both together.
Defrosting a Freezer
It takes 90 minutes. This chore always used to involve pans of hot water and meltwater flooding the floor. There is a much easier and faster way:
- Take out all the food, put it in a washing basket or similar, cover with a thick towel to keep it cold.
- Put a towel at the bottom of the freezer beneath the drip-tray that will be catching most of the melted ice.
- Place a kitchen or stool in front of the open freezer door.
- Fetch your hairdryer, turn it on its hottest setting and put it on the seat of the chair so hot air is directed into the freezer.
- Stay in the kitchen to empty the drip tray, which will soon be full of water.
- Wipe the inside of the freezer clean with soapy water, put the frozen food back and marvel at how much space there is now.
Natural Cleaning
- For a cleaning spray add three tablespoons of lemon juice to water in a spray bottle.
Homemake (Effective) Toilet Cleaner
- Make up a mixture of 3 parts baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) (225g) to 1 part citric acid (75g) (buy both from homewares stores) and mix in a bowl.
- Add 25 drops of lemon or grapefruit essential oil, and if you have them the zest of citrus fruit, put on rubber gloves and knead with your hands, adding a few drops or sprays of water to make it stick together (but not much water as too much will make it fizz).
- Press the mixture into silicone baking moulds, ice cube moulds or an open toilet block holder and press well, leaving to dry for a few hours.
- Unmould and store in a sealed glass jar for up to 3 months.
- Throw one or more of your homemade effervescent tablets into the toilet or hang your homemade toilet block in your toilet. The combination of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid effervesces in contact with water – the less water you have added, the longer the tablet or ball will continue to fizz. The effervescence enhances the descaling and cleaning effect.
Tips to Make Life Easier
1. Add distilled white vinegar to dark washes to prevent fading.
2. Use wristbands to remind children to return library books, take forms for school trips etc.
3. Reduce blisters from new shoes by blow drying them to warm the rubber/plastic/leather before asking your child to walk around in them and mould them to the size and shape of their feet (much cheaper than having to buy Compeed blister plasters).
4. Reduce stains more cheaply than with Oxi stain remover by sprinkling baby powder under arm and on shirt collars, and before washing shirts add lemon juice to the water to avoid sweat marks or discolouration.
5. Buy football boots secondhand via the TPP Facebook page, or online from Gumtree etc. Children grow fast so they are little used before outgrown.
6. Unblock zips with a dab of Vaseline on a cotton bud.
7. Put a dry (old) teabag in trainers to prevent lingering smells after exercise.
8. Charity shops and car boot sales can be great places to find cheap notebooks, pencil cases and other stationery.
9. Hairspray stops runs in tights.
10. Clear nail varnish will stop the thread on shirt buttons unravelling and the buttons going missing.
