Entries Tagged as 'Cleaning that mess'

Toilet Cleaning 101: A Brush-Up Course

July 15th, 2009 10 Comments

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

A dear commenter named Amy asked this:

I searched the site and could not find exactly how a toilet cleaning is done. Besides the obvious-Outside first: top, sides, bottom then  Inside: scrub.  I have read you can use toilet bowl cleaner, diluted to clean the whole toilet. One must wear gloves of course. Please advise. Thanks so much!

I suppose everybody’s toilet cleaning method differs, but here’s what I do.I always start with the toilet bowl cleaner, putting it in the bowl and just letting it soak. Then I clean the outside- sides, bottom, top, etc. of the toilet with a 50-50 vinegar/water mix. From there, I use the toilet brush to clean the inside of the bowl. Exciting, I know.

The thing about using toilet bowl cleaner diluted is that it is really very expensive. I buy the good stuff- I feel like it works better than anything else I’ve tried. But the thing that works the best for the outside cleanup is definitely the vinegar and water mix. Especially for the price.

Okay, Home Eccers, your turn: how do you clean your toilet?

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Dirty Walls! Flat Paint! What’s A Girl To Do?

July 15th, 2009 9 Comments

Hi Ladies,
I have a quick question about washing my apartment walls. I desperately need to get my security deposit back, and they look nasty. Normally, I’d just use some soapy water and dig right in, but my landlords used cheap, lousy, thin flat white paint. I’m afraid that my washing will ruin the surface. I read online that flat paint shouldn’t be washed, but that if you had to, you could use a mop and an amonia solution. Does this seem reasonable to you guys? I’m sort of terrified to do anything with it, but I need to get my money back!
Thanks, as always!
Whitewashed in Walla Walla

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

Oh, man, I’ve been there with the horrid walls and the landlord’s crappy paint. The very first thing I would do to perhaps save doing any work at all, is call the landlord. Many apartment complexes automatically repaint with each new tenant and they may not care how dirty your walls are. Unless, you have serious marker stains, like Sharpies. In that case, offer to Kilz over the walls when you leave. It will save you a lot of money.

If you still need to wash your walls, I’ve been there. The thing that worked the best for me was vinegar on a damp rag. Make sure it’s not too wet, that will mess up the paint. And don’t scrub really hard, just a light wash is the best you can do.

Hope this helps!

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Cleaning Gutters: Don’t Be Like Heather

July 11th, 2009 11 Comments

Heather says:

Learn from me add clean out the gutters to your list of semi-annual maintenance.

Why?

Unless you have one of those clog free gutter systems like they advertise on the radio. all. the. time.  Gutters collect leaves and twigs. These leaves, twigs, and ahem, saplings prevent the the flow of water. When the water doesn’t flow down the spout, it can pool which will rot wooden gutters, rust metal ones, or eventually cause the gutters to pull from the roof. During a heavy downpour clogged gutters overflow instead of diverting the water from the home. This increases the possibility of damage to the foundation, or excess moisture or flooding (aka really excessive moisture) in the basement or crawlspace. High humidity can be a welcome mat for some pests as well as the ever obnoxious mold and mildew problems that may develop.

Gutters are not for gardening.

Gutters are not for gardening.

If you have access to a pressure washer the chore goes quickly. Use the fan setting and do not spray the roof or in your eyes. Seriously, it’ll hurt, in fact, wear protective eye wear.

Pressure washer in action

Tell the kids to play elsewhere, this gets messy. Really messy.

It’s important not to spray water under your shingles as the high pressure may damage or loosen shingles and then you’ll be out the time and money you could have saved by attempting this relatively simple chore yourself. If you don’t have a pressure washer, it will take a little longer but it can still be done.

Make sure you have a sturdy pair of work gloves and scoop all the crud out by hand. Tedious? Yes. Effective? You bet.

Be careful as most gutters are attached with sharp screws. The gloves are mandatory.

Gutters CleanOnce the debris has been cleared from the trough, use a garden hose to ensure water flows down the spout. Most spouts have a bend within reach of the top. With your gloves on, pull out any debris that may be blocking the flow.

If all the reachable debris has been removed and water is still not flowing freely, feed a snake* up from the bottom. This handy tool will allow you to pull out almost any clog.

