October 14, 2012
STEP 1: DOORS
Remove all bottles and jars either to countertop or cooler. Remove door shelves (if possible) and place in sink to soak while you clean and dry the insides of your refrigerator doors (working as quickly as possible to keep the fridge open for a minimum amount of time). Be sure to clean around the sides of doors and also in the grooves of the sealing gasket. Close doors and scrub shelves. If shelves are too large for your sink, rotate them so each part gets a good soaking before trying to remove dried and ‘chilled on’ gunk. As you dry door shelves, inspect for spots you missed and re-clean as needed. Return dried shelves to doors. Wipe and dry bottoms of all jars and bottles, checking expiry dates and sorting by like items before returning to fridge doors.
STEP 2: SHELVES
Food crumbs and debris will fall down as you remove shelves for cleaning, so start at the top and work downward, following the same basic sequence of steps as for doors.
STEP 3: DRAWERS
The same basic cleaning sequence applies for drawers, but they have more moving parts that can harbor grime, so pay attention for opportunities to dismantle and clean parts separately. Also, before soaking, use your vacuum cleaner to remove larger food particles and other debris. You may also encounter hardened liquid spills hiding underneath drawers; soak with a hot cloth to soften and gently scrape as needed.
STEP 4: FREEZER
Remove food to cooler. Remove and soak any baskets and/or shelves. Remove ice trays/buckets and discard old ice but do not soak ice trays in soapy water; defrost and clean with hot water only. Brush any debris to floor and vacuum. Before returning to freezer, check dates on frozen foods and discard items that have gone past their recommended safe freezing timeframes.
STEP 5: VENTS AND COOLING ELEMENTS
If your refrigerator is NOT hooked up to water filtration or automatic ice making system, pull out from wall, unplug and vacuum cooling coils and back and don’t forget to clean the top. If the fridge is hooked up to water, you may need professional assistance to complete this final important step for ensuring cooling efficiency.
For a comprehensive list of what you’ll need to give your fridge a deep clean, click here.
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
June 27, 2012
Heavy-duty grill cleaning is a once-a-year job best done at the start of each new grilling season. For gas grills, ensure all knobs are set to off and disconnect propane. When cleaning the main grill apparatus, focus on getting the outside shiny and appealing, but don’t put too much effort into cleaning the inside; remove loose debris and ash but refrain from scrubbing away all that great cooked-on ‘seasoning’ that helps to control the grill’s cooking heat, ultimately producing better food.
When it comes to cleaning grill grates, there are two schools of thought.
If you have loads of time on your hands and are into burning extra calories, go the cold-cleaning route. Use your sink, bathtub or a plastic tub large enough to accommodate your grill grates. Soak them for several hours in warm, soapy water. Then apply serious elbow grease to scrubbing, scraping, rinsing, and drying your grates and more effort to removing greasy particles and residues left behind in your sink or tub. Never use toxic cleaning solutions, rinse all solutions thoroughly and allow extra time for grates to heat on their first outing to ensure all residues burn off before cooking. A tip for cold cleaning without harsh chemicals is to soak grates in brewed coffee for an hour or longer before scrubbing.
Depending on your propensity to grill with sugary marinades, cheeses and other substances that ossify with intense heat over time, even the most assiduous cold cleaning may not produce pristine grates. If you are more interested in speed and efficiency, your mantra for cleaning and maintaining grill grates should be: heat and treat. If you are lucky enough to have a self-cleaning oven, simply stick your grates and other removable metal parts into the oven and run the self-cleaning cycle. The extreme high heat will burn away grill grime and muck, leaving you with clean grates and a clean oven for the summer.
If you do not have a self-cleaning oven, invest in a high-quality wire grill brush and pair of high-heat-safe gloves or mitts. When the grill is hot, brush the grates firmly with as much pressure as you can apply safely without toppling the grill. After grilling, either brush grates while still hot and, when cooled, treat lightly with cooking spray, vegetable or olive oil to protect; or, simply leave the grates dirty as protection against the elements until the next time you grill. If you do not have a grill brush, a scrunched up piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil or half an onion used with extreme care (and high-heat-safe gloves) will also work to remove most stuck-on grime when the grill is hot.
For charcoal grills, be sure to remove cooled, spent ash after every use (and especially before it gets rained on). Gas grill briquettes should be periodically removed, shaken or brushed and gas jets cleared of grease and food debris, which can prohibit even distribution of heat. Flipping gas-grill briquettes periodically takes advantage of the grill’s high interior heat to clean them with virtually zero effort.
