10 Tips for Cleaning With Vinegar

10 Funky Tips for Cleaning with Vinegar -- save time, avoid chemicals

If you haven’t discovered the amazing cleaning power of vinegar, you haven’t lived.  Okay, you may have lived just a little bit, but chances are you are spending too much money on cleansers.

Cleaning with vinegar is cheap, simple, non-toxic, and, uh, aromatic. There is little that cannot be tackled by this powerhouse in the cleansing world, from stains and build-up to daily clean-up.  Tuck these tips into your mental filing system (or bookmark this page if your mental filing system resembles mine) for the many everyday messes that life throws at you.

Tips for Cleaning with Vinegar

Clean windows and mirrors with a mixture of one part vinegar to three parts water in a clean spray bottle.  (I get my spray bottles from garden centers because they’re usually prettier, and I like pretty things.  I’m a girl!) Spray, dry, repeat if necessary.  It may require a few cleanings before the residue from your regular cleaner is completely removed. Warn the birds!

Shine counters and appliance fronts with the window spray above, or add half a cup of vinegar to a sink of hot water, dip your washcloth and wipe.  (Do not use on marble!)  For that oh-so-perfect shine, dry well.

Clean the interior of a microwave by soaking a towel in half vinegar and half water.  Place it in the microwave and run it for a minute or two.  The towel will be hot, but when it cools a bit, use it to wipe up the now-loosened and non-smelly particles from the sides of the microwave.  Yup, it gets pretty nasty in there.

Make an abrasive scrub by mixing 1/4 cup of salt with a teaspoon of vinegar, applying to the area, and wiping clean.  Do not use on surfaces that cannot tolerate a little abuse.  If you have children, I recommend you not own surfaces that cannot tolerate a little abuse.

Remove stains, sticker residue, calcium deposits, and those questionables left behind by your children by soaking paper towels with vinegar and covering the area overnight.  If the object is small enough, such as a penny or other tarnished metal, soak the object in a container of vinegar.  A ready supply of shiny pennies will make you very popular with the littles.

Clean smelly drains and garbage disposals and simultaneously entertain the children by pouring 1/4 cup or so of baking soda down the drain and following that with 1/2 cup or so of vinegar.  When the fizzing subsides and the audience disperses, rinse with hot water.

Clean the dishwasher and remove hard water build-up by pouring a cup of vinegar into the dishwasher, paying close attention to the “water squirters.” Run a cycle.  You can also use vinegar instead of rinse aid for shiny dishes.

Clean a coffee maker by running a cycle with vinegar instead of water.  Unless you want flavored coffee the next day, run a few cycles with just water before adding grounds.

Disinfect a wet mattress (oops!) by spritzing with vinegar and sprinkling with baking soda.

Clean extremely dirty, unsanitary, or grease-stained surfaces with full strength vinegar.  Admit it—we all have such surfaces from time to time!

As long as the surface can handle the acidic nature of vinegar, give this affordable all-purpose cleaner a try for all your messes.  Naturally, before using vinegar on carpets or other fabric, you will want to test it in that discreet location we’re all supposed to have for testing carpet cleaners.

Don’t worry about the aroma from cleaning with vinegar.  It will dissipate as the vinegar dries.

For an amazing list of even more ways to clean with vinegar, visit Vinegartips.com.

 

How do you use vinegar in your home?

43 Relatively Useless Facts About Me and How They Apply to You

43 facts

Today I turn 43. Because I’m not really a cake fan and can’t fit 43 candles on a slice of pie without seriously messing that baby up, I’ve come up with a birthday alternative.

Many people ask about the blogger behind the blog. While I don’t generally like to talk about myself too much (I mostly do it to fill air space), I thought today I would let you all get to know me and mine a little bit better.

Since reading 43 relatively useless facts about me could get rather boring around number 12, and because my 43 years of highs and lows could prove a learning experience to some of you younglings, I’m listing 43 things that you can apply to life in general. This could either be really fun, or really twisted and lame. Either way, let’s launch this bad boy.

