Achieving a clean home can be a tough challenge. While numerous cleaning products and ready-made solutions promise a spotless finish, what happens when they run out? The cleaning agents you need just might be hiding in your pantry.
The Home Hacks You Need to Know
You’d be surprised what these usual kitchen staples can do as effective all-purpose cleaners. This comes with an added bonus of working with affordable, natural, and eco-friendly items.
Common Household ITems to the Rescue
Baking Soda. In powder form, this multi-use powerhouse is a good odor absorber. Leave a small box of it in the refrigerator or in your shoe closet, and let it work its magic. When mixed with water, baking soda turns into a paste that can clean tough stains off of kitchenware and household surfaces.
Salt. Livening up your tasty meals is not the only thing salt is good for. This natural disinfectant absorbs water, which prevents spills from becoming stains. In addition, its coarse texture makes for a good scrub. Salt also serves as a catalyst for acidic ingredients (like lemon juice or vinegar) to boost cleaning and deodorizing action.
Vinegar. Nobody should underestimate this pungent miracle worker. The acid content in vinegar makes it a potent cleaner in getting rid of mildew stains and brightening sinks and floors.
Citrus Fruits (preferably Lemon or Lime). The citric acid in these fruits gets rid of stains in cloth, polishes brass and copper, and disinfects surfaces commonly touched around the house. Citrus juices also help freshen up foul odor, giving the home a fragrant and clean finish.
Cornstarch. Like baking soda, cornstarch can absorb unpleasant smell. Mixed with water and vinegar, it can give a shiny finish to your mirrors and glass surfaces. Dusting a bit of cornstarch and leaving it overnight can remove, or at the very least, lessen, greasy food stains on leather and suede materials.
Toothpaste. Veering away from the kitchen pantry, let’s focus on another part of the house. The bathroom is home to one of the most common and essential household items that can save you from scuffs and stubborn stains on leather, rubber, and vinyl. Toothpaste is a mild abrasive that also works great in polishing tarnished silver jewelry.
Hairspray. Another common grooming item, hairspray is a cheap and versatile household cleaning product. Some alcohol-based hair sprays help in removing ink stains from various surfaces like leather, clothes, or other polyester-made items.
Cleaning Combinations to Try
Though every ingredient already works tough on its own, there are a few combinations you can try to create an even more effective DIY cleaner. These solutions can help you clean, sanitize, polish, and deodorize every nook and cranny of your home.
ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- Lemon rinds
You can use this all-natural solution to remove stains from surfaces and wall smudges, and can deodorize unpleasant areas and items around your home.
Do take note, however, that acidic cleaners may be too strong on certain materials like granite, so be very wary as this may etch the stone. When in contact with wooden surfaces, acidic ingredients can also cause discoloration and even dissolve wood varnish.
DEODORIZER
- 4 tbsps baking soda
- 1 cup warm water
This solution cleans and eliminates foul smell from kitchen counters and the inside of your refrigerator. Not as acidic as the other kitchen pantry ingredients, this mixture is good and safe in cleaning stainless sinks and appliance and keeps you from using chemical cleaners on areas that come in close contact with food.
WINDOW AND GLASS CLEANER
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 cups warm water
- 2-3 drops of lemon or citrus juice
For windows, mirrors, and other glass surfaces, spray this this solution on a paper towel or soft cloth and start wiping away. This tackles bits of grime and tough stains in glass leaving you with a shiny and spotless finish.
STAIN REMOVER
(KITCHEN APPLIANCES)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 tbsp salt
The fresh scent of acidic lemon matched with the versatile power of salt helps polish brass, copper, and chrome. Working as a light scrub, it can also clean stains and bacteria from cutting boards and other kitchen surfaces.
When the time calls for a practical and affordable way to disinfect, sanitize, and freshen up your home, rely on these all-natural common household items for a spick-and-span kind of clean. Battle grime, grease, and stains with kitchen and bathroom basics, and also keep your wallet happy.
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