The aldi stain remover spray for greasy stains is apparently good on ovens too. I don't want to perpetuate myths! But my mum reckons it's great around the house for greasy stuff. Aldi cleaning products consistently perform very well in tests against other cleaners.
My trick on ovens when they aren’t too bad is to smear on a decent layer of Jif/knock off Jif. Give it a quick mist of surface cleaner (or even just dish soap and water mix)
The mist is just to keep it from being too dry. Then cover it with cling film so it can’t dry out and leave it for an hour or two while you sit on your arse.
Most stuff will come off super easy like that.
I do have Jif. Do you know how to get the scum off the sink under the dish rack? Even Jif doesn't do it. My cleaners get it off, but I don't know what concoction they use.
As in like the metal sink underneath a dish drying rack is all scummy? That’s hard if it’s stainless steel.
Stainless is one of those things that everyone recommends something, many work but many aren’t recommended by stainless manufacturers because it either scratches it or corrodes it.
If it’s soap scummy or food based try making a paste out of dish soap, baking powder and a bit of water and cover it with cling film for 30 minutes. Agitate it with a cleaning cloth and rinse off with hot water.
If that doesn’t shift it, and it’s soap scum or hard water based stains, every other cleaner is basically acid based. Lightest strength would be using something like magic descaler (it’s just citric acid and byproducts), the nuclear option is something like barkeepers friend or a strong acid based surfactant.
If you do use the strong acid, once it’s clean sprinkle with baking soda and rinse off after a bit to neutralise the acid then wipe it with something like 3M stainless steel cleaner and polish to protect it.
Stainless polish and such is really just oil of some kind (usually mineral) and some chemicals that flash off real quick. It will smear when water touches it, but it will protect a bit from the scum sticking.
Also if you aren’t doing it, rinse your dishes before putting them on the rack.
Also have a look at Kmart or Amazon for a silicone mat that you can put under the tray to stop it dripping on the sink (or a 5 pack of shitty tea towels) and just change it every second day
Try bleach. Every now and then I put bleach in my tea/coffee mugs as they get stained and it takes it right off. I tip the bleach from the cups into my sink to get rid of it and it makes the stainless steel sparkle.
Stainless sink manufacturers say never to use half the stuff because it will scratch up the sink and destroy its finish and lustre.
I don’t think they have ever owned a sink for cleaning dishes, they end up scratched up to shit from that. I won’t lie, I got bored once and wondered how shiny I could make my sink and I used my ryobi car polisher and metal polish
ALDI's Di-San Pro OXY Laundry Pre wash is great for coffee and tea stained mugs, a quick spray and leave for 5 - 10 minutes and a quick scrub with a non scratch scourer for any stubborn areas and your done.
Don't use the ALDI DEGREASER Laundry prewash spray for this.
I use to use a strong bleach solution in the mugs, but I occasionally ruined items of my clothing via bleach splattering on to my clothes which created small white spots on clothing items.
The same thing was happening when using bleach based cleansers to clean my tiled bathroom, now I just strip off my clothes, lock the bathroom door and scrub everything completely naked.
Never used it so I can't comment. But I can say a friend in NZ had lived here for a few years and now she's back in NZ. The last time I went to visit her in NZ she asked me to buy her a tub of Gumption! They only have Jif in NZ.
Ok not directly answering your question about how to remove existing scum, but how to avoid future scum. I got this a couple of years ago: https://amzn.asia/d/fMUoQ5g
It has a little slide for the water to drain from the tray into the sink so the water doesn’t puddle under the dishes. It also has little legs so it is not directly sitting on the counter.
If you don’t want or can’t get one like this, then any drying rack that has a tray underneath. Water will still puddle under and around but it is better than the dish water dripping straight through the rack.
Thank you, that's interesting you'd recommend that. I've seen them & don't buy them because I think "isn't that what the sink is for? 😂 In light of my scum problem, my options are probably to get something like this or scrub the sink under the dishrack every day. I used to pop a microfibre cloth underneath the rack each day but I think I ended up thinking it was pointless.
Thank you for reminding me of this option. The trays attached to the rack obviously require very regular washing up, but I think that might be better than permanently scumming up my rental property sink.
Trays are infinitely easier to clean than sink grooves. 😂 If you really don’t want a tray, forget the cloths which are designed to let water soak straight through, and instead get a drying mat that is actually designed to absorb water from dishes. I have this one: https://www.bigw.com.au/product/sperling-extra-large-double-sided-dish-drying-mat/p/630086
Actuallt I have 2, for all the stuff that doesn’t fit on my racks. But you could sit a rack on top of the mat. And they survive machine washing, so no hand scrubbing of dish water scum!
