TweetNobody starts out by meaning to create a cluttered home. Whether we’re starting afresh after the end of tenancy cleaning and a carpet cleaning, a New Year’s resolution or a move, we all have visions of clear spaces, tidy shelves and floors and order. But we all know what happens before long if we’re not careful: chaos, clutter, mess and all sorts of oddments piled in the most peculiar places (example from this writer’s house: jelly beans collecting in the laundry).
How does this happen? According to British decluttering expert Sue Kay, ten bad habits prevent us from reaching our mental goals of order. Break these bad habits and you will see a dramatic reduction – or even elimination – of clutter in your home.
Habit 1: Procrastination. You know how this goes. “I’ll just pop this on the kitchen bench for now and deal with it later.” “I’ll find a home for that eventually, but in the meantime, I’ll put it on the bedside cabinet.” “You can give that a temporary home behind the sofa until we find a better place for it.” “Put it in the spare room to be fixed when I get around to it”. In a perfect world, we would always be able to put things away straight away and fix things as soon as they break. In the world that we do have, assigning some time to mending, sorting and dealing with temporary arrangements is a better way to stop the “just for now” piles building up.
Habit 2: Neck or Nothing. One of the big obstacles that often gets in the way of people having a decluttering session (or even calling in an expert) is a fear that minimalism is the goal and that the expert will leave you with a set of possessions that would make a monk’s lifestyle look lavish. This is not the case.
You do not have to reduce your worldly goods to subsistence level. While you may have to get rid of the out-of-focus photos, you don’t have to get rid of the old daguerreotype of your great-great-grandparents. While you may have to offload ancient magazines and the books your children grew out of years ago and hate the sight of, you don’t have to get rid of your favourite copy of Lord of the Rings. It’s not all or nothing. It’s about getting rid of inessentials.
Habit 3: Everything is equally valuable. While this principle is true of people in society, it isn’t true of the things cramming your storage space. While one person’s trash is another person’s treasure (and I therefore won’t presume to tell you what items of yours are to be treasured), sometimes trash is just trash. Prioritise your possessions. Keep what’s valuable, but get rid of the things that you honestly are never going to do anything with.
Habit 4: Getting distracted. You’re sorting the books, the junk mail or the old magazines. Something catches your eye. Next thing you know, you’ve spent half an hour reading that ancient magazine and have made no progress. Or you’re going through your clothes and you stop to try on half a dozen outfits and spend ages seeing how all your accessories go with it. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis had the senior devil Screwtape recommending this sort of behaviour as an excellent form of tempting humans into wasting their time and energy so they do neither what they ought to do nor what they want to do. To fight this temptation, set yourself a time limit to achieve a reasonable goal, and/or enlist a friend to help you or to whom you can be accountable.
Habit 5: Self-sabotage. If someone has been pressuring you to declutter, you’re in a bad mood or you don’t really want to get rid of things (possibly because of Habit 2), some people sabotage the efforts they do make. They throw out something that really is valuable which they later regret – and use this experience as a reason for never touching the clutter again. Or they set themselves impossibly hard goals. They call themselves names. All this will create a bad association with decluttering. Instead, set yourself reasonable goals, be honest and give yourself little rewards (but not by buying more unnecessary stuff) for achieving these goals. Suitable rewards can include temporary things such as a nice bunch of flowers, dancing in the space you’ve managed to clear, having a moment of nostalgia reading old love letters or just sitting back for five minutes listening to music and contemplating the view out of the window once you’ve cleared all the junk off the windowsill.
Habit 6: Multi-tasking. This is an asset in all other aspects of life, but don’t try to declutter and talk on the phone/deal with kid’s homework/vacuum the lounge. It is better to do a little bit of concentrated decluttering lasting ten minutes than an hour of trying to declutter and other things simultaneously. Rather than testing and chucking out dead biros and stationery while talking on the phone, do this while you’re waiting for an anti-virus program to finish running (the operative word there was “talking” on the phone. If you’re on hold, however, this might be an excellent time to delete old emails or test biros while you doodle).
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TweetReading through the advice that Mrs Beeton gives in her classic Book of Household Management to the housemaid makes you very, very grateful for modern conveniences such as vacuum cleaners and electricity. Thank goodness we no longer have to do carpet cleaning by strewing them with dry tea-leaves then sweeping with a soft broom, or have to go through the process of lugging carpets outside and shaking them.
