Household Magic: When Life Hands You Lemons...

 ...Get Cleaning!

Saturday is my cleaning day. I will pick up and tidy during the week but for the most part I like to spend my time with Allison when the work day is done and I'm tired by the time she goes to bed. So, I do the deep cleaning stuff on Saturday which leaves Sunday as a rest day before the work week starts again.

One of my favorite cleaning tools is a lemon or lemon juice. Lemons were used to clean for hundreds of years before commercial products came along with their "fresh lemon scent". There are so many ways you can use a lemon to clean your house without using toxic ingredients.

Juicing a Lemon without a Juicer

• Make sure the lemon is room temperature before you start. You can do this by simply taking it out of the refrigerator until it warms up or you can stick it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
• Use the palm of your hand to roll the lemon on your counter top - this will help you get more juice
• Use a bowl or tupperware to collect the juice you can use a strainer over the bowl to collect the seeds
• Cut the lemon in half and squeeze
• Use the back of a spoon to press inside the lemon and get more juice
• Squeeze the other half of the lemon or wrap it up and stick it in the fridge to use another time

Uses for Lemons
There are a variety of ways that you can use lemons for cleaning. Here is a list of how I use it to freshen and clean my house.

• Air Freshener (home made Febreeze!)
• Add equal parts lemon juice and water to a spray bottle. Set the nozzle to "mist" and spray in the air of your home. The acid in the lemon juice will kill bacteria in the air and the lemon scent will leave your home smelling fresh.
• General Cleaner
• Use your spray bottle with equal parts water and lemon juice to clean kitchen and bathroom counters and sinks. It can also be used on walls (be sure to do a spot test first) and mirrors.
• Degreaser
• Straight lemon juice can work wonders on the grease on your stove or wherever it may be
• Bleach Alternative
• Add a half cup of lemon juice to your laundry during the rinse cycle for light bleaching purposes.
• For tough stains, add lemon juice directly to the stain and lay it in the sun to dry then wash as normal
• Lime Scale Remover
• Use a slice of lemon directly on your faucets or shower head to remove lime scale build up.
• You can also use it mixed with water to clean up lime scale buildup on your shower walls and shower curtain.
• Microwave
• Heat lemon slices and a bowl of water in the microwave for about 30 seconds then wipe the microwave down. Stains should come off easier and the lemon will help remove any odor. For tough stains, apply lemon juice directly to the problem area and then microwave as described above.
• Furniture Polish
• Mix one part lemon juice with two parts cooking oil to polish furniture. Spot test first.
• Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• For a tough toilet job mix 1/2 cup borax with a cup of lemon juice.

There are many more uses for lemons but the ones listed above are what I use the most. It takes a little extra time but it's very worth it in my opinion!

Do you use lemons for reasons other than lemonaid?e I'd love to hear more suggestions!

Stick Figure Saturday: Household *Magic*

I recently started following the blog called Alabaster Cow, every week she does something called Stick Figure Saturday in which she creates a lovely work of art using stick figures. It looked like fun to me so I thought I'd try my hand at doing my own Stick Figure Saturday.

I made myself use Microsoft Paint to create my stick figure art. The graphic designer in me was screaming "NO! This could be so much smoother and prettier in Illustrator!" But the kid in me was screaming "Wee! This is fun!" Oh, who am I kidding? The kid in me is more of a perfectionist than the adult version of me. Nonetheless, I had fun.

Here is my beautiful artwork entitled "Household *Magic*"
This illustration depicts me clearing our shower drain using baking soda and vinegar

When I was a kid my mom helped me and my brother make a volcano out of paper mache. After the paint dried we gathered around to watch the surprise that my mom said was waiting for us. First, she took some baking soda and dumped it into the hollow at the top of the volcano. Then, she took a cup of vinegar mixed with red food coloring and poured it on top of the baking soda. Suddenly our volcano was erupting with red, frothy "lava". It was Magic!

Little did I know that my mom's bit of magic would help me 20 years later when I found myself faced with a clogged shower drain!

We have a stand alone shower in the basement. This shower drains into a pipe which drains into a hole in the basement floor. It's pretty gross but it's all we've got and we don't pay a lot of rent so I can't complain (much).

As you can see in the picture, I have copious amounts of long, curly, blondish brown hair. I shed. A lot. The shedding has somehow gotten worse since I had my daughter. When I take a shower I try my best to "catch" the loose hair and then I plaster it to the shower wall until I'm done so that it doesn't go down the drain. I know, it's totally gross but what's a girl to do? For the record, I always (almost) remember to take the hair off the shower wall and throw it away.

Anyway, apparently I can't catch all of the shedding hair and large amounts of it end up in the drain anyway. A few days ago the drain in the floor completely backed up while Paul was showering and half of our basement flooded. Luckily, I remembered a cool trick to fix backed up drains that I'd read about on a blog.

You take 3/4 of a cup of dry baking soda and dump it into the drain. Then take 1/2 cup of vinegar and pour it on top of the baking soda. Instant drain volcano! It's important to remember to take a rag and plug the drain after you dump the vinegar because you want the "volcano" to go down into the pipes and push the clog out. I was so fascinated by the bubbles that I forgot this step the first time and I had to do it all over again.

After you plug the drain, wait about 30 minutes and then pour hot water down it. Your drain should be unclogged! Like I said, I had to do it twice because I forgot a step. But, our drain worked perfectly after the second "volcano". My fiance thought I was a miracle worker! Yay!

I hope you enjoyed my version of Stick Figure Saturday! If you want to see the original, visit Alabaster Cow!