Old style alternatives

Last time I used white vinegar it left a urine aroma...maybe I was using it wrong so never used it again

White vinegar for limescale in loos and on taps and as antibacterial; bicarb for deposits on almost anything (e.g. tea/coffee stains on cups); good old laundry washing powder for sanitising and taking stains off sinks, or even car oil stains on flagstones. Wouldn't be without them!

ps Thieves is expensive so I wouldn't use it for cleaning

'Thieves' is an essential oil - we use a tiny drop under our noses when going on a plane journey. I think the idea is to prevent you picking up any of the nasty germs which circulate around the plane's aircon system.

I just found this bit of history about it:
www.natural-aromatherapy-benefits.com/thievesoilrecipe.html

As it was given to us for just that purpose, I wasn't aware of its other uses. Thanks radicalnan*!

Does anyone remember Aggie and Kim the television super cleaners- they used lots of white vinegar and lemon juice.

American friends swear by Theives Oil. I have no idea what this is but it sounds much more fun than bi carb and vinegar.

I have a spray bottle which I fill with white vinegar, and a few drops of Stardrops, topped up with water. Cheap, effective on worktops, sinks, windows, lasts ages.
I do use Cif on sinks, Bath rite and Hobrite or similar, and lots of elbow grease.

Lemon and salt gets rid of rust marks on fabric.

Jalima before we had a dishwasher I used make a lemon and salt paste to clean tea/coffee stained cups or mugs.
I still sometimes use Lemon and salt on my MiL tea cups.
It work great.

I also use lemon in my microwave to remove cooking smells .

I use Bicarb and white vinegar to clean my
washing machine.

Bicarb is a useful fridge cleaner and deodoriser

For bathroom cleaning I use a spray bottle containing a 50-50 mixture of strong white vinegar and distilled water with a good squeeze of Fairy. For windows another spray bottle with a 50-50 mixture of rubbing alcohol and distilled water.

I did use white vinegar as a cleaner/descaler for the steamer yesterday.

Half lemons and salt are good, but I can't remember what for.

I use Ecover, Surcare and even Tesco do an eco-friendly cleaner now.

I think new chemical cleaners came in because the 'natural' alternatives were such hard work.

Alternative approaches are to use eco cleaners, Ecover is the most brand most commonly available or just simplify the number of products you use. I use an all purpose cleaner, a cream abrasive cleaner and glass cleaner and find there are very few regular household cleaning tasks that these will not cope with.

Excellent, thank you Grannyknot

Hi Mollie if you Google "life hacks cleaning" or similar you'll find the "old school" recipes.

Or look for this book: Simply Wonder woman by Joanna Gosling, it is full of tips for using every day stuff for cleaning.