Easy Cleaning Secrets

SHARING FROM "A TASTE OF HOME MAGAZINE"

To Clean Windows:
Inexpensively, take a small handful of cornstarch to 3 to 4 quarts of water. Wash the windows with this solution and dry with a paper towel. Works great! I cleans and dries them faster than anything else.

Here's a way to save money on cleaning supplies: Use a wet sponge with baking soda to scrub your kitchen sink, bathroom and even your tile floors. You get a nice shine!

To clean mini blinds or slats of shutters, use a clean paintbrush. It's a lot cheaper than buying expensive blind cleaning tools!

To clean bathroom drains of hair and kitchen drains of grease, pour 1 cup of baking soda into drain, then i cup of vinegar. When it starts to foam, flush the drain with hot water.

When washing windows pour a little vinegar into the pail of warm water. The glass will clean brighter and you won't have streaks.

To rid a room of tobacco odor, put a pint of hot water in a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of ammonia. Leave the bowl in the closed room overnight. The air out the room in the morning.

Use baking soda to polish the chrome fixtures in your bathroom. Put a small amount on a wet cloth, rub the fixtures and dry with a soft cloth. They'll look like new.

To wash shower curtains, fill your washer with warm water and add two large bath towels, 1/2 cup detergent and 1/2 cup baking soda. Run through an entire wash cycle. On the rinse cycle, add 1 cup vinegar.

Do Not spin-dry or wash out the vinegar. Hang curtains immediately. Wrinkles will disappear once the curtains are dry. Note: this won't work without the bath towels!

To remove a soil or grease spot from a nylon or wool rug, just apply cornstarch to the soiled area, rub with a nylon vegetable brush and sweep up with a vacuum.

Salt is great for removing fruit and wine stains from your tablecloth and napkins. Cover the stain immediately with salt; let stand a short time. Wash in cool water.

You can remove stains from the inside of your dishwasher inexpensively and without scrubbing if you use this hint. Just fill the soap dispenser with dry orange flavored breakfast drink mix and run the empty dishwasher through a cycle. The dishwasher will sparkle!

One of the oldest ideas for removing rust stains - and one that still works best - is to moisten the stain with lemon juice, cover it with salt and dry in the sun. Then wash as usual.

An uncorked bottle of lemon juice is an effective bathroom deodorizer. The lemon juice doesn't give off any odor of its own, and is a pleasant alternative to sweet-smelling commercial air fresheners.

To get onion aroma off your hands, simply wet them and gently rub in salt. Then rinse and wash with your usual soap - the smell will be gone.

I use an inexpensive paintbrush sprayed with furniture polish to dust model cars, picture frames and hard-to-get-at nooks and crannies.