A few weeks ago I looked at the leather seats in my car and felt distressed by the endless scuff marks and general wear and tear they’ve taken from the kids over the years. From soccer cleats to camping trips, it was really a losing battle I was trying to win. While I regularly clean my seats with special sprays and treatments it seemed like it just wasn’t restoring my beautiful leather to it’s natural condition, and I’d all but given up.
But then I read a random cleaning tip in Good Housekeeping that you can use Neutrogena liquid facesoap to clean leather seats. I tested it out and was amazed that the kid grime easily lifted off and my seats look great again.
Do you have nail polish on your carpet? My friend said she used shaving cream to remove it and it worked like a charm. (I always wonder how someone finds out which random household items clean up hard to clean items. What act of desperation makes you put shaving cream on your carpet to get rid of nail polish spills?)
Another hard to clean spot is the microwave. In fact, it’s one of my least favorite jobs on the planet. Our microwave is built into our cabinetry and I’m too short to even see in there half the time. I figure ignorance is bliss, right? So when I do clean it out it’s pretty horrendous. I like to put a damp cleaning cloth with a dab of dish soap into the microwave for 15-30 seconds. It steams up and loosens the caked on grime and the then you can just wipe it down with a towel.
Question: What household items have you found to clean hard-to-clean items?
Dawn works really well on grease. We use it to clean grease spots on our carpet as well as before we wash our clothes.
Awesome! I’ll have to try it. Is it just Dawn or is it other dish soap too?
#1. Microwave….you can also just put a microwave safe dish full of water. Bring it to a boil and then let it stay in the microwave for a few minutes (don’t open the microwave). It steams so much that there is no scrubbing at all. I found with the damp clothe that it still doesn’t wipe off too easily.
#2. My kids spilled pink juice on my rug, right in the middle of the living room. There was no hiding it. I used carpet spray and nothing. I used a carpet cleaner and it was still bright pink.
I found online, to use warm soapy water (dish soap) and scrub with a clothe until the area is completely saturated and you’ve pulled as much of the pink out as possible. Then get an iron (yes the kind you iron your clothes with) put it on the highest setting. Take a white dry clothe or paper towel and set it on the stain. Then iron the clothe or towel. It takes several times to get it done, but if you are patient and keep the area wet and then keep replacing the (now stained) towels. The color will come out. It’s amazing!
My mother-in-law swears by Dawn, but I know I’ve tried whatever I have on hand and they seem to work well enough. I think it just depends on the stain as to what is going to work best.
Great idea with the iron. The same type of method works for spilled candle wax. Place paper towels over it and iron. The wax will melt and the paper towel will soak it up.
When I’d clean my microwave, I put a half-full bowl of water and a tablespoon of white vinegar. Then I’d put it on 5 minues. The dirt inside would loosen and would be easy to wipe.