First of all, locate where the equipment has been stored in the back of the garage and remove the bike helmets, seed packets, watering cans, screwdrivers and tins of paint off it. Now get to work with a duster and some hot soapy water and a brush or three– you might actually be able to find out what colour the machine was. You probably also need to apply a bit of spray-on lubricant to get all the moving parts moving again, as they’ve seized up.
Oh sorry – you’re in the minority of people who actually uses their home gym equipment regularly and has kept up the good work for more than six months. Your self-discipline and dedication is to be congratulated. Either that, or you’re one of the smart folk who has hired a machine of some kind. But either way, you want to clean the machine and have it looking sparkling.
The main cleaning issue when it comes to home gym equipment is sweat. As the seats and other places that come in contact with your person are probably covered in vinyl or some synthetic material, staining is unlikely to be a problem as it would be with natural fibres. Old sweat will make your machine sweaty and sticky, so regular house cleaning is important. Your best bet for cleaning this is to use a natural cleaning product – after all, your skin will be in contact with the surface with your pores wide open, so you don’t want unpleasant chemicals getting in. You want to use the machine to improve your health, after all.
A home-made vinegar based cleaning spray is your best bet for cleaning home gym equipment. If you use a strong solution of vinegar, you will be more able to kill any bacteria that (yummy!) are feeding off your old sweat. Besides, the vinegar will also help tackle any staining that is trying to happen. To improve the germ-killing powers and the scent of this home-made cleaning spray, add some lemon essential oil – it will also make you feel more alert when you breathe it in. One of the real beauties of this spray is that it’s not just good for cleaning the sweaty bits of the home gym equipment, but it’s also good for cleaning the chrome/metal bits and for a host of other cleaning jobs such as cleaning windows and even cleaning toilets.
You can also prevent a lot of the sweat getting all over the machine if you put a towel down on the seat or other pad to soak up your shed body fluids, and use the dry bits of this towel to wipe things down (including yourself) after your workout. Wash the towel after each use, and add vinegar to the final rinse to keep it smelling fresh and feeling fluffy – you can even use about half a cup of the vinegar spray mentioned above. This is also a good move if you don’t have home gym equipment and go to a “proper” gym so you don’t wallow in someone else’s sweat and don’t leave yours for other people.
If you have had the machine for a long time, it pays to make sure that the moving parts are well lubricated so you don’t have to work harder than you have to (OK, this may be a bonus, but you may damage the machine). While natural products are usually best, you really can’t beat mineral oil for lubricating moving parts. You can use the old oil from your car for lubricating this (it’s also good for lubricating bike chains) – apply it carefully and sparingly with an old rag or with an old toothbrush.
There are many age-old and homemade methods to clean the mildew from various fabrics. Lemon juice and salt is probably the most common and oldest method of cleaning the mildew from fabric. As soon as you discover there is mildew on your clothes, first step would be to brush off the surface immediately. Mildew is actually a living organism, a mold that thrives in places that are warm and lives longer in humid environment.
Here are some instructions you can follow to clean the mildew from your clothes.
Take the piece of clothe/s away from rest of the clothing and take it to area where you can brush off the mold growth from the cloth. You can use a soft bristle brush to do this or you can just do it with your gloved hand. If you delay in brushing off the mold, there are high chances that the mold will eat your clothes away and soon you will find small holes in the place of the mold. Take enough care not to scatter the mildew spores in your house or anywhere on the clothes you are wearing. Sometimes when the mildew hasn’t grown much just cleaning it with a brush and washing it in a detergent and drying in the sun would be sufficient. But even after dusting the mold from your cloth if you still find the mildew spores on the cloth then you can use any of the following remedies listed here.
Mixture of natural cleaning products like lemon juice and salt as mentioned before is the safest and easiest method to clean the mold from your clothes. Make a thin paste of lemon juice and salt in a bowl and slowly spread it on the area where you see the mildew spots. Allow the clothes to dry in the sun and once it is dry, rinse it under the running tap water and sun-dry it again. The mixture of lemon juice and salt works as a natural bleach to remove the mildew and the mold stains from the fabric.