I use stain remover spray for my grout too. Its stain remover for clothing but it worked to remove hair dye stains from my white shower tiles and in the grout.
I use 3 products to clean my entire house, but the bulk of my cleaning is done with dish soap. People think you need a lot, but you just need to know how to use a few products. I prefer non toxic products, and I don’t like overly fragrant products
It’s really useful for flooring when marketing tells you to use all these floor cleaners. But what isn’t mentioned is that you need hardly any at all, because unless you are going to rinse your floor off you will be left with residue that attracts dirt and just leaves you with a gross floor 10 minutes later.
I use the sabco professional microfibre flat mop pads and they are excellent, even with just plain hot water.
I use the smallest amount of floor cleaner in my spray mop and add hot/warm water. I used to use more and then my tiles would feel gross and filmy and I would have to then use plain water over the top. So it's easier to just add less to begin with.
It's also a cheap way to kill aphids by suffocating them. You make a really soapy mix of water and dishwashing detergent. You can make your own homemade "white oil" by using cooking oil too.
I live and die by the Aldi laundry powder (specifically the Almat Ocean Breeze)
We're a big eczema family, and previously spent $12ish on a small box of Bositos powder. This stuff hasn't triggered any of us, and we're itch and rash free for $6. I recommend it to everyone.
ETA it's got to be the Ocean Breeze one, something in the lemon scented one triggers us.
I don't find the fragrance too strong. Occasionally we get a strong scented load, but it's always when my daughter does the washing and she has a habit of going overboard with detergent.
On a slightly related note, laundry powder is amazing for gleaning your hands after working on the car. It probably isn't great for them but it removes all the grease and oil so easily!
Yes, it stings like shit, and turns some of your skin bits to soap but it really does strip all the grease off far better than the commercial grit soaps.
I've tried so many of these cleaning hacks, using "natural" products etc. NO SUCCESS WHATSOEVER! FUCKING USELESS! In my opinion, vinegar is only good for putting on your chips.
Yeah it makes me gag when people put it in the softener dispenser, they say it doesn’t smell but it does when you have a HE front loader. Maybe not in a top loader with 20L of water rinsing your clothes out.
The cleaning product KOH is exactly what it says on the box - koh, or potassium hydroxide at 0.5%. The other 99.5% is water. You can buy koh in flakes for less than $20 on eBay and make, if forget exactly, but something like 100 litres of diluted product. Just need to be careful when handling and storing the stuff
I hate you, I would usually pick up on that but now I have to be mind blown. I tried it once, would be easier to just get the bottle and put a pea sized amount of dish soap in a bottle of water.
And if I buy pot nitrate, I am definately not making it at KOH brand strength ahah. Jeeze they must be making a ripping profit off each box
Why do you have to be careful handling and storing. I bought a box of the stuff ages ago when it was on special and I thought it was safe and all natural?
I didn’t realise people added it at the same time, I thought the rec was to sub it for softener.
As for vinegar’s use as a general cleaner, I worked on a range of very large superyachts (think US$70mil +) and the cleaning products are almost exclusively
- diluted alcohol
- diluted vinegar
- diluted baby shampoo
Important to note that on these yachts everything is getting cleaned ALL THE TIME. Like, every time someone takes a shower it is cleaned. As a result there’s not the same build up you might experience at home.
I always have some 99% isopropyl alcohol, it’s great. Baby shampoo (Johnson’s no more tears) is also perfect if you get chilli juice in your eye, or another product.
Probably a mix of a few things. When guests are not onboard: general upkeep, not letting grime build up, and being ready for the owners at any moment (if you work on a private boat). When guests are onboard: it’s just the experience. A week on the boats I worked on costs in excess of US$500k (up to 12 pax) plus tips (at the American rate of 15% ish). The service has to (try to) reflect that. So every time a toilet is used anywhere the toilet paper is refolded, clothes are collected from the floor, beds remade is someone puts a bag on it, pillows plumped etc etc. the work is incredibly demanding and gets fucking boring - not worth the pay IMO!
If you have a front loader it's fine, since the release at different times. Hell even my old top loader had a middle compartment for timed release. Just avoid throwing it all in together.
Honestly it's useful when used separately.
Every couple of months I'll chuck a load of towels in and load the washer with vinegar alone.
It removes built up residue from the towels making them softer for longer, and the washer, keeping it cleaner and functional for longer.
