DIY Life

My faithful kettle has boiled untold quantities of water for tea and coffee. I recently noticed it's getting pretty grungy inside from all that use. The culprit? A buildup of alkaline scale. Now, I ignored this for a while because I believed it was harmless. Then I read it's actually important to avoid a buildup of scale in your kettle because it can cause the element to burn out -- thereby landing you with the expense of buying a new kettle. Eeek! Who wants to spend money replacing appliances when the holiday season is upon us?

Anyway, I went looking online for instructions. Most obvious source: electric kettle manufacturers have preventive maintenance instructions on their websites. The Krups website is one example. However, the the best online how-to source that I found is WikiHow's "How to Descale a Kettle." Here's what you need to know: cleaning the kettle involves breaking down the alkaline scale with an eco-friendly acidic solution. The easiest way is to fill the kettle with a solution of one part vinegar and one part water. Let is soak, but do not boil the kettle while the vinegar is inside. Another tactic is to use lemon juice or some other source of citric acid. Fill the kettle with 500ml of water, then add 30mg of juice/citric acid. This time it's okay to boil the kettle. Whichever method you use, finish by rubbing the inside clean with a damp cloth that has been dipped in bicarbonate of soda. Finally, rinse the kettle thoroughly before using it again.

Several of my silver jewelry pieces have been looking less than stellar of late. So I've added: "Necklaces -- clean them!!" to my ever-growing things-to-do list. Being a bit of a Web nerd, I got to thinking about what tips and warnings on silver care might be floating around in cyberspace. So I took a look. The best guide I found was wikiHow's "How to Clean Silver." Here are some highlights:

If you are a parent then you are or have been the parent of a little artist. If your child only drew with pens, markers, crayons and pencils on paper, then I want your secret. How did you manage that? My children draw on everything they can get their hands, or crayons on, as the case may be.

Back when I was regularly paying $20 for a large box of Tide, I'd grumble to myself that there must be a better way. And there is! When I switched my baby from disposables to cloth diapers, I had to do a lot of research on how to get them diapies clean without leaving any residue. Along the way, I discovered there are lots of super-affordable and eco-friendly alternatives to get your laundry clean.

My fav discovery so far is this detergent "recipe", spotted on the website for Sunshine Diapers, a Florida-based cloth diapering supply company run by a work-at-home mom.

White teeth and a bright smile can change your whole appearance. This won't replace professional whitening, but If you're looking for a quick and easy way to give your teeth that Hollywood shimmer, this strawberry and baking soda solution may be all you need.

Mash up one ripe strawberry and add in 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda. Apply it to your teeth with a soft toothbrush. Leave it on for 5 min and rinse.

Though this does sound a little strange, according to Dr. Adina Carrel, "this is a fast, cheap way to brighten your smile." She does caution against using this every day. Malic acid, the active ingredient, can damage the enamel of your teeth if you use it too often. Still, once a week is fine and it's a great way to instantly whiten your teeth.

[via: dumb little man]

I have a confession to make. I hate spending money on things that make me physically ill. Take for example, household cleaning products. I hate them. They make me sick and give me terrible migraines. So, do I buy them? Yes, that is my confession. I am getting better though. I only buy them once a month now, and more often than not, they sit in my cabinet, lonely and unused. They are unused because I clean with lemon, vinegar and baking soda. Baking soda is used for everything in my house these days, and I would like to share with you some of my favorite things to clean.

I use baking soda to clean almost everything in my bathroom. For cleaning rust stains out of my toilet, I pour 1 cup vinegar in and then about 2/3 cup of baking soda. I let it sit for about 15 minutes, then scrub and flush, and like magic, the toilet is now clean.

I have a 14 year-old boy in my home who has officially hit puberty. Not only does this mean that our weekly grocery bill is astronomical, it means that he is developing smells. There is simply no gracious way to put that sentence. He is 100% clued in to the shower aspect of this age, but still his lower extremities have started to stink. I can smell his feet in the car, when he plops them up on the couch and especially when I pass by his shoes. Luckily, he and I have a pretty close relationship and I have been able to tell him straight up that his dogs are smelly and that his shoes must live outside until we find a remedy for the stench. After some research, I found the following hints on how to keep his feet smelling better and my nose from working overtime.

Vinegar is a largely under appreciated household item. Sure it's great when it comes time to decorate Easter eggs or when composing a tossed salad, but other than that vinegar just doesn't get much attention. Vinegar actually has more uses than most of us can even imagine, below I'll outline a few of my favorites:

• Unclogging and deodorizing drains. I like this one because it is also a recipe for the at-home volcanoes that I make with my kids. A half cup of baking soda combined with one cup of vinegar poured through a funnel and into the drain starts the process. The foaming action of the combo is supposed to unclog your drain and leave it odor free. After the mixture does its trick, use a hot water flush on the drain followed five minutes later with a cold water flush.
  
  
• Smoke deodorizer. I like this one because I hate the smell of smoke as much I hate the fake smell of most room fresheners. Simply fill a container 3/4 full with white or cider vinegar and let stand in the smelly room for about a day. By then end of the day the room will be without any stench.
  
  
• Cleaning piano keys. My almost three year-old son loves to play our piano. He never stops to ponder the state of his hands and often i find spots of peanut butter and jelly lurking on the ivories. A carefully rung cloth dipped in a solution of equal parts vinegar and water will do the trick from now on.

I think one of the aspects about vinegar that I most appreciate is that it is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. I will never again look upon vinegar as a simple condiment, it has gathered quite a bit of respect in my eyes. For more clever uses of vinegar, click here.