43 Things About Me and 43 Life Applications for You

  1. I eat the crusts on my sandwich first, because I never liked the dry wheaty crusts as a kid. Life app: save the best for last…or follow Mark Twain’s advice and eat the “frog” first so everything else tastes good in comparison.
  2. I sometimes eat my favorite things first, because if I save the best for last, it will be cold and not as good, or I might not have room for it, or I might choke on the “frog” and die before I can get to my favorite thing. Life app: be flexible about your life apps.
  3. When I was younger, as in 40, I saw two sleds near some carpeted stairs which ended at a doorway, and I figured that one of my kids would think indoor sledding was a brilliant idea, so I tested the indoor stair sledding idea to see how brilliant it really was. Yee haa! Bad idea. Ironically, when my kids heard me scream and found me at the bottom of the stairs, they said, “Did you really think that was a good idea?” Life app: not everything that looks like a good idea really is, although…that idea could have been brilliant if I had opened the door. That one needs a do over!
  4. I am a recovering hypochondriac. Life app: don’t waste your life worrying about losing your life, because if that’s how you’re living, your life is already lost.
  5. I have bad gums. Life app: floss.
  6. I used to want to be one of 12 children. I even tried to get a group of kids at church to pretend we were the Gilbreth family from the book Cheaper by the Dozen, but they said, “That’s weird.” So I went out and made my own Cheaper by the…Eight. Life app: be who you want to be within God’s guidelines, even if it’s weird. Keep that life app within reason. For example, resist your kleptomaniac tendencies.
  7. I am painfully shy, but I have worked hard since around 16 to not act on it. It is still a daily challenge for me, but I conquer it by thinking of the other person instead of my own discomfort. Life app: shyness is one of the highest forms of selfishness, so stop looking inward and think of others’ needs instead of your own fears. (That life app was from my Grandma. Thanks, Grandma!)
  8. I am a lot like my grandma. Life app: look at the people who come before you and learn from their experiences. It’ll save you time. Also, don’t forget to thank them.
  9. I work hard at not being hurt by the absence of a father in my life, cuz even at 43, a girl needs a daddy. Life app: if you have a dad, however imperfect, appreciate him! If you are a dad, connect with your kids no matter how old they are. And if you don’t have a dad in your life, forgive.
  10. I am paralyzed by clutter and busyness. It affects my mood, my productivity, my very existence. If it is in my control to get rid of clutter and keep a simple schedule, I do it, as evidenced by the trail of donations we leave around the country. If it isn’t, I live in a state of perpetual frustration, inefficiency, and self-beratement. Life app: simplify and declutter!
  11. My non-grammar-related pet peeve is people who ignore other people and instead stare at their cell phones. Life app: make eye contact.
  12. I don’t think people who try to act cool are cool, and neither do my daughters. Life app: be yourself…especially if you’re trying to impress my girls.
  13. I love popcorn, and so do my kids. We didn’t eat it for two years, however, because our oldest daughter can’t have it. Life app: put people first…even ahead of food. I almost can’t believe I said that.
  14. I have low blood sugar and need to eat often or I get strangely sick and cranky…heavy on the cranky. Life app: know your body, manage your conditions so they don’t manage you, and don’t use them as an excuse to be rude to the people around you. Also, if you see me at a potluck, let me go first. Ha ha…except I’m not joking.
  15. I started being afraid of growing old at around age eight. Life app: embrace life every step of the way.
  16. I always wanted to live on a horse farm, but I left the family farm, went to college, joined the choir, met my husband, and now I’m the wife of a traveling musician. That’s totally awesome, even though it’s not what I thought I wanted. Life app: be open to new awesomenesses…like that word I just made up. Here’s another life app: if you have a dream, pursue it–don’t just wait for it.
  17. I’m totally a homebody, but we live on the road full-time. Life app: be adaptable.
  18. I used to have my whole family on a strict diet for intestinal health, since one of my daughters has Crohn’s Disease. My plan was to eat whatever I wanted when I hit 90. Then my grandmother said, “I love eating, which is such a blessing at 86. My mother lost interest in food, but I still enjoy it.” Life app: why wait? Be happy now. (Of course, we still have to manage the dietary issues, so don’t think “happy” means whatever we want it to mean.)
  19. I like cherry soup. People tell me I’m weird. Life app: if you make something that you love and that everyone else thinks is weird (like my famous fried peanut butter and jelly eggs), that only means there’s more for you, so embrace your weirdness.
  20. I don’t drink coffee, because caffeine makes me talk really, really fast and think even faster, but in an oddly unproductive manner. It’s scary. Life app: don’t caffeinate me.
  21. When I was a kid I totally wanted a Whatchamacallit candy bar. One day someone gave me one. I was so excited that I saved it for months waiting for just the right moment to eat it. My dog’s right moment occurred before mine, and he ate it. I’ve never tasted a Whatchamacallit. Life app: enjoy the Whatchamacallits of life today and stop saving them for just the right moment.
  22. I always wanted an electric racetrack like my brothers had. One Christmas my husband got me one, but I was so tired from staying up too late wrapping Christmas presents that I fell asleep on the couch after the gift opening. My husband set up the track, played with it, left it there, and someone stepped on it and broke it. I kept it for several years, thinking I would repair it (stop laughing, brothers and husband), until a wiser me tossed it. Two life apps here: read my book about not driving yourself into a sleep-deprived stupor at Christmas (or any time), and don’t hold onto grudges and broken race tracks. Also, don’t play with other people’s Christmas presents.
  23. I wake up in the middle of the night panicking about my parenting. That only serves to rob me of my sleep and make me a tired, panicked, less useful mother. Life app: do the best you can, turn it over to God, and get a good night’s sleep. Your children will someday be imperfect parents themselves, and either they will understand you better, or they will think they’re far superior to you as parents, in which case you can quietly laugh at them, knowing how little they really know.