Finally, when not in use, remember to always cover your grill. Good eating!
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
May 3, 2012
There are plenty of investments that will increase the value of your home. But, unless you are actively preparing your home for market, it’s important — when figuring return on investment — to consider the longer-term maintenance implications associated with your choices. Learn the key cleaning considerations for five popular home-improvement investments;
Kitchen and bath remodel. Kitchen and bath remodels typically add the greatest value to homes, but often bring increased (or at least different) maintenance requirements in order to preserve investment value. Click here for more.
Carpet to hard wood. No matter how much regular vacuuming, steam cleaning and shampooing you do, carpets will always be sanctuaries for dust, dander, and odors. Click here for more.
Paint. Outside or in, nothing improves a home’s appearance — and value — faster than a fresh coat of tastefully colored paint. But when it comes to routine cleaning and longer-term maintenance, paint finishes are definitely not created equal. Click here for more.
Windows. Whether replacing old windows, adding entirely new ones, or going from smaller panes to large, the intention, aside from energy efficiency, is to let in more light and improve views. These latter benefits only materialize, however, when windows are cleaned properly, inside and out, at least twice per year, preferably following the big spring and fall pollen seasons. Click here for more.
Make more space. Home value is clearly tied to square footage. Click here for more.
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
January 19, 2012
Think you can’t afford a regular home cleaning service? Cleaning services may cost less than you think, especially when you consider the value of the free time they buy you. What’s more, a careful evaluation of your monthly expenses may find you are overspending in areas you value far less than your free time. Here are 14 ideas for where to look for savings:
Cut out disposables. Switching, for example, from paper to washable dish towels, paper to cloth napkins, sponges to reusable dishrags, and bottled to filtered water requires small up-front investments, but can end up saving up to $30-40/month.
Shop store brands. A market basket comparison (via www.peapod.com) of 20 common items likely to be purchased each week yields a savings of $18 between well-known and store brands. Pocket that much each week and you could liberate $72/month in your budget for home cleaning services.
Get an energy audit. Depending on where you start (below or near average performance for household energy efficiency) and how aggressive you wish to be in implementing audit recommendations (some of which require investments), you could free up anywhere from $40-130/month*.
Shop cable, internet and phone service. Perhaps you signed up for your current services or bundle when a great deal was offered in your city or town. But, if two or more years have passed, you are likely to be overpaying. Estimated potential savings if you switch: $40-50/month. Tip: free yourself to switch cable/internet service providers at will by moving your email to a free service or to your own domain, which can be maintained for as little as $5/month.
Consolidate insurance with one carrier. If you don’t already do so, you may be able to save $100 or more per month by consolidating your insurance policies – home owners and auto – with a single company.
Take advantage of tax-free health savings accounts (HSAs). Families – especially self insured – can save hundreds of dollars per month on health insurance premiums by saving – tax free – to cover their own expenses and choosing HSA-compatible insurance plans. Unlike flexible savings accounts (FSAs), HSAs are not ‘use it or lose it’. You pay higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, but you cover your own healthcare costs, rather than subsidizing others.
Ditch your land line telephone. Chances are your household has at least two mobile phones and likely more if you children are into double digits age wise. So why pay for a rarely used home service – plus all the add-ons like caller ID, call waiting? To communicate long distance, grab a cheap web cam and take your pick of free internet video chat services: Skype, OoVoo, and others. Potential estimated savings: $20-40/month.
Make your own coffee. Even a $2/day purchased coffee habit ends up costing $730/year or nearly $60-$62/month. A pound of coffee (say, $6) yields 40 cups of coffee (so, 15¢/each). Even assuming another 30¢/cup for cream and sugar, a one-cup/day drinker can save $48/month (assuming you make only what you intend to consume).
Pay attention to food waste. Start a log in which you estimate the total value of food you throw out in the course of a week (include leftovers and any foods that spoil before you manage to consume them). Even $5-10 worth of food waste each week adds up to $20-40 you could be saving each month. Four tips for minimizing food waste: take stock of what you have before shopping, shop more often, buy in smaller packages, and cook smaller portions.
Bring your lunch to work. A ham and cheese sandwich with a side of chips and an 8-oz bottle of water might cost you $5/day in the office cafeteria, which adds up to $100/month. If you shop carefully, you can make the same lunch for $2 (or less) per day, saving $60 per month.
