Homemade Brass Cleaner

A friend asked me about a homemade brass cleaner and I was excited to realize I knew the answer! So I thought I'd share while it was on my mind:


The tried and true at home cleaner for brass is ketchup, as many people know.

Ketchup Brass Cleaner
-Rub ketchup onto brass.
-Remove with a wet cloth.
-Buff with a dry cloth.
That's it!


 But for a truly homemade cleaner, here's the recipe:

Homemade Brass Cleaner
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
Flour

Mix vinegar and salt.
Add flour a small spoonful at a time and mix. You just want enough to make a paste.
Rub paste onto brass. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Rinse or remove with wet washcloth.
Buff with a dry cloth.

Everyone has homemade cleaners they grew up using and maybe have forgotten about. Some people even use these cleaners all the time without realizing what frugal homemade geniuses they are! I'm always up for learning new things and would love to know: What are your favorite homemade cleaners?

I'm linking to:

Homemade Swiffer Wet Jet Refill

I recently used the last of my wet jet solution and was sadly contemplating the retirement of my swiffer to storage because I couldn't afford the refills. That same day, I found out about homemade baby wipes and after making my own, I thought, why don't I make my own swiffer refill?

There was only one difficulty (getting the cap off) but otherwise, it's a breeze!

Here's what I used:
Empty Swiffer cleaning solution bottle
1 cup of hot water
Vinegar and water mix


After struggling to get the cap off and ending up frustrated, an idea struck! Well, it's back to basic science then. I boiled a few cups of water and put the wet jet bottle in upside down for a couple of minutes to let the plastic expand.

Two minutes later, the cap twisted off easily! You have no idea how pleased I was. I was literally smiling for the rest of the day because this worked :)

I was in such a rush, though, that I forgot to take a photo of the cap off of the bottle. Oh well.

Next, I filled it with vinegar and water and replaced the cap.

Popped it back into the swiffer sweeper thingy....

Presto! Ready for action. Aaahhhh.... saving money is sweet bliss.

For the moment, I'm good on the swiffer pads, but when those run out, there's no way I'm buying more. I'm already planning to make washable pads out of old towels or something. But, we'll handle that when the time comes. For now, I'm so glad I still get to use my swiffer!

I'm linking to:

Homemade Allspice and Sparkling Sugar

So I decided to try a new cookie recipe (tutorial to be posted later), but it called for a few things I didn't have: Allspice and designer sparkling sugar. The sun had already set so walking to the store was out. And even if it was daylight, I couldn't justify to myself to make a trip to buy those two expensive sounding things. I needed allspice and sparkling sugar for the homemade girl. And it needed to be made out of what I had in my cabinets. 

A search for sparkling sugar brought up images of brightly colored granulated sugar. That's it. They charge almost twice as much for a little food coloring? From what I read, it is large sugar crystals coated with wax to make it sparkle, and comes in every color you can imagine! Well, I have food grade paraffin wax that I make candles with, but there's no way I was wasting it on sugar. But, brightly colored sugar? I can do that. 

Homemade Sparkling Sugar

2 cups granulated sugar

Food coloring of choice

In a ziptop bag, add several drops of food coloring to sugar. 

Seal bag and massage the coloring all throughout to evenly distribute. 

In a few minutes, you'll have your very own custom colored sugar! 

Use for a pretty accent on baked goods or to roll cookies in before baking.

I don't remember ever smelling or tasting allspice. What is it? I found out it's a berry that is dried and powdered. What does it taste like? From various websites, I learned that people described the taste of allspice to be a mix of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Great! I have all that in my cabinets. But everyone also agreed that allspice has a "bite" to it that neither of those 4 spices contain. Not so great. How do you recreate a vague "bite"? I've had spice cake and I could kind of understand that elusive bite the allspice lovers were talking about. There's another layer of flavor that makes it so much more interesting than the regular 'holiday spices' combined. I decided to go for it and create an allspice substitute. If there is a better one out there from someone who actually knows what the real stuff tastes like, please let me know because I would love to have access to the cheap version that tastes authentic!

 As it is, here's my homemade allspice substitute:

Homemade Allspice Substitute

1 Tbs nutmeg

1 Tbs ground ginger

1 Tbs cinnamon

1 Tbs ground cloves

1 Tbs black pepper. (yup, that's my attempt at recreating the bite)

These spices smelled amazing together, by the way.

Mix well and store in an airtight container. Use as a frugal substitute for allspice! 

I made molasses cookies with this and they taste wonderful! No bitter aftertaste from the pepper, although I did feel a little strange putting my faux allspice into my sweet smelling cookie batter, but oh well. It was for the cause. And now I know it isn't terrible works!

I truly believe that where there's a will there's a way. You take what you have and you make it work.  Lots of times it will end in failure, but you learn something. Like how not to do that again. 

But a few times, when you take a chance and work with what you have, well, you get awesome molasses cookies that nobody knows you baked with pepper. 

How did you make life beautiful today? 

I'm linking to:

Cove Cleaning Recap Day 6

I know you're all probably dead tired of cleaning progress photos. I tried to warn you. Oh well. I wasn't kidding when I said it was this or no blogging. And since I need a visual aid to stay motivated, it's this.

Above the sink, it was time to give the old kitchen window sill a good wipe down. This is the best photo I could get because of the bright sunshine.

Well, hello clean!

I thought my poor African violets were as good as dead once our car was totaled and our returning to spruce up/clear out the house was postponed.

Y'know, I don't expect others to take care of my plants. I forget about them half the time, poor things, so asking someone else to is kind of weird for me.

When I was unable to come back for almost 2 months I thought my violets were goners.

