MomsBudget

If you use your garlic press alot, you have probably washed it, only to discover dried on pieces of garlic caught in the press.  Dishwashers don’t get them completely clean if you leave a little bit of garlic, especially the outside of it, in the garlic press. 

Next time you get a freebie toothbrush from the dentist, keep it to clean the screen of the garlic press.   The toothbrush is small enough to get in the crevices of the garlic press and the bristles strong enough to dislodge any stray bits of garlic.

As a bonus, it is also great to clean other kitchen utinsels with little crevices, such as the inside of a lemon rasp or a small sized wisk.

Do you need a nice non-abrasive cleaner for cleaning your kitchen and bathroom?  You can make your own at home, rather than buying the commercial variety in the store.

Make your own Soft Scrub Cleaner

You can also make it scented by using scented dish soap, such as lemon, green apple, orange or even some of the new “aromatic scented” ones like French Vanilla, Lavendar or the variety of “Rain” scented soaps.

Another bonus is because you use such a small amount of soap, you don’t need to feel that you are wasting any of the good scented dish soap you have on hand – but it does work just as well with the plain unscented or standard scented dish soaps.

Because it is often “out of sight, out of mind” until you go to use it, microwaves can quickly become hidden science experiments pretty quickly, if you don’t clean up splatters and spills when they happen – and let’s face it, most of us are usually busy when we quickly pop something in the microwave to spend the few minutes cleaning it.

If your microwave is a mess of ick, here are some quick cleaning ideas

• Run the turntable through the dishwasher.  This is the easiest way to quickly do part of the clean up, just pop the turntable into the dishwasher at night, or whenever it is you do the dishes, so at least that part is clean without a problem… just remind your kids they can’t use the microwave when there is no turntable in it!
• Use a microwave safe container or cup (at least 4 cup size) and fill it with 3 cups of water, a squirt of lemon juice and a slice of lemon.  Microwave for 5 minutes on high and then let it sit for another few minutes for the steam to help clean.  More details here.
• If your microwave is stinky too, if someone burned something in it or microwaved something smelly, use the same tip as above, but skip the lemon juice and lemon slice, and add 3 tsp of baking soda instead. And after you let the microwave steam for a few minutes, let the water cool slightly and you can use the baking soda water to clean the inside of the microwave with a sponge.
• Need even more help to romove smells after the baking soda trick?  Put some ammonia in a bowl and leave it in the microwave overnight to help eliminate the smell.

After following one (or more!) of these tips, you should have a sparkly and clean smelling microwave!  Any other microwave cleaning tips?

If you have wondered if you could actually save much money by making your own laundry detergent, we have done the math for you

We checked out Tide Liquid, 2x concentrate in the original scent, and it checks in at $18 for a bottle of 48 loads at Netgrocer.  Expensive, especially if your family is large and you are doing many loads of laundry each week.

Now, let’s compare it to our own liquid laundry detergent recipe.  It is enough for about 50 loads of laundry.

But how much does it cost to make?

One box of Washing Soda is $9.28 (6 cups in the box, enough for 3 batches, so $3.09 per batch)
Fels-Naptha Soap is $1.79 for two bars.
Borax is $3.98 (8 cups in the box, enough for 4 batches, so $1 per batch)

All prices taken from Amazon.com today, for the most accurate pricing, and this comes in at $15.05 to buy the supplies initially… BUT remember the boxes of washing soda and borax make multiple batches… so what is the real cost per batch?   $5.88 for 50 loads of laundry… which works out to TWELVE CENTS per load!  And Tide?  THIRTY-EIGHT CENTS per load.

So for maybe 10 or 15 of work, you are saving two and a half times the cost of commercial detergent, simply by making your own at home.

We have all done it – suddenly discovered a favorite bath toy has gone all green and black inside because of water sitting in there, and toss it out in hopes it won’t be missed at bathtime.  Next time, try cleaning it first.

Take a large pail and dump a half cup of vinegar in with a gallon of water (double the vinegar and water if you have a large batch of bath toys).  With gloves on, immerse the toys in the mixture, squeezing them to expell out any bacteria and mildew, as well as to get the vinegar mixture inside, then let soak for 15 or so minutes.  Repeat if they are really gross! 

You can also do this as a preventative treatment every few weeks to prevent the build up from happening.  You can also make it a rule for your child to squeeze out all the water from inside the toys when he or she is getting out of the tub, as this will also help prevent the problem from starting.

So next time you notice that yellow rubber ducky is looking a little bit green around the gills, try this!

Frebreeze can be expensive to buy, especially since families can go through it quite quickly when they are trying to make sure everything smells nice and fresh!  Here is how you can make it yourself, with a variety of scents.

Regular scented febreze
4 tbsp Ultra Downy fabric softener
32 oz spray bottle (clean!)

Fill the remainder of spray bottle with water, leaving a small amount of space at the top.  To use, give it a quick shake first, then use as you would Febreze.

For other scents, use other Ultra Downey scents… there are even several Downy’s with Febreze, if you love the smell of Febreze, including their Fresh Scent, Citrus & Light, Spring & Renewal, and Meadows & Rain.  But only buy these if you would use the fabric softener as well, or if you go through enough Febreze that using only four tablespoons at a time is worth it for you (you will still save A LOT of money buying the Febreze fabric softener and making it yourself than buying bottles of regular Febreze.

If you already have another brand of fabric softener in your house already, or a coupon for one, feel free to use that.  And please let us know which fabric softeners you used, and how they smelled

Source

Do you end up with dark or yellowing stains on your light colored washcloths because you are using a washcloth to remove your makeup at night rather than using cotton pads which you throw away?  Just because you are using the frugal and environmentally friendly way to remove your makeup doesn’t mean you have to suffer with washcloths that always look dirty.

The solution?  Instead of using the white or light colored washcloths, buy dark colored washcloths – such as black, navy, dark green or red – and reserve them for makeup removal only.  So not only will those pesky mascara stains be hidden on the darker colored cloth, you also don’t have to worry about guests seeing washcloths that always look dirty, even when they are fresh from the dryer.

Do you have guests that use washcloths for makeup?  From Martha Stewart comes the tip that you can embroider “Makeup Only” or “For Makeup Removal” on the edge of the washcloth for your guests.  If embroidering seems like too much work, you can set it aside with a small container of makeup remover on top.