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If you care for your home, show it how you feel this Valentine's with a pre-spring clean to make you, and it, house proud.
But for that special treatment, you need to go beyond the usual hoovering, mopping, dusting and polishing. What you need are some home-keeping tips from a bygone era – evergreen tips that will be here long after Cillit Bang has bitten the dust.
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- The miracle known as Bicarb! Bicarbonate of soda is a proper old school favourite for all sorts of household cleaning tasks. It’s versatile, effective and super cheap – plus it is ecologically inoffensive. Put it on a warm, damp cloth and use it to clean fridges, sinks, baths, ovens etc. You can even deodorise your carpets by sprinkling it about, and vacuuming it up a few hours later – beat that Shake ‘n’ Vac!
- Far too good for just one bullet point, we’ve given Bicarb another – this time in the guise of Alka-Seltzer. A few tablets down the sink with a cup of white wine vinegar, followed a minute or so later with a rinse of hot water, will clean your pipes good and proper. About four tablets down the toilet, followed an hour later by a good scrub, and you’ll have to wear shades in your own bathroom.
- White distilled vinegar is also a great substitute for ammonia-based cleaners. It removes stains, lime deposits, and has natural disinfecting properties. Spray diluted vinegar over dirty windows and buff off with newspaper for a streak-free shine.
- Chewing gum – a cleaning nightmare… or is it? If you’ve got chewing gum stuck in your carpet, apply ice until it freezes to a point where it can be simply lifted away from the affected area.
- If you get candle wax on a carpet, place brown paper over the top and run a hot iron over it - the wax will separate from the carpet and stick to the paper.
- Turmeric stains real bad. Be super careful in its handling and don't get it on anything!
- When washing a shower curtain, remember to put some towels into the machine. The towels will then rub any soap scum off the shower curtain.
- Fabulous Salt Tip #1: If mugs are stained with tea, get the insides ever-so-slightly wet and finger-scrub a liberal amount of salt around the inside. The salt acts as an abrasive and will have them sparkling clean in no time.
- Fabulous Salt Tip #2: If you drop a raw egg on the floor, covering it in salt will bind the mess making it much easier to pick up.
- You'll be surprised how well scratches on wood furniture can covered up by simply rubbing over with a crayon in the right shade of brown.
- Top Vinegar Tip #1: If you've got mould growing on your bathroom tiles, dampen a cloth with vinegar and rub away. This will also help prevent new growth.
- Top Vinegar Tip #2: If your cleaning frenzy has meant getting the bleach out, your hands are likely to be stinking of the stuff. Simply pour some vinegar (or lemon juice) over your hands and rinse. The acid in the vinegar counteracts the alkaline bleach and cancels out the smell.
- Don’t splash out on an expensive scrap of chamois leather for your window cleaning, scrunched up old newspapers will do the trick just as well (though it’s unlikely that The Times will give a more sophisticated finish than The Sun).
- If you’re going to give your walls a new lick of paint, don’t forget to give them a good clean first. Preparing walls with sugar soap or just giving them a light sanding first will help prevent the new coat of paint from blistering or flaking.
- If you know you’re going to continue painting using the same colour the next day, don’t bother cleaning the brushes. Instead, simply wrap them tightly in a plastic bag and the brushes will be as soft and moist as when you left them.
- Don’t just buy your loved one flowers this Valentine’s Day, buy your house some. Brightening up the place in such a way will make your home look nice, smell nice, and will energise any dull spot with that fresh floral vibe.
- Make Mine a Double! Add life to your flowers by adding a measure or two of vodka to the vase. A tot of the hard stuff will help sterilise the water, keep the vase free of algae, and will add life to your cut flowers.
- Here’s another flower longevity tip – if you have a fish tank, next time you change the water, rather than flush the old stuff down the drain, pour it into a vase instead. The results are sure to surprise.
- A mixed bouquet may look lovely but if it contains daffodils then you – or more precisely, the other flowers – had better watch out. Daffodils produce a toxin that is poison to other flora , so if you put them altogether in a vase, the daffs will have the last laffs.
- If you grow your own, particularly roses, then banana skins will have them blooming in no time. Banana skins contain nutrients that roses just adore, so save old peels and bed them down amongst the soil surrounding your roses.
And that’s your lot. So please remember, when it comes to your home, don’t just live in it – love it!
Click here to return to the Confused.com homepage, for home insurance, and other great deals
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