Fun, Homemade Silly Putty and its' Uses for Cleaning

Many of us played with things that were gooy and grossed parents or other kids out. My personal favorite was sticky hands. Many of your kids still play with these things. However, did you know that onepopular goop was an accidental invention/discovery during World War 2? That's right: silly putty. The original is a silicone and boric acid (borax) base rubber. Although this recipe does use borax, we will not be using silicone. First, I will give the recipe as usual. Then I will list some uses for cleaning with silly putty around the home.

Materials

1. One small bowl
2. One small cup (tumbler cup works best)
3. One spoon for mixing
4. One teaspoon (do not use for mixing in the bowl)

Ingredients

1. Two Teaspoons of Borax
2. One 4 oz bottle of Elmer's School Glue
3. Water (at least 4 -6 oz)
4. Glitter and or food coloring (optional)

Directions

1. Squeeze the enitre bottle of glue into the bowl (if you are adding food coloring or glitter, pour them into the bowl now)
2. Fill the empty glue bottle with warm water.
3. Pour the water into the bowl and use the mixing spoon to stir it into the glue until the mixture is smooth and consistent.
4. Put 1/4 cup of water into the small cup
5. Using the teaspoon, mix the borax in the cup until disolved.
6. Pour one teaspoon of the borax mix into the glue mix and stir.
7. Repeat step six making sure to stir each teaspoon into the glue before adding more. Do that until the silly putty starts to form together into a rubbery texture. 
8. Knead the silly putty until it stops sticking to your hands (If you want it thicker, add more borax)

Now that you have made your silly putty, here are some things you (and maybe your kids) can clean with it. 

• Your Car (specifically the radio and door buttons)
• Keyboards
• AC vents
• METAL Speaker screens (do not clean fabric on the speaker)
• Smart phone screens
• TV or various other remotes
• Buttons on electronic devices such as tvs, DVD players, stereos etc
• Dusting art pieces with lots of small crevices
• Anything with tiny crevices that are hard to clean loose dirt out of.

Clean the Toilet Syphons Easily and Naturally

We all clean the toilets. It is just a fact of life. If we don't then life becomes dangerously disgusting. However, we almost never clean the tank and syphons. Some of you may be asking, "what are the syphons?" They are the holes that the water from the tank that empty into the bowl. The only part we ever scrub on them regularly is what we see in the bowl.

Then if that was not enough, when was the last time the tank got a good cleaning? Most of us just put a blue drop cleaner and that is it. No real scrubbing.

The recipe I have today is similar to the toilet bowl cleaner I posted last week.

Please note that this will be an EIGHT HOUR soak, so please do this when it is most convenient for you. I do this before going to work when no one is home.

Materials

• Duct tape
• Hand Towel

Ingredients

• Four cups Baking Soda
• 2 gallons Vinegar 

Directions

1. Clean the toilet bowl thoroughly
2. Look for the knob behind the toilet (usually close to the floor) and turn it to the right to shut the water off to the toilet. 
3. Flush the toilet to empty the bowl. (Do not turn the water back on yet)
4. Take off the tank lid and pour four cups of baking soda all over the tank. Make sure to get the sides.
5. Use the toilet brush to scrub the tank
6. Dry the syphon holes with the towels
7. Cover the syphon holes with small strips of duct tape so liquid cannot go through.
8. Pour two gallons of vinegar into the tank.
9. Use the brush to wet any baking soda 
10. Allow the mixture to soak for eight hours
11. After eight hours remove the tape to allow the baking soda and vinegar to drain out of the tank.
12. Turn the water back on and flush.

Fun Toilet Bowl Cleaner Your Kids will Love

We all hate it. You know it. I know it. Cleaning the disgusting toilet bowl. However, this is a chore even the kids could enjoy. Lots of bubbly fun in the bathroom. Just make sure curious hands don't touch while it cleans to prevent germs from spreading. Plus it is so simple to do and requires no materials at all.