However, Mrs B’s method of washing carpets would come in handy. The carpet will have to be taken up and got somewhere it can drip-dry, but a mixture of washing soda, yellow soap and boiling water can should be sponged over the carpet, then rinsed with hot water. Treat the carpet bit by bit rather than all at once, then leave to dry. But most people nowadays will want to skip the last step suggested by Mrs B to “improve” the colours of the carpet afterwards by rubbing it with a mixture of ox-gall and water (didn’t this smell ghastly?). Ox-gall was also used to clean carpet that were nailed down, at a concentration of one pint of gall to three gallons of warm water – but we can skip this one!
The recipe for furniture polish, however, looks promising. This is made up of equal amounts of linseed oil, turpentine (presumably the natural type), vinegary and “spirits of wine” (ethanol – but you could probably substitute vodka). Or else you could just use a mixture of vinegar and oil – how easy and eco-friendly is that?
Other useful tips for “housemaids” include:
* To get marks out of mahogany (and, presumably, other fine woods) that have been made by putting something hot on the polish “may be removed by rubbing in oils and afterwards pouring a little spirits of wine on the spot and rubbing it dry with a soft cloth.”
* To clean very dirty wallpaper, wipe it lightly with very stale bread. This assumes that you have very stale bread handy – which might not be the case with modern bread with all the this-and-that added to make it keep fresher longer.
* To clean marble, “take two parts of [washing] soda, one of pumice stone and one of finely-powdered chalk”. This should be mixed into a paste using water then rubbed over the dirty marble. If you dreamed you dwelt in marble halls, you’d better dream of a housemaid who knows how to do this one.
The list of a housemaid’s duties is an exhausting one. In winter, the first thing the poor girl had to do was to open the shutters downstairs, pick up the hearthrugs, sweep “the breakfast room”, remove the ashes from the fire, blacken and polish the grate, light the fires downstairs, dust and polish everything in that “breakfast room” then go upstairs with hot water for My Lady and light the fire in her bedroom. Then she had to lay the table for breakfast – the master and mistress’s breakfast, of course. Mrs Beeton does not specify when the maid gets to eat*. In summer, the housemaid merely had to open the windows, sweep and dust everything in that “breakfast room” (including the picture frames), rearrange all the knick-knacks. While My Lady is getting ready, the maid had to then sweep and dust the drawing room and even the hall, doorstep and corridors.
And that was just before breakfast. Three more pages of instructions regarding daily and weekly duties follow that lot. No wonder they all left to be Rosy the Riveters or land girls when they had the chance!
*At least not in this section. In the introduction, we find out that the maid and other servants get to eat an hour before “the family”.
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TweetHands can take a real battering throughout the day, and often, the sensitive skin on hands can end up chafed, chapped, itchy and dry. Let’s not even start with what happens to fingernails! What can you do to care for your hands and have them looking neat, tidy and well groomed naturally?
One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. One real advantage of using natural domestic cleaning products is that they are much, much gentler on the skin. Many commercial cleaning products leave the skin weeping and cracking, even if you’re strict about rinsing off as soon as possible. Wearing rubber gloves is the first line of defence if you have to use a harsh chemical cleaning product. Better still, making your own natural cleaning products will go a long way towards clearing up dry skin. However, even soap, which is a natural product, can dry the skin, so rubber gloves are still a must when using soap-based products. They’re also a must if you have to deal with natural substances of the more unpleasant kind, such as vomit or faeces.
Hand care begins with removing dirt. Many jobs and hobbies, such as gardening, can leave the hands absolutely filthy, and just plain soap and warm water won’t do the job. Scrubbing brushes can work wonders for dirt under the fingernails, but these are often too harsh for the more delicate skin areas on your hands.
Instead, try one of these methods:
Pumice/sand soap: Grate a bar of plain white soap and melt it in a double boiler or in a microwave on Low. Add a little water if needed. Once the soap is liquid, add about half a cup of ground pumice stone or fine sand and stir in well. Pour the liquid into a mould – an old tin or pottle will work nicely – and put it in a cool, dark place to solidify and dry. The sand or pumice will gently abrade dirt out from the skin. More luxurious variants can be made by adding ground almonds, cornmeal or corn grits to the soap instead of the sand or pumice.
