Cleaning – Reader Mailbag As we have been getting a few great tips from readers I have occasionally been posting a “Reader Mailbag”.  Well just this past week I received a great tip  from Annette in Connecticut that I want to share with you. Annette writes that she has stumbled upon a great tip for using vinegar while cleaning. All you need to do is put your lemon, orange, grapefruit...

Laundry Whitener – Reader Mailbag Another dear reader, Kerri from Washington State, sent us a great recipe for laundry whitener.  Just look at my before and ofter shots and you will not doubt how fantastic this cleaner truly is. I have been sold on this even though I had to purchase brand name dishwasher detergent and not go with my cheap in-store brand…  (the trick is in the Cascade...

No matter how good or bad of a cook you are there is one thing that you cannot avoid… greasy dish cleanup.  Admit it, we all have them.  In the past my fix was always to save the gross dishes to the end, wash them as good as I could get them, drain all the water and then refill the sinks and wash them again.  Then hopefully they were good enough to run through the dishwasher if it was empty...

I hate purchasing dishwasher detergent about as much as I hate purchasing laundry detergent.  It is every bit as expensive and you have those empty bottles to throw into the landfill.  So what did I do?  I found a method for homemade dishwasher detergent. Dishwasher soap is easy to make, and cost effective. I mix up a batch in an empty canister, and pour it in the dishwasher as needed. Mix and...

Laundry soap is a necessity that every family needs and a cost that no one enjoys paying.  What if I told you that you never have to rely on store bought laundry soap again that that you could make ten times the laundry soap at a fraction of the cost, would you do it? Well you can, and it is simple. Here is what you need: 1/3 bar Fels Naptha (or other type of soap, as listed below) ½ cup washing...

Beeswax is the substance secreted by honeybees to make honeycombs.  Did you know that it did not make it’s debut into candles until the Middle Ages.  Until then, candles were made of the rendered animal fat called tallow that produced a smoky flame and gave off acrid odors.  Beeswax candles, by contrast, burned pure and clean.  But they were not widely used at the time, being far too expensive...