  24. Someone in college made me very self-conscious about my crooked teeth, which made me stop smiling, which made me less attractive. Life app taken straight from the 1982 film Little Orphan Annie: “You’re never fully dressed without a smile.” Just smile. Who cares about the crooked teeth!
  25. My then six-year-old son sold his cowboy hat at a garage sale for $2 because “It doesn’t fit, Mama, so I don’t want it anymore. It’s just gonna sit around and take up space.” I used to waste time wishing I had his hat back and replaying the garage sale in my mind. Also, I’m a recovering pack rat. Life app: listen to the wise boy who is doing what you taught him to do–get rid of clutter. Also, get the boy a hat that fits for his birthday.
  26. I used to ride my horse standing up when nobody was looking. Life app: don’t be stupid when nobody’s looking. Always have someone around when you’re being stupid, so they can 1) run and get help when you fall off, 2) tell you how stupid you are…in case you didn’t already know, and 3) take pictures.
  27. When my seventh baby was colicky, I gave up milk, eggs, wheat, and a whole host of other foods. The pediatrician said I should just put her on formula, because nobody would stick to that diet. I stuck to it for almost two years, and I’m currently on a total elimination diet for my eighth child. I tried to do this for myself in the past, but I never could. Doing it for them, however, I am driven. Life app: Find your motivation; it helps if your motivation is cute and smells milky sweet.
  28. When I was in kindergarten, I stood up while the schoolbus was in motion, lost my balance, fell down the front stairs and hit the door. The driver said, “That wouldn’t have happened if you had stayed seated while the bus was moving,” and I said, “That wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t driving too fast.” Life apps–there are three of them: 1) be accountable for your own actions, 2) don’t stand up while the bus is moving, and 3) perhaps most importantly for the preservation of life, don’t be smarmy to a beefy man named Wild Bill who has to put up with 60 disrespectful kids every day–yeah, that’s a good one.
  29. Some people start off really cute, then hit a geeky phase, and finally emerge from it graceful and well-composed. I seem to be stuck in the geeky time warp. Life app: embrace your inner geek…and your glasses and your frizzy hair and your high waters…or get contacts and hair cream and longer pants, but that’s kinda boring and expensive.
  30. I have a severe doctor/dentist phobia. Life app: if you know somebody with a doctor/dentist phobia, go with them. If it’s a spouse, schedule the appointments for them.
  31. I pick my battles. For example, sometimes during my my husband’s concerts, our daughter sings in bare feet and a tiara, because it makes her happy and that’s not the hill I want to die on. Life apps: pick your battles and swap the shoes for a tiara if it makes you smile.
  32. I battle negativity. I have several people in my life who also tend toward the negative, while I have found others who are positive, loving, and encouraging. The difference in how my family feels when we spend time with the negative, critical people versus the loving, encouraging people is unfathomable! Life app: be encouraging…but not an empty flatterer. 
  33. When we go someplace where there are huge crowds, we all wear matching hats so we can easily keep track of each other. Life app: if you go someplace where there are huge crowds, wear matching hats so you can easily keep track of each other.
  34. I don’t like labels. Even though I would technically be considered a baby-wearing, eclectic homeschooling, attachment parenting, extended nursing, semi-real foodie, full-time RVing conservative evangelical Christian missionary blogger and freelance writer, if I saw that label on someone, I would freak out and run away. Freak out! I’m just a person who does that stuff to a manageable degree because it works for my life. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to eat a hot dog with you or that I wouldn’t hang out with you because you use a stroller and I have children hanging off all my limbs. Life app: don’t label people or yourself. It’s scary.
  35. I don’t use God-speak. I’m a Christian through-and-through, but when I hear God-speak, it scares me away. I can’t imagine what a non-Christian would feel like if I God-speaked ’em. Life app: be yourself. You’re far more likely to win people for Christ if they can see that we Christians are real people, too…and that we speak English.
  36. Sometimes I say lame or embarrassing things, and then I lie awake at night replaying the whole affair in my mind. Life app: don’t say lame or embarrassing things. Realistic life app: don’t sweat it. Everyone is lame and embarrassing sometimes. That’s merely a symptom of the incurable condition called “life,” and when you consider the alternative, which is not-life, life’s not all that bad.
  37. I have trouble following through on projects. For example, right about now I’m considering pretending I’m only 37, just so I don’t have to think of six more things to say about myself. Life app: don’t bite off more than you can chew. Learn your limitations and heed them.
  38. When I was a teen, it was like social death for your underwear band or your bra strap to show. Sometimes I start to approach young ladies to let them know that they forgot their shirt, just in case they didn’t know, or to offer to buy young men a belt to avoid that embarrassing pants-below-the-butt look in the future, but my children tell me I will be shot. Life app: sometimes our children know more than we do, so don’t be too proud to learn from them.
  39. Almost every time I pre-judge people, I eat crow. Life app: don’t pre-judge people…or else develop a liking for crow.
  40. I sometimes think my husband should have married someone who could sing better than I can, so he’d have a built-in background vocalist and duetist…rather than someone who makes up words like duetist, but get this–he’s happy with me despite my vocal nuances. Life app: don’t stress over what you’re not. Be what you are and be the best word-maker-upper you that you can be…unless you’re an idiot, in which case, you should read Proverbs.
  41. People at our concerts call me amazing because of our lifestyle. I’m not amazing. I’m an ordinary person serving an extraordinary God in out-of-the-ordinary ways, but that is all. Without Him, I’m nothing. Life app: be something–serve God.
  42. I’ve lost friends for sticking up for unborn children. Life app: do the right thing no matter what.
  43. I like chocolate, but it gives me…ahem…gas. So…sniff sniff…I don’t eat it. Life app: make sacrifices for the comfort of your family…but keep a chocolate stash in your undie drawer for when you’re home alone. (Those were tear sniffs, not whiff sniffs.)

