Who Wants Gummy Shag? NOBODY!

EWWWWWW GROSS! This has been an upsetting eye sore on our living room area rug for the past month. or. sooo. Oops! One of the kids dropped a fat wad of gum that molded to the edge of the rug and nobody would fess up to it! Just great.

I didn't mean to procrastinate but with the holidays and December "busy-ness", I let it go and got to it when I had the time to research it. I have some very good news to share!

Nasty gum stuck on/in the carpet. GROSS! 

Boiling HOT H2O did the trick! I boiled water in my teapot and placed an old towel under the rug to catch the water. I simply poured the water over the wad and gently picked the gum off with a metal pick found in a drawer. I had to pour water on the gum a couple of times to keep loosening and softening it but it worked like a charm. Took all of about five minutes and it came totally clean. The gum is made of latex and got gummy and a little stringy but lifted completely off. No color stain or residue left on the carpet. Just use caution so you don't pluck the carpet fibers out. Also use caution any time working with boiled water. No burning allowed!

What tricks do you use for gum removal?

No more gummy shag!

Clean Your Shower With V05

Yay, I'm finally able to hop back on here for a few. How has everybody been doing? Things have seriously been a little nutsy around here. I had a nasty vomiting experience last weekend which took everything out of me for part of the week(ugghh!) but I think I am ALL GOOD for the moment(fingers crossed).

I'm excited to share something my husband accidentally found due to his complete clutsiness. I can't talk because I have clutsy tendencies too but from his last one we actually learned something! Don't worry, he knows I'm talking about him here. Chuckles!

So he took a shower one night after a bike ride and accidentally knocked over an entire bottle of my shampoo. I didn't find it until the next morning and check out BELOW how it cleaned a giant spot in our shower. Please be gentile and don't judge our cleaning abilities on the filth of our shower. Yes, it gets dirty. I am working on it to clean it every. single. week. now!

I've mustered up the courage to show you our nasty builder grade shower that I didn't have nice and clean and in tip top condition. Bleh! It really smacks you in the face when you see it in a picture. GROSS!

Let me direct you to the center of the picture where the V05 spilled and poured down the drain! See how clean it came!

Below is a picture of the shower cleaned with v05 shampoo! I used a sponge and a little elbow grease!

 So v05 is an uber cheap way to clean your shower. Yes, I use cheap shampoo. So sue me!

Needless to say my hub's clutsiness came in handy for once! Gotta love him! HAHA Happy Friday to you!

Cheap Way To Polish Wood Furniture

Hello Monday! Hope you had a great weekend! We had a nice one with a Birthday party at our house yesterday, which was very nice and relaxing.

 

In cleaning the house, I have pretty much ditched most store bought household cleaners to save money and to be more green. I won't tell you all the things I do(I have started some beauty/heath regimens that even I am surprised at) but this one is an affordable and good solution to polishing wooden furniture. Just be sure you test a small spot on the surface of the wood before completely wiping down with the oil and vinegar solution.

 

USE 3 parts Olive Oil + 1 part Vinegar and shake it up each time you use. Apply with a microfiber cloth!

 

 

I don't use it on all our furniture because we have several pieces we were told to simply use a damp cloth when cleaning and getting fingerprints off. I do use it on all my solid wooden furniture though that was the kind we had to put together. It works beautifully! See for yourself! Is this something you think you would try?

No Need For Lots of Cleaning Products!

Happy Friday! How are you? I'm good. Got an awesome workout at the gym this morning, went grocery shopping, then came home, cooked breakfast and packed a lunch for my husband. It has been productive and it's still early!

Okay back with more cleaning advice. I will get off my cleaning soapbox and move onto some decorating soon but I have been on a cleaning spree this week.

My Car is OLD. It's 14 years old but I love my car. It doesn't normally look like it's loved in its state of cleanliness, more like filth, but we have two little boys who get everything they touch kind of very grimy!



Anyhow I cleaned my car from top to bottom the other night and it took several hours of cleaning. I wish I had taken BEFORE pictures but I didn't really think about it beforehand. Just imagine a filthy car with black grime inside, on all door handles, consoles, even the seat belts... Icky and sticky and just plain gross. I have been taking a lady from church on errands here and there and I was getting embarrassed for her to sit and see the grime! Bleh!

I am pleased to say after lots of elbow grease it is shiny and sparkly clean now. Seriously it makes me so happy. Now, I am one who has a book on using essential oils and natural products to clean but I am out of most of my essential oils and such right now. I didn't want to spend money to clean my car so I used a little mixture of hot water and a little bit of ammonia(already under the sink). I didn't measure just used more parts of hot water to the bottle. I tell you it cleaned my car so well. I swear by using a HOT water mixture when cleaning. It simply takes off what ever muck I'm cleaning!

So I used several microfiber clothes in the process. For some of the nasty dark stains on my carpet, including a red sticky lollipop stain, I boiled a pot of water and dipped a clean cloth in the water. I did the same with the headliner, using light pressure. Use gloves and be very careful NOT to scald yourself. My kids were not anywhere near me when I was doing this. I lightly scrubbed and blotted the stains away. They went away too. For some of the harder stains I sprayed on the ammonia water solution and let sit and then used the boiling hot water to wipe away the dirt. It doesn't take a lot of pressure when you are using boiling hot water either!

Check out these seat belts! YESSSS! Even those came clean. They have NEVER been cleaned before and I used the same method. I sprayed them down on both sides with the ammonia solution (the smell wasn't bad b/c it was so heavily diluted) and then using the boiling hot water I wiped the grime away. Looks awesome. At least one day when it comes time to sell, I know how to detail it!

