Tips for sorting out home problems

Great tips ... thankyou all

Judypark I have been a nurse since 1974 and a district nurse for many years - now 61 and still a nurse running a catheter clinic and have never heard anything so unprofessional in my whole career! If this was true I would have no hesitation in reporting it to the NMC! I would like to reassure anyone with catheters or family members with catheters that no nurse would be allowed to use coke to clear a catheter without being struck off! EVER!

Suggested to my daughter today that she brushed the snow off the outside tap and wrapped it in bubble wrap to stop it freezing. She was amazed at the idea and thought I was being ridiculous.
But I remember various occasions long ago when was faced with burst pipes in the thaw.
Not funny.

Soda crystals on the shopping list!

Vinegar is brilliant for removing lime scale, window/mirror cleaning, in fact excellent for all cleaning chores. I generally use a mixture of soda crystals on all of our waste pipes once a month.

Luz doh
When you wash your hair, wait until the water has gone and with a piece of toilet paper wipe round the plug hole and you'll scoop up all the hair that would be blocking it up.

I was taught as a child that vinegar is a clean all AND cure all for most things. It brings my windows up s treat ...only with newspaper though! It was always used on my poor suffering older sisters head... as she used to get horrific headaches accompanying her periods EVERY month.The vinegar soaked cloth always did the trick for her. Thankfully I never suffered quite as badly. But have used it for occasional headaches, it really works. There is a book out stating 101 uses for vinegar. It’s great on chips an all!

I've got a pyrex lid which is covered in brown stains - will soda remove those? It would be so nice to see it gleaming!

Try a mixture of white vinegar and warm water with a dash of Fairy washing up liquid.

Has anyone got an idea about cleaning a 100% wool rug. Normally I clean this cream wool rug with 1001. It usually comes up beautifully.
It needed cleaning and I found some 1001 at the back of the cupboard. It had carpet cleaner on it but somehow didn't produce foam which was the norm,. Maybe it was old? The cream rug now looks terrible. My husband then steam cleaned it, no change. I then bought a new bottle of 1001 and cleaned it, no change. I then scrubbed it with soap and water, no change. It looks like someone has used a scatter gun to splat it with grey marks. It also became a bit sticky.
What can I do ? Any ideas? I had a quote from a professional carpet Cleaner person, £85 call out charge.....I would rather eat it.

1:5 parts white vinegar to water removes coffee drip marks from carpets and cleans pale leather furniture, used with a damp microfibre cloth.

I bought some charcoal toothpaste recently which sounded interesting and was supposed to make teeth sparkle BUT all it did was block the plug hole. I managed to unblock it but the black slime that came up was revolting. Be warned.

Always clear the plug holes with soda and hot water, told by a plumber we also clean the washing machine once a month with soda and a hot wash. It magic.

Gabriella, I used to use these until we "upgraded" our bathroom - now they don't fit! They only work if you have a drain hole with a separate plug. Another example of a modern "improvement" that isn't.

Vinegar on newspaper is excellent for cleaning the door of the wood burner.

I've used soda crystals in the past but never tried mixing it with vinegar. Could someone please advise me on the quantities & which one goes into the drain first?

Thankyou for all these tips - just going to text DH, who is in town, to get some soda crystals - I have a pan that always seems to burn however careful I am.

Auntyflo - I washed mine last year in a pillowcase in the washing machine.

luzdoh...only if it contains copious quantities of rum!

Love these helpful sort of threads. Thanks to all contributors. I've duly noted the ones I didn't know that might come in useful sometime. All safely stored in the 'notes' app on this pad which I initially thought I had no use for. How wrong was I. Again!

GabriellaG I have got these too but some gunge still goes down the bath plug hole. The little catcher doesn't fit it so snugly.

judypark does that mean I can unblock myself with a whole bottle of coke, and stop this reliance on senna?

Dianic, when you washed your vertical blinds, did you put them into a pillow case first? I have seen a Youtube? video that does that, but haven't been brave enough to try it yet, as am scared if ruining them.

We have a sink with a very tight U bend because it's in a confined space. It used to block quite often and was difficult to clear because the gunk just settles in the bottom of the U bend until it blocks. Recently the plumber told me to just use soda crystals on a regular basis to keep to keep it clear. About once a month I pour hot water down then a jug full of soda crystals in hot water and leave over night, more hot water in the morning. Not had a problem since.

All my plug-holes have filter guards bought at the hardware store. Why not do the sensible thing and don't let the gunge go down in the first place?