I was wondering if anyone has some great tips for cleaning be it indoors, outdoors, or whatever. Below are a couple of cleaning tips I have used to good effect.

I have been trying to clean some old and very, very bad hard water stains/buildup. Over the years I tried the classic CLR or whatever it is called for cleaning hard water deposits, and I found it absolutely worthless and will never buy it again. Recently, however, I tried "washing soda" combined with Comet cleanser. I scrubbed the loo sink and let it sit for a good while. Now, the loo sink is not in very bad condition at all compared to the kitchen sink, so there is that to consider, but the washing soda seemed to do a very good job on the loo sink. The hard water stains cleaned off really well. I am going to to the bathtub next. Saving the kitchen sink, which is by bar the worst, for last. Fingers crossed the washing soda does the trick on the kitchen sink!

I read a good way to clean your microwave is to put a microwave safe bowl of water in it with the juice of one lemon. Fill the bowl perhaps half full. You do not want the water to boil over. Microwave the water until it is near boiling, and then let it sit for a few minutes. Afterward, you are supposed to be able to easily wipe the inside of your microwave clean without a lot of elbow grease.

Re wood laminate flooring, it is not a good idea to mop mop wood laminate. I have had laminate in two homes I lived in over the last 20 years. I cleaned them using a mixture of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. I sit on the floor to do this. Mist a small section of the floor and wipe with a clean cloth to remove soil. Then, wipe again with a very dry cloth to remove any residual moisture. This works great on wood laminate. Makes the laminate shine.

Well, the washing soda combine with cleanser and spritz of Mr. Clean for disinfecting did a really good job on my fiber glass bathtub. It also removed a lot, if not every bit, of the hard water deposits on the stainless steel bits. I am very impressed. This took a lot less elbow grease than my usual method of cleaning the tub which is to do an initial scrub with cleanser and then to go over it again with white vinegar and a Mr. Clean magic eraser. That was the best method I had found for fiber glass tubs before trying this washing soda. I am sold on washing soda now if only for the tub and for laundry.

I sprayed the kitchen sink with Mr. Clean and let it sit for about ten minutes to disinfect, and then I applied washing soda. I think I might let it sit overnight. Everything smelt fine with the Mr. Clean, but once I applied the washing soda, it must have immediately started to break down the hard water deposits and whatever (probably food) is hardened in them. The smell is not too good. It is already 10:40 p.m., and I do not want to worry with it any more tonight. Think I will have a nice warm bath and tackle it in the morning. It will be interesting to see how much of the gunk the washing soda is able to remove.

Is washing soda the name of a product, or something you put together?

Washing soda is a product derived from baking soda. You use it for cleaning and to boost your laundry detergent. Never use it for food. It is toxic if ingested. Also, never apply it directly to clothing except possibly white clothing and white linens. I accidentally got some of it on my blouse yesterday, and it was taking the colour out of my blouse as I tried to wipe it off. I quickly realised my mistake and threw the blouse in the washing machine with more coloured clothes and washed in cold water. My colour clothes generally do not need an extra boost anyway.

You can actually make it at home from baking soda if you are so inclined. It is supposed to be infinitely less expensive to make at home from baking soda, but I would not be inclined to do it. One box lasts me a fair amount of time, and I do not find the price to be especially exorbitant.

It did a great job in the loo. I am now convinced I no longer need some of my other cleaning products, e.g. toilet bowl cleaner. Sadly, it did not help the kitchen sink. It dried out last night, and I just let it sit overnight. I washed it out this morning, and whilst the basins look decent, the top around the edges and the faucet, etc., still look pretty awful, but to be fair, I was skeptical it would help those areas because they are so bad. This is years worth of abuse I am dealing with here.

Another product you can used to great effect is washing vinegar. Also, never ingest it! It is only for cleaning. You can add plain, ordinary white vinegar to your laundry rinse water as a great substitute for fabric softener. I use half a cup of ordinary white vinegar (the kind you can use in food) to a load of laundry. It cuts the soap, and it acts like a softener. It does not impart any fragrance to your laundry, though. If fragrance is important to you, you can use a dryer sheet in the dryer, or forego the vinegar and use softener instead.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029XNTEU/

Thank you so much for the info! Hard water stains are annoying & I agree, CLR does nothing. Not sure how they stay in business.

I use white vinegar and baking soda for all my cleaning except floors. I use washing soda for laundry, and purchase it from bulk foods.com. I have a list of products that I have to buy only once a year from bulk foods.com, a dependable online store.

Tiffany, I could not agree more about CLR. It has been on the market for what seems like eons, and every so often over the years I told myself, it must work if they can keep selling it, and out of desperation, I would give it another go only to reach the same worthless result. I will never buy it again, though. I am sticking with washing soda, cleaning vinegar, brushes, and whatever else I can find out about that would work around my home.