Lemon: Lemon juice is a mild skin bleach, so this method also helps fade spots on the hands, as well as cleaning them. Turn lemon rinds (once you have squeezed most of the juice out for another purpose) inside out and dip them into coarse sugar or salt. Use these to scrub problem areas.
Avocado skins: Once you have scooped out the pulp of an avocado for a salad or guacamole, save the skins. The inside of the skin is abrasive and contains many of the oils from the avocado. Use them to scrub at hands (and faces!) for a bit of moisturizing as well as scrubbing.
Drying hands properly after washing is also important for preventing chapping. However, if you still have a problem with dry skin, sue a rich hand cream or moisturizer to soothe the skin and replace some of the oils that have been removed by scrubbing. One old trick used by some farmers is to keep a pot of hand cream (pure lanolin is popular) alongside the pumice soap and scrubbing brush beside the basin where workers come in to clean their hands. If you can’t get pure lanolin – or even if you can – try making your own hand cream:
Rich hand cream:
* 200 ml boiling water
* herbal teabag – preferably chamomile
* 50 ml avocado or olive oil
* 50 ml almond, sunflower or grapeseed oil
* 10 ml jojoba oil
* 30 g beeswax
* 10 ml glycerine
* 20 drops essential oil of your choice (optional)
Use the boiling water and the teabag to make a strong cup of herbal tea – 15 minutes is about the right length of time to leave it to steep, but remember to cover the cup it’s steeping in so the steam is trapped in. Leave it to cool. While it’s cooling, combine the oils in a double boiler and add the beeswax in. Once the beeswax has melted, begin to stir in the herbal tea, bit by bit. You will need to stir hard so it emulsifies properly. Lastly, add in the glycerine and essential oil. Place the mixture in a wide mouthed screw-top jar and keep it where you wash your hands. Use liberally after washing hands or whenever you need it.
Beautiful nails also make hands look well groomed. However, nail polish and acetone-based nail polish remover are terrible on the skin and are far from natural. Nail polish on the fingers chips and needs redoing all too often. It’s much better to just have neat, well-filed nails that are trim and clean. This starts with having no dirt under the nail:
Before doing a dirty job, dig your fingernails into a bar of soap. Some soap will stick under the nails, and this will block the dirt from getting in but will wash away very easily. Deeply ingrained dirt can be removed with regular scrubbing and also with a little lemon juice – squish plenty of juicy lemon pith and pulp (the pulp that’s left on the outside/top of a lemon squeezer is perfect) and leave it to do its work for 10 or so minutes before rinsing out.
Don’t cut cuticles – they are there to protect the matrix of the nail from infection. Just push them back gently. Soften them first with a little olive oil or sunflower oil – dipping the tips of your fingers into warm (not hot) oil works wonders.
For something a little fancier, try a fake French polish that needs no varnish and is much easier than the “real” sort. Use a white dressmaking pencil to colour in the tip of the nail from underneath. This whitens the tips. Then stroke a bit of natural beeswax over the top of the nail all over and buff well with a chamois cloth or any other soft cloth to bring up a subtle sheen. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t chip or crack.
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TweetNatural fibres have been with humankind for a long time. Unlike synthetic fibres, they “breathe” more, come from renewable resources and when they finally wear out, they are biodegradable. However, not all natural fibres are created equal. Different fibres/fabrics have different care requirements and have different uses.
Cotton: This comes from a plant source, and it is possible these days to find fabric made from organically grown cotton. Cotton can be tough (denim) or delicate (lace) oand has a huge range of uses. Cotton can handle hot washes and hot irons – it requires hot ironing to be wrinkle-free. Cotton is cool and light to wear, making it excellent for summer wear but unsuitable for winter warmth. It is very absorbent, which makes it good for towels. It is very easy to dye. The disadvantages of cotton are that it is prone to mildew if is damp, shrinks if untreated and can take up stains very easily. Thick cotton fabrics (e.g. denim and towelling) can take a long time to dry on a line or a clothes-horse in cooler weather. Cotton is flammable and is anything but flame resistant.
Linen: This also comes from a plant source. Linen tends to be quite crisp and has a very distinctive texture. It is strong, cool and absorbent. Traditionally, linen was used for undergarments and for sheets. It can handle a hot iron, but it will soften from the usual crispness if washed traditionally. Like cotton, linen is prone to mildew and has a tendency to shrink or stretch. Linen does not take dye well, which also means that it does not stain as readily.