If the mildew stains are stubborn and are spread wider on the fabric then try using Peroxygen bleach to clean it. Take a pint of water and make a mixture using about one to two tablespoons of sodium perborate or powdered bleach that has sodium perborate also in it. If you do not have powdered bleach with sodium perborate then alternatively you can use same amount of potassium monopersulfate. If your fabric can be washed with hot water, use hot water to soak the cloth with the mildew stains and apply this mixture of powdered chemicals. You can also soak the cloth directly into the solution for at least 30 minutes and then rinse it off thoroughly with cold water and allow it to dry in sun. If the stains are old and are not gone after the first wash then you might have to soak the fabric in the solution for one night and then follow the same procedure. Only risk you have with this method of natural cleaning is that you might end up harming the fabric texture and color. Hence ensure that you check your clothes for colorfastness before trying this method.
I recently was invited to one of those sales parties. Originally, I was only planning to go along just to socialise with the girls and was feeling a bit sceptical about this cleaning product that was being sold at the party. However, by the end of the evening, I was impressed and actually ordered something.
The products in question were from a line of microfibre cloth products manufactured in Austria Because of the special design of the fabric used for these cleaning cloths, they do not need to use any special cleaning products (apart from a marble powder for extremely filthy jobs). The rationale for this is as follows: most surfaces, even though they look smooth are actually microscopically pitted. These tiny holes are just the right size for bacteria to lodge in. Normal cloths just wipe over the top these and leave the bacteria behind, so to get the surface germ-free, you need to pour on the chemicals – and face all the risks associated with chemical fumes, not to mention the damage they do to your skin and when they go into the wastewater system. What’s more, the house cleaning products you use (even benign ones like baking soda or plain soap) leave a residue behind, making a surface look dull after a few years. Microfibres, on the other hand, get right down into the pitted surfaces and trap the bacteria and grime within the minute hairs. The microfibre cloths can even clean off the old cleaning product residue, making some surfaces look as shiny as new.
Microfibre cleaning products only require water to get a surface perfectly clean, and cold water at that. Water is a perfect solvent as it is – all the commercial cleaning products do is add bits of this and that to enhance the wetting power of water, plus other bits and pieces to hide the smell of the first batch of this and that. With microfibres, the combination of a little water plus the friction and (possibly) static of the individual hairs, there is no need to add chemicals – the water gets into minute places and is all that’s needed. And the microfibre cloth only needs to be damp to work – a factor that has made this type of cleaning product popular in drought-prone areas such as Australia where water usage needs to be kept to a minimum.
Bacteria need moisture to grow in, so it is important to dry off the surface afterwards. This particular line of microfibre products did stock a microfibre towel that was super-absorbent to go along with the cleaning cloths. However, our hostess informed us that standard towels and facecloths do the job well, as well as using a blade on glass surfaces.
One researcher at an Australian university has tested this particular microfibre product intensively and found that it removed 90+% of the bacteria on all surfaces, including the toilet.
We got to see the microfibre products at work at this sales party. Hosting one of these parties must be easy – you’re specifically told not to clean the kitchen for several weeks beforehand so the demonstrator can do her (usually her, but I dare say that male demonstrators can be found somewhere). The demonstrator smeared lipstick all over a mirror, then cleaned it off with only a little water, and then proceeded to clean the basin and taps with the same cloth with no rinsing in between. We all expected to see the lipstick go everywhere else and to find a bit of greasy residue on the mirror. We didn’t, and we all started going “Oooh! Amazing!” like actors in a bad TV commercial. The process was repeated in the kitchen with butter on the stainless steel bench, then on the glass range hood which hadn’t been cleaned for three weeks. All the grease came off quickly and easily with no chemicals or greasy residue.
The best moment at this particular sales party happened shortly after the hostess had been demonstrating the window cleaner on a French window. One of the guests nearly walked through it, as it was perfectly clean with no streaking.
