Apparently, we spend around £1 billion per year on household cleaning products. So what did we do in the days before we had bottles of ‘easy’ this and ‘super sparkle that’ to buy off-the-shelf? Here are some money saving cleaning tips you might want to try…
1. Resolve a stinky fridge emergency by cutting a lemon in half and scooping out the fleshy part. Put some salt in the cavity and leave in the fridge to soak up those yucky smells.
2. Smelly drains can be treated with bicarbonate of soda. Pour a fair amount of bicarb down the sink followed by some white wine vinegar. Leave them both to work for fifteen minutes or so before flushing the whole lot though with boiling water.
3. Badly burned pots and pans can be rescued with cheap cola. Simply pour the cola onto the burnt residue and boil. The cola should loosen all that horrible stuff and leave your pots as good as new when you pour away the mixture.
4. Cola is also a brilliant toilet cleaner! Just pour into the bowl and leave for an hour or so. Give the bowl a good scrub with a brush and flush.
5. Cut through grease with lemon juice and distilled white wine vinegar. You can add it to bowls of washing up or even use it for floor and surface cleaning. Just add double the amount of water to the white wine vinegar and squeeze in the lemon juice.
6. Clogged shower heads can be fixed by soaking them in vinegar overnight.
7. Vinegar and scrunched up newspaper is a classic way to clean windows and mirrors.
8. Freshen up smelly laundry baskets by putting a few drops of an essential oil such as lemongrass or tea tree on a cloth and leaving it in the basket.
9. To clean the oven, try making a paste out of water and baking soda and spread it on the bottom of the oven. Leave the paste few a few hours and them wipe it off with a soft cloth. Grime and grease should come away with the paste leaving your oven nice and clean.
10. To freshen up the laundry, make your own fragrant drying sheets. Cut some clean old clothes into squares and infuse them with a mixture of vinegar and a few drops of your favourite essential oils. Keep the squares in a airtight container or bag and place one in with each drying load.