I was ecstatic to see the plant had a little gumption. It was a bit dried out, but still thriving.

I've been carefully nursing it back to health and after a week, I've pruned many dried leaves and watched these lovely few plump back to life again. I even see some new growth!

Looks like it'll make it to our new home after all. That makes me smile.

Freshly scrubbed kitchen floor. I feel like tiptoeing, it's so clean!

On to the laundry room. Various random sticky detergent stains on the shelf....

Floor and baseboards in need of a good cleaning.... you get the idea.

After maneuvering the machines around in their impossibly tiny space, the floor beneath and behind them was scrubbed, as well as the baseboards, shelf and walls.

The machines themselves got a good wipe down too. My grandparents would have been so proud of me. Who would've thought all those hours 'volunteering' to detail clean machines at the family laundromat would come in handy one day? Ha!

Dryer lint filter tip: I learned this from my grandparents. Use an old toothbrush, hot water and a bit of dishsoap to scrub your lint screen every few months. Rinse well and dry off with a clean lint free cloth before replacing.

You'll be amazed at the gunk that was unseen on the filter!

Tiny pieces of lint and residue from dryer sheets collect to form a film on the filter that keeps your dryer from performing at it's best. This simple tip will help clothes dry faster and when coupled with routine removal of the little blankets of lint after every load, will prevent your lint trap from becoming a fire hazard.

So fresh and so clean.

Why yes, below the shelf is a swipe of paint that is two shades lighter than the rest of the wall. What's sad is I never noticed it until I took these photos. At least it's clean! :)

Freshly cleaned master door & frame. I was shocked to see the evidence of sticky toddler hands on every door in the house. Not any more!

Turn to the right and here we have freshly scrubbed laundry room doors and frame. I need to pick up a replacement knob for the left door.

Clean baseboard directly across from the dining room.

You can see one of the outlet covers that need to be replaced. All of the light switch and outlet covers are caked with paint. Again, leftover from the previous owners. I'm hoping it will make a huge difference to have unpainted new ones put in.

One more day of cleaning done!

I took today off, so will have nothing to post tomorrow until I get more things done. It's been such a trying week and I'm trying very hard to not be discouraged or overwhelmed by this seemingly impossible task. One step at a time. God has been so good. Look how much has gotten done in a week! It's a miracle, considering that while I clean, a toddler has to be potty trained, fed and entertained, dinner cooked, blogging done and items sorted for the goodwill, trash and 'keepers' piles. Which reminds me, I really need to buckle down and sort like a madwoman.

One of the hardest parts of all this is when I go to bed, I lay awake until nearly 3AM because my mind won't shut off. It's frustrating, but I'm learning little tricks to help me unwind.

I read my Bible.

Listen to soothing music.

Prop my feet up and imagine a relaxing place and consciously push any thoughts that surface about cleaning out of my mind.

I think I'm getting the hang of this. The other night I got to bed by 2AM and I was ecstatic about that :). I'm hoping to shave off more hours in the coming weeks and be back at a decent bed time soon.

If you think of us in the next two weeks, please pray that everything gets done and that we stay sane. I'm growing weary of it all, but trying to remember it's temporary and is all for a reason. Good night, All!

Drab to Fab Sheepskin

I got a package a few weeks ago from an aunt in Hawaii. There were a few island goodies for Baby Boy, but what I was most excited to see was one of her own sheepskin that she was passing on to me! Woohoo! Now I have two! The other sheepskin I have was also a gift from the same aunt who sent it when my son was born. I love love love sheepskin. The problem is, I needed to learn how to clean it without spending huge amounts on chemical cleaners. After searching and searching, I found an old trick people used long time ago to keep sheepskin fluffy and dirt free. Cornmeal! Yup, regular old cornmeal. I just happened to have a bag in the cupboard, so I got it out and decided to try the method. Apparently, back in the day, everyone who owned sheepskin knew that a little cornmeal soaks up grease (or oils from contact with human skin) and adds a little shine to the wool. Sort of a gentle cleanser and conditioner! Pretty amazing. This information is hardly common knowledge now. I pieced these steps together from what different people said about sheepskin care on different websites. Definitely worth it, though.

Here are the steps along with what I did:
-Place sheepskin on a flat surface and sprinkle enough cornmeal to cover.
I used 1 cup and massaged it in, making sure the dry cornmeal came in contact with the skin at the bottom, not just the wool.
-Let cornmeal sit anywhere from 1-5 hours (people were very vague about the time so I think this was a safe guess).
 I rolled it up so the cornmeal would stay put and placed it in a corner where little toddler hands couldn't get to it. Then I forgot to pick up a wire brush anytime I was at the store, so the cornmeal actually sat in the skin for a day or so.
-Use a wire brush to remove cornmeal and fluff up wool.
I took the skin outside and shook it until there were no more clouds of cornmeal flying around and then brought it back inside to brush out.

Another tip I found was to place an old stocking or pantyhose leg over the vacuum nozzle before vacuuming sheepskin. I did this and it took care of the last of the cornmeal and dirt, while protecting the wool fibers from tearing. This vacuum tip is also great for finding lost jewelry. The jewelry will stick to the the nylon wall without getting damaged by being sucked into the vacuum.


Here's the sheepskin before cleaning:

And after. I think it turned out pretty great! And it's so soft and fluffy again and doesn't even smell like cornmeal! Aaaahhhh... Now I need to get the other one cleaned so we can enjoy lounging on our luxurious sheepskin.

Of course, Baby Boy just had to model it. He kept waiting while I was cleaning it, asking if he was allowed to touch it yet.
He just kept saying, "Ooooh, niiiice!"  
Happy Saturday, People!