The products can simply be washed in the washing machine on a regular cycle on warm, but really, really greasy rags (e.g. after cleaning up a barbecue spitroast) may need soaking in warm soapy water. They should not be washed along with fluffy things and ideally should be washed in a laundry bag, although this is not totally essential.
The maker of the products in question was Enjo (pronounced en-yo). This company opened its UK office in 2004. The products are sold on the party plan basis only, so if you are interested but don’t know if there’s an Enjo consultant in your area, then contact www.enjo.co.uk to find out more.
Enjo is not endorsed by or associated in any way with Anyclean. This article is the personal experience and opinion of the writer and may or may not reflect the opinion of Anyclean.co.uk.
Disposable nappies are very convenient for a busy mother (or father) but they are an environmental nightmare! They aren’t reusable or recyclable, so the only thing you can do with them is to throw them into the landfill – where they create nasty leachates and take centuries to break down again. Cloth nappies are by far the greener option – and, ultimately, the cheaper option.
However, cloth nappies do have their own problems, mostly to do with washing. In some centres, you can find nappy washing services, where someone will take away the dirty nappies and give you back clean ones. If you don’t live near a nappy cleaning service or if you can’t afford their services (or don’t’ want to pay for them), you will have to wash them yourself.
To wash cloth nappies, you will need a disinfecting/bleaching solution or powder, and a very large bucket with a lid. Nappies should be soaked in a bleaching solution for an hour or more before washing so excess bacteria can be killed, and any stains can be dealt with. Change the solution daily – one handy hint is to wash one load with nappies every day and to change the solution after putting the nappies in the machine. The lid is to prevent things falling into the solution – particularly alarming if the thing is a toddler or an over-curious kitten.
Dirty (as opposed to just wet) nappies will have to have the solids removed before going into the solution. This waste can, of course, be flushed down the toilet like any other solid body waste. Use a flushable liner to catch waste – you peel this off the main part of the nappy and flush it down. Alternatively, scrape the mess off with a spatula reserved for the purpose. Keep this in a container of dilute disinfectant in between uses.
Washing the nappies after they have been in the solution is easy – just put them in the machine and wash as normal. Nappies can stand a hot wash without any difficulties, if you want to do this, but a cold wash is also good. You can use fabric softener, but this is optional. According to some people, adding natural cleaning product like vinegar to the final rinse helps to prevent nappy rash.
Drying the nappies is also straightforward. Line drying in the sunshine is a cheap method, as is drying on a rack or in front of a radiator. Line drying especially is good for freshening and softening the nappies and the sunlight acts as a final germ-killer and bleach. But most of us will resort to the dryer at some time while our children are in nappies.
After the nappies have dried, you will need to fold them ready for re-use. Don’t bother ironing nappies – ever! It’s a waste of time, effort and electricity. A few creases and crinkles on a nappy won’t matter at all. If the idea of ironing nappies makes you laugh, I have heard of one person who did…honest! A number of different methods can be used for folding nappies and everyone has their own favourite. It’s quite like doing origami, but don’t panic if you’re new to it. If you can fold a paper plane, you can fold a nappy without any problems!
Some new styles of cloth nappies have been shaped so they don’t need folding. Good for you if you can get hold of these!
As the nights get colder in autumn, many of us feel like hitting the bottle – the hot water bottle. When it comes to keeping warm while conserving energy and living more sustainably, the good old hottie has a lot to recommend it.
First of all, a proper hottie is made from rubber – which is, ultimately, a natural material that’s harvested in the form of sap from sustainably managed plantations. OK, it’s got a bit of this and that mixed in with it, but at the end of its life, as a hottie came from organic materials (mostly), it will biodegrade. And its life will be pretty long. I don’t know how old my hot water bottle is, but I think it’s older than my children…
The hot water bottle is safer to use than the electric blanket to heat the bed. Hotties won’t electrocute you if they malfunction. This is not to say that hotties aren’t 100% foolproof. If the hottie is too old and you put boiling water into it and if it springs a hole (or the hottie is trodden on or sat on) you can get a nasty burn. Burns aren’t fatal, but they’re painful and scarring, and are best avoided. You avoid getting scalded by a leaky hottie by not using boiling water… or by putting a bit of cold water down the bottom of the hottie and then adding in the boiling water.