Evaluate TV-watching habits against your cable package. Paying for 350 channels and really watching around 8 or 10? A quick comparison of three cable companies* finds savings of $19-45/month when you choose plans with the fewest channels. If there is a show or two you just can’t live without, there may be an option to view online, stream via Netflix or similar service, or ask a friend or relative to DVR it for you and watch it together.
Cut takeout. For a family of four, even one takeout meal per week can cost $120 – $200/month. Don’t feel like cooking? Try breakfast for dinner: a quick dinner of eggs, bacon, and pancakes can be done for around $10 or $11 (versus $30 – $50 for takeout), saving $80-160/month.
Big on buying books and magazines? Say you buy one book and one magazine per week. That’s anywhere from $44 – $115 per month, depending on whether you go paperback or hard cover. Borrowing from the library is absolutely free (many now lend even for e-readers) and most magazines put full content online for free as well.
Find a commuting partner at work. You may find you enjoy the company, experience less stress by being a passenger half the time, and with gasoline prices lingering close to $4/gal, saving even half a tank of gas each week can free up a $100 or more per month in your budget.
*Note: Price comparisons contained in this article were conducted in the Northeastern, U.S.; actual values may vary by region. Data sources used include service providers’ web sites, www.peapod.com, and www.energystar.com.
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
January 11, 2012
In Part 1 of our series we discussed all the things that typically need to be done to maintain a home. In Part 2, we noted that you would have to complete an average of 8-10 tasks per day to get it all done. That may have been no problem for June Cleaver, but today so many people work outside the home, volunteer, fundraise for charities and schools, coach sports teams, drive children around, exercise, travel, entertain, socialize, and so much more. No single person can possibly accomplish all that cleaning and still have a life. The risk you run of choosing not do anything? Buildup of soap scum, mildew or mold that requires more work, more powerful (and possibly dangerous) cleaning chemicals to remove and which can lead to permanent damage and deterioration of your home. So, here, in our final installment, we look at when and how to outsource or delegate cleaning work and using modern technology to manage it all.
A biweekly or even monthly outsourced cleaning service is a great investment to maintain the home’s value over time, however, if you’re not quite ready for regularly scheduled cleaning services, some other outsourcing options you might consider include:
Quarterly ‘catch-up’ cleans. Say, for example, that you have a difficult time keeping up with daily and weekly cleaning tasks. You might consider a professional catch-up clean once every three months to bring your home back up to a more easily maintainable standard of clean.
Spot cleans. For big specific jobs like deep cleaning your refrigerator or oven, windows, or that semiannual wash down of walls and ceilings, consider using professional teams to complete the work quickly. There will be less disruption to your household routine and you will preserve precious weekend and vacation time.
Where you don’t outsource cleaning tasks, it’s time to delegate among your family. But you also need to ensure that the time and mental energy you save on cleaning doesn’t simply transfer into time spent cajoling your family members into completing their chores. Here are some delegation strategies that really work:
Empower. First, give everyone a say – into which tasks they take on and, more important, as to how they will complete them. You may not love the way someone folds towels or loads the dishwasher, but just take a deep breath and let – it – go.
Motivate. Think about what motivates each person individually. For example, your eight-year old might be motivated by tasks that make her feel grown up such as operating the dishwasher, washer and dryer. Your fifteen-year old will be motivated by things you can do for him in return, such as driving him and his friends to the movies or providing pizza for his pack when they come over to play video games and watch football games. Your 17-year old, meantime, will be motivated by privileges – a later curfew, opportunities to borrow your car, and so forth – that you can link to regular and prompt completion of her chores.
Rotate. Since not all cleaning tasks are created equal (scrubbing toilets versus dusting lamps, for example), rotate less palatable chores among family members – yourself included.
Keep score and bestow a privilege or incentive on the person who completes the highest percentage of his or her chores without being reminded in a given week. Perhaps they get to give away one task for the following week to the low scorer, control the TV remote for a week, or dictate the family’s dinner menu on Thursday night.
Use peer pressure. Create a group incentive – like a family favorite dinner, movie, restaurant outing or other activity – if the group as a whole scores 100%. No one will want to be responsible for the group missing out on its weekly treat.
Use technology. Modern technology options fit fluidly into the lifestyles of today’s children, teenagers, and on-the-go parents. Why nag your teenage son to make his bed, pick up his clothes, or remove pizza boxes from his room when his email account, iTouch, or mobile phone can do it for you? One thing is for certain: He will be paying attention to his devices and won’t be able to claim he forgot to complete a task.
