Cleaning your coffee pot

Winter time means lots and lots of coffee!!! But even your coffee pot needs cleaning.....
I drink coffee EVERY DAY and sometimes even three times a day. I like to clean it once a week in the winter and once a month in the summer when it doesn't get used often.
Here are quick and easy steps to clean and dissinfect it:

1. Make a mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water-- enough to fill the pot. For a stronger solution (which might be necessary if this is the first time you've cleaned your coffee maker since you got it three years ago) make a mixture that is half vinegar and half water instead

2. Put a filter in your coffee maker, as usual.

3. Pour the mixture into the coffee maker where you would normally add water.

4. Turn the coffee maker on and let the mixture run completely through.

5. Discard the filter and mixture.

6. Let the coffee maker sit and cool for 15 minutes while it's off

7. Rinse the coffee pot

8. Repeat all of the above a second time, but this time with plain cold water. This will make sure all of the vinegar and water solution is completely gone. If short on time, smell the coffee pot and maker after the first rinse. If there is no smell of vinegar left, you can skip the second rinse.

Post-holiday oven cleaning

During the holidays, the oven seems to work overtime!!! That also means that the cleaning afterwards requires more! Here is a very easy way to clean oven racks without working out your arm:

You will need:
1. Bathtub
2. Dawn
3. Dryer sheets
4. Baking soda

Soak the oven racks in the bathtub with hot water, baking soda and Dawn. Soak overnight, if needed. Use the dryer sheets to remove any remaining build up.

For a full post-holiday house cleaning, call Clean Casa at 931.698.6467.

We HEART vinegar!!!

Vinegar has been looked at something that smells....until recently that everyone has a need to go "green." We have found 8 different ways vinegar can be used in our lives without the odor!!

1. General Cleaner and Disinfectant

From countertops and windows to bathtubs to hardwood floors, countless household surfaces can be cleaned with vinegar. “You can clean and disinfect just about anything with vinegar and water,” Joy B. shares. And as mother-of-two Katherine C. advises, you can use pure vinegar or a diluted solution, depending on the severity of the dirty situation: “Use vinegar full-strength for tough cleaning jobs and to remove lime or hard water stains, or mix the vinegar with warm water for a milder green cleaner.”

2. Fabric Softener

“I use vinegar in the rinse cycle to remove residue from detergent and to soften clothes,” shares mother-of-five Lori P. “I use 1 to 2 oz depending on load size. And when clothes are dry there is no vinegar scent.” As a natural fabric softener, vinegar is an especially smart choice when a family member has sensitive skin or allergies to dyes and perfumes.

3. Odor Remover

Is a strong scent lingering in your home? Vinegar is a natural odor remover. Ontario mom Jessica G. boils vinegar to remove odor evidence of her wood-burning stove, while Ohio mother-of-five Deborah B. simply sets out a small bowl of vinegar: “Remove lingering tobacco odors by filling a small bowl or saucer with apple cider vinegar and placing it in the room where the odor is…. within a few days your room will smell fresh and clean.”

4. Stain Remover

Whether you’re cleaning carpets or cloth diapers, vinegar is a powerful stain remover. Mother-of-one Toni L. explains: “Put a good amount of baking soda on the stain, then spray/sprinkle some white vinegar over the baking soda. It will go really bubbly and smell very strongly of vinegar. Put in wash and ta-da! Stain gone!”

5. Blemish Treatment

Vinegar is also a simple remedy for curing pimples. As Joanne E. suggests: “To banish blemishes fast combine 1 tsp. salt and 3 Tbs. vinegar in a bowl and dab on pimples using a cotton ball. Let sit 30 minutes, then rinse with lukewarm water.”

6. Drain Cleaner

Moms like Jodi L. swear by baking soda and vinegar for freshening up kitchen drains: “To keep sink drains clean and odor free I periodically pour baking soda into the drain, then white distilled vinegar. The foaming actions cleans the pipes.”

7. Pots and Pans Cleaner

Why spend 20 minutes scouring off burnt food when vinegar and baking soda can do the work for you? As mother-of-three Sharon G. suggests: “Use vinegar & baking soda for stainless steel pots…Sprinkle the bottoms (inside bottoms) of the pans with baking soda, put on over the heat (stove) pour on vinegar after a minute. This will lift any baked-on crud.”

8. Weed Killer

Vinegar is a helpful tool outside, too. As Vicki H. advises: “Vinegar in a spray bottle kills grass and weeds in sidewalk cracks too...my new fave.”

Bring life to your hair!!

+            

Mix squeezed orange juice and honey,

leave on for 20-30 minutes

Shiny hair

 

       +     

Mix 3 parts beer with 1 part warm water,

leave on for 15 minutes

Volumized hair

 

   +

 

Mix one egg with olive oil,

leave on for 15-20 minutes

Repaired hair

 

DIY: Bring the shine back to your floors and appliances

We recently had a lady call us about her hardwood floors. Her floors had lost all of its shine and she was wanting to resurrect it without going through the hassle of refinishing. We went and looked and this is what we saw:


She was not worried about removing the scratches....she just wanted shiny floors. So we take on the project!!!

We mixed a liquid made from household items that were more "natural" since we didn't know if the floors had been cleaned with a special cleaning product. Our mixture recipe:
1 cup of water
1 cup of vinegar
1 cup of alcohol
2-3 drops of dishwashing soap

After floors were swept, vacuumed, and mopped with water only, we started with the mix. We just put the mix in a spray bottle, sprayed an area and used a brand new mop damped with water to mop it. Little by little, area by area. It was time consuming but the final result was AMAZING!!!


So we got very happy with the mixture, that we tested on stainless steel appliances and WOW!!! The shine........ check it and out and let us know how your floors and appliances look!!!!

Wax on carpet?!?!

This morning we had a slight accident and spilled wax on the carpet....BLUE WAX!!!!

Wax on the carpet

After some research, I decided the best (and easiest) method involved a paper grocery bag and an iron in the lowest setting. Cut the bag in half and place it directly onto the wax on the carpet and rub the iron back and forth. Move the bag around until the wax comes off the carpet!!!

 

Unfortunately for us, the blue stain remained lightly visible but it looks a whole lot better!!!!

Removing grease/oil stains

Ok....so we live in the south and love our Southern cooking which means.....GREASE!!! And greasy foods means some grease stains. Here is a quick and natural way of getting rid of grease from your clothes or anything else!!!







1. Blot the stain with dishwashing detergent immediately. If that's not possible, skip this step.
2. If stain has soaked in:

1. Mix one part of vinegar with
2. Two parts water

This will make an all-natural cleaner.

3. Apply to the stain. Let it sit for a few minutes.
4. Wash