And speaking of boiling water, the hottie is pretty energy efficient, which is another advantage it has over the electric blanket. Using the kettle to heat the water is probably more efficient than running hot water out of the tap, and if you try the mixing method (cold water in first, then top up with boiling) you will be safe enough. And you can use some more of the boiling water in the kettle to make yourself a hot drink before bed – a good way to relax and to warm up ready for sleep. Just make sure the drink in question doesn’t contain caffeine. Chamomile tea is traditional, but cocoa, Horlicks, or just a spoonful of honey in a mix of hot water and milk are fine. Brush your teeth afterwards.
One of the other advantages of using a hottie is that you get to re-use the water afterwards. Don’t try to drink it, even if the water that went in was clean – it will have a bitter, rubbery taste from having sat in the hottie overnight (take my word for this – I’ve tried). But the water is fine for watering plants with or doing the house cleaning.
Hotties don’t just have to be used for heating at bedtime. A hottie may be your most energy-efficient option if you are working in a room that will warm up with the sunshine before long (so it’s not worth switching on the heater or lighting the fire) but is cold RIGHT NOW. It is more efficient to heat your body rather than the room. Unless there’s lots of people in the room.
How to fill a hottie:
1. Boil the kettle.
2. Put a bit of cold water (about a cup) into the hottie.
3. Add boiling water until the hottie starts to look nice and plump. Don’t over-fill it. You need a steady hand here and watch out for the “burp” of air escaping as you fill it.
4. Put in the stopper and tighten it about three-quarters.
5. Carefully squeeze the excess air out of the hottie (leaning the hottie against something vertical works best) and, while you’re still applying pressure, tighten the stopper fully.
6. Dry excess water out of the top of the hottie and from off the sides.
Recycling things is important to cut down the waste, but it’s only one of the three Rs of living sustainably. The other two are Reducing and Reusing. Reusing can often take a bit of creativity and lateral thinking. But if you don’t have a Depression/WWII era granny to get ideas for reusing things from, then try these to start you off:
* Pizza boxes (for large pizzas) are the perfect size for fitting A4 papers and they stack together easily. Blot the grease out and use them as a filing system. They’re easy to label, too. Cover them with newspaper or old wrapping paper if you don’t want the number of your local pizza joint staring you in the face. They stack much better than arch lever files.
* Ice cream containers are ideal for freezing soups and casseroles for later use, and also for freezing a surplus of stewed fruit. They also are something of a staple at many schools for holding crayons and other large groups of bits (counters, rubber bands, milk tokens, drawing pins). One-litre yoghurt pottles have the same uses.
* Thick cardboard of any type can be used to protect CD(-ROMs) in the post instead of bubble wrap. Keep a small supply on hand, but don’t hoard it – it can build up to excess if you’re not careful.
* Large clear plastic bottles. If you don’t want to re-use these as drink bottles (if you’re going out for a long time, then they take a lot more water than the little sip-top bottles), then try (a) cutting the top off just below the neck (at the “shoulders”) and using this top as a funnel for changing the oil or for children to play with in a sandpit or the bath; (b) cutting the top off at the shoulders and using the bottom as a mini-cloche for giving young plants a head start in early spring.
* Bottles with handles: cut them on the diagonal and use them as scoops for sugar, flour, etc.
* Old sheets and towels. Rip or cut them up and use them for dishcloths or anywhere you’d use a tissue (apart from as a handkerchief in public, of course – but for removing makeup, they’re great). You can also use them as cloths for domestic cleaning and polishing.
* Screw-top jars (glass or plastic). Wash them out and keep them for your own home-made jams and pickles. Or for storing things like cornflour and cocoa. Or for storing home-made natural cleaning products and bath salts.
