Cheaper Magic

First of all I cannot begin this post without apologizing for my absence. I have been busy with work (substitute teaching), my art and life things. Plus, sometimes I have not felt inspired enough to write something inspiring for others. Ever get like that?

Well, I do want to share a discovery with you that might save you some money and/or a trip to the store when you weren't planning on going.

One of the difficult things about living in a rental home is that the walls are usually all painted neutral, even white. When you have kids, it's not easy to keep the walls clean. I will admit that sometimes I scuff the walls carrying things up and down my stairway. It just happens.


Marks like these below. Not sure how they get there. I have used the Magic Erasers and they work great on lighter colored walls for scuff marks.


I went to clean scuff marks one day and realized I did not have anymore magic erasers. So I decided to give my Bar Keeper's Friend a try. I used a wet wash cloth and a bit of BKF and it did a fantastic job!

Take for instance, hand rails in your stairway! Just daily use of holding on to them as you walk up and down the stairway can get them quite dirty.

A quick scrub with some BKF and the railing is like new again!



Another thing that can happen near the hand rail is scuff marks from nail polish. These are from a recent visit from my friend, Dawn. I told her I was going to post about her nail polish on my stairway wall! :0) She always has her nails all done up girly in pink and even little decals on them sometimes.

Look, they came right off with some light elbow grease and a little BKF on a damp cloth.


Be Inspired! -Karol :0)

Household Tips 1-5

Ok, I have been very busy this week and I haven't had time to really "decorate" or share any home projects. I will say I do have a weekend project I'd like to share about soon and get some opinions on. For now, I thought I would just share some household tips that I know. These are not ones I have googled and copied. These are ones that I was either taught or discovered on my own. Feel free to comment and share any tips you may have.


1) To get small ink stains out of clothing, pretreat the ink spots with rubbing alcohol. My son has left pens in his pockets several times and they have made their way into the dryer and the pen ink has leaked all over an entire load of clothes. IN THE DRYER! Just pretreat the spots with rubbing alcohol and wash immediately. This should get rid of most ink spots. Unless the pen just leaked out mostly on one item, then just discard that item instead. You can also get the dried pen ink out of your dryer by using a paper towel and a dab of rubbing alcohol. Be sure to wipe out the dryer again with a damp cloth. P.S. if you have a teenager, buy the big bottle of rubbing alcohol! Oh, and check their pockets before you load the washer.



2) Rubbing alcohol also removes permanent marker from solid surfaces such as furniture and glass. Just test a small area first.



3) Greased lightening is the best laundry pre-treat ever! It is also a good cleaner. Just be sure to read the label for surfaces that it could damage such as aluminum, etc. It is great for a laundry pre-treat. It works on red Georgia clay in socks and clothing, tea, coffee (works great to clean coffee stains from your coffee pot and counter), blood, sweat/dirt from athletic clothing, and it will also clean floors real well when other cleaners cannot do the job. In fact, I buy it in the large refill jug and add a 1/4 cup to each load of my wash. I have used OxyClean in the past, but have never seen it live up to its claims. Especially linoleum floors with tiny crevices. Speaking of floors I use it to remove spots from my Suburban's beige carpet (I have two kids) and even in my home on the carpet. It will get rid of all types of stubborn stains in carpet.



4) Bar Keeper's Friend is fantastic for cleaning stainless steel sinks, also white sinks, and stoves. It works great for cleaning your pans under your electric stove top coils. It is non abrasive and does not contain bleach like some powder cleaners do.

Have you ever purchased one of those magic eraser sponge things? I really believe that it has Bar Keeper's Secret as the cleanser. Whenever I need to clean a mark on a painted wall I use a damp washcloth and a bit of Bar Keeper's Friend and lightly scrub the spot and it cleans right off!



5) To remove melted crayon from a car seat or carpet, first try to get as much of the crayon off the surface as possible. Next spray a small amount of DW-40 on the area and try to "lift" as much of the crayon as you can. The DW-40 will begin to dissolve/break down the crayon wax. Clean up as much of it as you can. Next to remove the oily DW-40, clean the area with a good grease-cutting dish washing liquid, such as Dawn. It really works!



I will share more tips in the future.



Be Inspired! -Karol :0)