Cleaning copper pots

Do you have copper bottom pans or any copper around the house that needs cleaning?  Here's an alternative to buying copper cleaner.  Ketchup and salt.  I can't think of anyone who wouldn't have these two ingredients in their pantry.

Put a generous glop of ketsup on there.  Add a good bit of salt.  Smear it around to cover all the copper and let it set for about 5 minutes. 

Smear it all over the copper once again and let it set for another 5 minutes.  You should see the copper color coming back.

For the stubborn burned on spots you can use baking soda as a scouring agent after the ketsup and salt have done their best.  The baking soda will also put a shine on your copper after it's cleaned.

I could have done a bit better but I was in a hurry to clean the pot so I could use it for some cooking. 

What?

I gave up using coupons to buy groceries several months ago.  The coupons have become so useless to me that it's hardly worth looking at them anymore.  Very few coupons are on items I find practical in my quest to go back to basic frugal living.  In the past coupons were much more useful.  Anyway, every once in awhile, I look at the coupons to see if there have been any changes.  Some coupon ads have me laughing out loud.  Like this one.  Isn't he cute with his false teeth?   Who can resist a giggle at that face?

Other ads have me wondering.... What are they thinking?  The person who owns the towel in this picture seriously needs to either get their washer repaired or else have everyone in the house go back to hand washing 101.  If washing their hands is leaving this much dirt on a towel, their technique is all wrong. 

 Hmm.... maybe they need to change the soap they are using because it apparently isn't working?  Well, something is wrong because washing hands should not leave that much dirt on a towel.  If you really want a clean towel for every hand washing.... for goodness sake, get a batch of cheap wash cloths and stack them up next to the sink.  Wash those when you need a fresh supply.  At least you won't be throwing money in the trash with every hand wash.

Speaking of soap..... how about this ad?  It tells you that you will never have to touch a germy soap dispenser again.  Huh?  Why would you walk up to just touch a dispenser?  Isn't the point of using soap supposed to be to wash away the germs?  You touch the dispenser before you wash, not after.  If there are germs on the dispenser you will wash them away with the soap.  No need to touch the dispenser until you are ready to wash your hands the next time. 

Hmm....  I wonder how this gadget would work if I filled it with homemade liquid soap?  I might find one of these at the thrift store in a few weeks.

Ok, moving on.  How about this ad?  Kind of scary isn't it?  No, not scary.  They look sad. I went to my sink to see what my little disposer monsters looked like.  I wanted to know.... do mine look sad too?  Oops!  I forgot, I don't have a disposer.  Just a plain ol' sink drain.  But are these advertisers serious?  They want people to buy a maintenance system to clean the disposer every month.  To deliberately put money into a disposer so it can be sent down the drain?

What's wrong with cleaning it the way people did when disposers were first invented?  Does anyone besides me remember the Arm & Hammer guy?  So cute and he had muscles like Hercules from swinging that hammer so much.  He said keep an open box of Arm & Hammer baking soda in the refrigerator for a month to eliminate odors.  Next month replace the box in the refrigerator with a new one and use the old box to get your disposer smelling fresh too.   A bunch of ice cubes put in there helped the baking soda do the scrubbing.

For more serious odors we were told to put bleach in it.  Or organically you could put a lemon in and run it through.  Personally I can't see the logic of owning a disposer IF you have a place where you could have a compost bin or a worm farm in the kitchen.  Hmm... now that's an idea.  A worm farm in the kitchen.  Gotta file that one in my to do list of ideas.  Moving on now. 

Awww... come on.... they want us to buy a product for dishwasher and washing machine cleaning too?  To be used once a month for the life of the washer or dishwasher.  Do they know how much money that would cost over the life of a washer?  I'd rather save the money in an interest paying account and use it to buy a brand new washer in a few years.

Here's another ad saying the same thing.  It's true, sometimes a washer will have an odor.  I don't know about dishwashers because I don't own one.  Never have.  Usually, the musty odor in my washer is eliminated by simply leaving the door open so it can get fresh air.  It gets an odor when I haven't used the washer for a few days. 

Several years ago, I had to have a repairman fix my washer because it had been leaving greasy spots on my clothes.  Nothing I did would stop the spots from showing up.  He told me that no washer gets out grease.  Only the soap does that.  DUH!

He told me when he repairs used washers for resale he pours a whole bottle of liquid toilet cleaner in it and runs it for one cycle on high load.  Then runs it a second cycle with clear water to be sure all the toilet cleaner is rinsed out.  He said doing this once a year could make my washer last much longer.  Twice a year if I washed tons of clothes.  

The repairman also told me using vinegar once a month kept washers smelling clean.   Well, I had that covered already.  I use vinegar in the rinse water as a substitute for fabric softener.