 

Funny, my husband has been telling me to take my car and have it detailed but I have been trying to convince him I could get it cleaner than any detailer would. I think it's pretty darn clean! A clean car makes me so happy!

Super Clean Oven Racks!

If you saw this you know how NASTY my oven was and that it actually came clean pretty easily! I told you I'd let you know how my oven racks turned out after sitting overnight in ammonia. I have to say, it worked great!

Put your oven racks in a bag (I double wrapped mine) with 1/2 cup of ammonia. Let it sit overnight. I would advise laying the bag down flat so the racks can soak up the ammonia.

Below is a before picture.

Here is the flip side of this one rack but every bit of food and grime came right off. Wearing gloves, I sprayed them down with a water hose and scrubbed with a coarse sponge. It worked very well! I highly recommend this method of cleaning your oven racks!

So yesterday was a "fort" kind of day for the kids and me, full of playing card games, making loom bracelets and playing Monopoly. Today we are getting out of the house. What are you doing today? Happy Hump Day!

The Internet Saved My Oven With AWESOME CLeaning Tips!

 

Last night I found a simple way to clean your oven using ammonia and a boiling pot of water. I have

tried numerous other ways to clean my oven but wanted to try something else. This set of instructions read CLEANING YOUR OVEN - The easiest way EVER! 

 

Is it too good to be true? I gave it a shot last night following all the instructions carefully. You use a boiling pot of water and ammonia... So far, very good! I was so excited once I got to wiping it out this morning that I wanted to share my results. I am not finished yet but will be very soon. I am following the instructions of pulling the grates out and putting them in a garbage bag with ammonia overnight too so I will let you know how that trick goes too. Yay for Internet help!

 

Find the instructions here! CLEANING YOUR OVEN - The easiest way EVER!

 

 

 

 

  

Use Olive Oil Spray To Clean Stainless Steel!

 

Good Morning on this lovely Tuesday! Two loads of laundry done, child at school and one errand completed already! It's a good day. :)

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and took time to reflect on those who served in the military. Our weekend was great! Time to ourselves, time with friends and family. Pool time. Cook out! It was so nice!

Just thinking about how filthy our kitchen appliances get and are and I wanted to share a super cheap way to clean them. I was buying super expensive cleaners for the stainless steel appliances and was looking for something a little cheaper. I found a tip to use olive oil so I tried it but found that the olive oil in a spray can works best for me. It's only a couple of dollars as compared to the $10.00 or more actual cleaners.

 

 Hand prints! Uggghhh!

I spray it on a microfiber cloth to apply it on the surface. I use moderate pressure when applying.

My pictures are very shiny and not the most clear but it comes out nice and shiny.

There is my tip for the day. Maybe you will give it a whirl!

Cleaning Schedule For The Week

Cleaning For The Week

Monday: laundry, mirrors, bathroom sinks, toilets, tubs, shower & empty trash cans

                                                                      

Tuesday: dust all furniture

 

Wednesday: baseboards

 

Thursday: vacuum & mop

 

Friday: do once over before weekend

 

Cleaning Car Mats the LAZY (But Effective) Way! YAY!

WOW it was a whirlwind of a week. I have got to tap the brakes and try and slow myself down. SERIOUSLY.

This was a first for me and somewhat alarming but Thursday I rushed to the doctor from work mid-afternoon after experiencing sharp pains in my chest. My neck was bothering me, I was achy all over... Quite scary when you google the symptoms! Come to find out I must have injured myself trimming our bushes Monday night and strained the joints in my chest.  Hurts like a mug if you have never had this happen and it takes a couple of days for the pain to set in after the injury. The name for it is Costochondritis. I've always tried to be a tomboy with yard projects but I guess I overdid it trying to hack the bushes like the HULK with the trimming shears. ; ) How do I always do such stupid things? It never fails, I feel like the Queen of STUPID yet again. So now I am on anti-inflammatory meds for 2 weeks. Thankfully it was not my heart just a minor, self-inflicted injury!

On to the car mats! I am excited about this one. Tonight I washed my car for the first time in months and man did it need it. It was horrifying how many raisins and cheerios and smashed up food littered the floor boards. Before kids I washed my car every other weekend and took so much pride in it. Nowadays I don't have time to wash the car because I'm always running but tonight it sparkles and shines. The car is 12 years old and I really enjoy it and especially after it gets a bath like this. No "new car" fever here!

The interior is not the best color for dirt and grime and spills. It is tan and shows everything! While I was vacuuming I told my husband I wanted new floor mats for Christmas, I just couldn't look at them anymore. Then I jokingly said I wondered if I could just throw them in the washing machine. So a light bulb came on and Google it was!!!!! Cleaning car floor mats just got easier! I added a few steps to this process but it worked like a charm!

I only washed two at a time and turned mats carpet-side-in to avoid damaging the backing. Each mat was placed on opposite sides of each other. I washed on "hand wash" cycle using warm water.

It's jumping the gun but below is a picture of how clean the mats got!

Below is a before shot. GROSS!

I pre-soaked using a generous dose of OxiClean powder and warm water and scrubbed.

I covered the mats with the OxiClean and warm water mixture and let soak for about 15 mins before throwing them in the washer.

I used liquid detergent and OxiClean in the actual washer too. The mats came out super clean. I sat them out to air dry.

My car is going to feel like new! Can't wait to get them back in place! Do you have carpet or rubber mats and how do you clean yours?