One easy technology approach is to open free Gmail accounts for each family member (if they don’t already have them) and use Google Calendar to create and share a dedicated family cleaning calendar – complete with regular automated task reminders. Or, if you prefer the gratification of checking tasks off a to-do list, Remember the Milk is great task scheduling and tracking service from which you can assign tasks to different people and send automated reminders by IM, email, and even text message (on certain networks).
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
January 3, 2012
Do you ever wonder why some people’s homes seem constantly – and effortlessly – spotless? It doesn’t necessarily mean they clean all the time. More likely, it means they hold to a set of attitudes and simple behaviors that, with a little resolve, you too can acquire. Here are 12 easy New Year’s Cleaning Resolutions that can make your home more consistently clean in 2012:
- I will treat every possession – including my home – as an investment, which means committing to a level of maintenance that either increases or preserves its value.
- I will always think twice before bringing new things into my home. Owning fewer possessions means less total cleaning and less likelihood of clutter. Plus, think of the money you will save when you think twice about acquiring new things. (Probably enough to afford a regular cleaning service!)
- For every new permanent item I bring into my home, I will remove something I no longer want or use. Do this all year long and you will never be faced with the onerous tasks of collecting boxes, packing up junk and hauling it away.
- I will prevent cleaning tasks from getting bigger than they need to be. You have a choice: clean more frequently with less effort or less frequently with more effort. Doing the former prevents you from ever becoming overwhelmed to a point of inactivity.
- I won’t waste time cleaning ineffectively. Having the right knowledge and tools on hand always makes cleaning faster and easier. Commit to learning more about what works best for different cleaning jobs and follow product instructions carefully.
- I will expect as much from others in my household as I expect from myself. No one is going to look back on your life and say: “What a heroine! She did every bit of cleaning herself.” Relinquish the martyr’s role and be amazed at what others around you are capable of contributing. Remember to give gratitude – even for behaviors that are expected – is absolutely the best way to guarantee those behaviors get repeated for a long time into the future.
- I will do one extra – very small – organizing or cleaning task per day. Today, maybe it’s 10 minutes purging the junk drawer in your kitchen. Tomorrow maybe it’s 2 minutes organizing the cabinet where you keep your food storage containers. The next day, perhaps it’s 5 minutes tackling your unmatched socks bin. Imagine the cumulative impact of 365 similar tiny tasks on your home’s overall feeling of cleanliness.
- I will adhere to the one-year rule. That is, if it hasn’t been worn or touched it in a year – and holds no sentimental or investment value – out it goes!
- Everything we bring into our home will be assigned a place where it belongs. Cleaning goes much faster when you don’t have make decisions about where to put things. To decide where an item’s place should be, apply this simple formula: the more it gets used, the closer it belongs to the primary living areas in your home.
- I will enjoy the aesthetics of my clean home. Take time to notice the smells, the shiny surfaces and, most important, the feeling of ease – and absence of stress – you feel when everything is just as it should be in your home.
- Hire a cleaning service. Having professionals provide a detailed and thorough cleaning of your home on a regular basis allows you to stay on top of your home cleaning and keeps the sometimes neglected parts of your home (i.e. baseboards, switchplates, etc) sanitized, clean and germ-free!
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
December 23, 2011
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established little by way of guidelines for what constitutes green cleaning solutions or practices. So – into the void – has flown a steady stream of misinformation and bogus so-called ‘green’ cleaning solutions. Here are four common green-cleaning myths and explanations for why they don’t hold water:
Myth No. 1: Cleaning with water alone is a safe and effective way to clean and protect surfaces. Dirt is complicated – a mix of particles, dead bugs, skin cells, germs, and oils, to name just a few. Since water and oil don’t mix, oily solids get left behind, darkening and scratching surfaces and making them appear dull. The water itself can also leave mineral deposits, increasing complexity of the dirt and making it even tougher to clean over time.
Myth No. 2: You need a mop and large bucket of soapy water to get a floor really clean. Well designed cleaners use solvents (to loosen and dissolve oily soils), builders (to bond with minerals in the water) and surfactants (to bond with oily soils and suspend them in the water). While a high-quality cleaner can suspend massive amounts of dirt in just millimeters of water, poorly designed cleaners do not keep dirt suspended, so it falls back onto the floor where the mop just pushes it around. Your mop is crucial too. If you want a floor to be truly clean, you need a highly absorbent mop to remove dirty water.
Myth No. 3: Cleaning with water and vinegar is an effective and environmentally friendly cleaner. Vinegar is just a mild acid. There are no surfactants, solvents, builders or oxidizing agents needed to remove complex soils. The result is not that much different from cleaning with water alone and it can make your surface a breeding ground for germs, which is definitely not green and potentially dangerous for your family.
Myth No. 4: Green cleaners are less likely than household or commercial cleaners to leave harmful residues on surfaces. A poorly formulated cleaner purported to be ‘green’ may not have the correct surfactancy or cleaning chemistry, which means both its chemicals and germ-containing soils can fall out of solution and onto the surfaces you are cleaning. A well-formulated cleaner will keep its chemicals in solution and soils in suspension, leaving less residue and unhealthy soils on the surfaces of your home.
The EPA defines green cleaners as those made with environmentally-friendly ingredients to preserve human health and environmental quality. There is also Design for the Environment (DfE), an EPA partner program that screens product ingredients and awards them a DfE logo if they pose “the least concern among chemicals in their class.” If you care about green cleaning, your best courses of action are to: Look for products with the DfE logo that are also effective – meaning you can use less to get better results. Also, look for manufacturers that: ship in concentrates to reduce fuel use, reduce packaging, cut water use and pollution, and select renewable/sustainable ingredient sources whenever possible.
Finally, you can use cleaning companies (such as MaidPro) that do the following: group clients geographically to cut fuel use; use reusable bottles, buckets and bags; use phone/email versus paper; use efficient washing machines and washable, reusable microfiber rags that capture dirt, dust and allergens; use CRI Green label vacuums to protect indoor air quality; buy supplies in concentrated forms; pick environmentally friendly suppliers; train employees to use the correct amounts of cleaning chemicals and make responsible use of disinfectants on critical surfaces to protect client health.
Remember, if it’s not clean, it’s not green!
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
November 29, 2011
Leave a Comment » | Cleaning Tips, Expert Advice, Home, To Your Health | Tagged: best of South jersey, clean bathroom, clean home, cleaning home, cleaning schedule, cleaning service, cleaning tips, healthy home, healthy lifestyle, hillsborough, hire a maid, hire cleaning service, hiring a home cleaning service, home cleaning, home maintenance, house cleaning, house keeper, keeping your home tidy, maid service plainsboro, maidpro, weekly cleanings | Permalink
Posted by Leah Roycroft
November 21, 2011
Simply Stated Blog on Realsimple.com – November 18, 2011
If you’re having the family over for Thanksgiving, it’s safe to say your to-do list is already overflowing with tasks like planning the menu, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning up. If you’re anything like me, cleaning up after dinner is something I’d rather not think about until well…after dinner. But putting some time and effort into keeping things tidy before the feast can really pay off. Melissa Homer, Chief Cleaning Officer at MaidPro, shares these simple tips:
One week before. Do a deep clean of your home one week before the holiday, so all you need to do is touch-ups in the days leading to the big event. Take the cleaning process step-by-step! For instance, clean the first floor one day, and the second floor on the following day, to keep from getting overwhelmed.
A few days before. Pre-bake as many of your side dishes and desserts in the days leading up to the holiday as possible and store them in your refrigerator. Many dishes can be cooked, refrigerated, and given a final warm up just before the big meal with no loss of quality. Not only will you be less stressed on the big day, but all of the dirty dishes and flour-covered counters will also be behind you so you can finally enjoy the holiday as much as your guests.
On Thanksgiving. The biggest mistake people make is leaving holiday meal cleaning to the end. If you wait too long, food gets stuck on dishes and counters get cluttered and soiled, actually making more cleaning work for you than if you cleaned throughout the day. Place pans that need to soak on top of your stove instead of in your sink. If your turkey pan is stovetop safe, you can actually simmer water in the roasting pan on the stovetop to loosen baked on drippings and ease cleaning.
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
November 13, 2011
Step 1: Determine type of stain. Most will fall into one of the following three categories:
- Greasy: common examples include butter, olive- and other cooking oils and fats.
- Nongreasy: common examples include fruit juices, wine, soda/pop, dye and mud.
- Combination: common examples include mayonnaise, tomato sauce, salad dressing, soups and chocolate syrup.
Step 2: Determine constraints of fabric you are attempting to clean. (Note: the do-it-yourself remedies contained in this article assume it is okay to wet-clean fabrics. If an item says ‘Dry Clean Only’ or you are unsure, consult with a professional dry cleaner before attempting to clean with these remedies).
Step 3: Test. If you are unsure about damaging your fabric, carpet or other textile, always test your stain removal solution in a low-visibility spot to see how it reacts.
