Clean Your Air Conditioner Condenser Unit - Step by Step Overview: What you can do and when to hire a pro Chances are that if you’ve neglected a spring checkup, your air conditioner isn’t cooling nearly as well as it could. A year’s worth of dirt and debris clogging the cooling fins, a low coolant level, a dirty blower fan filter and a number of other simple problems can significantly reduce the efficiency of your air conditioner and wear it out faster. You can’t do everything; only a pro can check the coolant level. In this article, we’ll show you how to clean the outdoor unit (called the condenser) and the accessible parts of the indoor unit (called the evaporator). You may have a different type of central air conditioner than we show here—a heat pump system, for example, or a unit mounted horizontally in the attic. Tip: Call for service before the first heat wave, when the pros become swamped with repair calls! Typical central air conditioner system Figure A: Parts of a central air conditioner Step 1: Clean the condenser 1 of 5 2 of 5 3 of 5 1.
The Top 3 Money-Saving Cleaning Must-Haves! There are a million different cleaning products on the market all vying for a spot in your supply closet, not to mention a chunk of your budget. But before you bring home the next new wonder spray, consider these three money-saving cleaning must-haves: they're widely available, kid and pet friendly, and cheap, cheap, cheap! The Big Three: White Vinegar This product literally has 1001 uses if not more (there's an entire website dedicated to its awesomeness). Here are the top five ways to use this cost-saving cleaner in your home. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Check out more fantastic ways to use vinegar on VinegarTips.com. Baking Soda Baking soda is widely known for its deodorizing powers, but it has many other uses that will help you cut cleaning supply costs while maintaining a fresh-smelling home! 1. 2. / 3. 4. 5. Check out more great uses for baking soda on Yahoo and Real Simple. Lemons We shared 31 things to do with lemons earlier this week, but their cleaning abilities go beyond that. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Make Your TV's Picture Look Better 100% in 5 Minutes What if we could tell you how to calibrate your TV according to the optimal settings recommended by a group of professional calibration technicians, specific to your HDTV, without spending a single penny? Yes, even without a calibration disc, let alone without the (expensive) professional help of a calibration professional. All you'll need is a website, your television model number, your remote control, and about 5 minutes to change your the quality of your TV set for the better... If you've ever gone into the options menu for your TV using a remote to tweak the brightness/contrast, you can certainly use Tweak My TV and optimize you TV's image using pre-formulated/tested recommended settings. All you have to do is plug-in those very same setting numbers, and you'll likely have a much nicer, more realistic image than you started off with out of the box (and most people plug in and keep the default settings the same as the very day they unboxed their display).
Green Cleaning Recipes - Natural Cleaner Recipes for Spring Cleaning Glass Cleaner • 2 cups water • 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar • 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol (70 percent concentration)• 1 to 2 drops of orange essential oil, which gives the solution a lovely smell (optional) Great for: Windows and mirrors How to use: Combine ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Spray some solution on a paper towel or soft cloth first, then on the glass. To get smudge-free glass, rub vertically on one side and horizontally on the other. Heavy-Duty Scrub • Half a lemon • 1/2 cup borax (a laundry booster; find it in the detergent aisle) Great for: Rust stains on porcelain or enamel sinks and tubs How to use: Dip lemon into borax and scrub surface; rinse. Grease Cleaner • 1/2 cup sudsy ammonia mixed with enough water to fill a one-gallon container. Great for: Oven hoods, grills How to use: Dip sponge or mop in solution and wipe over surface, then rinse area with clear water. All-Purpose Cleaner and Deodorizer • 4 tablespoons baking soda • 1 quart warm water White-Ring Remover
Uses for vinegar Unleash the power of white vinegar―an all-purpose cleaner, brightener, herbicide and more. Just a bit of this multitasker, straight up or mixed with water, can replace many pricier products huddled under your sink. Try these tips to see how vinegar can make your life cheaper and easier. 1. Freshen up the fridge. Clean the shelves and walls with a solution of half water and half vinegar. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. How To Use Salt, Vinegar & Lemons For Household Cleaning These items are a staple in cooking and baking, but they’re also a great help around the house. Here are dozens of ways you can use them, I’ve separated them into three groups for easier browsing. Enjoy! Color Brightener: Add 1/2 cup to a load of laundry (wash cycle).Color Protector: Pour some in a bucket (as much as you need) then soak new garments in it to protect dyes from running.Whiter Whites: Add 1 1/2 cups to the rinse cycle to whiten clothes.Restore Whites: Add 1 cup to a large stock pot filled with water, bring to a boil. Using the peels or cut wedges/halves… Make your own household cleaner from the peels (so easy!) Using the juice… Mothball odors can be removed from drawers by rinsing with a strong solution of juice and water.Remove rings inside the toilet bowl by applying a paste of borax and freshly squeezed juice (first flush toilet to make the surface wet). Enamel Cookware Stain Remover: Stir a handful in cookware filled with water.