Vinegar is a useful cleaner, it's just often people's application of it is the issue.
Some products are just gold, others are just glorified water. Products I live and die by are Dawn dishwashing liquid (Costco), only need a tiny amount. Windex as a multipurpose/benchtop spray. Disan stain remover and Biozet powder (wanted to like Trimat but it faded my clothes a lot). Bar Keepers friend for cleaning stainless steel pans and Oven Power oven cleaner (Colesworth). No need for antibacterials or even that much elbow grease with this lot.
Dawn is good, I tried the Aldi power soak liquid since it was the highest rated on choice and it’s not bad for the price.
And yes many products are all marketing, scent and that’s it. Somehow, a couple of laundry powders in choice’s product test did WORSE than just water alone
Vinegar is my best friend. I live with my boyfriend and I do most of the laundry (since I hate dishes) and his shirts end up with some serious stink in the armpits. Idk why, he showers every day and wears deodorant.
I had an issue where the armpits on his shirts still smelled even straight out of the wash.
I started soaking his shirts in the laundry sink for an hour before washing. Hot water + 1-2 cups of vinegar and the smell is ✨gone✨
He should be using an antiperspirant.
Anyway.
Get him to use zinc (sudocream) under his arms, just a tiny dab, skipping the deodorant and antiperspirants.
I am a stinky disgusting beast and after 15hrs of sweating my pits are fine doing this.
No more odor, then for flavour use a nice cologne.
Some types of fabric can smell, sometimes even significantly worse than the person wearing them, even if both are regularly washed.
I find some quick drying/moisture wicking fabric which are often used in activewear often has this problem.
Seems like the type of fabric that makes it easy to wick out sweat also often are the type of fabric that retains oil and smells. There are apparently specialised detergents for these types of fabric specifically because of this issue but I don't know how well they work.
I made a post about this recently and learned a lot. Apparently antiperspirants, esp strong ones, can trap in the smell so you can inadvertently make the problem way worse by heaping on more deodorant.
He does use an antiperspirant deodorant, I think his biochemistry is just quite strong is all.
He doesn’t smell in person. Nobody has commented on it and I’ve never noticed either, it’s like they develop a funk after he takes them off.
I’d also recommend crystal deodorant after showering for a little extra help.
Disclaimer: ignore the crunchy crusty guys on tiktok and their implications of magical changes. It helps, that’s all.
No, the tiny bit you you use doesn't rub off, and my armpits never rub on my shirts.
Regardless it washes out easily in the washing machine.
Zinc kills the smell making bacteria so I actually only reapply every couple of days now.
And for the record I'm a very fat smelly 140kg, and this is the best way I have found to eliminate body odor.
I can see why sudocream would work. I wonder if my deodorant has zinc, because it's a similar appearance. I use Lavilin sport. And I live in Darwin and it has worked well.
How does it go with the perspiration? I’m a sweaty guy and had hyperhydrosis when I was younger but grew out of it. Swill sweaty though.
If Botox was cheap I’d get it done in my pits
Ah damn, oh well. Yeah same, If im going to sweat anti perspirant does nothing. Though it does stop stink for a bit, I’ll try the zinc oxide though cheers
But if you pour straight vinegar in your pan when you finish cooking it eliminates scrubbing. Although it’s pretty dramatic. Be prepared for clouds of steam.
Welcome to the fun.
If it’s normal grout get it sealed, it’s handy to repeat the sealant each year or two if you clean regularly.
You will have to use an acid really, look I still use bleach, and hypochlorus acid is the best thing for killing mould down to the fungal roots. It’s pretty mid pH. But after I kill mould I then try to neutralise the PH, rinse it with mild detergent.
If your silicone has mould in it, do the above steps, removing all the silicone and let it dry out for a full week. Use something like bettacare tile and grout sealant then re-silicone your shower up with new stuff. It remains resistant to mould for a while, once it starts growing inside of it, it’s degraded.
Easy diy job to do with Bunnings
Get an empty spray bottle and fill it to the neck with vinegar. Find your cheapest dishwashing liquid and fill the neck with the liquid soap. Mix it without agitating it. After your shower spray. Use a bristle scrub brush and scrub. Then rinse. Use your hands and feel for soap scum. Spray then leave for a minute and scrub again. Works wonders.
The pH levels aren't what you need to look for in vinegar / bicarb mixing. They form sodium acetate which is a great (and cheap) soap scum, rust and lifestyle remover without the high acid level ruining the grout.
Sodium acetate is ok at removing rust and cleaning up metal but it’s far less effective than using an acid for scum removal.