Step 4: Stop. While effective stain removal often involves several steps, you should stop treating at the earliest possible step to limit risk of damage and deterioration to fabrics.
Step 5: Obtain Tools. Some useful solutions and tools to keep on hand for stain removal are as follows: acetone (basically, nail polish remover), ammonia* (for starred items, see precautionary notes at the end of the article), white vinegar*, chlorine bleach (a strong bleaching agent)*, hydrogen peroxide (a milder bleaching agent)*, corn starch, dishwashing liquid, glycerine, white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, an oxidizing solution, a nonflammable dry-cleaning solution, and an assortment of clean sponges and strong-bristled brushes (toothbrushes work great for working detergents into laundry stains).
To treat most greasy stains, work detergent directly into stain and rinse with hot water. If that does not work, a dry cleaning fluid may be needed. However, many dry cleaning solutions are flammable, so pay close attention to label warnings and do not place fabrics into a clothes dryer or expose to other heat sources or flame after treating with these solutions.
To treat most nongreasy stains sponge immediately with cold water. Soak (also in cold water) if sponging is not sufficient to remove most of stain. Work liquid detergent into the remaining stain and rinse. Use small quantities of diluted (1:1 ratio) hydrogen peroxide (mild) or chlorine bleach (strong) to remove final traces of stain (excluding any items that specify no bleach such as silks, wools, and many synthetics).
Combination stains should be treated like greasy stains with the exception that fabrics should be allowed to dry before applying dry-cleaning fluid to remove any greasy residues and/or repeating the stain removal process if necessary.
For common household stains, here are specific recommended procedures (assuming fabrics can be wet-cleaned):
- Coffee/tea. If black, follow directions for nongreasy stains; if milk or cream has been added, follow directions for combination stains, but do not use heat as it may set a coffee or tea stain.
- Chewing gum. Rub with ice cubes then scrape with a dull knife. Sponge any remaining gum with dry-cleaning fluid. Then sponge with warm water to remove any remaining sugar stain.
- Fruit or vegetable juice. Sponge quickly and/or soak both using cold water. Do not apply heat as it may set the stain. Work liquid detergent into the stain and rinse. If residue remains, treat with a small quantity of white vinegar, then repeat with detergent and water.
- Blood. Soak in cold water until stain fades. Do not apply heat as it may set the stain. Wash with warm water and detergent. Persistent bloodstains may be treated with a few drops of ammonia (*see precautions below).
- Wax. Scrape off as much wax as possible with a dull knife. Placed stained area between paper towels and apply warm iron, changing paper towels as needed to absorb wax. Remove final traces of wax with dry-cleaning fluid. If wax is colored and leaves a dye residue, treat with a 1:1 solution of alcohol and water then rinse with water.
- Grass. Sponge with alcohol (note: test first to see how alcohol will affect colors and dilute 1:2, alcohol to water if treating fabrics containing acetate). Work liquid detergent into stain and rinse with cold water. If needed, apply a few drops of ammonia (*see precautions below) and then launder.
- Perspiration. Sponge new stains with ammonia and older stains with white vinegar, taking specified precautions for both. If sponging treatment affects appearance of dye, use the opposite (ammonia or vinegar) in solution with water to restore. Use dry-cleaning fluid to treat any remaining oily residue then launder as usual. Treat persistent odor by soaking in a solution of 4 tbsp salt to 1-quart of warm water for at least one hour.
- Wine. Promptly work in concentrated solution of glycerine and detergent. Leave in for a few minutes then sponge with cold water. If stain persists, apply ammonia and water, taking specified precautions. If stain turns from blue to pink, use white vinegar to turn it blue again and use bleach on the blue stain (using all precautions for bleach and ensuring all traces of ammonia are removed first).
- Mildew. Remove spores by brushing outdoors if possible. Wash with soap and water and dry in sun. Sponge mildewed rugs with thick soap suds or rug cleaner, remove suds with clean sponge and dry in sun if possible or with an electric fan.
*Precautions for ammonia: dilute 1:1 with water for silk or wool. If ammonia changes appearance of fabric dye, rinse with water and white vinegar solution to restore. Never mix with bleach. Precautions for white vinegar: If white vinegar changes appearance of fabric dye, rinse with water and ammonia solution to restore. Precautions for bleaches: dilute 1:1 with water and rinse well. Do not use chlorine bleach on silks, wools, synthetics such as spandex, or flame-proofed fabrics. Never mix with ammonia.
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Posted by Leah Roycroft
