Fruit/Veggie Cleaner

Fruit in my house ends up going bad before the end of the school week when things are out of season around here and I can not buy them from the market. While browsing Pinterest I came across away to clean fruit and veggies, but it did not say if I could use it on berries or not so I just left for about a month and then came across another "Pin" with the same idea but it said you could use it on berries as well. I figured why not give it try and see how it goes. Turns out it works the fruit lasted me almost 2 weeks!

What you need:

Containers
A clean sink
1cup of vinegar

Directions

Fill the sink with water and 1cup of vinegar
Add fruit or veggies (I did fruit and veggies separate)
Let stand for 10 minutes
Dry and put into containers (I did not put the fruit back into their old containers I used my own)


Nothing had an odd taste and everything lasted so much longer. I will do this every week when I get home from shopping!!

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207658704/

DIY Dishwasher Cleaner

My dishwasher is from the very early 90's, it never cleans right, most of the time I have to rewash the dishes that went through the dishwasher. I tired all the store bought dishwasher cleaners on the market and nothing worked. I tired a few DIY remedies such as baking soda and vinegar. still nothing. I was to the point of just buying a new dishwasher until, I found this and decided that it was worth a try and well I am sure my dishwasher had never been cleaned like this before. My dishwasher is an old Maytag so the inside of your dishwasher may be different than mine.


WARNING: DO NOT DO THIS IF YOUR DISHWASHER IS UNDER WARRANTY!!
                    BE GENTLE WHEN REMOVING PARTS AS THEY CAN BREAK EASY
                    IF IT WILL NOT COME OUT DO NOT PRY ON IT

Directions:

Pull the racks out of the dish washer.
Unscrew the bottom water "fins" and removed. (There may be clips please be careful)
My dishwasher also has top "fins" which I also removed.
I then put the "fins" in the tub to wash them out I used a bottle brush, tooth picks and water to clean out all the build up and crap that was in it. (It turns out over half the water holes in the top "fin" were so clogged no water would come out of them)
Wash out the inside of the dishwasher (I used Lysol wipes)
Put all the "fins" back in.
Put the racks back in.
I ran the dishwasher with vinegar and baking soda

My dishwasher now has never worked better!!! I figure if I do this with spring and fall cleaning then I will  get at least a few more years out of it!!!

Next time I do it I will get pictures of it step by step

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207386326/

DIY Grout Cleaner

I never really thought about it, until someone told me my grout is supposed to white not gray. After that conversation I got thinking about how I can get it clean without too much work as I have tile with grout in 5 rooms of my home.

Again I was trolling Pinterest, what a surprise, and found a recipe for DIY grout cleaner. Figured it was worth a try and I happened to have everything on hand needed to make it.

What you need:
7 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda
1/3 cup ammonia (or lemon juice)   I used the Lemon juice.
1/4 cup vinegar.
Empty Spray Bottle.

Directions:
Spray on grout
Leave for about 1 hour
Scrub vigorously with a scrub brush.

I didn't leave it on the area I cleaned for quite 1 hour because the dogs were trying to lick it, but it worked. Once I get time to do an entire floor I will leave it on for the full hour.

My only concern with this is if your grout is really old and already needs fixing some of the grout will come away as you scrub so I wouldn't scrub too hard.

Before

After

 

 

 

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207250516/

Laundry washer Crystals

I can't believe I have not blogged about these yet!

I loved buying the laundry Crystals that you put into the washer, but they are super expensive and when Richard is laid off while the little extras that I love get cut back for the more important things like the kids lunch stuff. I was "trolling" Pinterest when I came across how to make your own laundry Crystals, I figured what is the harm in trying them.

I have my list in hand on what I need to make these and I head to the real Canadian superstore. To my dismay I could not find rock salt/ice cream salt anywhere. I wonder around until I find a young man who as I ask where the rock salt or ice cream salt might be? he sounds confident when he says to me right this way, turns out he takes me to the road salt. I look at him and look at the road salt, then I start to explain that this is for laundry and what I am making with it. "OOOOHHHH" he says and asks me to follow him, so I do again he is confident that he now knows what I need, he leads me to the laundry aisle and hands me the laundry Crystals. Okay I look at him and gently explain no I want to make these, he says "I don't know how to make them". At this point I am not sure what to say and I try to explain again this time I say I am looking for just ice cream salt "ohhhh" he says and radios to the grocery department the guy on the end says no you don't use salt to make ice cream. So I say thank you for your time and head to the spice aisle where I pick up course canning salt.

Next stop was the waterbug to pick up essential oils, they were far more helpful. They are always great in there and know their stuff!!

Once I got home and made my laundry Crystals I ended up making enough to fill 2 of store bought laundry Crystal bottles twice!!!!

I used vanilla essential oils, they work awesome!!!!! my laundry smells GREAT!!!!

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207395920/

Cookie Sheet Cleaner

I was not impressed with this "pin". I tried it two different ways.

I found, what I thought was going to be an awesome cleaning solution for my well loved cookies sheets, turns out it didn't work.

The first time I tired it, I followed the instructions to a tee and nothing happen, so I tried it again this time giving it a little scrub before letting it sit for 3 hours and still it did not work. Maybe my pans are so just so well loved that nothing will work on them.

Anyway this is what you are suspposed to do:
Put a layer of baking soda on your cookie sheet
Put a layer of Proxide on your cookie sheet
Put a second layer of baking soda

Let sit for 2-3 hours

I will include the "pin" at the bottom of this and maybe one of my readers will have better luck then I did.

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207658755/

Window Wipes

I love to save money anywhere I can, but then again who doesn't  Homemade cleaning products is one of the best ways to help save money in your home.

I came across these window wipes, they have other wipes posted; however, I have not tried them yet. At first I was worried they were going to cause streaks I HATE STREAKS. These really work, and they are super easy to make. I made enough to give my sister half the batch. I had one lysol wipe container waiting to go out for the blue box so I used that to store the wipes in. Its great because you can pull one out at a time.

I buy my lysol wipes and paper towels at Costco, so it is the big lysol wipes container I used.

This is the instructions I have copied and pasted them from the pin which I will include at the bottom.

Ingredients 

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1/2 cup vinegar

Directions

Mix together 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol and a ½ cup of vinegar. You are going to mix it all together, then pour it on your wipes, remove the paper towel center. Then you can just lift your wipes from the middle.

They have lasted a long time a few months (I do not wash my windows everyday) 

This is a before picture. See all my dog snots!

This is an after picture. No more dog snots!

As I said here is the link to the pin on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207066821/