Ingredients

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 cup vinegar

Directions

1. Flush the toilet to wet the entire bowl.
2. Sprinkle the baking soda around the bowl
3. Pour the vinegar around the bowl edges and let the fizzy fun begin
4. Let the bubbles fix for 10-20 minutes
5. Flush the toilet
6. Repeat as needed.
7. If the toilet is needing a second round you may want to scrub with a brush.

Shower Head Cleaner with a Sandwich Bag

Many people have a hard time cleaning the shower head. It is up high, has a lot of crevices, and sometimes has mineral clogs. You could use lime-a-way or other shower cleaner that builds up fumes and (at least for me) causes a nice head ache. On the other hand, you could use a chemical free clean. I have two ways of doing this, a regular and a deep clean, and I have both in this post. Both are very simple and easy to do with little to no effort.

Regular Clean for Weekly Cleaning

Materials

• 1 Rubber band (large enough to fit around the end of the shower head)
• 1 Sandwich bag
• Cloth

Ingredient

• Vinegar

Directions

(If you have a shower head attached to a hose, take it off the hook and let it hang. If water comes out, let it drain before going to step 1.)

1. Fill the sandwich bag 3/4 full with vinegar.
2. Put the bag around the shower head so the holes are completely covered in the vinegar.
3. Use the rubber band to seal and hold the bag on to the shower head.
4. Let it sit for one hour.
5. Remove the bag and let the shower head drain.
6. Use the cloth to wipe the head, hose and wall attachment clean.

Deep Clean for Seasonal  or Spring Cleaning

Materials

• 1 Sandwich bag
• 1 Rubber band
• 1 cloth
• 1 toothbrush

Ingredients

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Water

Directions

(If you have a shower head attached to a hose, take it off the hook and let it hang. If water comes out, let it drain before going to step 1.)

1. Wet the toothbrush with water 
2. Dip the wet toothbrush in baking soda
3. Use the toothbrush to scrub the baking soda into the crevices, making sure to pay special attention to any clogs in the holes
4. Make a paste with one part water and three parts baking soda and spread it over the holes on the end of the shower head.
5. Fill the sandwich bag 3/4 full with vinegar.
6. Put the bag around the shower head so the holes are completely covered in the vinegar.
7. Use the rubber band to seal and hold the sandwich
8. Let it sit for eight hours.
9. Remove the bag and let the shower head drain.
10. Use the cloth to wipe the head, hose and wall attachment clean.

Cleaning Shower Curtains that Cleans the Clothes Washer

Shower curtains and liners get dirty and sometimes down right nasty. They have hard water build up in many homes too. The shower curtains and liners even can contain or develop allergen growth such as mold. Then to top it off due to their size, it can be cumbersome and hard to clean. Here is a easy chemical free way to clean the shower curtain and liners together. Bonus: it will clean and freshen the clothes washer a bit too.

Material

• Washer
• Softener ball (Optional)

Ingredients

• 1 cups baking soda
• 1 cups vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Essential oils (optional)

Directions

1. Take the shower curtain and liners off of the rod and remove the hooks.

2. Place them inside the washer

3. Sprinkle the baking soda into the drum of the washer. If you are using a softener ball, see step 4 a and skip step 4 b. If you are not using a softener ball, skip step 4 a.

4a. Fill the softener ball with the vinegar and essential oils and place it in the washer. Then start the normal wash cycle.

4b. Start the normal wash cycle. When the rinse cycle begins pour the vinegar and essential oils directly into the washer and resume the cycle.

5. When the washer is finished with the spin cycle, hang the shower curtain and liner back on to the rod and allow to air dry. Make sure the bottom of both are inside the bath tub while drying. 

6. Once the curtain is dry you can put the bottom outside the tub again.

This should be done on a regular basis to prevent any mold or other allergen development. However, repeat as needed.

