Surprising Ways to Use Bleach in Your Home

Nothing smells fresher than a home freshly cleaned with Clorox or Ajax bleach. However did you know there are other uses for bleach that you may not have thought of that are simple and help you get your money’s worth of the money you spend on bleaching products.

 

Are you planning to go camping but your cooler smells of mold. Simply use a half of cup of bleach in gallon of warm water to clean and rinse it out. You can use a teaspoon of bleach with warm water to clean a thermos in the same. Just be sure to rinse the thermos with water well afterwards.

 

Bleach can also be used to remove coffee stains or tea stains from China. However be careful and check with the maker of your China to make sure that this will not bleach out the pattern on your good China.

 

Bleach is also an excellent sanitizer of cutting boards, especially that wooden board you are always cutting meat on. Be careful using bleach on plastic as it has been known to yellow plastic cutting boards.

 

Some people also use bleach instead of jet dry in the dishwasher to disinfect their dishes as well as make them shine. Be sure to use liquid bleach and not the powered type or it can leave a film that is very hard to get off on all of your dishes.

 

Did you know bleach can used to extend the lasting power of cut flower blossoms? All you have to do is add one quarter teaspoon of bleach for every quart of water that is used in your vase. The flowers might last as much as ten days longer.

 

There are also clever ways to recycle and reuse the bleach bottle. If you cut a bleach bottle diagonally across the bottom you automatically create a handy shovel that can be used to scoop up cat litter or be used as scoops for foods. Big jugs can be used as scoops for fertilizer and outdoor gardenting chores.

 

Yet another surprising use for a bleach bottle is as a protective guard for young plants against frost, hail and cold weather. Simply cut off the bottom of a bleach jug and then cover your seedlings with it at night.

 

Another nifty use of an old Clorox jug is to cut a hole in the side of an empty bleach jug and then put your clothes pins in it. You can then hang the holder on your clothesline by stringing the line through the handle.

How to Clean Copper Using Household Ingredients

Many of us still have copper fixtures, pipes, flatware, kettles and other items in our home. This is because copper was used for everything from faucets to cookware to light plates for over a century before steel became affordable enough for use in outfitting homes.

 

If you own anything that is copper you know that the main problem is that copper is constantly oxidizing and creating a green patina. Although that slightly degraded aqua touch is actual an asset in cases (for instance it is very common on old Victorian roofs and on the turrets of post-modern buildings from the eighties) it does not look that appealing on a kettle, flower vase or a fork.

 

Most of the items that can be used to remove the chalky green coating on your copper items are ordinary household ingredients:  white vinegar, salt and baking soda (or cornstarch.)

 

Copper cleans up very nicely if you immerse the item in a salt and vinegar bath. Simply mix one tablespoon of salt with three cups of water in a very big part. Take the copper item that you wish t clean and leave it in the pot.  Leave the item there until the water and vinegar and salt solution comes to a full rolling boil.  Leave the copper item like this until you can visually detect that all of the green color has left the surface of the copper.  Then take the pot off of the heat.

 

Before you remove the copper from the pot make sure it and the water has cooled completely down to room temperature.  Lift the object out of the pot and give it a quick wash with a high quality dish soap, like Dawn, to get rid of any vinegar smell that might be lingering on the item.  Be sure to wash the pot you boiled the item in thoroughly as well.

 

If the problem is small then you might want to try cutting a wedge of lemon that has been sprinkled on both sides with salt.  The salt acts like a scouring item. Scrub the green stain off of the copper item until it is gone and then wash the item with dish soap and water to get rid of any lemon debris.

 

You can also use ketchup to clean copper. Simply mix equal parts corn starch with ketchup to make a paste and then scrub the item clean. Be sure to wash and rinse the item with dish soap to eliminate any scent of ketchup.