Get a Clean Toilet in Minutes

Of late, I am thinking of buying baking soda from a wholesale outlet! I never knew baking soda was so helpful for cooking as well as cleaning, unclogging drains and what not! Here is another use.

Put some baking soda in the toilet bowl. Drizzle some vinegar over it and then rub it thoroughly with a toilet brush. This will help in giving you a cleaner, fresher and deodorized toilet bowl in no time.

This clean-up operation will cost much lesser as compared to the expensive liquid toilet cleaners available in the superstore. Try it and tell me if it works!

Lay a Trap for Pests

You can use a shallow beer container to get hold of slugs. Tie sticky bands around tree trunks to prevent gypsy moth caterpillars and flypaper from damaging the plants. Then you can employ wood ash or diatomaceous earth across the base of the plant as a barrier.

Some other natural barriers are making a floating row over vegetables and mesh netting over fruit plants to avoid some kind of pests. You can search for herbicidal and insecticidal soap sprays and horticultural oils as a safe pest control method.

As far as possible, try and use nature-friendly pesticides in your garden.

Help In the Garden

How I wish I could get some helping hand while gardening! As I was thinking about this, I caught hold of the following information.

There are lots of beneficial predators in our backyard such as ladybugs, spiders and frogs and we must make the most of them by letting them stay. Then there are companion plants like African and French marigolds, thyme and garlic that we can plant in our backyard. These insects and plants control the growth of harmful pests naturally.

Other biological pesticides such ad Bacillus popilliae and hand picking or pulling help to reduce pests and weeds.

Organic Insect Repellents

While I am working in my garden, I am always on the lookout for any kind of insects on my dear plants. After all, we water the plants and nurture them so that they end up being healthy and without any decay. Here is a tip for natural insect repellant.

To conserve the environment, make use of insect repellants made from distillates if cedar wood, orange, eucalyptus and bay leaves. This repellant can be used for spraying in the house or on flea collars for pets. An additional advantage of using these repellants is they don’t harm you as they are completely natural.

Shine Your Leather

I have a fetish for leather shoes, purses, belts and everything leather! It looks rich and is classy to own and wear. If you too love leather bags and other products like I do, you might have noticed that it starts losing its sheen after a while. I found this secret home remedy that I will share.

Take a lemon peel that is left over after extracting the juice and rub it over the whole leather bag or purse which you wish to shine. Lemon works excellently to add brilliance to the leather and will dazzle your leather items in a jiffy!

Polish Furniture like a Pro

The elegance of polished wooden furniture is unmatched. However you need to touch up on the polish after it loses its sheen over a period of time. This is another DIY tip for you.

Use a soap and water solution for washing finished furniture. Then mix 3 tablespoons olive oil and one tablespoon vinegar for polishing. You can also mix 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil to one tablespoon of lemon juice for a wonderful shine. Apply any one of these and polish with a soft and clean cloth.

Do you know any other uses of vinegar? Do let me know.

Care for Your Crystal Ware

I love my crystal ware and China tea cups and saucers. But sometimes I start worrying about them when the kids are home alone, as they might dash on to my crockery unit and damage my precious crystal while they are running around! Who will like this?

I found a great remedy for this! If you wish to avoid your crystal or China ware from falling from the glass shelf, stick it properly with a scotch tape in such places that would not be seen from outside. This way the glass ware is secured and will not drop in any case!

Shine Silver Yourself

Hope the earlier tip was useful. Why waste money by taking the silver articles to a jeweler when you can do it yourself?

A paste made of baking soda and water can be used to clean silver articles effectively. Use a soft cloth to rub them and then rinse well with water. Let it dry for a while before using. Take care to wear cotton or plastic hand gloves while cleaning silver. Do not wear rubber gloves anytime.

Impress your friends with these dazzling silver articles that you have cleaned yourself. Throw a party to show off your silver ware this weekend!

Polish Silver At Home

A trick is to take a large pan and lay a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom. Then pour water up to three inches approximately. To the water, add a teaspoon of baking soda, salt and bring this solution to a boil. Add the silver items and see to it that they are covered in water completely. Let them boil for another two minutes. Remove the silver pieces, rinse with water and wipe it slowly with a soft cloth.

Try this at home and let me know whether it worked. There is one more such tip coming up next!

Get Rid Of That Soap Residue

We all have the experience that there is at least some trace of soap after a wash cycle. You can avoid this residue by pouring one cup of white vinegar to the last rinse cycle water. Take care not to use chlorine bleach and vinegar at once as this will lead to hazardous vapors.

If you wish to make your clothes smell fresh and soft without using a fabric softener, adding about half a cup of baking soda to the rinse cycle will work wonders!

Be ready for some more of such nature-friendly tips from me in the next few days!