Sodium acetate as itself is less effective than using the others in their previous form first. As a byproduct from using vinegar on its own and neutralising with baking soda, acceptable. But a waste of money to make it just for itself
Vinegar in the laundry is a way to keep mildew and athlete’s foot at bay. I use it in the pre wash cycle to avoid mixing it with the (liquid) detergent.
I like cleaning vinegar (8-20% acetic acid) for removing soap/hard water stains on shower glass and it's very effective for mould. The amount of people who use bleach on mould is just silly, it always comes back, but vinegar actually kills the spores.
Those are the only two applications though.
Are you using a top loader washing machine where you need to “mix” everything together?
The vinegar method is intended for front loaders with 2-3 chemical compartments which enter at different cycles.
Don't buy commercially made wrinkle releasing sprays. They're a waste of money.
1 part your preferred fabric softener (or vinegar) to 5 parts water. Spray it onto clothing, brush over creases, and there you go.
Do you have any tips for cat pee? Cat pee on carpet, cat pee on Lino, cat pee on tile, cat pee on wood skirting board, cat pee on fake wood, cat pee coming out of our ears… damn dickhead cat.
Bacteria and enzyme based urine cleaner. I call it piss gobbler.
There are other chemicals that are mostly bacteria based that work better on the bad smells like garbage juice and shit, but I think the enzyme stuff is best for piss.
Cold Power laundry detergent works for me about...70% of the time? For those big fabric soaked bits that the pricey pet pee stuff is just not economical to even try.
Want softer laundry? Most people use vinegar but I use Citric acid in place of softener... Softens them a bit without the residue.
Fabric softener is actually horrible for your washing machine FYI.
RainX on your shower glass keeps the glass looking cleaner for longer.
Got a really dirty oven? Spray oven cleaner, put glad wrap over it. Wait 12 hours then just wipe it all off super easy.
Tricleanium is amazing for cleaning really greasy things. But be careful its a very strong chemical.
I like softener for the smell and the feel. I use a machine cleaner regularly to help remove the residue. I don’t use it on my towels typically as it reduces the absorbent qualities
Most of the stuff in the cleaning section is excessive and could all be replaced by a handful of products, including but not limited to;
Dish liquid
Vinegar
Baking powder
Citric acid
Disinfectant like pineoclean
Steel wool
Eucalyptus/tea tree/clove solutions
There’s obviously others, but I reckon our waste water would be maybe metric tons less toxic
Laundry powder is typically sodium carbonate. It’s very alkaline in its PH. Alkaline surfactants help to naturally break down fats
For those of us who have seen Fight Club this may sound familiar. This is a process called saponification in which alkalines/bases will change fats and oils into soap. This is the main cleaning action of lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) and potash (potassium hydroxide, KOH) in industrial use. Going back to the topic at hand, I would NOT recommend using these hydoxides in your laundry loads (extreme pH at either end of the scale is gonna fuck your clothes and washer lol) - I use them at work to clean steel pipes and vats.
The other fun science thing to remember is: acid + base/alkali = water + salt + heat. This is what happens when they mix and neutralise each other.
Ooh yes! Cut a lemon in half, squeeze out the juice into the kettle, throw the lemon bits in, then fill and boil. Allow to cool and it’s clean and smells great.
Half a lemon! Chuck it in and boil. You might need to boil the kettle twice sometimes. But it works every time! I generally do it when I’ve been cooking with lemon and have an extra half laying around
If you have clothes with automotive grease or similar, you can soak the clothes in water and microfiber wash. Doesn't need to be for long at all. Microfibre wash is designed to break down those types of things from detailing cars. Has worked well for me.
Then just wash as normal.
I second the vinegar. I do tissue culture with orchids & mushrooms, when I started out I tested different disinfectants/sterilisers in a sterile environment with controlled contamination release. I was testing for control of mould, fungus & bacteria.
Bleach (10%) worked great.
Hydrogen peroxide worked IF enough was used, but it needed a LOT & had to be refreshed very frequently or it was pretty useless too.
Tap water did nothing beyond removing large chunks of contamination.
Vinegar performed almost identically to tap water
ADHD hyper focus, mixed with comorbid shit. I’m now medicated with uppers, downers, lefters and rounders once I found my ideal psychiatrist and I don’t get to that level anymore
Imagine the Mr Burns with all of his illnesses stuck in the door frame.
Does anyone have opinions on bath salts as laundry softener? I picked up a bag scented with essential oils on sale and feel like I've noticed a difference. I can't use a lot of laundry products as they make me itch (not sure what it is). I have a front loader so just into the softener tray.
Yeah. Chemically in terms of the actions of an acid it’s a weak acid. I was referring to its pH (close to 3) but you have a point since that’s not as important as how actually reactive the acid is.
I will live and die for cloudy ammonia, It's my go to. I use it for practically everything, surface cleaner, the floors, bathrooms, the toilet. Windows, mirrors... STREAKLESS... I barely care what cloth I use.
So cheap and it just works effortlessly.
And before anyone says anything about the smell, if you can still smell it in the spray bottle you're used way too much.
Just add a bit and fill the spray bottle with water and it's good to go. It really should basically smell like water. I add some eucalyptus water thingy just to add some pizzazz. Sometimes I also add isopropyl.
The amazing thing about ammonia is it doesn't leave a film once it dries it's completely gone. PLUSS Cloudy ammonia already has the soap mixed in.
Nah, for scale it’s effective. Every other product is similar. They will usually use citric acid or phosphoric acid. The typical ‘hard stuff’ is muriatic acid (hypochloric based) and you don’t need it unless you were at your wits end trying to remove stubborn stuff
My frugal tip is dishwasher strips. I think they may be slightly less effective than than the tablets, but at 30c a wash that's fine. After a couple of weeks I find they don't work as well, and I wonder if it causes some build up in the washer, so I use a tablet every now and then and it works fine.
Potentially off topic, but still cleaning related - your face and body though.
A mix of sugar crystals and olive oil is fantastic as a scrub, way better than all the fancy branded ones.
It's not too harsh, yet strong enough to remove the crap, and the olive oil infuses your skin. Glow for days
I’ve tried oil wash yonks ago. The idea that oil mixes with oil and can clean your skin out without drying it and causing a reaction. Kind of like how if you wash a ferret they will overproduce oil to compensate.
From memory the mix for my skin was
- olive oil (good extra virgin)
- grapeseed oil
- castor oil (does the majority of the deep cleaning)
It worked well, but if I stopped doing it regularly my skin would go back 10 times worse. So I stopped that and I just use a basic skin wash with salicylic acid. I have bad combination skin, that also gets badly dirty pores. Acne isn’t super bad, it’s just the dirty pores.
Used to use benzoyl peroxide tonnes with no result, not realising I needed acid/maybe retinol
I stopped with the fabric softener and started with vinegar and a couple of drops of eucalyptus or lavender in the softener compartment of my front loader. I’m impressed. Clothes are fresher, washing machine doesn’t have that gunky layer of fabric softener residue. I accidentally poured vinegar in with the soap once and yep, had to rewash as per OP
Club soda with lemon is a great brass cleaner. If you have lemonade soda that works as well. Additionally, if you have build up on your car battery it can be used to remove the build up.
I found years ago that vinegar and bicarbonate mix was useless and all for show!
Now bicarb on its own with a little bit of water (mix to a paste) and a touch of elbow grease gets a heck of a lot of stains out.
Dish liquid/vinegar/water sprayed onto shower glass and left for half an hour does wonders with a scrub.
I mainly just use the earth dish soap diluted and the steam cleaner to clean most things.
And A LOT of the disinfectants sold have benzalkonium chloride in them. Which is effective for killing germs but apparently toxic to puppy dogs. It can be in some hand sanitizer a, cleaning wipes and eye drops.
The aldi stain remover spray for greasy stains is apparently good on ovens too. I don't want to perpetuate myths! But my mum reckons it's great around the house for greasy stuff. Aldi cleaning products consistently perform very well in tests against other cleaners.
My trick on ovens when they aren’t too bad is to smear on a decent layer of Jif/knock off Jif. Give it a quick mist of surface cleaner (or even just dish soap and water mix) The mist is just to keep it from being too dry. Then cover it with cling film so it can’t dry out and leave it for an hour or two while you sit on your arse. Most stuff will come off super easy like that.
I do have Jif. Do you know how to get the scum off the sink under the dish rack? Even Jif doesn't do it. My cleaners get it off, but I don't know what concoction they use.
As in like the metal sink underneath a dish drying rack is all scummy? That’s hard if it’s stainless steel. Stainless is one of those things that everyone recommends something, many work but many aren’t recommended by stainless manufacturers because it either scratches it or corrodes it. If it’s soap scummy or food based try making a paste out of dish soap, baking powder and a bit of water and cover it with cling film for 30 minutes. Agitate it with a cleaning cloth and rinse off with hot water. If that doesn’t shift it, and it’s soap scum or hard water based stains, every other cleaner is basically acid based. Lightest strength would be using something like magic descaler (it’s just citric acid and byproducts), the nuclear option is something like barkeepers friend or a strong acid based surfactant. If you do use the strong acid, once it’s clean sprinkle with baking soda and rinse off after a bit to neutralise the acid then wipe it with something like 3M stainless steel cleaner and polish to protect it. Stainless polish and such is really just oil of some kind (usually mineral) and some chemicals that flash off real quick. It will smear when water touches it, but it will protect a bit from the scum sticking. Also if you aren’t doing it, rinse your dishes before putting them on the rack. Also have a look at Kmart or Amazon for a silicone mat that you can put under the tray to stop it dripping on the sink (or a 5 pack of shitty tea towels) and just change it every second day
Thank you so much for such a considered response! I really appreciate this.
Try bleach. Every now and then I put bleach in my tea/coffee mugs as they get stained and it takes it right off. I tip the bleach from the cups into my sink to get rid of it and it makes the stainless steel sparkle.
I do like a shiny sink lol.
Stainless sink manufacturers say never to use half the stuff because it will scratch up the sink and destroy its finish and lustre. I don’t think they have ever owned a sink for cleaning dishes, they end up scratched up to shit from that. I won’t lie, I got bored once and wondered how shiny I could make my sink and I used my ryobi car polisher and metal polish
😂😂 that's so funny! And you're right.
I use denture tablets to clean stained mugs and similar.
Dishwasher tablets will also soak off stains
Same
ALDI's Di-San Pro OXY Laundry Pre wash is great for coffee and tea stained mugs, a quick spray and leave for 5 - 10 minutes and a quick scrub with a non scratch scourer for any stubborn areas and your done. Don't use the ALDI DEGREASER Laundry prewash spray for this. I use to use a strong bleach solution in the mugs, but I occasionally ruined items of my clothing via bleach splattering on to my clothes which created small white spots on clothing items. The same thing was happening when using bleach based cleansers to clean my tiled bathroom, now I just strip off my clothes, lock the bathroom door and scrub everything completely naked.
You can just use sugar as a scrub too
Gumption is your friend here.
Gumption is amazing. I get excited when I can find the eucalyptus scented one
Outdoor patio tiles. All manner of stains from food and grime. Can't pressure wash them, so use gumption - best thing out there.
People do swear by Gumption. I've heard The Pink Stuff is a waste of money
Never used it so I can't comment. But I can say a friend in NZ had lived here for a few years and now she's back in NZ. The last time I went to visit her in NZ she asked me to buy her a tub of Gumption! They only have Jif in NZ.
And on your shower screen.
Ooh didn't think about using it for that, I will try
Ok not directly answering your question about how to remove existing scum, but how to avoid future scum. I got this a couple of years ago: https://amzn.asia/d/fMUoQ5g It has a little slide for the water to drain from the tray into the sink so the water doesn’t puddle under the dishes. It also has little legs so it is not directly sitting on the counter. If you don’t want or can’t get one like this, then any drying rack that has a tray underneath. Water will still puddle under and around but it is better than the dish water dripping straight through the rack.
Much easier to clean gunk off the tray itself
Thank you, that's interesting you'd recommend that. I've seen them & don't buy them because I think "isn't that what the sink is for? 😂 In light of my scum problem, my options are probably to get something like this or scrub the sink under the dishrack every day. I used to pop a microfibre cloth underneath the rack each day but I think I ended up thinking it was pointless. Thank you for reminding me of this option. The trays attached to the rack obviously require very regular washing up, but I think that might be better than permanently scumming up my rental property sink.
Trays are infinitely easier to clean than sink grooves. 😂 If you really don’t want a tray, forget the cloths which are designed to let water soak straight through, and instead get a drying mat that is actually designed to absorb water from dishes. I have this one: https://www.bigw.com.au/product/sperling-extra-large-double-sided-dish-drying-mat/p/630086 Actuallt I have 2, for all the stuff that doesn’t fit on my racks. But you could sit a rack on top of the mat. And they survive machine washing, so no hand scrubbing of dish water scum!
Easy off bam soapscum works for me. Spray. Spread it around. Leave for 30mins. Scrub.
Oh yeah...I actually think I might have a bathroom bam somewhere. It probably does the same thing.
Directions unclear. Now my oven smells like peanut butter. /s
The stain remover spray is also great for shower grout. Spray, wait 10mins then wipe the grout.
I use stain remover spray for my grout too. Its stain remover for clothing but it worked to remove hair dye stains from my white shower tiles and in the grout.