* Zip-lock bags. Does anyone throw these useful things away? Use them for smaller batches of frozen food, and for school lunches.
* Rubber gloves. Once they’ve got holes in the fingers, cut the wrist parts up for extra thick, strong rubber bands.
The big thing to remember when you are keeping things to reuse is not to be a hoarder. Only keep as much as you will actually need. If you have already got scoops for your sugar, your salt, your flour and the cat kibble, then don’t make another scoop. If your freezer is full up with frozen goods, don’t hoard any more containers for freezing. Just recycle the items instead!
If you have never used a dishwasher before, they seem like magic. They hide all those nasty, dirty plates away out of sight so your house looks instantly cleaner like you had a professional domestic cleaner around and so that flies (and badly behaved cats) aren’t attracted to the scraps left on the crockery and spread disease. And they save you about twenty minutes or more a day by getting your dishes spotlessly clean for you. And, according to one study, they do a better job of getting things clean (even if you’re hyper-meticulous) so you’ll have a healthier home.
On the flip side, a dishwasher does require strong alkaline powder to work (although see below for some alternatives), and they use a bit more electricity and possibly more hot water, which may put a bit more on your power bill. And if you’ve never used one before, they can be a bit daunting and confusing. Even the instruction books that come with them may not be super-helpful, although you can get an idea of how to load them from the books.
* Check all items before you pop them in the dishwasher. Some things may not be dishwasher suitable, and others may say “top rack only”. Follow these instructions, or you will end up with a mess of melted plastic and/or warped kitchenware.
* It’s probably not the best idea to wash massive saucepans in a dishwasher, as they take up too much space.
* The most economically efficient way to run a dishwasher is to only run full loads and to use a lower temperature setting, if you can. This also applies to washing machines.
* Don’t expect miracles. You should scrape and rinse excess of plates and saucepans first. Really dirty pots and pans with burnt on bits should be soaked overnight, scraped and rinsed before going into the dishwasher. This will also mean that you can avoid using the heavy duty cycle on your dishwasher, which helps conserve power. After all, if only one pot needs heavy duty treatment, why do you need to wash the knives and cups on heavy duty as well? As a hint, a tiny dash (half a teaspoon) of dishwasher powder does wonders for burnt on bits when added to the soaking water overnight. You only need to use cold soaking water.
* You can make your own dishwasher powder that is an environmentally friendly cleaning product and uses fewer toxins. Mix borax and baking soda, then use white vinegar for the rinse cycle. It may not get everything quite as sparkling, but it will get things clean and sterile – it’s the water that does most of the work, after all.
* If you stick with conventional powder, you will release fewer toxins into your environment if you let the dishwasher cool down before you open it to unload. This avoids the cloud of alkaline-laden steam being released into your face when you open it.
* Store conventional dishwasher powder out of reach of children, as it is really dangerous – more so than the liquid used for washing dishes by hand.
* You can cut costs and chemicals by not using the rinse aid. All this does is to put a bit of extra sparkle on your glasses. If you skip it, everything will still be clean and hygienic.
Lavender essential oil should have a place in any natural cleaning fan’s cupboards. With its antiseptic germ-killing properties and fresh scent that everybody loves, lavender oil is one of the most popular essential oils in use.
So how do you use lavender essential oil? This may become a part of your daily routine and during the house cleaning.
1. To make disinfectant spray. Mix equal proportions of vodka and water, or 2 units of white vinegar to one unit of water in a spray bottle. Add in about 10–20 drops of lavender essential oil. Shake well. This mixture can also be used for cleaning glass as well as being used as a general everyday disinfectant.
2. To make air freshener. Either put 10–20 drops of essential oil in water in a spray bottle, or put the same amount of lavender essential oil in a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar. Shake well before use to disperse the oils. You can also use the disinfectant mixture as an air freshener.
3. Scenting your rooms: Dab a little lavender oil on a cold lightbulb before switching on, or rub a little onto a radiator. When the lightbulb or the radiator heats up, the lavender oil will be released and dispersed through the room. Alternatively, use an aromatherapy burner of the type heated by a tealight candle.