Ok, I guess I've done enough type-talking about the absurd ads I found in the coupon section of the paper.  Don't let the ads fool you.  There are cheaper alternatives.  Geeze, everyone is out to get our money.  Don't listen to them. 

Floor mop pads

I made a discovery that I wanted to tell everyone about.  As you know, I'm a person that will avoid disposables whenever possible.  I like finding an alternative.  Not long ago I tried a new type mop for my floors.  I think it was a swiffer wet jet or something like that.  I didn't like it because the attached bottle was very heavy, the handle too short, and the pads were disposable.  I got rid of it. 

Well, I discovered these are washable!  No, the manufacturer doesn't tell you that.  I figured what the heck.... I could try washing them before throwing them away.  Couldn't hurt since they are made to be wet already.  I might find another use for them.  Maybe as duster cloths or something.

Ok, they went through the wash and dryer just fine.  A little ragged on the edges but still very usable. 

Then I got to thinking..... how can I use them again?  Why not as floor mops, like before, only this time use them on my duster mop.  I can use them either wet or dry.  They were meant to be wet so why not use them that way?  No bottle is attached on the duster mop so it can't be too heavy for me.  I bought these at the Dollar Store.

I mixed up 4 tablespoons of the Spic n span with 1/4 cup of the fabric freshener in a quart bottle then added water to the top.  I see no reason to make a strong mixture of the Spic n span unless someone tracks mud through the house.  A little goes a long way.

I put the mop cloths in the original box and poured the mixture on until the pads were all wet. 

I tried it on the floor and it works great!  No need to rinse the floor to remove soap either.  The spic n span is meant to be used without rinsing.  I did check the bottles of both to be sure it was safe to use on my flooring before I tried this experiment.  I like that I don't have the heavy bottle on the handle.  How many times can they be washed before I finally have to throw them away?  I don't have a clue right now.  I'll keep washing until they are beyond hope.  By that time I will have made myself some washable pads to use with the mixture.  Whenever I run out of the Spic n span, I'll try a mixture of my homemade laundry soap.    Hmm.... that reminds me, I need to make some more, I'm about to run out.

Liquid laundry soap recipe

Last night I talked with my friend Martha who lives in Indianapolis. She gave me the formula for making my own liquid laundry detergent. She was excited at how clean her laundry was now that she makes her own. I was excited too and wanted to try it out.


I got to thinking.... do I need laundry detergent? I decided to locate all my stashed bottles to find out. I've kept these in different places around the house because I didn't have room for them in one spot. I knew I had a lot because I found them while moving stuff after the construction guys left. But.... little did I realize I had so many. There are 6 more bottles not pictured.

Geeze, talk about over abundance! I bought these in my couponing days. I stopped couponing several months back. Yes, it will be a long time before I need liquid laundry detergent again.  Hmm... some of these need to go to the homeless family shelter.

.

I thought I'd give you the recipe so you can make your own if you want. I didn't ask Martha where she got the recipe so I can't give credit to anyone. I believe she may have told me it was on a tv show or something about the economy. Martha has a front load machine and says she uses 1/4 cup per load. For top load machines use slightly more.

Caution! Some people are allergic to Fells-Naptha so please check before washing with this.

Ingredients:

4 cups hot tap water

1/2 cup borax (this would be something like 20 mule Team Borax)

1 cup washing soda (not baking soda, I think Arm & Hammer makes it)

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 pot large enough to hold 4 cups of water and the other ingredients

1 Five gallon bucket (preferably with a lid) for mixing after cooking.

A funnel, cup for dipping, and a wire whisk

Several empty old laundry soap containers or milk jugs (10 one gallon size for the recipe but any size will do)

This recipe makes 10 gallons. All these ingredients should be sold in the laundry isle of the stores. I've been looking for the Fels-Naptha for a few weeks because I like it for spot cleaning before washing. I've not found it in my area yet or else someone buys them all before I get there.

Use a food grater to shave the Fels-Naptha bar into little pieces. Place it into a pot with the water. Over medium heat, stir constantly with a whisk or slotted spoon until the soap is completely dissolved.  Caution!Don't put it all in at once or you'll have a big lump of wet soap.  Put  in a little at a time.

Turn off the heat then add in the washing soda and borax and stir. When these are completely dissolved pour it into the 5 gallon bucket. Fill up the rest of the bucket with hot tap water. Leave enough room at the top for mixing. You don't want to spill any of it on the floor because it will be very slick and thick. It's very time consuming to get spills cleaned up because adding water only multiplies it more. Stir the mix in the bucket, cover, and leave over night. If your bucket doesn't have a lid then cover it with plastic wrap.