Silk: This taken from the cocoons of the silk moth. Very delicate with a natural lustre to it, it requires gentle handling. Silk should be dry-cleaned or else handwashed in cool-warm water with hand soap. It should not be wrung or scrubbed. It can be ironed on cool. While it is fiddly to take care of, it has the advantage of being very light and easy to wear – it is traditionally used for underwear and good clothes, as well as handkerchiefs and scarves – although you can get very luxurious silk sheets if you want to be extravagant. Silk is moth-proof. Surprisingly, silk is quite strong for its weight and is also warm to wear.
Wool: Wool is spun from the hairs of various long-haired animals. Sheep of various breeds are used for wool, with merino being the finest of this type. Goat hair is also used; this is known as cashmere (Kashmir), angora; pashmina or mohair. Llama and alpaca wool is also used. More outlandish animals that are used for wool include rabbits (from angora rabbits), camels, yaks and even some breeds of dog. Wool is something of a “wonder fibre” as it has a huge range uses, ranging from tough carpets to fine scarves and wraps. Wool is very warm and absorbent, making it the fibre of choice for hikers and the like, as it “stays warm when it’s wet”. Wool is flame resistant. The downside of wool is that it needs a bit of care with washing – handwashing is best, as wool can stretch or shrink unpredictably if machine washed on a regular cycle or on hot (some garments handle the “gentle” or “wool” cycle in washing machines without any bother, though). For washing wool carpets professional carpet cleaning is the best solution. Wool does not like being ironed, but then, it is fairly wrinkle-resistant. Wool also needs a bit of protecting from moths, as moths love wool.
Fur: Real fur comes from all sorts of mammals. Opinion is divided as to the ethics of fur. Yes, some animals are farmed and killed for their fur, but they are usually killed humanely. Real fur is more environmentally friendly than synthetics as real fur comes from a renewable resource, does not use fossil fuels and is biodegradable. In some countries, the fur-bearing animals are noxious pests that harm the environment and the fur is a by-product of managing and controlling pests. Real fur is very warm and looks glamorous. It should be handwashed (use hand soap and dry flat; do not wring or spin) or drycleaned. It does not need ironing. Fur needs to be protected from moths.
Leather. This is the hairless skin of animals – cattle, pigs, ostriches, alligators, snakes, goats, sheep and more. If the hair is left on, it is usually called “hide”. It is very tough and hard-wearing, and can even be wind and slightly water proof (with the right treatment and finish) but still “breathes”. It is fire-resistant and fairly stain-resistant. It is usually too harsh for underwear (with the exception of special fetish-style items) of but is used for all sorts of outerwear, upholstery, protective gear and accessories. It can be hand-washed if necessary, but it is best to just spot-clean leather by sponging the dirt off. If leather does get wet, it should be dried flat, then wrung and crushed to restore the suppleness afterwards. Leather does not like seawater – soak it in milk to remove salt, then rinse well in fresh water. Leather should be polished regularly to keep it supple.
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TweetIf you do a lot of housework, you will get housemaid’s knee.
This is false, at least mostly. Housemaid’s knee is caused by a cut or abrasion on the knee becoming infected after repeated pressure or knocking, leading to the knee swelling up and growing hot. This can happen if you spend a lot of time on your knees without protection, but scrubbing floors on your hands and knees is not the only way of getting housemaid’s knee – this writer knew a keen cricketer who got housemaid’s knee after an innings of intensive fielding, followed by shoving the aggrieved knee into hot sweaty pads for a long innings of batting. If you do spend a lot of time on your knees scrubbing floors, get one of those foam pads sold in garden shops to protect your knees, or even fold up an old towel.
Washing soda and baking soda are equivalent
False. This is like saying that carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are the same. While both baking soda and washing soda are used widely for natural domestic cleaning products and break down grease, they are not the same. Washing soda is poisonous, while baking soda is edible. Washing soda works well added to cleaning products containing soap, while baking soda is often used on its own as a scouring paste for cleaning bathrooms and the insides of fridges and ovens. Baking soda also absorbs smells better than washing soda does.
Sponges and cleaning rags are breeding grounds for bacteria
True. They are ideal breeding grounds for bacteria, as they contain food and moisture, and usually sit around at room temperature, giving the bacteria the other things they need to breed (time and the right temperature). However, don’t shun the humble sponge or dishcloth for your house cleaning jobs. Just toss them into the laundry when you’ve finished using them – a daily change is the bare minimum. If you really want to be sure that you sterilise a sponge thoroughly, pour boiling water over it.
