Homemade Clorox Cleanup

I love Clorox Cleanup.  It cleans, it whitens, it disinfects, and it leaves a nice smell that is more than just the smell of bleach.  What I don't like is the price.  

I found a great recipe to make this wondrous cleaner at home at the blog HERE.  I modified the ingredient amounts just a little bit, but otherwise the recipe is just the same.  Best of all, it works just as well as the original product, but at a fraction of the cost. 

You will need: 

1 empty spray bottle 

1/2 Cup bleach

2 tablespoons dish soap 

Water*

Pour bleach into empty spray bottle.  Fill the bottle almost all the way full of water, leaving about 1 inch of room.  Then add the dish soap.  Insert the sprayer, seal the bottle, and then gently tip the bottle back and forth about 20-30 times to mix the ingredients.  If you add the dish soap and then pour in the water, your ingredients will bubble out, so it's best to fill the bottle then add the soap.  

*We have hard water, so it always requires a bit more cleaning ingredients than most recipes establish.  If you have relatively soft water (i.e., with very little mineral content), you might be able to reduce the bleach to 1/4 cup and the dish soap to 1 tablespoon.  

That's all it takes!  Now you can clean, freshen, and disinfect your counter tops, sinks, and bathrooms, but without all the expense! Happy cleaning!

Get More Out of Your Disposable Razor

Denim and disposable razors?  One of these things is not like the other.  That is because an old pair of jeans can be used to extend the life of your disposable razors!

Normally, when you shave, you do so in a downward motion, pulling the razor across your skin, and the hair is shaved off at the skin surface.  This works great for a close shave, but eventually your razor begins to do more harm than good, and it gets tossed.  The reason is tiny burs and nicks form on the edge of the razor blades, and eventually they will not cut as closely and sometimes won't cut at all. 

There is a method that can extend the life of your razor for quite a long period of time.  Once your razor is starting to lose its ability to provide a close shave, then you can use this method to restore its sharpness. 

How?

You will need an old pair of jeans or a length of denim.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  We like Gillette Razors Gillette Custom Plus Disposable Razor - 52 ct. - Shaving & Hair (Google Affiliate Ad)  and Bic Soleil Razors. 

Use this method:  You will PUSH the razor up the leg of the pant about 10 times, and then turn your hand around and PUSH the razor down the leg of the jeans 10 times.  This is the exact opposite motion you normally do when you shave.  Apply just enough pressure to have the blades touch the surface firmly but not enough that the center of the blades bend.   

You may repeat this process any time you need a sharp edge for your razor.  This even works for the razors with the smoothing strip across the top.

We've been able to extend the life of our razors 3 months.  This is particularly true for the disposable cartridge type razors such as the Mach 3 and Fusion types.  Even if you choose to not take this to the extreme of 3 months, it will get you a close enough shave until you can purchase more razors!

How to Get Rid of That Oniony Smell on Your Hands and on Your Breath

Onions make great and tasty additions to recipes.  A hamburger or hot dog loaded with onions is yummy!  Unfortunately, dealing with the onion odor is another story.  How many times have we avoided onions because we didn't want bad breath or didn't want the smell on our hands?

There's a trick to decreasing the smell, and it's as close as your kitchen sink.  Well, more like your kitchen faucet, especially if it's stainless steel. This works best if it's done immediately after working with onions.  It works for fish and garlic, too.  

Once you're finished handling these items, wet your hands rub them hands over the stainless steel of the kitchen faucet.  Voila!  The vast majority of the onion smell should be neutralized. 

It doesn't have to be the faucet.  Anything stainless steel will work such as a saucepan, the blade of a knife (watch out for cuts), and some places even make these blobs of stainless steel that look like a bar of soap to use for this.  

How do you get rid of onion breath?  Same concept, except use a stainless steel spoon. Place it in your mouth with the bowl of the spoon facing down so that your tongue cups into the bowl and the bottom of the spoon fits against the roof of your mouth.  Let it sit there for a bit, remove the spoon, then swish with water and spit.  I recommend brushing your teeth or chewing gum at this time to get any lingering food particles from inside your mouth. 

For both tricks, it may not take away all the oniony smell, especially onion breath, but it should reduce it significantly.  If you still have the odor, you can do it again.  It will at least make you easier to live with!

The cool thing is this works for garlic and fish, too!