Next day, take the lid off and stir. You might need a broom handle or something sturdy to mix with. (Personally, I would use an electric drill with a paint stir attachment to make it easier.) The mix will be gloopy but will become smoother with mixing.

Take one of your clean empty containers and fill it "half full" with the mixture. (That's where the funnel and dipping cup come in handy.) Fill the container to within about 2 inches from the top with hot tap water. Put the top on and shake like crazy to mix it up. That's why the extra room.... it makes it easier to shake it up. (Repeat this step until you fill up all your containers.) Give the container another good shake each time you get ready to put some in the washer.

Whatever size container you use.... the formula is 1/2 mix with 1/2 hot water. There won't be any bubbles with this laundry detergent. Bubbles don't get clothes clean, the chemicals do. Putting lots of bubbles in cleaning mixes was some guy's idea for making "woman's work" fun in long ago times. His idea caught on and still today people believe..... without bubbles it ain't working.

Floor mop diapers

Many, many years ago I used a product called Mop n Glo which was a floor cleaner and polish together. (Do they still make it?) It cleaned the floor and left a great shine. I stopped using it when I had to throw away far too many mops. I would forget to clean the mop after cleaning the floor. The mop would dry and get very stiff. Too stiff to use again.

I went back to using a regular floor cleaning solution with a mop that I had to wring out by hand. Then along came the Libman wonder mop. Fantastic! No longer did I have to put my hands into dirty floor mop water. Not only that, but I could throw the mops into the washer to clean them. The trouble with this new mop was that I would leave the mop in the water too long. The mop handles would rust and break right where it attaches together.



Well all righty; now I have a new favorite mop. I don't have to carry around a bucket of water anymore. These new mops have been around for awhile. Until now, I never wanted to buy one. Why?

Well because the brands I saw required me to purchase new pads and new solution to use each time I mopped. I have a lot of floor to mop. I guessed it would take a minimum of 10 pads to mop all my floors really clean each time. In my opinion that's not very frugal. It also puts lots more waste in a landfill. I believe I contribute enough to landfill already so I didn't want to start using something to put much more there.

This brand has all the advantages I wanted to see before buying one. Yippie!

The bottle is refillable. Unlike other brands that requires a new bottle of solution or more ready to use pads each time a person mops floors. I can put whatever solution of bleach or homemade floor cleaner or special laminate floor cleaner I want into the bottle. I won't be putting lots of empty plastic bottles into a landfill either.

For this project to work as I hoped, I needed something that's reusable. Constantly buying new pads to clean the floor is not an option. I bought these wow cloths at the Dollar Tree store. They are supposed to be super absorbent.

Then I searched through my quilting stash to find this velcro. Not an easy task when I've been boxing up stuff so it's easily moved by the floor installation guys. I want to use velcro because I don't like the push in system these mops use for holding the cloths.

The starter kit includes this package of pads. This will be my pattern.

I measure to find the pad is 9" x 11".

I measure and cut some pieces from the wow cloth. Then mark the cut outs. I don't see a purpose for the cut out section but decided to follow it anyway.

I cut some two inch pieces of matching velcro.

Measure and put a tick mark on each side to line up the velcro pieces. I put mine about 1 1/2" from the edge.

Sew on the velcro pieces. Remember to sew one side up and one side down or you'll have to frog stitch them. I kept repeating.... sticky side up, fuzzy side down. I used velcro because I had it. If you don't have velcro you could use elastic, tabs with buttons and button holes, strings to tie, or something else. You just want something that will keep the pad on while mopping.

All done! Now these can be used and washed. I wash my rugs each time I mop the floors. I can put the dirty mop diapers in with the rugs. Eventually these will wear out and need to be replaced but it's far better than throwing bunches of them into a landfill each week.

Why do I call them floor mop diapers? Well, have a look. Doesn't that look like a diaper to you? Not only that but they are meant to soak up lots of liquid and junk just like a diaper does.

After going through making these; it occurred to me that I needn't have bought the new mop if I didn't want to spend the money. I could have used my swiffer and used an empty dish detergent bottle for the solution. Duh!


Oh well. Learn as I go. Now I have two options whenever I mop floors. I have to wait until the new floor is installed to test these out. Hmm.... while I've been type talking this post it occurred to me that another use for scrap batting is to make some floor mop pads. Layer scrap fabric (or old wash cloths?) and scrap batting, sew it together, hmm... it should work. Ok, that's a project for another day.

Spring cleaning in the Winter

Winter is cloudy, dark, and dreary most of the time in this area. When a day suddenly brings lots of sun through the windows I like to be prepared to clean.

