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.

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.

Slow Release Air Freshener made with Toys!!!

So as I stated in my last post, moving and renovating has given me a few new ideas. When we first moved to this house it stunk of cat pee. Yeah EEEEWWWW!!! We cleaned the grout with bleach and a lot of elbow grease, but the stench was still there and now added with bleach smells. Any suggestions to add to this freshener are welcome. Until I find an effective recipe for getting the smell out of grout I have needed to use air fresheners. I love using the fragrance spheres like the ones that Yankee Candle has, but they are so expensive and full of chemicals. After some trial and error I have found a extremely easy recipe that is cheap and the materials are reusable. Better yet one of them is found in the toy isle at many stores like Walmart. That's right. I said the toy isle. Specifically usually found in the girls toy isle. The toy I am talking about is Orbeez. This one is very fun to watch when you put the liquid in the jar, and in the end is very pretty looking. That being said I do feel the need to say the next thing as I know many of you use chemical free cleaners because of young ones.

WARNING: Orbeez is a CHOKING HAZARD. Although the liquid used in this recipe is safe for young ones, swallowing Orbeez can cause Choking, Serious Injury, and even lead to DEATH. DO NOT KEEP IN REACH OF CHILDREN.

Now lets get started.

Materials

• Mason Jar with a lid (I used an 16 oz jar)
• Bowl 
• Spoon
• Hammer
• Phillips Screw Driver
• 2 packets of Orbeez (I only used red for this one)

Ingrediants

• 2 cups of water
• 1 tsp Essential oils 

First you will need to make holes in the lid of the mason jar. Leave the lid on the jar. Put the end of the screw driver onto the lid, and use the hammer to hit the handle so it will punch a hole in the top. do this repeatedly till you get a desired number of holes in the top. you will want about a 1/4 inch between each of them to maintain structural integrity of the lid. Unscrew the lid and set it aside with the jar.

Use the bowl and spoon to mix the water and essential oils.

Pour both packets of Orbeez into the mason jar. Now pour the liquid mixture from your bowl into the jar with the Orbeez. Now here is the fun part. Wait a few minutes and they will be fully grown to almost 300 times their original size.

When they are dried up you can make a new liquid mixture and just pour it right in. Here is a picture of my finished product.