We’ve been cleaning homes and businesses around the Swansea area for a long time now. So it’s only natural that we’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way. Very often it’s our customers that share these great tips with us – here are a few of our favourites. And yes –we’ve tested all these ourselves in the comfort of our own home!
For each one we’ve also included a brief explanation of why they work. So when you’re sharing these with your friends, you can sound extra clever!
Coca Cola to Clean Your Toilet
Super easy, super quick and extremely effective. The high acidity of Coke actually makes it a great toilet cleaner.
The fizz in Cola makes it a great toilet cleaner as well.
How to Do It
Take about a can’s worth of Cola and pour it into your toilet bowl. If you need to reach stains that are above the water line, use a brush to swish the Coke around. Leave it for a while – essentially the longer you leave it the more the Cola will work on the stain. When you can wait no longer, flush the toilet. This should remove the loosened stains. Repeat as necessary.
If you don’t have Cola, other fizzy drinks can be used.
Why it works.
Remember that line from Grease where they talk about how a tooth would disintegrate if left in a glass of coke all night? That’s down to the carbonic and phosphoric acid it contains. (These are nothing to do with flavour, so a Diet Coke will work fine too.) This cuts through dirt and loosens it – then the power of your flush can do the rest.
Vinegar to fluff towels
You’ll likely need to fluff your towels for a couple of reasons. Firstly – they’ve got really old and lifeless (and maybe even a bit smelly). No matter how many times you wash them, they refuse to be brought back to life. Secondly – they are brand new. Sometimes brand new towels can feel a little hard and unabsorbant. It turns out that a simple wash with white, distilled vinegar can make them fluffy again.
for seriously fluffy towels, add a drop of vinegar to your wash.
How to do it.
Put your towels in the washing machine and add a cup of distilled white vinegar. Do not add any detergent or softener. Wash on hot and hang out to dry. Once they are dry your towels should be restored to full fluffiness and absorbency.
Why it works
Vinegar is an acid, which reacts with the salts and soapy deposits that build up on the towels over time, or the silicon sheen of the new towels. When the atoms react together they form new compounds, which fall away from the fibres of the towel, leaving them fluffy and soft.
Clean a Burnt Pan with Rhubarb
Scrubbing out a burnt pan has to be one of the least enjoyable jobs in the kitchen. But it turns out that a few stalks of rhubarb can make this a whole lot easier.
Great in a crumble, but a great cleaning agent too!
How to do it.
Grab a few sticks of rhubarb and put them into a pan with some water. Bring the water to the boil and leave it simmer for 5 minutes. Let the water cool, then pour away and scrub the burn. You will find that the burnt area lifts straight off.
Why it works
The acids contained in rhubarb react perfectly with the carbons that are produced by burnt food. When they are boiled together the reactions loosen the burned areas and make it easier to scrub away.
Remove Mildew with Vodka
Mildew build up is a problem in damp areas such as the kitchen or bathroom. But it turns out that a quick application of vodka can help get rid of it. The best thing about this tip might be the fact that you can treat yourself to a Bloody Mary once you’ve finished the cleaning.
Not just great with Martini.
How to do it
Fill a spray bottle with a 50:50 mix of vodka and water. Spray it on the affected areas and leave for around 10 minutes. Then wipe away with a clean cloth. Not only will the area be clean, but the vodka will have killed the mildew, so the problem will not return straight away.
Why it works
Mildew is a living thing, but the alcohol in vodka kills it. This makes it both easier to remove and less likely to return in a hurry.
Toothpaste to Polish your Silver
A word of caution about this one. While it does definitely work, silver experts recommend avoiding using this technique on softer silvers. These tend to be the more expensive silvers – the highly polished or sterling varieties. Toothpaste can be a little to abrasive for these. But for harder varieties, toothpaste really does bring up a great shine.
Shine up your silver with some toothpaste.
How to do it
Wet the silver item you want to polish. Just like with your teeth, this will help to soften the toothpaste. Apply a very small amount of toothpaste to the silver item and use something soft to rub the toothpaste into the surface. A piece of kitchen towel, a cloth or a sponge works really well. At this stage you are just spreading the toothpaste, not trying to rub it off.
If the item you are cleaning has features such as engravings, you can use a small brush to help you get in between the cracks.
Leave the item sit for 2 or three minutes. This allows the toothpaste to work on the dirt and grime that has built up on the silver.
Wipe away with a clean cloth or pater towel. Repeat as necessary.
Important – Avoid using toothpastes containing baking soda for this method. They can be too abrasive and there is a risk of scratching the silver. Likewise, avoid using cloths that are abrasive.
Why it works
Toothpaste is an abrasive substance that works by stripping away surface dirt. It eats into softer substances such as tarnish (or the plaque on your teeth), loosening them and making them easy to remove.
If you need help with any kind of cleaning, be it domestic or commercial, give us a call or get in touch for more information. We offer a full range of cleaning services in the Swansea area at extremely competitive prices.
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