First Home...Love Life: No! Not The New Couch! Pet Odor Be Gone: The most effective pet odor eliminator spray that you can make at home! Yeah, you should be mister! Today our lucky.he’s.so.cute.dog.but.thinks.he’s.a.person decided to lift his leg right on the corner of our couch. I have tried everything to get rid of pet smells. So I did some research on the internet, and wouldn’t you know I’ve had the stuff to make pet smells disappear completely right in my bathroom! So if you have a dog, cat, or even a potty training toddler…here’s how to get rid of those stinky smells for free and for good! 2 parts water to 1 part mouthwash Spray area completely and lay newspaper on top The newspaper will absorb the smell completely… but if it’s an older accident you may need to do it a couple of times. **There are a lot of copycats out there with their own version of this formula (they’ve added a more ingredients to it) and they have their own techniques. UPDATE: You can see HOW I STOPPED THE ACCIDENTS FOR GOOD HERE! Comments comments
How to Clean Your {Top-Loader} Washing Machine Clean your Washer? Sounds kind of unnecessary doesn’t it? Yes, it SOUNDS that way…but when you think about all the dirt and grime that cycles through your washer on a day-to-day basis…it actually makes perfect sense! Washers need washing too! Back on February 20th of this year, I posted about how to clean your front-loader washer at the request of my niece Ashley (even though I don’t own a front-loader). For the rest of us…I promised back then I would do a subsequent post about how to clean top-loaders, but haven’t lived up to my promise! One of the reasons I’ve been dragging my feet about this post is because my washer is actually almost new. So let’s get to it, shall we? As usual, there are a myriad of “How To Clean Your Washer” articles out there…each with their own spin, but after reading about a thousand of them, this is the simple method I went with: Fill the washer with HOT water. I used my microfiber cloths to wipe down and then buff the exterior.
Dull to Shiny « {DIYconfessions} Monday Funday! {okay, I know…laaame.} My little family and I just got back from Tennessee a couple days ago and let me tell you…we left our house clean and within an hour of being home it looked like a tornado had hit. You know…walk in the door, throw down suitcases, pull out the kiddos toys, eat, now there is dirty dishes in the sink…need I say more? I was scoping out blogs and my dear friend GOOGLE for quite some time trying to find a natural hard water stain removal product. Before I show you the results I want to show you what I’m dealing with…. {Gag} Disgusting right?! {{For extreme hard water stains, I would suggest pouring a little baking soda on the tough spots first, let it sit for 5 mins and rinse before doing this remedy.}} *Fill up nearly half of a spray bottle with vinegar. *Now add 1/4 cup lemon juice. *Fill up the majority of the remaining space in spray bottle with your soap of choice. *Shake up that bottle and soak those stubborn stains baby. *Let it sit for 30 mins….
Joyful Homemaking: Simple Shower and Tub Cleaner A good homemade cleaner is worth its weight in gold. The pleasant part of bathrooms is selecting storage and accessories. The unpleasant part is cleaning them, and my distaste for cleaning showers is right up there with cleaning toilets. So when I saw an idea on Pinterest for a homemade cleaner for showers and tubs, I had to try it (I like to link back to the original source, but it only went to Google). Not only are the ingredients so simple, but for me, the idea of using a dish wand was brilliant, since I’m usually a more tedious “spray and wipe cleaner.” All you have to do is fill a dish wand with half vinegar and half Dawn dish liquid. I also used it on the tub, although after a bath, and then also gave the tub a good rinse.It worked beautifully, and was so much quicker than my usual method of cleaning the tub and shower. Blessings,
I'm an Organizing Junkie Eight Ways to Ease into a Natural Home This post was written by Desiring Virtue’s monthly contributor, Katie Drumm. It seems to me that there is a lot of confusion and misinformation when it comes to household cleaners. Today I would like to share some facts that may turn you off from traditional cleaners, but also provide you with some wonderful, natural cleaning alternatives. The best part is that most of the things I use to clean my home I own anyway for cooking or first aid, so they are not only healthy, but frugal options! Living naturally can be a bit overwhelming, so I’ve broken down the way I clean my home and listed 8 easy ways that you can ease into your own natural home. 1. First, before you scoff and decide that you’d rather just bleach your home to death, take a moment to think about what you’re exposing yourself and your family to. Some More Things to Know: There is no federal administration to regulate the safety of household cleaners. I used to bleach my tile floors, my entire bathroom, and our white clothing.
How to Clean your Dishwasher I received a great response to my How to Clean your Washing Machine post. I’m so glad to know I wasn’t the only one out there with a dirty washing machine! That post however lead to more questions from my readers (which is awesome). Here’s a question I received from a reader: “Do you have any similar tricks for how to clean the dishwasher? Answer: The process to cleaning your dishwasher is very similar to cleaning your washing machine. Step 1: Wipe out your dishwasher with a washcloth removing any excess food or grime. Step 2: Place a glass or mug on the top rack of an empty dishwasher and fill it with white vinegar. Step 3: Run your dishwasher through an entire cycle. Step 4: When the dishwasher has completed it’s cycle wipe it out again with a clean washcloth. Here’s a hint I learned from our repair man: Before running your dishwasher run let the water in your kitchen sink run until it gets to it’s hottest. Happy Cleaning!
How to Get Pee Stains Out of a Mattress! It is spring cleaning week here on Inspired-Housewife and I joined iDreamofClean and 9 other bloggers in the Spring Cleaning Challenge for a chance to win some incredible prizes! You can join the fun too. Click the above link for more details soon, because contest ends April 5th. If you have children, then you likely dealt with nighttime pee pee accidents. Getting Started: You need a measuring cup, tablespoon, funnel, and spray bottle. 8 ounces/237 ml hydrogen peroxide 3% (this can be found in a brown bottle in the first aid aisle of most pharmacies or stores) 3 tablespoons/14.29 grams of baking soda 1 drop of liquid hand dish washing soap Mix all ingredients into the spray bottle and use within 20 minutes. It is simple, safe and works great! Amee If you enjoyed this post please share it with your friends on Pinterest by clicking the “Pin it” button below or “share” it on Facebook . Shared On: Crunchy Betty Incoming search terms: Related posts: