Frugal Cleaning Tips

Davy

To make tips easier to find, use a different thread for each topic.

So any cleaning tips can go here................

Pang

Cornflour for cleaning your windows and for getting them all sparkly and shiny.

One third vinegar and two thirds cold water heated for 5 minutes in the microwave will guarantee a clean microwave. Once you take it out, any dirt or dried in splatters will be moist and can be easily wiped off with damp cloth.

quaalude

If the inside of your toilet is limescale-y, get some denture tablets - there are ones for pittance in Tesco. Throw 2 into the toilet and leave overnight.

If there is some stubborn limescale left, scrub with a toilet brush, throw 2 more in and leave overnight, but it should come up great.

Standard Toaster

Worried that your teeth will be stained after a heavy night drinking red wine?
Drink a bottle of white wine before going to bed to remove the stains.

livinsane

Cut up old t shirts into rags and use them instead of kitchen roll and dettol wipes etc.

JuliusCaesar

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Worried that your teeth will be stained after a heavy night drinking red wine?
Drink a bottle of white wine before going to bed to remove the stains.

Birdsong

This sounds like a strange one, but believe me it works, use old tights & pop socks for cleaning the bathroom. You dont need any cleaning product, just bunch up an old pair of tights, wet them & wipe your bath or shower & it will cut through the soap scum thats left. Its brilliant

miamee

Birdsong wrote: »

This sounds like a strange one, but believe me it works, use old tights & pop socks for cleaning the bathroom. You dont need any cleaning product, just bunch up an old pair of tights, wet them & wipe your bath or shower & it will cut through the soap scum thats left. Its brilliant

Must try that on the shower door - I am always throwing out old tights after they get a bit of a rip/hole in them. Now I can put them to some good use first Thanks.

dudara

Hang onto old toothbrushes - they're great for cleaning out tight little spots

Jellybaby1

Anyone interested in this? Soda crystals in Aldi on Sunday 16th, 99c for a kg. Is this what a lot of folk are talking about on some threads here? Haven't used it myself so I await helpful advice.

goat2

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Worried that your teeth will be stained after a heavy night drinking red wine?
Drink a bottle of white wine before going to bed to remove the stains.

you mean that by drinking the bottle of white wine, stained teeth will be the least of your worries the following day

The_Mask

dudara wrote: »

Hang onto old toothbrushes - they're great for cleaning out tight little spots

You can also use old toothbrushes to quickly clean dirty runners. Just add small amount of washing powder to lukewarm water and scrub and rinse off with the brush.
I have also used old tooth brushes to clean the grime out of between external side car window and door frame, very handy

goat2

with water charges coming in, buy a water butt, and use this water to wash outside windows, cars, footpaths, driveways, floor mats, and water plants, i use a garden watering can and sponge and bucket suds up the car and then use the watering can without the sprinkler to wash down, car come up sparkling five minuets work,
use microfibre cloths with a bucket of water on windows they come up sparkling,

snubbleste

Where do people get the best value:
vinegar
baking soda
essential oils - anise, cinnamon (for the smell)

Jellybaby1

I used to get vinegar in a branch of BuyLo but they closed down. Now I buy it in Dealz or Mr. Price. Can't help with the others, sorry. If you have access to a wholesalers via the trade you can get large quantities of it, or ask your local chipper for their supplier's name.

sunny2004

dudara wrote: »

Hang onto old toothbrushes - they're great for cleaning out tight little spots

It doesn't have to be old, as long as its not yours

flutered

sign up for newsletters from a crowd called undestructibles, a lot of chaff, but some gems in there

PMBC

Birdsong wrote: »

This sounds like a strange one, but believe me it works, use old tights & pop socks for cleaning the bathroom. You dont need any cleaning product, just bunch up an old pair of tights, wet them & wipe your bath or shower & it will cut through the soap scum thats left. Its brilliant

Another use for old tights is shining shoes - that's if anybody polishes shoes anymore; perhaps children's school shoes?!

flutered

for polishing shoes use furniture polish, spray on a little and shine

rubadub

miamee wrote: »

Must try that on the shower door - I am always throwing out old tights after they get a bit of a rip/hole in them. Now I can put them to some good use first Thanks.

You can pop tights over a hoover if you have dropped something small like an earring or contact lens. It sucks up stuff but it will not go into the hoover.

dudara wrote: »

Hang onto old toothbrushes - they're great for cleaning out tight little spots

New toothbrushes will be much better though, I take them from hotels, they are usually smaller in hotels too and get into tighter spots.

snubbleste wrote: »

Where do people get the best value:
vinegar
baking soda
essential oils - anise, cinnamon (for the smell)

vinegar is acetic acid and is used in photo processing. Chippers often will use "non brewed condiment" and it can be much stronger than regular 5% vinegar you typically get. The stuff they use is a by product of chemical processing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-brewed_condiment

it cannot be labelled as vinegar so might not appear on searches you do. The italian chipper association has links to suppliers. Tesco used to do 3L bottle of vinegar but I have not seen it in ages. I got pint bottles of heinz distilled white vinegar for 1 euro in a 2 euro type shop.

OU812

snubbleste wrote: »

Where do people get the best value:
vinegar
(for the smell)

You can buy 5L of white vinegar for about €7 in an asian supply store (Capel St. in Dublin has several)

rubadub

OU812 wrote: »

You can buy 5L of white vinegar for about €7 in an asian supply store (Capel St. in Dublin has several)

Sometimes these shops have the bigger sizes out the back as they are tight on shelf space, so you might have to ask.

brian_t

flutered wrote: »

sign up for newsletters from a crowd called undestructibles, a lot of chaff, but some gems in there

Do you have a link for them.

flutered

newsletter.instructables.com

this should do op

GearMaven

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I used to get vinegar in a branch of BuyLo but they closed down. Now I buy it in Dealz or Mr. Price. Can't help with the others, sorry. If you have access to a wholesalers via the trade you can get large quantities of it, or ask your local chipper for their supplier's name.

Yes, Musgraves is great for large quantities of white distilled vinegar and cream soda (baking soda), which definitely are two of the best natural and cheap cleaning products.

Jellybaby1

GearMaven wrote: »

Yes, Musgraves is great for large quantities of white distilled vinegar and cream soda (baking soda), which definitely are two of the best natural and cheap cleaning products.

I have only ever known cream soda to be a fizzy drink from the 70's/80's. Haven't seen it recently. As far as I know baking soda is more your bicarbonate of soda.

rubadub

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I have only ever known cream soda to be a fizzy drink from the 70's/80's..

+1.

this is from wiki

the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda. In colloquial usage, the names sodium bicarbonate and bicarbonate of soda are often truncated. Forms such as sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, bicarbonate, bicarb, or even bica are common.

Tesco have own brand cream soda (the lemonade), there is a brand called Barr I have seen in tesco & dunnes. And I think aldi might have an own brand, in case you are looking. I used to love the stuff.

Jellybaby1

I loved it too. Might be better to avoid, I've enough to contend with, with my tea addiction!

goat2

PMBC wrote: »

Another use for old tights is shining shoes - that's if anybody polishes shoes anymore; perhaps children's school shoes?!

also old black tights are great to cut into scrunch size pieces, make great tie back for hair, also for keeping hair back while putting on make up, a good wide band cut off and pulled over the head is brilliant, I always use old tights when cleaning down shoots, tying on to end of shoot, catches all the stuff on the way down, tights also good for straining paint that may have gone a little lumpy