Housecleaning Tips: Using Microfiber cloths for cleaning

Microfiber cloths are an excellent way to keep your home clean and tidy. How do microfiber cloths work? The claim to fame for microfiber cloths is that all you  need is the cloth itself and plain water to clean hard surfaces around your home, such as countertops, sinks, appliances (fridges, stoves, microwaves) and bathroom surfaces.

But, is it really true? Can a microfiber cloth with just a spritz of water really clean your home sufficiently?

Micro - or smaller - fibers are what work in your microfiber cloth. You can tell that it's a microfiber cloth when you feel that 'velcro effect' on your hands - the tiny fibers in the cloth seem to snag even on our skin! It's that same effect that helps to clean more effectively - the tiny fibers work at getting all the tiny bits of dirt and the germs. All the dirt, grime, dust and bacteria stick to these microscopic fibers in the cloth.

So, with no extra chemical cleaners or even natural soap - your microfiber does all the work for you! Give it a try...you'll love cleaning with microfiber cloths.

Here are a few very highly rated microfiber cloths if you're in the market to get a few to clean all around your house:

E-Cloth 4 General Purpose Cloths, 4-Count
E-Cloth Range and Stovetop Pack, 2-Count

Household Hints - Eat Your Parsley for Fresher Breath

That cute sprig of parsley on your plate while dining out at a restaurant isn't just for looks - it'll naturally freshen your breath! It's especially helpful to clean up your breath if you've eaten a meal loaded with garlic or onions. So, leave that parsley for last, and chew on it for fresher breath, naturally.

Household Hints and Tips - Beauty Tips - Store Nail Polish in the Fridge

Here's a beauty tip of the day! Store your favorite nail varnish or nail polish in the fridge to make it last a lot longer. Embarrassed to have beauty products stashed in the refrigerator? Store all the nail polish containers together in a small box or bag to conceal.

Household Hints - Removing Tea Stains from Teacups and mugs

A delicious cup of freshly brewed tea is perfect just about any time of day, but tea stains are some of the most difficult to remove from cups and mugs! Here are a few of my favorite household hints for removing tricky tea stains:

1. Barkeepers Friend removes tea stains better than almost anything else I've ever tried. It's a multi-use product, since you can also use it to get your stainless steel cookware gleaming, along with copper, and even porcelain surfaces. Just shake a little of the powder in, and scrub with a scrubby pad. It even works to remove built up stains.
2. Baking soda - a little sprinkle of soda, a bit of elbow grease and you're good as new, or at least your precious teacup is.
3. Regular table salt - again, a sprinkle of this works on tea stains, along with a good scrub and rinse.

Household Hints - Pets - Chamomile Tea to Soothe Cats

One way to ease stress in cats is to give them chamomile tea! Just as it is soothing to humans, chamomile tea can naturally calm aggressive or upset cats. Make a tea with pure chamomile tea leaves and then add it to the cats' water dish. It should help to calm that upset kitty!

Household Hints - Keep Brown Sugar Soft

Susan sent in another tip to keep brown sugar soft, or to get it soft again once it's gotten hard. She wrote: "to soften brown sugar or rather to keep it soft store with a big marshmallow on top of the brown sugar."

Remember, you can also get your brown sugar soft again or keep it soft by placing a small piece of bread on the top, or a slice of apple.

Household Hints - Beauty - Beer as a Hair Conditioner

It's true - beer really does work to condition your hair! Use it as a final rinse to add extra shine and a boost of healthy body.

Household Hints - Gardening - Tea for Your Plants

A few different people have told me this tip, so I had to make sure to share it! Apparently, if you've got some leftover regular black tea in the teapot - you might want to give your garden a bit of a boost by watering the tea right over the plants! One lady told me that her mother always used to do this, and they could trace the pattern of where her mom through out the leftover tea, because those plants always thrived the most.

So, enjoy that cup of tea, and then share a little with your plants!

Household Hints: Removing Melted Wax from Glass Candleholders

We love the ambience created by burning candles, but once those candles are burnt the wax can be hard to remove. Try putting your glass candleholder into the freezer for a few hours. Using this method, I've been able to remove even really old melted wax. It should pop right out, or use a wooden skewer or butter knife to edge it out. If the wax is very stubborn, let the holder sit in the freezer overnight.

Household Hints - Pistachio Nuts - Recycled Nuts Ideas

Recycle those old nut shells, including pistachios, walnuts, peanuts and other nuts. Once you're done eating the delicious nuts, break them up and use to line plant pots or use as mulch for your garden! (A great tip I just saw last night on the Food Network -- Unwrapped)

Helpful Hints: Keep a Reusable Bag in Your Purse

Keep a reusable bag in your PURSE (not the car) all the time. We all have good intentions to use canvas bags, but if we don't carry them with us, we usually end up leaving them in the trunk. And that doesn't help us - or the environment - much at all!

Household Hints - Kitchen Hints - Opening Tight Jar Lids

Tight jar lids got you down? Try a few of these helpful household hints to open a tight jar lid:

- My favorite is to tap along the edges of the jar lid with a butter knife. It seems to break the seal, and then you can easily open the jar.

- Wear a pair of rubber gloves! The extra grip will make loosening a tight jar easy!

- Run the jar lid under hot water...again, this seems to help loosen the tight seal.

- Use a Jar opener to open the jar. There are specialty jar openers available that make opening tight jars a breeze. Great gift for anyone with arthritis, too. Here are just two available on the market:








Do you have any other ideas to share on how to open a tight jar lid? If you do, please post a comment!

Household Hints - Cooking - Found a great way to soften brown sugar

It's pretty frustrating when you open up the canister of brown sugar and find that it's somehow become a huge, organic, solid lump. Sort of like a sandy rock, and totally impossible to use! I'm a big fan of a slice of bread stuck inside to keep the brown sugar nice and moist.

But, what can you do when the brown sugar is ALREADY completely hardened?

I put the canister (microwave safe) right into the microwave and microwaved on high for about a minute. I'd heard of this tip before, but had never tried it. It worked!! I could get out the brown sugar I needed. It's definitely the fastest way I've ever tried to soften brown sugar. Hope it helps!

Household Hints - Cleaning - Sweeping Tips

Here's a handy hint to help with your household sweeping...

Spray a little furniture polish on the bottom of your brooms bristles. It'll make it easier to sweep stuff up, and dirt, pet hair and other gunk won't as easily accumulate on the bottom!

Household Hints - Cleaning Hints - Easy Lemon and Boiling Water Trick to Clean the Microwave

This is my new favorite way to clean the microwave. And it's so easy and all-natural, with no chemicals for cleaning!

1. Pop a quarter or half lemon into a microwave safe mug or bowl filled with water. (Whatever old lemon you have left in the fridge will work just fine.)
2. Set power to high and microwave for about 5 minutes or so - long enough to get a good boil happening.
3. Let the steamy bowl or mug stay in the microwave for about fifteen to twenty minutes without opening the microwave door. All of that glorious steam will make cleaning the microwave super simple later on.
4. Dunk the lemon into some salt or baking soda and use as a little scrubber in the microwave to remove any burnt on bits of food. (Be careful - the lemon will still be a bit hot!)
5. Finally, wipe all the gunk and mess away with a moistened sponge or cleaning cloth. And enjoy your beautifully clean new microwave oven!

Want more housecleaning hints? Visit http://www.happyslob.com for the Happy Slob's Guide to No-Hassle Housecleaning...Housecleaning for the rest of us.

Household Hints - Saving - Change Jar to Save Money

Here's an easy way to let your pennies, dimes and quarters accumulate into larger savings! Have a family change jar, where every member of the family dumps their extra change every week or so. Have the kids roll up the coins, and take the coin rolls to the bank. Use the extra money for savings, or towards a family vacation or special dinner out. It's a great way to teach kids (and adults too!) how small savings can really add up over time.

Household Hints - Cleaning - Cleaning Plastic Toys

Plastic toys can seem incredibly hard to clean, but using a paste of baking soda and water is a natural way to scrub those toys clean. Just use the baking soda/water paste on the toy, dipping a damp clean cloth into the paste and then using the baking soda as a natural abrasive. If a little extra cleaning power is needed, add a small squirt of natural liquid soap to the baking soda before adding a little water to create the paste.

A nice, natural way to clean plastic toys!

Household Hints: Lampe Berger Lamps Remove Stubborn Household Odors

Lingering, stubborn household odors such as cooking odors, pet odors or smoke can really be frustrating to remove with any success. My favorite way to remove these types of odors is by using a Lampe Berger fragrance lamp. This lamp, complete with a catalytic burner is briefly lit and then left to 'eat up' odor molecules in your home! It was originally developed for hospitals in France, and along with bad odors also kills 67% of airborne bacteria.

I have one, and my current scent is a wonderful Spiced Pumpkin oil. You can get lots of different scented fuels for the lamps (and you must use one of the Lampe Berger oils - not just any alcohol blend will do). Some of the most popular scents are:

- Neutral - if you don't want to add scent at all, just want to take bad odors out
- Eucalyptus - a fresh, green scent, perfect for bathrooms and nurseries
- Creme Brulee - a rich, warm vanilla scent (perfect for the kitchen or any other room!)
- Grapefruit Passion - very light, grapefruit citrus scent. One of my favorites.
- Green Apple - another light fruity scent that is very popular
- Lavender Fields - a really pretty lavender scent, smells like real lavender essential oil

and many more!

Natural Way to Keep Drains Running Smoothly

A great way to prevent nasty clogs in drains is to pour a kettle full of boiling hot water down the drain about once or twice a month. This natural alternative will help keep your drains running smoothly - and thus prevent nasty old clogs!

Get Rid of Stinky Onion and Garlic Odors - Rub Your Hands on Stainless Steel!

Did you know that by rubbing your hands after cooking with garlic and/or onions, you can remove the odors? You can invest in a cute little stainless steel 'bar of soap' like the one below:





OR...you can rub your hands on the inside of a stainless sink, or even a stainless steel spoon for the same effect! Just wet your hands first under clean water, and then let the stainless steel get rid of the lingering odors. Works like a charm!