There you go–43 useless facts about me, and 43 potentially useless life apps for you. It’s not as good as pie, but it’ll do.

 

Christy’s Simple Tips: How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

Christy's Simple Tips: How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce



I thought everybody knew this technique, so I never thought to mention it. About two years ago my grandmother told me to watch the neat trick my uncle had just taught her, and she showed me the iceberg coring method my own mother–her own daughter–had been using my whole life.

Apparently, not everyone knows this. But you will.

How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

  1. Take the iceberg lettuce in your hand.
  2. Locate the core.
  3. Slam the core down on a hard surface, like a counter–not like your head.
  4. It will loosen so you can slide it out.

Super duper simple!

Oh, palm the lettuce like this or with both hands on the sides:

Christy's Simple Tips: How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

Don’t hold it with one hand on the bottom by the core. Ouch.

Christy's Simple Tips: How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

This simple tip comes straight from Mom down on the ol’ homestead. Thanks Mom! Love you! OX

Special thanks to Elisabeth for coring this head of lettuce for all you. You have lovely hands, Elisabeth. Go practice your piano.

To see your favorite simple tips featured on The Simple Homemaker (including a link to the page of your choice), please submit it through my contact page or send an email (pictures are optional) to TheSimpleHomemaker at gmail dot com with SIMPLE TIP in the subject.

How to Clean Burned Milk From a Pan

Argh! I burned the milk again! I know, I know, it’s my own fault–I have the attention span of a caffeinated fruit fly, and milk burns very easily. It’s a bad combination.

