Household Hacks
Keeping your home running smoothly with decent healthy meals and clean laundry, as well as making sure that it is clean and tidy as much as possible (whew!), can be a total pain, and feel like an amazing waste of time. So, I decided to find as many cleaning and household ‘hacks’ as I could in order to make life at home easier, more pleasant, and leaving more time for the things we really enjoy.
I hope that you find these tips useful, and that you are able to easily put them into practice in your home.
Microwave Magic:
To clean the microwave more easily heat up a microwave-safe bowl of water (with a few slices of lemon, for freshness) for approximately three minutes. This will steam the inside of the microwave which makes it a breeze then to just sponge and wipe down. No effort and harsh chemicals required and oh so quick!
Or… if your microwave is smelling not so great, there’s a simple way to get it clean and odor-free without using harsh chemicals. Just place a bowl of vinegar in the microwave for around five minutes and wipe it afterwards
Voila, Vinegar:
Did you know that you can clean kitchen countertops and stainless steel appliances with white vinegar? Dilute it by adding double the amount of water as white vinegar in a spray bottle, then use it as you would a regular household cleaner. Make sure to completely dry stainless steel after cleaning though, so that it doesn’t spot. Voila, nice and simple!
Scented Cleaner:
As above, you can add to your vinegar cleaning power by making a scented all-purpose cleaner out of kitchen scraps and leftovers.
Fill a jar with vinegar, citrus peels of your choice, and any herbs you like. Put the lid on the jar and let it sit for two weeks. The wait will be worth it! After a few weeks strain it, and you will have an absolutely lovely scented cleaner.
The acidic nature of vinegar is so very powerful that it can dissolve mineral deposits, dirt, grease, and grime. It’s also strong enough to kill bacteria.
Vinegar infusions work with all sorts of ingredients: from rose petals to cinnamon sticks to eucalyptus leaves to pine needles… Use your wonderful imagination!
Enjoy 
Toilet Bababoom:
Here is an eco-friendly hack to help you to replace one of your chemical cleaning solutions with an all natural one. These natural solutions are safer for you and your family, and they do not pollute the earth/harm nature.
So here it is: To make your own eco-friendly toilet bomb to unclog your toilet.
- In a ziplock bag, add ½ cup baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), ½ cup cornstarch, and ½ cup lemon juice until the mixture clumps.
- Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water in the mix and knead it.
- Repeat this step until the mixture feels like dough.
- Finally add 15 drops of your favourite essential oil in the dough mix and knead again.
- Store it in ice trays and leave to dry for a couple of days. Once it is dry, remove one of the toilet bombs and put it into your toilet bowl. Let it fizz up for a couple of minutes and then flush.
Lemon juice, baking soda, and white vinegar are all gentle cleaners that are very safe for the environment and they are animal-friendly too.
Oven Cleaner:
Here is a brilliantly clever (safe) eco-friendly cleaning hack for your dirty/greasy oven, that will:
Save you money and time,
and will also help the planet (big bonus).
1. Take out anything that is removable inside of your oven, and soak them in hot soapy water (to clean after you have tackled your oven).
2. Make a baking soda/bicarbonate of soda paste by mixing 3/4 cup baking soda/bicarb with 1/4 cup of warm water.
3. With a big paintbrush spread the paste all over the inside of your oven (wearing gloves, as it can be pretty greasy). Avoid the oven door! Use a toothbrush to get into tight spots and corners.
4.Leave your oven just like that for 12 hours or overnight.
5. Wipe off some of the excess of the dried baking soda/bicarb with a damp cloth/rag.
6. Spray white vinegar (in a spray bottle) into the oven over the paste that is left. It will react and foam wonderfully with the residue of the baking soda/bicarb.
7. Wipe the foamy mix down and you should then start to see a shiny clean oven.
8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 a few times if you need to.
9. For cleaning the oven door and glass, make a spray of equal parts water and distilled white vinegar (with an optional few drops of lemon oil for scent). Clean the oven door with this spray and a soft cloth.
Going Bananas!
This brilliant easy hack is for those of you who buy bananas in bulk when they are cheap (as I do), and then wonder what to do with them when they all suddenly start ripening and going brown at the same time!
So, I found out that to prevent them from going brown too quickly, just wrap the crown/stumps of the bunch of bananas in cling film or tin foil. This makes them last another 3 to 5 days longer!
Saves you filling up your whole deep freeze with overripe bananas to use in gallons of smoothies or tons of loaves of banana bread…
Shiny Clean Without Silicone:
Here is one for your wooden furniture:
Don’t use commercial wood cleaners on your wooden furniture anymore, as these “specialized” products often contain silicone. Silicone can leave a residue in the grain of your wood, which can be bad for the wood’s appearance over time.
A damp cloth with only water on it works much better, and safer. It is all you need!
But if you want to shine up your wood use this quick and easy home mixture:
Olive oil and lemon juice (mix them in a 2:1 ratio). Go over your wooden surfaces with this mix on a soft cloth, and your furniture will shine beautifully.
Keeping the Cockroaches at Bay:
Here’s a tip to get rid of those little (sometimes big!) creatures most of us do not enjoy having around:
Cockroach deterrent –
Putting crushed bay leaves under the kitchen sink or at the bottom of doors and windows is a great way to deter cockroaches – apparently, they hate the stuff!
Alternatively, mop the kitchen and bathroom floors with a homemade bay leaf and water solution!
Banish Stinky Drains:
A smelly drain can make your entire kitchen smell like a rubbish dump! Oh yes, from experience, it is horrible, right!
To neutralize the awful odor, first, make a watery baking soda (bicarbonate of soda or bicarb) paste to put down the drain – the baking soda will break down any food scraps that are clinging onto your drain pipes. Leave it like that for about an hour and then mix a jug of hot water with 3-4 teaspoons of vanilla essence. Pour that down the sink drain and you will have a sweet-fresh-smelling kitchen.
Much better!
Update:
I found out that this hack for the smelly kitchen drain can be improved upon:
Pour ¼ cup baking soda (bicarb) into the sink drain. Add ¼ cup white vinegar. The mixture will bubble wonderfully (kids will love to view this), and the reaction will remove loose debris in the drain and deodorize the pipes. Allow it to bubble for five to 10 minutes. Then heat a kettle of water to boiling while the baking soda and vinegar are bubbling in the drain. Pour the boiling water down the drain to flush out the vinegar solution and any debris that becomes dislodged. Then add the vanilla essence mix to add a lovely smell, as above.
Pipe Cleaners to the Rescue:
Here’s a hack that is so very clever, quick, cheap, and easy.
If you have plastic coat hangers that are not anti-slip, and your beautiful dress or jacket keeps slipping off the hanger onto the cupboard floor… well here’s the solution.
Wrap pipe cleaners around the clothes hanger on the top. The pipe cleaners add a grippy stop and transform your hanger into a fancy anti-slip one.
Voila! Simple.
Green Cleaner for a Mattress:
Hope you are enjoying the eco-friendly hacks that I have been posting. I decided to do these posts to show those that are not aware, how easy (and cheap) it is to replace chemicals with safe natural cleaning ingredients, and how reduce, reuse and recycle can become a reality.
Here is another one to get rid of those nasty mattress stains:
Just rub in bicarbonate of soda powder/baking soda straight into the stain. Leave it to work its magic for about an hour, and then vacuum up the powder. The stain should come out with it.
Quick, easy, safe, and Green!
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