4. Scented stationery. Put a few drops of lavender oil on a bit of tissue paper. Tuck the tissue paper into writing paper, scrapbooks, journals, etc.
5. Bath salts: Get about a cup full of common table salt of any type and put it in a screw-top jar. Add in 20 drops of lavender oil. Shake well so the smell is dispersed through the salt. Leave it to mellow for a bit before using. If you want, you can tint the salt a delicate purple by mixing a few drops of food colouring into the salt.
6. As a massage oil: Mix about 10 drops of lavender essential oil in a cup or so of light oil (sunflower oil is good, but olive oil is a bit too strong, although it’s lovely for the skin). Leave it to mellow together for a week or so before use. This oil can also be used as a bath oil.
7. In the bath: Simply put 10 or more drops of oil into the bath while it’s running. As lavender oil is very calming and soothing – one of the reasons it is prized in aromatherapy – this is the perfect way to unwind after a hectic day.
8. As a steam inhalation. Fill a bowl with boiling water and add 5 drops of lavender oil. Cover the bowl and your head with a towel in a sort of tent. Stay under this tent (don’t touch the water) for at least five minutes, breathing deeply. Great for relieving congestion and headaches caused by a nasty cold.
9. Making liquid lavender soap. Get an ordinary bar of soap and chop it up into rough cubes. Put this into a container. Pour about a pint of boiling water over the soap. Leave the soap to melt and then re-congeal into goo. Add about 20 drops of lavender essential oil and decant the goo into an airtight container. Use this for washing delicates (the lavender scent is perfect for woollens and repels moths) or for handwashing. You can use it for washing nearly anything, including the floor and the car!
10. Ironing spray: Fill a spray bottle with plain water and add 10 drops of lavender oil. Spray your shirts, etc. with this before ironing them. Makes the chore of ironing into a pleasure!
More ambitious people can also try their hand at using lavender essential oil to make their own perfumes and cosmetics, or in other handcrafts like soap and candle making.
Most of us do it, or at least have heard of the practice. But most of us are ashamed to admit it. We’ve all sung along to a favourite CD or tape while cleaning the house, but only when we’re alone!
But why not listen to music while you’re doing the housework? Not only does upbeat music give you something to concentrate on if you’re doing a task that is reasonably mindless (e.g. ironing) but it can also help you work faster and harder – and even makes the job enjoyable.
Listening to music and singing along with it is also a great motivator if you need a bit of help to get started with the residential cleaning in the first place – it’s a good incentive to children. More than once, I’ve followed up the age-old parental order of “clean up this room; it’s a pigsty” with “Now, what would you like to listen to while you’re doing it?” Keeping a special album for cleaning can be an incentive – you have to do the cleaning in order to listen to it – but this can backfire, as you will one day hear the song on the radio and it will instantly make you think of vacuum cleaners and dusters. Having a “stable” of CDs will avoid this problem.
So what music is best for house cleaning to? First of all, something positive and upbeat is a must. If you’re going to be scrubbing out a filthy toilet, the last thing you want to listen to is something with gloomy lyrics lamenting how awful the world is or how the singer’s heart is broken. This seems to me like a guaranteed method of feeling depressed. Conversely, something bubbly and lighthearted can lift your mood so even the grottiest cleaning job (e.g. cleaning up after a pet that hasn’t learned the fine art of housetraining) can become a pleasure – almost! Something with a driving beat is also good, as this type of music gets the adrenaline flowing so you can work harder and faster. Hey, it works for aerobics and exercise videos!
It also helps if you choose music that you can sing along to, so pick something that suits your vocal range. However, this step is optional. Housework is often a solitary activity, so why not sing along to make the work go faster? Nobody’s going to hear you – and if they can, then press-gang them into helping with the housework. You can even use feather dusters, vacuum cleaners and brooms as fake microphones or even air guitars if you’re sure that you’re alone. After all, anything that injects a bit of fun into cleaning up helps (cue that old Mary Poppins song “Just a Spoonful of Sugar”).