Marty, I wish I had more room to store things around here. This house is a tad over 900 sq ft, but it has no coat closet, no utility closet, no food pantry, and only two small sliding door closets in the bedroom (neither one of which has shelves, and one even tinier closet in the study. I have arranged some of my furniture, which pieces lend themselves to it, in a catty corner fashion just to try to create some storage space. If I had more room, I would buy in bulk more. I generally buy the biggest box of Gain detergent that is made for example, but now, due to so little storage space, I will only buy one relatively small box at a time.

I have my Christmas decorations outside in a little shed, but the roof leaks, and I can only imagine how hot it must get in there. I am trying to make more space now to bring in my decorations. I fear they will be ruined. Almost my entire library of books was ruined. I had them all in boxes beneath the carport in the backyard, and they were fine. Then, a business that abuts my backyard had problems with their sprinkler system and flooded my yard 3X ! 95% or more of my things were destroyed. I lost a lot of expensive books. I estimate 400 books lost at minimum.

Elysianne:

My little house is under 900 sq ft, and has 2 bedrooms and 1-1/2 baths in that space, plus a bulky wooden spiral staircase in the living room! May be a little larger now, since I remodeled 2 attic bedrooms into one large master suite with 2 huge walk-in closets. One bedroom I use as an office/guestroom, and I have stacked up large wicker chests for all kinds of storage. I get so sad when I look at my one remaining bookshelf----I bit the bullet and gave away a lifetime's worth of books. I try not to dwell on all the antiques and mementos that I no longer have. My house is almost 100 years old, and they just did not build closets and utility rooms back then!

I'm redecorating, making myself let go of bulky antiques in favor of a more "cottagey" look that still incorporates my oriental rugs, art, and travel mementos. I never thought "downsize" would be part of my vocabulary.

Contrary to public opinion, it's much harder to live in a small space, isn't it?

Cream of tartar-yes cream of tartar! cleans like nobody's business especially the sink. I usually use baking soda for my stainless steel sink AND for any baked on or burnt on food in pots and pans. Just make a slurry of baking soda and a little water and spread it on / in the pot/pan baking tray. Let it sit over nite if it's really bad and proceed to scrub with a steel wool or brush. Should come off. Sometimes I can rinse off the offending crust. Mr.Clean erasers work great on walls and floors-use with Murphy's wood soap in a spray bottle. Takes care of wood work as well. Those blasted finger prints.

Marty, I think it is difficult for someone with more than half a lifetime behind her to live in a small place. It does necessitate "downsizing." This house was built in 1926, so it is nearly 100 years old now. I have traded a lot of storage space for very mature trees and shrubs, and relative, and I do mean "relative" privacy and peace whilst still being reasonably close to the cultural district, downtown, the medical centre, and the nicest park in the city plus plenty of shopping. I ended up spending an unexpected roughly $1,000 to move in here. At first, I thought that was the extent of everything unexpected. I was wrong.

On the street behind me there is a facility. Without going into a massive amount of detail, this facility draws in a huge number of people one day per week, and several times a year it draws in 4X that number. As you can imagine, parking is a big problem, but many of their members/visitors have solved that problem for themselves by driving up onto private property. Yes, they pull off the street onto private property which totally destroys my privacy and peace.

I have been speaking with a couple of people at the facility for months--none of whom will give their complete name, and none of whom seem to hold a truly official managerial position, and none of whom will give me any additional information. They promised me in April that this little bit of road (and that is all it is is a little bit of road not fully developed into a real street and with only three residences on it) would be off limits to their members/visitors. They promised to put up a sign on my corner, and they promised to station someone at the corner on their massively attended functions a few times per year. They had one of those functions last Sunday. Suffice to say, they have reneged on every promise, and this is only one problem I have had with them. For example, it was they who flooded my yard 3X and ruined thousands of dollars worth of chattels. I am now faced with filing a nuisance suit.

I cannot begin to explain how sick and tired I am of other people who think that they should do whatever they want to do with no regard for anyone else. Another example is their groundsmen. They mowed and edged all around the property last Wednesday, and instead of picking up a ton of garbage in and around their grounds, they blew all of it down to our property. I was speechless. I just could not wrap my head around how anyone thought that "cleaning up" their grounds meant blowing all of their garbage down the street to the next property.

These are but a couple of examples of what I am dealing with here. I can live with lack of closet space. I have accepted the enormous extra expense I incurred moving in, and I even have accepted the unbelivable amount of filth I have had to clean up and am still cleaning up. What I cannot cope with is the invasion which destroys my privacy and peace. This has been a huge source of the constant anxiety and depression I have been coping with here for the last seven months. The terrible thought occurs that I might be forced to move yet again, and I simply cannot cope with having to do that again. I moved here with the thought that I would be here for the next 15 years at least.

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent, but talking about space, cleaning, etc., sort of naturally led me into the other side of life here. I keep praying to God to help me find a way through this so I do not have to move again. For all of its downsides, I really like this little house.

Brenda, I never would have dreamt that cream of tartar could be used for cleaning!