Lucky for my pots, I know how to get that stuck-on mess off the bottom of my pans.

And soon you will, too.

How to Clean Burned Milk Out of a Pan

 



How to Remove Burned Milk From a Pan

What you need:

  • salt
  • a wooden spoon or similarly non-offensive scraping implement
  • water
  • dish soap
  • a heating surface, like a stove

What you do:

  1. Sprinkle the bottom of the pot with a layer of salt.
  2. Add warm water to saturate the salt.
  3. Let it rest for 20 minutes or until you remember it.
  4. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon, scrubby, spatula–whatever is scrapy but won’t damage your pot.
  5. Rinse out the pot.
  6. If it’s clean. You’re finished. Have a cookie.
  7. If it’s not clean, put a couple inches of water and several drops of dish soap in the bottom of the pan.
  8. Heat it to boiling on the stove and then simmer on low heat for about an hour. This reeks to high heaven in my opinion (maybe not quite that high), so open the windows and pass out the barf bags.
  9. If this doesn’t work, repeat ad infinitum.

Next time you heat milk on the stove, turn off the television, the radio, the the doorbell, the computers, your phone, your dog, your children, and your brain, and just focus. I know. I can’t either.

Print this up and keep it in your cookbook right by your favorite hot cocoa recipe. Ha ha! Only I’m not joking.

Here’s the printable version:

How to Remove Burned Milk From a Pan
Author: Christy, The Simple Homemaker
Since I have the attention span of a caffeinated fruit fly, and because milk burns easily, I have had to frequently use the following trick to get that burned-on gunk off my pots and pans.
Ingredients
  • salt
  • a wooden spoon or similarly non-offensive scraping implement
  • water
  • dish soap
  • a heating surface, like a stove
Instructions
    1. Sprinkle the bottom of the pot with a layer of salt.
    2. Add warm water to saturate the salt.
    3. Let it rest for 20 minutes or until you remember it.
    4. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon, scrubby, spatula–whatever is scrapy but won’t damage your pot.
    5. Rinse out the pot.
    6. If it’s clean. You’re finished. Have a cookie.
    7. If it’s not clean, put a couple inches of water and several drops of dish soap in the bottom of the pan.
    8. Heat it to boiling on the stove and then simmer on low heat for about an hour. This reeks to high heaven in my opinion (maybe not quite that high), so open the windows and pass out the barf bags.
    9. If this doesn’t work, repeat ad infinitum.

How do you get the burned-on milk out?

Christy’s Simple Tips: The Easy Way to Shred Cheese With No Mush

Christy's Simple Tips: Freeze cheese for 10-15 minutes for easy, mess-free grating. Click through for details.

One of the reasons I had seven children is so they can do the menial tasks I dislike, such as shredding cheese. I don’t like to shred cheese. I don’t like how it gets melty and mushy and sort of oozes into the grater after a few minutes instead of slicing off cleanly. Do you know what I mean?

The solution is simple. Pop the entire block of cheese into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. (Any longer and the cheese might thaw oddly.) It will harden enough to make the cheese grating process a thing of beauty. A thing of beauty, I tell ya!

Pop the grater in the freezer, too, and the process will be even slicker.

I know you’re wondering why I don’t recommend buying the already grated cheese to totally simplify the process. Oh, I have my reasons.

First, usually the shredded cheese is more expensive, but lately I’ve been noticing some shredded cheeses are cheaper than their block counterparts. Shocking, I know!

Another reason is that shredded cheeses do the whole melty mushy thing unless the manufacturer adds an anti-caking agent. That’s no big deal to most of you, but I have a daughter with Crohn’s Disease who can’t currently eat the potato starch and powdered cellulose (usually a wood byproduct) that are often used as the agents in question.

Finally, if you’re low-carbing it, that’s a little extra carb intake that isn’t as fun as, say, eating a cookie. I totally made that last one up—anything to promote cookies!

Reasons one and two are enough for us to force our kids to shred our own cheese.

Are you freaking out over wood in your cheese? Don’t freak out. The government says it’s just fine.

You can stop laughing now.

Seriously, the government says it’s fine, and even some organic companies say it’s fine. Others say it’s the spawn of Satan.

