Money saving tips: How to cut the cost of your cleaning routine with this simple hack – Express

Ever heard about the Cokedown the toilet trick? Pour a bottle of Coke down the toilet and dont flush, leave overnight. This works for all forms of limescale build-up. Unscrew allthe easily detachable bits from your taps andshowerheads and soak themovernight, (making sure you dont unscrew something essential that gives you areason to call the plumber). For the other parts use cotton wool pads soaked inlemon juice and wrap firmly around theremaining parts. Keep basting the padswith lemon juice ensuring that the pads are fully in contact with the part.

If you are trying to save money and the planetthen white vinegar works very well. Fill your kettle 3/4 full with equal partswater and white vinegar, boil, remove kettle from the port source, leave for15-20 minutes, rinse several timesand voila! a sparkly new looking kettle.

White vinegar is great for cleaning due to its acidity property that can help target soap scum and tough stains. It can be picked up for really cheap in most supermarkets.

Fridge clean

Fridges should be spot cleaned regularly with a deep clean being added into a cleaning routine at least once a month.

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Antionette continued: Asolution of bicarbonate of soda or vinegar is ideal. Bicarbonate of soda isalso great for neutralising odours if a spill has gone unnoticed and resultedin a nasty niff! Cotton buds are great for cleaning fiddly corners. Drythoroughlywith a clean tea towel.

Wash the shelves, drawers and crisper in hot soapywater. Remember to remove the plastic guard strips from each of the shelves.These often need a good soak and a scrubbing brush to get to the bottom of thenarrow crevices. Dontbe tempted to pop them in the dishwasher either its too hot. I also find that it leaves watermarks on the plasticcomponents. Dry thoroughly before putting them back in the fridge.

Letyour fridge get back to the correct temperature before re-filling it (a fridgethermometer is useful for this).

Bicarbonate of soda can also help to remove dirt and grime that may have built up in the fridge.

Oven cleaning

The cleaning expert explained: To eradicate the need for chemicals you must tostart as you mean to go on: cleaning your oven on a monthly or bi-monthlybasis. Although there are many eco-alternatives on the market, none of them cancut through hard burnt ongrease to the same extent as sodium alkyl ethoxysulphate and sodium hydroxide.

There are a few brands who offer a mineral basedpaste that you can spread on and wipe off, normally made of a vegetable soapand mineral abrasive, heres one fromAstonish.

Or you can make your own paste with bicarbonateofsoda and water apply it to all the internal oven surfaces and bake it on.

If you are planning on doing the scrubbing regularly, you might want to soften the grime first by putting a bowl of water in the oven and setting it to 100 for 30 mins to steam, this also works well in microwave ovens on a short four or five minute setting. Add lemon juice to create a pleasant odour too.

The acid in the lemon is also antibacterial and antiseptic so it is known to be a great natural cheap cleaner.

It also smells great which can disguise the smell of strong white vinegar.

Fresh lemons can also be picked up quite cheaply and last for a long time.

Carpet cleaning

Carpets are usually placed in high traffic areas meaning they come into contact with a lot of feet or shoes each day, meaning they are one of the most important items to be cleaned in a home.

Antionette added: Bicarbonateof soda is a great stand-by for dealing with spills or pet accidents. Itquickly neutralises nasty odours. Once you have removed the spillage from thecarpet, sprinkle the dry powder over the affected area. Leave for anhour ortwo, then vacuum.

Window cleaning

Smears and streaks are extremely hard to remove from windows but the cleaning expert explains how you can make your own spray with two simple products.

She said: If you prefer to use a spray, try mixing 2tablespoons of white vinegar with water and using this to refill an empty spraybottle. Its chemical free, natural and anti-bacterial. Dont use this onpainted frames or surfaces though as it canstain.

Professional window cleaners often use asqueegee to remove most of the water from the glass before drying the window.However, take care you will need a towel handy to mop up the water or you canend up with puddles on thefloor.

We recommendmicrofibrecloths, as they are great for drying glasswithout leaving streaks. If you dont have enough microfibre cloths orwould prefer to be fibre free use the old-fashioned method and dry your windowswithcrumpled newspaper from my childhood chores I can tell you it works atreat!

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Money saving tips: How to cut the cost of your cleaning routine with this simple hack - Express