Clean Windows Like a Pro

I actually shared this post almost 2 years ago, but I didn't have pictures with it. I use this method all the time to clean windows and mirrors in my house. This particular before and after is of a window in my dining area. I've cleaned the inside several times since we've lived here, but I can't reach the top of the window on the outside, so I guess I always thought I'd ask my husband to do it later. Well, it turns out the outside of that window hadn't been cleaned in the whole 2 years we've lived here. Gross. It looks pretty good now, though.

I hate cleaning windows and mirrors. No matter what I do, there are always streaks. Windex? Tried it. Vinegar, rubbing alcohol? Uh-huh. Paper towels, newspaper, coffee filters? All left streaks and lint. Then I remembered that when my parents would have professionals clean our windows when I was growing up, they didn't use any of those things. They had a big, sudsy bucket, a cloth, a a squeegee. I asked around, and someone said to use Dawn dish soap, the blue kind. So before we moved into our new home, I went and bought a squeege and some blue Dawn. As my husband and brother unpacked the truck, I went inside and mixed up a mop bucket full of warm water and a few squirts of Dawn so I could clean the living room window before heavy furniture got pu in front of it. It worked great, No streaks, no lint, just perfectly clean windows.

You Will Need:

1 bucket
Dawn Dish Soap, the blue one
2 clean rags
Squeegee

Squirt  a little Dawn into a bucket, fill with warm water. I probably used a tablespoon or so of soap. Get 1 rag nice and sudsy, use it to clean the window. Mine were a little grody, so I did some scrubbing. Starting at one corner and working accross, run squeegee from top to bottom, making sure to wipe the blade with your dry rag after each pass. Enjoy your crystal clear, streak free windows.

Natural Oven Cleaning

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've only cleaned my oven a few times this year. It had been in need of it for a couple of weeks, and I kept putting it off. Then, last week I had no choice but to prepare Thanksgiving side dishes in it and in the process I made even more of a mess.

So, yesterday I searched Pinterest for DIY natural, yet heavy duty, oven cleaners. I found several recipes, most very similar to what I normally use, which is a combination of Dawn Dish Soap, Baking Soda, and water. I slather it on, let it sit, then spray it with vinegar and scrub clean. It generally works very well, but my oven was REALLY bad. I found a tip that said to use salt and dish soap. So, I combined my usual recipe and the salt to make a new one. It worked really well, it didn't get everything, but my oven had some pretty badly burned on spots. I think Sweet Potato Casserole was the culprit. Burned on sugar is the worst!

If your oven isn't absolutely horrible, I think this recipe will work quite well. I will probably end up using the self-cleaning function on mine. I jsut hate doing it because it aggravates my lungs. It's the same reason why I don't use oven cleaner. It works really well, but two years ago I accidentally burned my lungs with chemicals while cleaning, and ever since then I have been super sensitive to cleaners.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup baking soda
2 TBS salt
1 TBS dish soap
enough warm water to make a thick paste

This is my oven before, plese don't judge me. Use a rag to apply cleaner all oven the inside of your oven, laying it on fairly thickly oven the worst spots. Let it sit overnight. In the morning, spray with vinegar, and use a gentle nylon scrubber to clean up. Use a rag and plenty of water to remove all traces of the cleaner. This is after.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to remove those last bits, I'd love to hear them. I've thought about trying the Norwex cleaning paste, as I've heard good things, but I've yet to actually look into it.

$40 Bathroom Update

We bought our first house in July 2012. It is in great shape, with no problems, which is a blessing since we looked for over 6 months at disaster after disaster. However, it's boring. The previous owners never updated anything after having it built in 1996. Oak laminate, brass, and green formica abound; also, the entire interior was painted contractor yellow-beige in a flat finish. We have a toddler, and everytime he touches the wall, it leavesa mark. Everytime I try to wipe off said mark, the paint wipes right off. We painted our kitchen about a month after moving in because wiping the walls was causing the ugly avocado and brown paint that is under the beige to show through.

So, in the second bathroom.

Flat Beige Walls:            X
Laminate Oak Cabinets: X
Builder grade mirror:      X
Brass everthing:              X

My husband had a Home Depot gift card, so we decided to use it to give the bathroom an inexpensive face lift.

We bought a gallon of KILZ brand paint in an eggshell finish and had it tinted to Navajo Sand, which is a Behr color. I wasn't sure about the KILZ brand, since it was less expensive than the Behr, but I LOVED it. It went on so much easier and with better coverage than the much more expensive Valspar we used in our kitchen.

He took down the brass fixtures and knobs, sanded them and spray painted them with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze. That stuff is a miracle product. We used it about 5 months ago on the knobs and fixtures in the master bathroom, and everything we sanded first has held up beautifully with no chips. We have painted almost all of the brass light fixtures in the house with it. That alone saved so much money! The fixtures in our house were all nice, I just didn't like the brass. The cheapest replacements at HD (that I didn't like as much) were between $20-$30. We've used maybe 1.5 cans of the spray paint to do all of these. So $10 worth of paint and a few hours of time vs. 10 new light fixtures. We saved at least $250- $300.

This next part is what I am so excited about. He framed the mirror for less than $4 because he already had the sandpaper and stain. He just bought a 14 ft piece of 1x4 pine board and had them cut it since it wouldn't fit in my car without being cut. He brought it home, did a little distressing (banged it up with tools, he had quite a bit of fun with that part),  sanded the edges, and applied 4 coats of MinWax Mission Oak and 1 coat of Rustoleum Kona stains. If you ever do any mirror project, make sure you paint/stain about an inch on the top of the backside so the reflection isn't plain wood.  When it was dry, he mounted it on the mirror with 3M foam tape.

I seriously love how this came out. I didn't get pictures of all the brass fixtures or yellowy paint, I guess I was just too anxious to update them. We are still going to replace that usly bar light fixture, but it doesn't look as bad in ORB as it did in brass.

Quick Laundry Tip

We all know to empty the lint filter on the dryer every time we put a load in. Lint is extremely flammable. What you might not think to do is wash the lint filter. My local fire department recommends washing it twice a year. This is especially important if you use fabric softeners or dryer sheets, as these can build up on the filter. To tell if it is time to clean, remove it and run a little water over it. If water beads on the surface, you need to wash it. I like to make a sink of hot soapy water, let the filter sit in it for 30 mins, then scrub with a brush, rinse, and dry.