*Not a live snake, a plumber’s auger, these come in handy and I highly recommend all home owners have one in their tool box.*

Check to ensure all the the downspouts are properly diverted away from the house and you’re all done until next time.

Good luck.

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Ivy Reviews: The Little Green Clean Machine

July 7th, 2009 5 Comments

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

Remember this disaster? Well, I decided to just let my uncle have my carpet cleaner (since we’re pretty short on carpeting at Chez Ivy) and I bought myself a Little Green Clean Machine instead. Obligatory transparency statement: I was not paid to or asked to review this item. This is all me, kids.

So, let’s talk about the Little Green Clean Machine. (Henceforth to be called the LGCM since typing the whole thing out takes some effort.) As you all know, I had a heinous mess to clean up, so instead of what I’d usually do, clean up the mess with rags and then use some Spot Shot on it, I wanted something to be able to suck up the mess as well as clean it.

What I liked about it:

The LGCM does, in fact, suck. In the way you want it to. I wondered how well the suction action would work on such a small machine, and I’m pleased to report that it works very well. I’d say it sucks up about 80% of the water that I used on it- not bad at all. Now, in order to get all that water sucked up, you need to be sure to push down hard on the cleaning head. Because of that, I’m not sure how well it would work on a carpet you can’t do that to, like Berber.

It was easy to use: setup required attaching two hose clips, only one of which needed to be screwed in with a screwdriver. Within about 5 minutes, I was ready to clean. The instructions were written fairly well and were not confusing.

The sprayer works well. In fact, a bit too well. (See “what I didn’t like” for more) It covered the area I was cleaning and then some. I also really liked being able to see the dirty water that was being sucked into the machine through the clear head in the cleaning head. Though, I was a bit grossed out to see what I had been sitting on lately, ha. But by being able to see what was coming in, I could clean an area until I was satisfied that it was really clean- an option that my full sized carpet cleaner did not have.

I was able to clean the mess up quite well and very quickly, which is really important to me. I don’t want to be there all day setting up and taking things down, and setup and clean-up was very quick. Awesome.

Now, let’s talk about the things I didn’t like.

What I didn’t like:

Like I said, the sprayer worked too well. Like, it sprayed about twice the size of the cleaning head, which would be fine except that it went everywhere when cleaning the arms of my couch. I’d like to be able to control the amount of spray coming out of the sprayer.

Also, the hose was awfully short. I don’t have any stairs, but if I did have them, I’d like to use something like this to clean them, but I could imagine that this would be a pain when cleaning stairs, as I had to keep the machine close at hand while cleaning my couch.

The other thing I don’t like about it is that it seems that the only product you can really use on it is the stuff designed especially for the LGCM. I’d like to have an option of one to remove pet stains, since I doubt it’s specifically designed to remove the enzymes that need to be removed when cleaning up pet messes.

Overall, I really liked the LGCM and am glad I bought it. The pluses way outweigh the minuses. Next, I’m going to use it to clean my car. I can only imagine the nasty water that’ll come out of THAT! I can hardly wait, haha.

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Dirty Dish: Burnt on Glassware

July 7th, 2009 15 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,

Any suggestions for cleaning a burned pan? It is glass, and I am hesitant
to use steel wool on it. The glass cleaners don’t seem to be helping.

Signed,

Bummed in Burnsville

Heather says:

Always listen to your gut. If you used the steel wool you’d remove the food, but in the process you’d scratch the snot out of the glass. Why yes, that IS the technical term for it. All of those scratches would give food (and bacteria) lots of wonderful places to cling to and hide. So, what to do?

It’s time for our go to, yep, we’re once again plugging Bar Keeper’s Friend. Dampen the burned on mess and sprinkle with BKF. Give it a minute to work, then scrub with a rag. Rinse, repeat. It may take a couple of passes but I’ve not seen BKF beat yet. You can find Bar Keeper’s Friend near other cleaning agents like Comet in many stores (I just found the big can for $1.97 at Walmart). Or you can look for a retailer on their website.

If you feel like experimenting, I have a proposition for you. I’ve run into a tip dryer sheet tip all over the Internet. The tip is to fill the pan with water, add 1/2 a dryer sheet and allow it to soak overnight. We don’t use dryer sheets, so I have not tested this myself. If you do, would you please report to the class with your results?

Good luck!

Got a domestic dilemma? Send it to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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