Cleaning - sometimes the old fashioned methods are the best.

Heaven forbid that you should be proved right!

Still to convert them to distilled vinegar though !

More environmental too.
My favourites:
Used tea bags to soak my cast iron casserole - works on glass & crockery too.
Lemon to clean lime-scale around taps etc.

Vinegar to clean dish-washer - actually suggested in the manufacturers manual.

Used coffee grounds to get rid of cooking smells on hands. (Softens too)

Baking soda and vinegar to bring chrome up sparkling every time. soda crystals and white vinegar to deal out slow draining areas,both inside and out. A wipe aroundn with white viengar has kept my electric egg boiler looking like new, and I am in a very hard water area. In fact those three items, Baking Soda, Soda Crystals and White Vinegar are the only cleaning materials needed. Vinegar in water is great for cleaning mirrors, etc.

White vinegar in a wash, particularly good on towels.

I rarely use modern cleaning agents. I fill up a spray top bottle with a mixture of white vinegar, water and a few drops of Stardrops. It lasts ages and costs next to nothing.

I soak my shower head in white vinegar. You can get some nasties lurking there which are bad for our lungs.

Sugar soap for washing down paintwork or anything really as it's great for cutting through grease.

Yep, white vinegar, soda crystals & lemons every time. Bit of bleach as necessary. I've totally stopped buying disinfectant sprays for work tops. It's all a marketing con spawned from our insecurities. I didn't use them years ago, started buying them about 4 years or so ago, but have stopped. Never caught a bug before I started using sprays, so why would I now?

I use distilled white vinegar, soda crystals, lemons and a steamer to clean almost everything. Added bonus - very little waste and no detriment to waste water system. I do use microfibre cloths though, which are slowly getting replaced by cotton ones.

All my life I have used a well wrung out window leather that has been soaked in warm water and a drop of vinegar to clean my furniture as well as doing the windows.
Never used furniture polish but always had a lovely shine on mine after wiping it over with the damp leather, plus the dust was not flying straight back to it like it does with a duster.
Unfortunately as time went on REAL window leathers were not to be had and synthetic ones were being sold that went all slimy after a couple of times.

Got to put up with the duster now because I cant do my cleaning myself with not being able to bend.
Oh the joys of getting old.

My husband is addicted to buying cleaning products and I have just gone along with it tbh.

How do you work out quantity of soda crystals/ and or vinegar to use for various jobs?

Oh no the smell of vinegar evokes those months of vomiting in pregnancy...never got over it only the smell of bleach and or pine disinfectants will do.

I’m another who champions vinegar and buy it in multipacks of 5l a time. I use it to clean the bath, shower head, taps, drainer, and with soda for drains. My DH can’t resist anything with a spray gun and meets with looks of horror when he (rarely) attempts to clean windows - I prefer water and cloths.

I still use slot of the old methods for cleaning and odour control. Lemon halved and put in fridge keeps it smelling lovely. I always keep lemons, baking soda and white vinegar in cleaning cupboards, far more friendly and works. I clean washing machine with soda crystals once a month and dishwasher with vinegar and lemon mix, rinse well after. Cooker cleaned with vinegar, lemon and baking soda paste, keeps it sparkling. Windows cleaned with lemon and vinegar mixture and buffed up with old newspaper. So many uses. I also still use bees wax to polish my oak furniture, smells gorgeous and keeps it sparkling.

Where do you all get white vinegar? I only ever see it in small bottles in the supermarket - assuming that we’re talking about the same thing.

I’m a fairly recent convert to soda crystals - they go in every wash now, with just powder, no conditioner.
It was something of a revelation to me, to do a 90 deg wash with no laundry, just soda crystals,
Had to do it twice before a mass of gungey foam stopped appearing.

hazel93

Or, would you disagree ?
Had to laugh when after telling DS and DIL for ages to clean washing machine with soda crystals rather than a modern brand which costs so much more they tried it.
Text from DIL to say machine now sparkling and no odour - she is amazed !

I'm intrigued. Do you put the crystals in the drum/detergent tray?

I love all the old fashioned ways and soda crystals are brilliant, lemon in fridge and steamed in microwave. Always have white vinegar in my cupboard too.

Due to allergies I gave up on most modern cleaning agents years ago.

I do still buy a well known make of toilet cleaner, but otherwise use soap for washing floors, vinegar or citric acid for removing limescale, and vinegar in hot water for cleaning windows.

Laundry soap of the unperfumed allergy tested type.

Nothing beats getting down on my knees to clean my tiled kitchen floor. .Sadly now out of the question as doubt whether I coud get up again so its 'Magic Mop 'Have to admit it does 'a grand job'.

The Tesco white vinegar is in bottles with tiny wee holes on top vinegar comes out of so you have to keep squeezing to get anything out. Is there a way to buy white vinegar in ordinary bottles that can pour properly?

I'm a total advocate for things like white vinegar, lemons, soda crystals and borax.

Also, Essential oils are great too, things like lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus all have great uses around the house and smell great too.

A few drops of neat tea tree oil on my dog's leather collar helps keep any fleas and ticks away.

On the otherhand I've just used my new JML mop which was great and then removed the business end and threw it in the washing machine on a 15 minute wash and it is sparkling clean again. Love it.

I do use bicarb and vinegar alot so like to use the best of both.

Daisend1

Nothing beats getting down on my knees to clean my tiled kitchen floor. .Sadly now out of the question as doubt whether I coud get up again so its 'Magic Mop 'Have to admit it does 'a grand job'.

I've always done the same but this week had to admit the knees are done so I bought my JML mop. Might be similar to magic mop, I'll have to look it up.