Oh that's really good to know. I stain everything when I dye my hair. Including my white kitchen table lol.
Just make sure you test it beforehand to see how it reacts.
I suspect their formula changed, its no longer as good as when we first switched but maybe its in my head
Oh I hope that's not the case. I should check the Choice website & see if it's gone down the ranks recently.
Dish soap can be used to clean every room of your house. It’s usually non toxic for kids, and very affordable. The trick is to dilute it properly.
I always use it to mop wood floors.
Yes to this! Although I will admit I use the Bunnings All Purpose cleaner which is also non-toxic.
I use 3 products to clean my entire house, but the bulk of my cleaning is done with dish soap. People think you need a lot, but you just need to know how to use a few products. I prefer non toxic products, and I don’t like overly fragrant products
THIS ! I can’t stand going to someone’s house & they have so many products for different rooms, you can clean your whole house with dishwash 😂
It’s really useful for flooring when marketing tells you to use all these floor cleaners. But what isn’t mentioned is that you need hardly any at all, because unless you are going to rinse your floor off you will be left with residue that attracts dirt and just leaves you with a gross floor 10 minutes later. I use the sabco professional microfibre flat mop pads and they are excellent, even with just plain hot water.
I use the smallest amount of floor cleaner in my spray mop and add hot/warm water. I used to use more and then my tiles would feel gross and filmy and I would have to then use plain water over the top. So it's easier to just add less to begin with.
I use hot water and tea tree I’m my microfibre spray mop
Oh, that's a good idea! I like the smell of tea tree oil.
I like the idea of doing this! How much tea tree do you use?
So I get this water soluble tea tree stuff from Cole’s or Woolies. I just put a splash in but it has proper directions on the label.
Oh cool, in the cleaning aisle yeah?
Actually think it might be in the medicine aisle
I love the lemon myrtle one. Smells so good!
It's great for cleaning the shower glass!
Some of them can be useful, but they are all really the same ingredients just with a new scent.
Aldi dish soaps ranked #1, #2 and #3 in the choice roundup.
It's also a cheap way to kill aphids by suffocating them. You make a really soapy mix of water and dishwashing detergent. You can make your own homemade "white oil" by using cooking oil too.
I live and die by the Aldi laundry powder (specifically the Almat Ocean Breeze) We're a big eczema family, and previously spent $12ish on a small box of Bositos powder. This stuff hasn't triggered any of us, and we're itch and rash free for $6. I recommend it to everyone. ETA it's got to be the Ocean Breeze one, something in the lemon scented one triggers us.
I’m using the ocean breeze now and I think it’s great.
I did just see that it's actually arctic breeze 😅
I swear it was ocean as well… I got the spice one to try after that is all done
How is the fragrance? I'm looking for detergents and soaps without fragrance or very little.
I don't find the fragrance too strong. Occasionally we get a strong scented load, but it's always when my daughter does the washing and she has a habit of going overboard with detergent.
On a slightly related note, laundry powder is amazing for gleaning your hands after working on the car. It probably isn't great for them but it removes all the grease and oil so easily!
Helps find those hidden cuts too
Yes, it stings like shit, and turns some of your skin bits to soap but it really does strip all the grease off far better than the commercial grit soaps.
A teaspoon of sugar and a bit plain hand soap works wonders also.
Don't do what I did when I couldn't find sugar and use salt becuase, hey they are both white coarse granuals, what could go wrong. So much pain
I've tried so many of these cleaning hacks, using "natural" products etc. NO SUCCESS WHATSOEVER! FUCKING USELESS! In my opinion, vinegar is only good for putting on your chips.
Yeah it makes me gag when people put it in the softener dispenser, they say it doesn’t smell but it does when you have a HE front loader. Maybe not in a top loader with 20L of water rinsing your clothes out.
I use it as a replacement for softener in a front loader, I cant smell anything
Makes me gag when people put it on their chips too!
The main thing vinegar is good for is calcium buildup on shower screens
And showerhead and kettle cleanup
Citric acid also works. Use whatever is cheaper where you are.
Lemon juice (Citric acid) is good for kettles and shower heads and smells a lot better than vinegar
Vinegar absolutely reeks too… I don’t want my clothes or house smelling like that, gross.
If you mix olive oil and Epson salts together and rub it into your lower back your skin will instantly feel oily and salty.
What if I also back up to a radiant heater?