You can clean nearly everything with vinegar
Mostly true. However, never use vinegar on anything made of marble, sandstone, bone or pearl. Vinegar, being acid, will attack these carbonated alkaline substances and break them down. But vinegar can be used for a host of other cleaning jobs, including killing mould, cleaning glass, cleaning leather (when mixed with linseed oil) and as a general disinfectant.
Everything that has “Dry Clean Only” on the label should be dry cleaned.
False. Some garments with this label can be washed at home using ordinary soap and water. This is especially true for items made from silk, wool and leather.hese are natural fibres that were worn, used and cleaned for centuries before drycleaning was even thought of. Wash them by hand and be gentle – just use the same sort of soap you use for your hands, warm water and don’t scrub them vigorously.
Ammonia is one of the really bad chemicals used for cleaning.
False. While ammonia does give off horrible fumes that give you bad headaches and can damage your skin, it is not as bad for the environment as other commercial cleaning products, as it breaks down very readily when it gets into the environment. So it’s not as bad as, say, chlorine, which not only gives off the fumes and attacks skin but also takes an age to break down if it reacts with certain things in the sewage (it does, however, get broken down by UV light). If you have to use ammonia, make sure you wear rubber gloves and use it in a ventilated area. And never mix an ammonia-based product with a chlorine-based one unless you want to kill yourself horribly. Better still, use a natural alternative for your household cleaning tasks.
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TweetThe Hygiene Hypothesis is adhered to by many medical professionals as a way of explaining the high incidence of immune/allergy related ailments in the hyper-clean Western world. In brief, the Hygiene Hypothesis is as follows. Children these days in the developed, urban world have fewer older siblings (to bring home germs from the outside world), have less contact with animals and the outdoors than they did in the past or in rural areas, and live in a home that is kept scrupulously and meticulously germ-free with the help of modern disinfectants. Their immune systems are not exposed to many bacteria and as a result, they tend to over-react to otherwise innocuous substances, causing asthma, allergies and eczema (whether this is because the cells involved in immune response are “spoiling for a fight” and take it out on the nearest handy target, or whether the cells are more like nervous new recruits taking fright at shadows is a matter for debate).
According to proponents of the Hygiene Hypothesis, the best way to avoid the likelihood of these immune related disorders is to cut down on the amount of disinfectant used in the home, and to allow children to play in the dirt every now and then, and to play with animals (some go so far as suggesting that even Type 1 diabetes may be attributable to the Hygiene Hypothesis, but this is debateable – children can, unfortunately, get Type 1 diabetes even if they have plenty of exposure to animals and the outdoors, etc.).
This is yet another reason why we should switch to using natural home cleaning products. Natural cleaning products are all you need to remove dirt and the worst of the germs. Removing the majority of the germs is still very important for a household with young children, as infantile diarrhoea is extremely debilitating and can be dangerous, and meningitis is definitely dangerous. So don’t let the Hygiene Hypothesis turn you into a slob. But the hospital-grade disinfectants you find in some proprietary cleaners are simply over the top. They’re not necessary to maintain a healthy home. You do not live in a hospital where sick people – both those with reduced immune function and those with bacterial diseases – are confined, and you do not have to perform major surgery.
Common sense is still required and some things should be kept as germ-free as possible. Anything used for food preparation or storage should be cleaned properly and thoroughly. Hands should be washed before eating or handling food, and after using the toilet, doing a dirty job or playing with animals. Tea towels and dishcloths should be changed regularly. And extra care should be taken in households that have small children, elderly people or invalids.
If you need a natural cleaner that is more heavy duty than just soap, baking soda and water (soap is a mild disinfectant, incidentally), try one or more of the following:
Vinegar: vinegar kills bacteria, which is why it is used for bottling and for pickling. The more concentrated it is, the more bacteria it can kill.
Salt: salt also kills bacteria and is used to preserve food.
Mix it into a paste that is abrasive as well as disinfectant (you can use salt as a substitute for toothpaste, but make sure you rinse well and have a big drink of water afterwards if you try cleaning your teeth with salt).