Yesterday was my first shopping trip of the year and my first without using coupons. I picked up cleaning supplies. Baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, laundry soap, and bleach. With these supplies there isn't anything I can't clean.





I looked for Fels Naptha bar soap but couldn't find any so I bought the era. I'll keep looking for the soap. I haven't used it in a long time so I'm not sure its still available.

The baking soda can be used for brushing teeth, washing hair, scrubbing the tub and toilet, and about 999 other things.

The bleach is of course a disinfectant and cleans too.

The vinegar is used in place of a fabric softner, a deodorizer, and helps cut grease.

The peroxide is used for a homemade version of oxi clean. This is the recipe:
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup peroxide
1 cup water
Mix and apply to stains then put the rest into the washer.

Reuseable toilet paper!

Eeewwww! Well now that I've grossed you out. That's what this could be if you want to cut your budget back to the very bare bones or if you are a refugee from a natural disaster.

This is a stack of soft cotton pieces zig-zag stitched around the edges so they don't ravel when washed. I guess if a person can use cloth diapers for a baby... why not washable cloths for adults? Think about it. What if these were only used for #1 then put into a bucket to soak before washing like cloth diapers used to be? Saving the paper for when needed for #2. Eeewww again!





Hee, hee, hee. Ok, no more grossing you out. Those are actually some basic, no frills, hankies I made. Between my grandaughter and myself with a constant runny nose lately; I found I often run out of tissues. It's not convenient to bundle her up to catch a bus for a box of tissues and my daughter can't bring me any until she picks up the baby. That's when I begin to use toilet paper to wipe noses. Which is where I came up with the title of reusable toilet paper. Had you going there for a minute didn't I?

Seriously, have you seen the price of tissues and toilet paper lately? The same size boxes contain fewer and the price is higher too. Even from Big Lots and the Dollar Store they are getting expensive. While these things are getting higher, my budget isn't. When I was young; no respectible lady would ever leave home without her hankie. She carried several hankies in her purse if she had children with runny noses.

So when did we become convinced that paper hankies were better? When the manufacturers wanted us to start spending, spending, spending of course. They wanted to convert us to convenience living and to being a throw it away society. Paper hankies certainly were more convenient. Just use and throw away. Then along came paper dishes, paper feminine products, paper diapers..... and on and on. There is also plastic throw away stuff too. You only need look around you to see all the throw away convenience stuff you use everyday.


I know there are people who will be grossed out by the thought of some reusable items; but, if you have absolutely no money to buy.... what's the alternative? Do without? Well yes; but how can you do without diapers or feminine pads? Or maybe you have a little money and you must make a choice between baby formula and feminine pads. What do you do then? You see my point? When you absolutely can't buy a convenience item.... there are alternatives. In my youth we didn't have disposable feminine pads. We used rags. Where do you think the phrase "on the rag" came from? Do an internet search for directions to make feminine pads and you will find a bunch of them. I'm not the only person thinking like this.

How much you want to cut from your budget by using reusable items will depend on how grossed out you're willing to be. You will only be grossed out because you are convinced that it's gross by the spend for convenience mentality. In my youth we didn't think of cloth diapers as gross.... it was just what it was. Well, ok, back then, none of us liked putting our hands into the soak bucket to rinse out a doo doo diaper but we did it anyway. Our family didn't have inside plumbing.... we had an outhouse. We couldn't use the toilet to rinse before soaking.

You don't have to go this far to save money unless you just want to or need to. You can cut out paper plates and learn to wash dishes. You can make cloth hankies or cloth dinner napkins or use cloths instead of paper towels. Hmm.... so maybe you aren't a sewing person and you don't have a stash of fabrics? Two possibilities. Go to a thrift store and look for some reusable items there. Or ask a quilter friend to help you make some. Lots of quilters are looking for ways to "bust" their over abundant fabric stash. I'm sure they would be very happy to help you.

Ok now, for those readers who actually decide to try using resuable items.... it's a good idea to make them look different. For example hankies in one color and size, feminine rags another color, cloth towels another color and size, etc. And wash them separately. That way you won't end up using a feminine rag to wipe a nose or kitchen counter. Eeewww!

P.S.
You know how these days many products will have a statement written on them about how much is recycled materials? Ok, so have I. So how about this? Have you ever wondered why some packages of toilet paper have this written on it? ..... composed of 50% post consumer waste .... think about it a minute.... you'll get it. Hee, hee, hee

You got scrap fleece?

Just look what I did with the small scraps I found in my stash. Not enough to make a quilt but far too good to throw away. So I made reusable swifer covers. When they get dirty I can just drop them in the washer with the washable mops and rugs. I would have made a reuable fleece duster but I couldn't find the handle. I think my daughter took it to clean out her old apartment and hasn't brought it back.