Clean it, Fix it…

Can anyone tell me how to make the rice and rosemary air freshener?

Hellogirl a feeding tube cleaner is what you need for your daughter’s straw I think. You can buy them cheaply online, they are basically just long thin pipes with fibres on and a wire through the middle which makes them stiff, which will feed through the straw.
I watch this too, but retrospectively because the first few minutes is always the same spiel. Maxine has some really clever tips for cleaning I think, which save time.

PinkCosmos

Can anyone tell me how to make the rice and rosemary air freshener?

I just got a jam jar, filled it with some old rice and put a few drops of rosemary oil in it. I cut up some old cotton knickers to make the top. I save nice shaped glass jars anyway so it’s nice to find a use for them. You do have to add the oil quite frequently. I guess you could use pot pourri oil as well. I can’t believe I missed all of the previous series. I think the editing is very good.

Hellogirl1

My camera isn`t co-operating right now. The item is on the NRS website, it`s called the Hydrant bottle. It`s just the thing for Lynne, but I worry about the hygiene aspect.

I did look and I can see the problem but unfortunately don’t have a solution. I’ve always worried about how unhygienic those curly straws are the my grandchildren used to have.

My rice thingy. Shock horror: look how dirty my grouting is! I did make a mistake of shaking it to reactivate the smell and, having made the holes a bit big the rice went all over the place. I’m luck in that we do have a village handyman who will come out and do a day worth of little jobs. When you’ve used him a few times he’ll come out and do smaller jobs. He’s pretty much rebuilt my garden: in fact I looked round the house and garden the other day and realised how many jobs he’d done for me including putting up new fencing and replacing a shed roof. Next week he’s going to put up a bathroom cabinet and some shelves and move a BT wire. My cousin, when he retired, did similar work. It’s a case of finding someone by word of mouth. I never appreciated the fact that my ex could fix anything until he left!

Ref white vinegar. Read somewhere that larger amounts can be bought in Wilcos. Also son got some for me from Amazon.
Also use a little toothpaste to clean/shine small silver objects and jewellery.
Oil plus bicarbonate mixed and put on glass where gungy label had been put on works . Leave on for a few minutes..
Hand sanitizer gel takes ball point from clothes/cloth.

What is ‘rubbing alcohol’ that was used on yesterdays programme? I’ve heard about it before but never worked out what it is or where to get it from. Is it like surgical spirit?

It is the same , you need to be very careful using it , gloves and ventilation

Thank you for the info Casdon, I looked those cleaners up and have ordered one, it should be here tomorrow.

The tube cleaner has arrived, I`ll get stuck into using it when Lynne`s finished drinking for the day. Thanks again Casdon for the tip!

Tube cleaner works a treat!

Hellogirl1

Tube cleaner works a treat!

I’m so pleased to hear that Hellogirl1.

Great!!! Well done Caslon. I think you deserve the first Gransnet Clean it, fix it award!

I don't know whether this has been on the programme but there is a good method for cleaning anything silver.

Line a container with tin foil. Add boiling water and baking soda - 2 tblspn for large container, less for smaller.

Put in your silver item and leave for a few hours. The silver will come out clean.

I think the method is something to do with electrolytes. Not being a scientist, I haven't a clue really.

I have used this on silver jewellery where it has been difficult to clean in the crevices. I am not sure if it would be OK on jewellery with precious or semi precious stones though.

I think I first saw it on an Alex Polizzi programme. She was cleaning silver spoons for Christmas.

I had another success last night. I have an egg timer in the kitchen that’s horribly sticky. I don’t have a very good extractor fan in my kitchen and things do get greasy ( I often wonder about this new fashion for not having kitchen cupboards and having things on open shelves; surely things get greasy). Anyway, last night I followed Maxine’s tip for putting a cloth over my finger and rubbing the item in circles using neat washing up liquid. And it worked! Going to keep it in a cupboard from now on.

Washing up liquid is my goto for cleaning anything - it gets greasy stains out of cloths, dirty marks off walls, cleans shoes, removes sweaty marks from hat rims... I used to mix it with bicarb and hydrogen peroxide to remove sweat stains from Mr A's sports clothes (of course, mine didn't have sweat stains 😉). It's a really strong degreaser - I was a bit shocked to see a poster was using it on her hair recently. It would all the ois from your scalp.

I use washing up liquid to clean the bath because I use a lot of bath oils.

MayBee70

I use washing up liquid to clean the bath because I use a lot of bath oils.

Me too 😁

I also only realised recently that if I left something rally greasy in water with lots of washing up liquid overnight it would de grease it.

AreWeThereYet
I’ve been banging on for years Re how good washing up liquid is.
But unfortunately most people believe the adds.
I make the mixture you mention.
Just incase nobody knows but if you use a lot of products on your hair you will get a build up, BiCarb gets rid of all of it.

I cleaned the kitchen window with vinegar and newspaper the other night ( I’m painting the windows) and it did nothing so I had to resort to window cleaner.

AreWeThereYet

MayBee70

I use washing up liquid to clean the bath because I use a lot of bath oils.

Me too 😁

My son uses bubble bath, so I don’t have to do anything to clean the bath other than a quick wipe over. The shower is a different story though - but Maxine’s bleach on cotton wool method does work on the corners of the grouting.

MayBee70

I also only realised recently that if I left something rally greasy in water with lots of washing up liquid overnight it would de grease it.

My friend's son used to clean his motorbike engine is a big vat of water with a bottle of Fairy liquid - in the garage, not the kitchen 😁

I enjoy watching the series - for fun but don't find it helps much (as I keep my place clean, don't hoard - and I'm good at diy/carpentry).

If I ever need to find out how to do something, I just look it up on YouTube. I regularly buy the 5 litre bottles of white vinegar, as I use a lot of it:

www.ocado.com/products/miniml-white-vinegar-606459011

If you want a nice smell through your house, put a few drops of vanilla essence in a small pan of of water and slow boil it on the hob for about 15 minutes