Essential oils: Essential oils of thyme, oregano, lavender and/or pine are stronger disinfectant and anti-bacterials than some hospital-grade disinfectants. However, you won’t be using them concentrated in large quantities unless you have more money than you know what to do with. Add up to 20 drops to any other natural cleaning product for a bit of antiseptic boost.
Boiling water: Immersion in boiling water for 10 minutes kills all bacteria. Keep this for items that can handle the higher temperatures, such as metal, oven-proof glassware, china and cloth made of cotton/linen without any elastic. Don’t be a juggins and try to get the things out of the boiling water with your hands – use tongs and allow the items to dry thoroughly.
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TweetThe golden rule for all stains, no matter what they come from, is to get onto them quickly. A stain that has the chance to dry on will quite possibly “set” and be next to impossible to get out. Whether that prompt action is soaking it or washing it, just do it – as soon as possible. When washing clothes or other items with stains, biological washing powder and warm water is by far the best method. However, if you have sensitive skin, you may find that biological washing powder is hard on your hands. Cold water washes are also much cheaper and consume less energy. Cold water washes and “normal” washing powder do a reasonable job, but really dirty things will need a heavy-duty wash or a soak. Warm water and toilet soap worked to a lather also works as a soaking treatment.
Apple juice: not too much of a problem, really. Wash as normal. I’ve never known this to stain. The same goes for most other natural fruit juices. If you have spilled it on the carpet, a professional carpet cleaning will be a good solution.
Avocado: the pulp is not too bad when it comes to staining and it should just wash out with warm soapy water. The sap in the stone is another story and is very hard to shift – it’s something of a natural dye.
Moral: avoid the problem in the first place and don’t cut the stone open. If you do, keep it away from clothes.
Ballpoint pen: Not as much of a stain as it first appears when it leaks all over your pocket after you’ve carried it in there – this writer tried decorating denim jeans with ballpoint pen during university student days. It washed out in the regular wash, much to my disappointment. Really stubborn ballpoint stains can be helped on their way by methylated spirits.
Beetroot: very dramatic when it first goes on, but washes out surprisingly easily in just the normal washing load. This writer once tried dyeing tea towels in beetroot juice – it doesn’t work!
Bitumen: use kerosene to dissolve the smears and scrape off as much as you can. Spot-soaking the item with kerosene for a reasonable period before washing also helps.
Blood: Use cold water and soap – hot water will set the stain (the same goes for other protein-based stains). Soak overnight if the stain is extensive or large, then wash in cold water.
Candle wax: Use a paper towel to blot up as much as possible before it hardens. If you find hardened candle wax, scrape off as much as you can with your fingernails or a razor blade. A little bit will still be left. Cover the spot, top and bottom, with paper towels, tissue paper or even toilet paper. Then iron the spot with a cool iron. This will melt the wax and it will soak into the paper (you may need to wipe the iron clean afterwards with fresh paper towels). The remaining greasy residue, if any, can be washed out in hot or warm soapy water.
Dandelion juice: Regular washing removes this.
Egg yolk: As this is a protein, treat this in the same way as blood, using cold water and soaking if necessary.
Felt tip pen: The child’s sort of felt tip pen is water based (thankfully) and will wash out in the regular wash. Permanent markers can be shifted with hairspray rubbed on hard after soaking, then washed. Other alcohol-based products (including body spray, rubbing alcohol and meths) are also possibilities to remove permanent marker.
Grass stains: Methylated spirits soaked onto the grass stain works well, followed by drying in the sun – the sunlight bleaches the grassy stain.
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TweetCold, wet evenings are perfect for getting out old-fashioned storybooks and reading aloud to children – or to older family members. And if you read older children’s books, it’s amazing the little tips that you can pick up about house cleaning using old-fashioned methods. And that applies to stories about old-fashioned households that did have a maid to clean for them, etc. (e.g. Little Women and the rest of that series) and to stories about households that had to rough it a bit more (Little House on the Prairie).
So what can you learn from these books about keeping everything tidy and shipshape?
* A clean, dry attic is perfectly OK for storing vegetables such as pumpkins, red peppers, onions and marrows – good news for those of us today who like to grow vegetables but don’t have masses of space in the refrigerator. Make sure that the area you plan to store these veggies in is dry and free from mould. Any mould spores lingering on the skin of the plants should be killed by a quick wipe-down with neat white vinegar before thorough drying.