Spotless Faucets

Here where I live we have extremely hard water, and therefore we have spots all over the faucets and fixtures. Unless you have a water softener, you are stuck with more scrubbing more than you want. I have found a way to clean those fixtures, including in the corners, much easier and with less effort. All you need is two (or three) things for a streak free shine.

Material:
1 wash cloth or paper towel (depending on the size of your faucet, you may need more)

Ingredient (s)
Vinegar
Essential oils (optional)

1. Dampen the wash cloth or paper towel with vinegar
2. Set the wash cloth or paper towel around the faucet and between the knobs.
3. Let the cloth sit on the faucet for a half hour to an hour. (If it is extreme, let it sit over night)
4. Use the cloth to wipe down the faucet.
5. Let thetfaucet air dry

This will give you a spotless shine every time with no chemicals.

Tips to Keep Your Home Clean During Indoor Construction and Renovation

So recently my husband and I have been doing some home renovations, mostly in the kitchen. The process has definitely been stressful, but will be well worth it when we are finished. My old cabinets were sinking down, the counters were swollen from water damage and the whole thing was dated with pink tile back splash (my mother-in-law says it was peach). On top of that we found other surprises which I will cover in a bit. Over the course I have come up with a few tips to keep the home clean and keep your sanity during indoor renovations.

All the drywall and insulation that was removed after finding black mold

First, do not clean anything while work is being done. Cleaning at the same time someone is doing the work during the day is very counter productive. You should allow the workers (whether you or contractors) to finish up for the day before cleaning anything. Think about it, you just dusted off a shelf in your new open floor plan living room, then the worker drills something. Guess what, now there is more dust flying around the room. Just wait till they leave or finish for the day and I promise you will get all the dirt when you are done cleaning.

Second, do light dusting daily on all of your shelves in the home. Sawdust gets everywhere. Start with the rooms furthest away from construction so you can use your cleaning cloth or duster a little longer before it fills up with dirt and dust.

Third, use a hand vacuum every day to clean out things like new cupboards and base cabinets the worker just put up (PLEASE MAKE SURE ANYTHING LIKE GROUT IS DRY FIRST SO SAW DUST DOES NOT GET STUCK IN IT). The saw dust is going to be a bit more like wood chips than dust. So get the big stuff out with a hand vacuum first then dust out the smaller stuff when finished. It is best to work top to bottom. Again, PLEASE MAKE SURE ANYTHING LIKE GROUT IS DRY FIRST.

New surfaces before the tile went up

Fourth, clean all of your floors daily even in non construction areas. Vacuuming, light sweeping and mopping will go a long way. You would not believe how many nails, broken tile, sawdust, etc gets on all of the floors in the house. I even found a nail in my master bedroom carpeting clear on the other side of the house (we think it got stuck in a tennis shoe crevis). Last thing you want is a foot injury from a random piece of material.

Fifth, use a lightly dampened cloth to wipe down new surfaces like new counter tops once everything has set. Wait till all adhesives, grout, etc have dried.

Sixth, when you find surprises like bugs and black mold, take care of it immediately. We took down the base cabinets and found solid black mold (about 4ft by 8ft of solid black wall) So much that we knew it was in insulation. My husband and I had a ten minute conversation and told the contractor to replace the whole wall of dry wall and insulation. We even put up green board so that mold was less likely to show up there again. That was a good thing we did because when the contractor took down the dry wall we found a carpenter ant infestation that had just started. We called Orkin Pest Control that day who sprayed it while the wall studs were still exposed. Hopefully, we do not have another issue for some time.

The Carpenter Ant Surprise

Finally, and most important, DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. Big stuff such as bugs and a ton of black mold like we found is okay to sweat over, but don't let emotions control you, even the "I like this thing" kind. Being over emotional over things like materials to buy can lead to impulsive buying of things you do not need and wont use. It can also lead to impulsive decisions on important things that really need to be thought about.

All in all I hope this helps some of you keep the home clean and keep emotions from making you lose your mind.

All done