Shower Power

I was complaining to Kirk that none of the cleaners seem to work like the old Shower Power did. He searched on the Internet and found out that you can still buy some direct from the family of the man who developed it (here). I ordered a few bottles, even though it is more expensive that way than when you could get it at Wal-Mart. Now I'll see if it really cleans things, or if I was just having fond, but incorrect, memories of it.

In praise of peanut butter

Let us all sing songs in praise of peanut butter. Besides being the almost perfect food (unless you are allergic to peanuts, of course), peanut butter is a very good cleaner for some sticky items. Actually it is probably the peanut oil that is the cleaner, but we are more likely to have jars of peanut butter than peanut oil sitting around the house. So let's just talk about the cleaning properties of peanut butter. If you have a glass object with a sticky mess left on it from a sales sticker or a label, you can rub peanut butter on it and it will remove the sticky mess. Then you just wash the item in hot, soapy water, or put it in the dishwasher. Peanut butter will remove tar and other nasty sticky things from hands and other items. When we went camping recently, one child said, "What's this, Mommy?" and showed me hands and arms covered with pine gum or pine sap. I washed him with soap and water, but he was still sticky. "Use peanut butter," said Daddy. I didn't have any peanut butter, but I did have a leftover peanut butter sandwich. I opened the sandwich, rubbed it all over the little boy's arms and hands, washed him all off, and the pine gum was gone. What is even better, is that the peanut butter used in cleaning can be old, generic, rancid, non-organic, and cheap. We keep a jar of this stuff under the kitchen sink just to be used for cleaning.

Slow cooker tip

(Note: I'm sure everyone knows this, but I must have missed the class/email/blog post/etc. where it was published.)

Before you put any of the ingredients into your slow cooker (crock pot), lightly spray the inside with a cooking spray, such as Pam. Then, when you are done with cooking and have removed the leftovers, the slow cooker will come clean with minimal effort.

I have cooked food in it all day, served the meal, let the dirty dish sit on the counter for at least three hours without any rinsing or soaking, and then washed it completely clean with some hot, soapy water and a dishcloth and plastic scrubber. Before I discovered this, I dreaded having to scrub and soak and scrub the slow cooker. I often would let it sit all night filled with soapy water with the hope that it would somehow magically come clean the next day: it wouldn't and I was back to more scrubbing.

Smelly dishes from the dishwasher--no more

Two years or so ago we still had our ancient dishwasher. It appeared to clean the dishes, but when we took them out of the cupboards afterward, the glass dishes would smell like rotten fish or bad eggs or stale milk. So we would wash them by hand. Finally the dishwasher broke and after six months we got a new one. This one also cleaned the dishes, but after a while the dishes started to smell. I did research but found no help, even on the helpful Internet. I had several repair guys come out since the washer was under warranty. Nothing seemed to work and their suggestions didn't solve the problem ("clean the dishwasher" "clean the filter"). Finally the plumber replaced the pipes under the sink--after I put my finger through one of them and the duck tape over that hole started to leak. The smell vanished. Aha! The smell in dishwashers seems to come from disposals and plumbing. When the smell started to come back (probably from the old disposal), I began to clean my disposal at least once a month with the Wal-Mart disposal cleaner. No more smells. Since Wal-Mart didn't have cleaner the last time I went, I started dumping 1/4 cup of Comet down the drain and running the disposal with some water going. I would also pour in a bit of dishwashing liquid to make sure I got lots of suds. The smells haven't come back so far. I think when I get a new disposal, that will also help. Have you discovered how to clean something that seems impossible to clean?

Cleaning

I was thinking of five things I really appreciate when I am cleaning my house:

1. Toilet cleaner and brush
2. Windex and paper towels
3. Vacuum
4. Lysol disinfecting wipes
5. Rubber gloves