Tuesday Tip

Use ketchup to: Remove the tarnish from your brass and copper cookware. Just squeeze some ketchup onto a rag and rub it on your pots and pans. They should revert back to their original coppery color within minutes. Then rinse them with lukewarm water and dry them with a towel.

Use white bread to: Remove dust and dirt from an old oil painting. Using a slice of white bread to dab the surface of any oil painting will help to absorb grime and dirt.
Use oatmeal to: Thoroughly scrub super dirty hands. Just make a nice thick paste with water and oatmeal, rub your hands together, and rinse well.
Use rice to: Clean out a dingy thin-necked bottle or vase. First, fill the vase or bottle about three quarters of the way up with warm water and drop in a tablespoon of uncooked rice. Then cover the opening with you hand and shake things up for a while (letting the rice rub any interior stains away). Rinse things out and you’re good to go.

Use tea to: Scour your rusted garden tools. Start by brewing a few pots of strong black tea. Wait for it to cool and then pour it into a bucket or bowl. Soak the tools in the cooled tea for a few hours. Wipe each one with a rag to reveal their “new” look. Note: wearing rubber gloves will keep your hands from getting stained.
Use glycerin to: Get rid of dried wax drippings on candlesticks. Begin by peeling off as much of the wax as you can. Then dab some glycerin on a cotton ball and rub until the remaining wax is gone.
Use club soda to: Shine up any scuffed and grubby stainless-steel sink. First buff the sink with a club-soda dipped cloth and then wipe it dry with a clean cloth.

Use hydrogen peroxide to: Disinfect your germy keyboard. Just dip a cotton ball or q-tip in hydrogen peroxide (just a dab- not too much) and be sure to get into every nook and cranny that you can.
Use cornstarch to: Clean a daunting grease spill on the carpet. Just pour cornstarch onto the spot, let it sit there and be absorbed for fifteen to thirty minutes and then vacuum everything up. The grease should be absorbed by the powder and disappear once you vacuum.
Use rubbing alcohol to: Remove permanent marker stains from both solid-surface countertops and hardwood floors. It’s as easy as pouring rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball and applying it to the stain.

• Use half of a lemon to remove tough food stains on light wood cutting boards.
• Add a half a cup of lemon juice to your laundry’s rinse cycle to brighten whites.
• Mop almost any kind of floor with a mixture of ¼ cup liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s) and two gallons of warm water. If the floors are greasy, just add ¼ cup of distilled white vinegar.
• Add a few squirts of liquid castile soap to two cups of hot water. Use this mixture to scrub the stovetop and your stove’s vent hood to cut through all that gross accumulated grease.

• Pour equal parts of vinegar and water into the your coffee machine’s water chamber and switch on the brewing cycle. Halfway through the cycle turn off the coffeemaker and let the solution sit for around an hour. Then turn it on again to complete the cycle and run several cycles with clean water to flush everything out.
• Clean drains and the pipes that they’re attached to by pouring vinegar down them. Then after thirty minutes flush them with cold water.
• Spray vinegar on moldy walls and rinse them and let them thoroughly dry fifteen minutes later.
• Pour vinegar into a plastic grocery bag and knot the handles over the neck of a showerhead, securing with rubber bands to combat mineral deposits. Let it soak overnight and rinse everything with water in the morning.

• Fill stained teacups and coffee mugs with with one part baking soda and two parts water and let them soak overnight. In the morning just rub them with a sponge to rinse ‘em out.
• To remove odors from upholstered furniture just sprinkle baking soda onto the fabric and vacuum it up.
• Erase crayon marks on scuffed walls by applying a baking- soda paste (equal parts baking soda & water) to white painted walls. Let it dry before brushing the mixture off with a clean dry cloth. Note: this formula may dull colored walls.
• Rub piano keys carefully with a damp cotton swab and a dollop of toothpaste to remove discoloration. Wipe dry and buff with a clean cloth.
• Place fake flowers inside a paper bag and pour in salt. Close the bag and shake it vigorously. The salt will dislodge accumulated dust & dirt.
• If your dinner bubbles over in the oven pour salt on the spill to soak it up. Then once the oven is cool wipe it up with a damp sponge.

I got this tip from Cheryl Joy (private blogger) who got it from  

Young House Love via Real Simple .