So, to get practical, what are some good albums with music to cleaning house to? I’ve heard many people speak highly of Abba albums as being great to sing and dance/clean to. My personal favourite albums (at least at the moment)for domestic cleaning to include: Dido’s Life for Rent, The Magic of Boney M, U2’s Best of 1979–1989 and Cliff Richards’ Private Collection (especially the track “Never Say Die” – the lyrics encourage you to keep going even when it’s tough). Albums that aren’t so hot (mostly because of pace) would be anything by Enya, slow jazz music and classical music (in my opinion – a bit of Vivaldi might get you going).
You can even provide your own music the old fashioned way by whistling or singing with no album. The shower’s not the only place you can sing safely (or you can limit your solo efforts for when you’re cleaning the bathtub). Try it if you dare!
Polishes for leather, wood and metal are some of the last chemical cleaners to go. Nobody really wants to risk ruining a good pair of shoes or a leather upholstered sofa (or the leather seats of a favourite car) by using the wrong sort of polish. The same applies to jewellery.
Well, don’t panic. How do you think people got by in the past? Leather, wood and metal have been used in homes ever since we had homes. Often, the leather, wood and metal were used to make the homes.
This is not to say that modern humans have cornered the market in nasty chemicals – after all, people used to think nothing of lead paint all over the show, including the face – but most of the polishes and house cleaners used in the past did the job and were made with what folk had to hand, which was usually benign. Only rich people could afford horrible poisonous chemicals.
And since then, we’ve had the chance to develop ways to make good polish that works and doesn’t contain nasty chemicals. These methods can be applied for floor cleaning too. Here are a few:
To polish leather:
Leather can be cleaned with warm soapy water. Put the warm soapy water on with one cloth, then rinse it off with a second cloth dampened in fresh water (warm or cold). Any of the following should work as a polish:
* A blend of olive oil and vinegar in equal proportions. Use the leftover as salad dressing.
* 1 part of vinegar to two parts linseed oil.
* castor oil (dark coloured leather only)
* petroleum jelly (Vaseline) for light coloured leather.
All polishes should be applied sparingly with one cloth, then buffed up with another cloth.
To polish wood:
These polishes should be applied with a soft cloth, then left for a few minutes to sink into the wood. After leaving, buff them dry and shiny with another soft cloth.
* Linseed oil – all cricketers know how good this is for cricket bats. It’s good for other wood too (note: don’t over-oil a cricket bat. It weakens the handle).
* A 50-50 mixture of olive oil (or any other vegetable oil) and vinegar.
* 1 part beeswax, melted and stirred into 4 parts linseed oil. Add a bit of essential oil, if you like.
* Very strong tea, left to steep for 3 days, can be used to stain and polish dark wood.
* 1 part of lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil.
To polish metal:
This really depends on the metal, of course, as each type has its own properties, as you probably learned in high school science class.
* Copper and brass: Mix salt and vinegar to a paste. Apply to the metal, then leave for five minutes. Clean off with a damp cloth, rubbing hard as you go.
* Stainless steel: Rub it hard with a vinegar-soaked cloth to get rid of those white water/soap spots. Cutlery can be dunked into a solution of 2 T baking soda in a pint or so of boiling water – buff them dry after soaking 10 minutes, but don’t burn yourself getting them out.
* Silver: Line a bowl with aluminium foil (or dig out that old aluminium saucepan that you shouldn’t really be using to cook food in but haven’t got around to recycling yet). Add in some boiling water and a generous dollop of baking soda. Drop the silver in and leave it in the water for 5 minutes. Fish the silver out with tongs to save burning your fingers, then buff the silver dry. If the silverware has a lot of decorative engravings that are prone to tarnishing, scrub the tarnish out with a toothbrush.
* Gold should just be washed in warm soapy water to remove the grease, or else cleaned with toothpaste. Toothpaste is better, as it rinses off without leaving a residue.
