Dishwasher Pods

I just recently started using these little Cascade dishwasher pods.  It seemed like a great idea, until THIS happened:

I ran the dishwasher, and after the whole cycle completed, I opened the door to find sticky dishes and a pod that didn't dissolve properly.  This happened a couple of times, and I was just about to give up when I realized the problem.  If there's moisture in the little bin where you put the pod, it sticks to it and won't fall out when the latch opens.  Just be sure the bin is dry before you add the pod, and these work great!

Quick-Clean Vacuum Brushes

I'll admit right up front that I'm not the world's best housekeeper.  I'm not even in the running.  However, when I do clean, I like for my cleaning tools and supplies to work.  Otherwise I'm just wasting my time.  My vacuum was getting a little sluggish, and I turned it over and noticed that the brushes were all gunked up and tied down with this yuckiness:

Gross, I know.  I remembered seeing a Pinterest pin suggesting using a seam ripper to get all that out of there.  I'm not a seamstress and didn't have one.  As luck would have it, I happened to be headed to the craft store around this time, so I picked one up there.

I think I paid $2.49 for this, somewhere around there.  

You just use the sharp part to rip out the lint/strings/hair/whatever.  It's certainly quicker than using scissors or just trying to pull everything out.

It was a quick little poke, push, rip, twist, pull, and voila!

This took almost no time at all.  Best of all, I really think it improved the suck power of my vacuum.  This tip is a keeper!

BEFORE

AFTER

Soap Scum Killer

Source: Life, Crafts, Whatever

This is the first time I've ever used a homemade household cleaner.  I had spent so much money trying to get rid of the soap scum and hard water marks in my tile shower, to no avail.  The best retail product I'd found was Comet Bathroom Cleaner for Soap Scum & Hard Water Film.  It looked great after I first used it, but the next morning everything was streaky again (though a little less so).  

Naturally, I was intrigued by something billed as the "Soap Scum Killa" and decided to give it a try.  

Soap Scum Killa

What you need:

- 1 cup Distilled white vinegar

- 1 cup Dawn dish soap (must be the blue kind for some reason)

- Spray bottle

- Microwave

To Do:

Heat up 1 cup vinegar for 2 minutes.  

Pour into spray bottle.

Add 1 cup blue Dawn to spray bottle.

Shake gently. (If you shake too much you'll get an overload of bubbles which makes it harder to spray out.)

Spray the mixture on and let it set for two hours, or overnight for really tough stains.  Then just rinse with water and a sponge.  Voila!  I thought my stains were really bad, but I was so excited to see the results that I just waited for two hours.  It was plenty of time for me, but if you need to go longer, I'm sure it would just be better.

I think one of the tricks here is that the Dawn makes the vinegar stick to the walls rather than running down the sides.  That gives it more time to destroy the gunk.

To conclude:  

-The ratio is equal parts vinegar and Dawn.  You can make more or less as needed.  I found this amount was just enough for my shower.  

- I haven't tried reusing the solution after it has set.  I'm thinking I'll just make a new batch each time, because I liked the idea of the vinegar being warm.  Plus, the amount I made didn't leave any extra when I was done.

- Everything I've read about this says the Dawn must be the blue kind.  I didn't want to deviate from the norm, so I got the blue kind, and it worked great.

- My shower did smell like vinegar for about an hour after I did this, but then it was just fresh and clean after that.

I didn't take any photos of the before and after, because I tried this shortly before I started blogging about these finds.  Here's a before-and-after from the source blogger at Life, Crafts, Whatever.

Before

After

I must say, the results I saw were very similar, and I used it on the shower door and the stone tile inside the shower.  Amazing!  This was so easy, and the streaking has stayed gone for a week.  This soap scum killer will be my go-to shower cleaner from now on.  

Tried it, loved it!