* You don’t have to use mineral oil for greasing machinery –animal fat (the sort you shouldn’t eat for the good of your heart) will do. After all, Pa in Little House in the Big Woods used to use bear grease to lubricate his traps. Save clean fat from meat and use it for greasing bike chains and the like. It will go rancid and smell peculiar, so you have been warned. But those looking for a natural alternative to mineral oil should take note. If you want to clean off oil and fat from fabric, animal fats can be removed by a jolly good scrubbing with soap and a soak in water as hot as the fabric can handle, followed by washing as normal. Mineral oil can be removed in the same way, but if the oil stain is particularly tough, using eucalyptus oil or glycerine will help.
* Contrary to popular belief, you can save the job of washing the dishes for once a day in one big hit if you have to wash them by hand. Do this job when the children are home from school and all adults are home from work (if possible) so you have as many hands as possible to do the drying. Doing the dishes together can be a great opportunity for talking and “quality time” as a family.
* Children are never too young to learn the basics about domestic cleaning. Even preschoolers can dry dishes and put them away, help to make beds and pick up dirty clothes for washing. The earlier they start, the better.
* Grate a carrot and steep it in water or milk to make a natural food colouring – unlike the dubious artificial ones, this natural colouring has some additional nutrients.
* Unvarnished wood surfaces can be cleaned with ordinary soap and water – and a whole lot of elbow grease! This was standard for kitchen tables and it is easy to do with wooden chopping boards. Use boiling water to sterilize chopping boards.
* Hair does not need a lot of “product” to get it shiny and glossy. For straight hair, brushing with a natural boar’s bristle brush is all that’s needed. To clean a bristle brush, pull as much hair and fluff out as possible. Then soak the bristles in a solution of warm water and baking soda before carefully drying it. If the brush has been used by someone with head lice, kill these by pouring boiling water over the bristles.
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TweetWell done – you’ve finished all your house cleaning and your house is sparkling. And what better motivation for having a good clean up than preparing for an elegant cocktail party? But what are some good cocktails to serve at a cocktail party, including some for the designated drivers or teetotallers who would rather stay off alcohol? Here’s a few classic recipes.
Alcoholic cocktails:
* Manhattan: seven parts rye whisky to three parts sweet Martini. Mix over ice then add a dash of Angostura bitters. Stir together, then pour into a chilled glass. Traditional garnish: a cherry.
* Martini: 9 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth. Stir together (unless you are serving the martini to James Bond, in which case it should be shaken, not stirred) and pour into a chilled glass. Traditional garnish: a twist of lemon (peel and maybe a bit of the juicy part) or a green olive on a toothpick.
* Cosmopolitan: 3 parts vodka, 3 three parts cranberry juice, two parts triple sec/Cointreau, two parts lime juice (not lime cordial). Shake together with ice and pour into a chilled glass. Traditional garnish: a slice of lime fitted over the side.
* Margarita: 4 parts tequila, 3 parts triple sec/Cointreau and three parts lime juice, with a splash each of egg white (which will make it froth slightly) and sugar syrup. Shake together. Traditional garnish: dip the rim of the glass into lemon juice then into salt – do this before pouring the margarita in.
* Pisco sours: 8 parts Pisco (a variety of Peruvian brandy – you can use whisky, in which case, you are making whisky sours), 4 parts lime juice, 3 parts sugar syrup, white of one egg. Shake together, then garnish with a splash of bitters, if desired.
* Mojito: Put a handful each of fresh lime (chopped) and mint leaves into a tall glass. Put in two parts of sugar, then add in six parts white rum and two parts lime juice. Fill with ice. Traditional garnish: a sprig of mint.
* Bloody Mary: 3 parts vodka, 6 parts tomato juice, 1 part lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper. Shake together, then pour over ice and add celery salt. Traditional garnish: a celery stalk.
* Sangria: red wine (plenty), orange juice (moderate amount), sparkling mineral water (optional) and brandy or triple sec (smaller amount). Mix together in a large jug and add chopped fruit, usually apples and oranges, but you can also try peaches, kiwifruit and banana. The brandy or spirits can be omitted for a less potent version that contains so many antioxidants it’s almost healthy.
* Piña Colada: 3 parts white rum, 3 parts coconut cream, 3 parts pineapple juice. Shake together with ice. Traditional garnish: a slice of pineapple and a cherry.
* Daiquiri: 9 parts white rum, 4 parts lime juice, 1 part sugar syrup. Garnish with a wedge of lime.