Here is a tip for anyone who has to clean fiber glass tubs and the like. Put cleaning vinegar in a spray bottle, and wet a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Spray around the tub as you go and scrub with the eraser. It does a great job, and that is how I have cleaned fiber glass for many years now, but I think the washing soda is going to take the place of the vinegar and eraser. It just seem to do as good of a job if not better with far less elbow grease, and I wager it will end up costing me less over time.

Do you know ahead of time when these people are going to park? If so, you could put up a sign, private property, no parking. Or just happen to be hanging out in the yard and ask them to please park elsewhere, your lot is no longer used for event parking. Or put some posts, potted plants, any objects, so it's not possible to park there.

Elysianne,

Having to deal with problems caused by other people, out of your control, must be so frustrating. I hope you never have to move again. Some kind of roots are important.

I really have no major complaints about my home. I bought this house for a song 24 years ago and upgraded and refreshed everything before moving in. But walking sideways through the small rooms makes me grumpy!

I think you replied to me on the "Ghost" forum about this being a haunted house. When people suggest that I should move, you can understand that that is just not a viable option for many reasons. For several years the ghost problem kept me from settling in, as the primary spirit was trying to drive me out. (He is gone now.) I think I've learned to take control now, and my house feels peaceful.

I live on an attractive, quiet, dead-end street with a huge lot and friendly neighbors. There was nothing planted here, not even a tree, when I moved in, so I was able to make the yard completely mine.

A sweet little house, big garden, trees, no house payment: Marty, stop complaining!!

Tiffany, I am doing just these things. I had a Private Property No Trespassing sign delivered from Walmart today. I also sit outside on the regular weekly day and tell them this is private property. Now, I find myself sitting out in the heat and humidity (in the Winter I will be sitting out in the freezing cold) on their other event days as well.

The problem is this is just a little narrow strip of road. The entire property area here is owned by one person---my landlord, but I do not want to drag him into any of this and potentially cause a landlord problem. There is an empty lot on either side of me, and the other side of the "street" is just woody land where we park in the grass along the edge. It is just the three of us here--myself and two other neighbours. It is like a little hideaway from the rest of a not so clean, not so cultured, not so civilised neighbourhood, but they insist on invading us here. I am serious about filing a nuisance suit. I have incurred damages to my property, and I can show there is no real street parking here, and they are pulling up off the road to park on the land which is privately owned. They pull up into the edge of my front yard. They pull into my drive and my neighbour's drive to turn around. My study window is not that far from the strip of "street," so they are almost in the room with me if they are out there. The stress has wreaked havoc with my GI problems, my blood pressure, my sleep, and just my peace of mind each day.

Marty, I was thinking about your ghost as I typed my previous post. I am glad he seems to be gone. That is one thing I would NOT hang around to fight, at least not in a rental property. I am not even sure I would hang around to fight it in a property I owned. You little house sounds lovely, though, and you own it! I wish I owned a little place of my own, but I will never be able to do that again. I am just trying to make the best of what is available to me these last few years of my life. I know if I live long enough, I may be forced to do into assisted living, and that is the LAST thing I want to do, but if I have to do it, I would at least like these last few years before that time to be peaceful, happy, productive ones.

A year ago I discovered pumice stone for cleaning. I had never seen or heard of it before a cleaning person used it in my kitchen. Now I make quick work of crusty pots and pans. If only I had known about pumice when I was cleaning up after 4 children! We have very soft, lovely water here, so hopefully I'll never have a toilet that needs pumice to get it clean! Ick

Elysianne said: I am just trying to make the best of what is available to me these last few years of my life. I know if I live long enough, I may be forced to do into assisted living, and that is the LAST thing I want to do, but if I have to do it, I would at least like these last few years before that time to be peaceful, happy, productive ones.

Your post touched me. I can "feel" it still.

My last residence before this one, the one in which I lived for 9.5 years and expected to remain in for the next 20 years, was completely remodelled before I leased it. They put in a new loo, too. I think it was one of those $100 loos from Home Depot. Anyway, the blasted thing turned out to stain like crazy. Someone told me to try a pumice stone on it, which I did. I caution everyone---do not do this! It damaged the porcelain. Maybe a higher quality loo could withstand a pumice stone, but that one could not, and I think anyone would be better off either replacing a loo that is far gone, or use a good bowl cleaner. I began using Kaboom! which worked very, very well, and then they stopped making it. The upshot was I had to clean the loo every day for it look decent. I rarely ever had any sort of company, though, so I put it off to once per week. It irked me, though.

Thank you, Marty. I know a lot of folks here empathise and sympathise with a senior like myself who is going through these sorts of problems.

I swear, I sometimes think that if I had the fantastic skill and will power of Richard Prenneke, I would do exactly what he did back in the 1960s!

I hope the sign is effective. I might augment it with a couple of stakes and some string, to make it clear where the "no parking" is. I might put my trash dumpster in the middle of the driveway near the street that day. Does your lease say anything about this parking situation?