Do I know the answer? No. Do I care? I care enough to buy block cheese and make my children shred it at home. I don’t care enough to not eat Archway Windmill Cookies and Lorna Doones from Grandma’s cookie jar. (Those cookie links are affiliate links…and my favorite store cookies.)

I know. I have issues.

Christy’s Simple Tips: Capturing Ideas in the Shower

Keep a child's bath crayon in the shower to jot down ideas on the shower wall.

I have all my best, most brilliant ideas in the shower. I used to write my brilliant ideas in the steam on the shower door with my finger. That worked great, until I got out of the shower and the steam disappeared, along with my brilliance. I needed a better option to capture my brilliance, one that didn’t involve running naked through the house looking for a pen and paper and scarring my children for life. For life!

Enter the bath crayon. These handy little bath crayons are perfect for writing on bathtubs, shower walls, even bathroom mirrors, so you can capture your brilliant moments without scarring your kids.

They don’t rinse away, so you have time to transfer your brilliance to something a little more permanent. After you’ve recorded your brilliance elsewhere, you can wash off the crayon with a little soap and water, which, conveniently, you have right there in the shower. It’s almost like someone planned that or something.

Bath markers and crayons are available at craft stores, department stores, discount stores, drug stores, grocery stores…just about everywhere. They are also available online at Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. If you purchase through this affiliate link, Amazon shares a bit of its profits with me, so I can buy therapy for the children I scarred before discovering bath crayons.)

Contact me with your simple tips for future publication in Christy’s Simple Tips and for a link to your blog or website.

 

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

I have seven children. To cut back on laundry, my children wear their play clothes to death before we wash them. It’s like the zombie apocalypse of laundry, which means there are some serious stains. I don’t usually care much about the stains on their play clothes, but sometimes they accidentally wear their church clothes to death, too.

Like this adorable top my sister-in-law gave our littlest love:

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

Before a mustard splotch, grape jello, unidentifiable food byproducts, and a bloody finger, this was a white shirt. Ohhhh, poor shirt. You are doomed.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

Enter the age-old Fels Naptha laundry bar and stain remover.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

It looks like a great big bar of English toffee…

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

but it doesn’t taste like one.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

We wet the shirt, rubbed the bar on the abundant stains, and tossed it…in the laundry basket and forgot about it.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

The directions say to let it rest for a minute and then wash it.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

Directions shmirshmections. I finally washed the shirt after a few days, threw it in the drier, and SHAZAAM! Stains gone!

So I put the shirt on my little model, ran to get my camera for an after shot, and SHAZAAM! Grape juice spill all over the shirt! Who gave the baby grape juice?! Oh…I did…well…not my smartest parenting move. Zombie apocalypse laundry:1, parental foresight: 0.

Option 1 was to wash the shirt again and take an after shot.

Option 2 was to embrace reality and just tell you people what happened.

I’m an option 2 sort of person. Who’s with me? It’s anti-climactic this way, but it offers more scope for the imagination. I mean, a picture? What’s that all about?

You’ll just have to believe me. The Fels Naptha bar worked. Another daughter used the stain bar on a white skirt and it came out looking like new. You’ll just have to believe her, too, because she doesn’t generally take pictures of her laundry. Crazy, messed-up kid. If you’re really set on seeing a before and after, check out this blog who did a similar experiment…but whose kids seem a bit tidier than mine. Ahem.

The bar did not take out our old stains that were already set in the drier, the kind that we sort of bonded with and which have become almost a part of the family. As far as I know, the best way to take out ancient stains is a pair of scissors. Do you have a better method?

I love products that have withstood the test of time, and this is one of them. It’s from 1894. How’s your math? That’s…uhhh…a long time! People use it as a laundry booster, stain remover, and ingredient in homemade laundry detergent, and I just read of people using to wash their dogs, dishes, floors, and furniture. Whoa.

If I were to change something, I would take out the fragrance. I always buy unscented, but that’s just me! Just me. It’s totally fine if that’s not you. It’s just me. Actually, it’s not me–it’s my husband.

A Simple Stain Solution: Fels Naptha Stain Remover and Laundry Bar

Don’t eat it. It’s not English toffee.

Purex gave me this bar to test. The fact that it was free did not affect my opinion. It did, however, affect my household budget slightly. They also gave me a few free coupons for some of you, which will be part of an upcoming mega-giveaway. Sweet!

What are some of your go-to stain removal solutions?