Non-alcoholic cocktails:
* Virgin Mary: 6 parts tomato juice to 1 part lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper. Shake together and serve over ice, and add celery salt. Garnish like a Bloody Mary (which it is based on).
* Virgin Piña Colada: equal parts coconut cream and pineapple juice. Serve with ice. Garnish like a regular Piña Colada.
* Shirley Temple: two parts ginger ale, one part orange juice and a splash of grenadine. Shake together. Traditional garnish: a cherry or a slice of lemon.
* Roy Rogers: a mixture of grenadine and cola. Traditional garnish: a cherry.
* Dolce and Gabbana: a variation of the Roy Rogers, using diet cola instead of “regular” cola.
* Jefferson: iced tea and orange juice.
* Faisal Ali: equal parts orange juice, ginger ale and cranberry.
* Pomme Noir: apple juice and cola
For a good cocktail party where people don’t get too messy, it’s important to make sure that you have plenty of nibbled handy, and think beyond the traditional nuts and prawns – some people are allergic to fish and/or nuts.
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TweetProtein-based items have a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to stains and laundry. Who hasn’t wrestled, scrubbed and wrung (their hands or the garment that has been stained) trying to deal with this sort of stain. Sometimes, it seems as if even if you grab out the big guns, the stain sets and won’t come out ever again. What’s to be done about it?
Older stains that have set in the fabric are practically impossible to deal with, and I won’t cover them in this article. All spills and stains should be treated as soon as possible. All protein stains should be washed out using cold water (not hot). A bit of soap can help with most (but not all) protein stains, and you can also use a stain removal stick to help protein stains on their way. Which reminds me about the quip by a comedian about the ads for stain removal products that involve someone getting a massive bloodstain off a white shirt – “forget removing the stains – how have you managed to dispose of the body?” Joking aside, a potato cut in half makes a reasonable protein stain removal stick.
To wash out all basic protein stains, soak the item in cold to blood-heat water (i.e. it should feel the same temperature as you skin – test it by dipping your wrists in the water). Rub with a little soap and launder as usual but using cold water. Soaking overnight works wonders, and using an enzyme based (biological) washing powder also works wonders. You do not need to use any other type of house cleaning product as you may damage the fabric.
Well, what is a protein stain? Here is a list of the most common protein stains:
* Avocado: This relates more to the pulp rather than the stone – the sap from the stone acts like a dye and is used this way by poorer people in South American countries to brighten up dull clothing. Make sure all the pulp and stain is washed away by soaping and soaking before getting it anywhere near hot water.
* Bloodstains: Every woman will have to deal with bloodstains at some time in her life for obvious monthly reasons. Other people handling bloodstains include anyone with active children who bash themselves falling off bikes, butchers, rugby players and doctors(and murderers: one killer gave himself away by asking a checkout assistant how to remove bloodstains –the checkout assistant got suspicious and called the cops). If it’s not your blood you’re dealing with, make sure that you protect yourself from blood-transmitted infections and wear rubber gloves. Salty water can also help draw the blood out of the item – soaking in salty water is sometimes used by kosher butchers to make sure that every trace of blood is removed from the meat.
* Milk (including baby formula, breast milk, yoghurt, cream and cheese sauce). Act quickly, as sour milk smells awful.
* Red cabbage juice. As an aside, red cabbage juice can be used like litmus paper to indicate acid and alkaline substances – a good kids’ science at home project.
* Egg. Scrape off as much as you can before soaking.
* Poop (animal or human). Scrape off as much as you can using loo paper and wearing rubber gloves. You probably also want to put some disinfectant into the water for soaking to kill germs.
* Mucus on handkerchiefs (not on sleeves, I hope – please!).
* Mud. Scrape off excess before soaking. Soak first – mudstains are often mixed with grass stains, which need special treatment.
* Pee (animal and human). Baking soda will help reduce the characteristic ammonia smell – a must if an animal was the culprit, as lingering smells (which you won’t be able to pick up) will bring the animal back to the scene of the crime to reoffend. Avoid using ammonia on the stain, as this will enhance the smell rather than removing it.
* Semen (on sheets, underwear and one notorious blue evening dress). Take note, Ms Monica Lewinsky!
Vomit. Once again, scrape up as much excess as possible before washing. Use rubber gloves and add disinfectant to the soaking water.
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