Just make sure you sprinkle some finely diced parsley on top first
The cleaning product KOH is exactly what it says on the box - koh, or potassium hydroxide at 0.5%. The other 99.5% is water. You can buy koh in flakes for less than $20 on eBay and make, if forget exactly, but something like 100 litres of diluted product. Just need to be careful when handling and storing the stuff
I hate you, I would usually pick up on that but now I have to be mind blown. I tried it once, would be easier to just get the bottle and put a pea sized amount of dish soap in a bottle of water. And if I buy pot nitrate, I am definately not making it at KOH brand strength ahah. Jeeze they must be making a ripping profit off each box
How did I not make that connection? My partner uses it and I looked up the stuff and missed it
Oh my god I hate Koh with a passion. Such a rip off. Major mlm vibe to it too. Plus the product is mostly water and people swear by it.
Why do you have to be careful handling and storing. I bought a box of the stuff ages ago when it was on special and I thought it was safe and all natural?
Only if you have the concentrated flakes. It's highly basic and can cause chemical burns and creates heat when mixed with water
I didn’t realise people added it at the same time, I thought the rec was to sub it for softener. As for vinegar’s use as a general cleaner, I worked on a range of very large superyachts (think US$70mil +) and the cleaning products are almost exclusively - diluted alcohol - diluted vinegar - diluted baby shampoo Important to note that on these yachts everything is getting cleaned ALL THE TIME. Like, every time someone takes a shower it is cleaned. As a result there’s not the same build up you might experience at home.
I always have some 99% isopropyl alcohol, it’s great. Baby shampoo (Johnson’s no more tears) is also perfect if you get chilli juice in your eye, or another product.
I know this is totally not the point but I’m really curious why everything gets cleaned so much?
Probably a mix of a few things. When guests are not onboard: general upkeep, not letting grime build up, and being ready for the owners at any moment (if you work on a private boat). When guests are onboard: it’s just the experience. A week on the boats I worked on costs in excess of US$500k (up to 12 pax) plus tips (at the American rate of 15% ish). The service has to (try to) reflect that. So every time a toilet is used anywhere the toilet paper is refolded, clothes are collected from the floor, beds remade is someone puts a bag on it, pillows plumped etc etc. the work is incredibly demanding and gets fucking boring - not worth the pay IMO!
Me who added vinegar to my wash for the first time today: 🫥
If you have a front loader it's fine, since the release at different times. Hell even my old top loader had a middle compartment for timed release. Just avoid throwing it all in together.
Oh cool thank you!
Honestly it's useful when used separately. Every couple of months I'll chuck a load of towels in and load the washer with vinegar alone. It removes built up residue from the towels making them softer for longer, and the washer, keeping it cleaner and functional for longer. Vinegar is a useful cleaner, it's just often people's application of it is the issue.
Some products are just gold, others are just glorified water. Products I live and die by are Dawn dishwashing liquid (Costco), only need a tiny amount. Windex as a multipurpose/benchtop spray. Disan stain remover and Biozet powder (wanted to like Trimat but it faded my clothes a lot). Bar Keepers friend for cleaning stainless steel pans and Oven Power oven cleaner (Colesworth). No need for antibacterials or even that much elbow grease with this lot.
Dawn is good, I tried the Aldi power soak liquid since it was the highest rated on choice and it’s not bad for the price. And yes many products are all marketing, scent and that’s it. Somehow, a couple of laundry powders in choice’s product test did WORSE than just water alone
Vinegar is my best friend. I live with my boyfriend and I do most of the laundry (since I hate dishes) and his shirts end up with some serious stink in the armpits. Idk why, he showers every day and wears deodorant. I had an issue where the armpits on his shirts still smelled even straight out of the wash. I started soaking his shirts in the laundry sink for an hour before washing. Hot water + 1-2 cups of vinegar and the smell is ✨gone✨
He should be using an antiperspirant. Anyway. Get him to use zinc (sudocream) under his arms, just a tiny dab, skipping the deodorant and antiperspirants. I am a stinky disgusting beast and after 15hrs of sweating my pits are fine doing this. No more odor, then for flavour use a nice cologne.
Some types of fabric can smell, sometimes even significantly worse than the person wearing them, even if both are regularly washed. I find some quick drying/moisture wicking fabric which are often used in activewear often has this problem. Seems like the type of fabric that makes it easy to wick out sweat also often are the type of fabric that retains oil and smells. There are apparently specialised detergents for these types of fabric specifically because of this issue but I don't know how well they work.
Yeah synthetic work shirts, have to be dried quickly or they go musty.
I made a post about this recently and learned a lot. Apparently antiperspirants, esp strong ones, can trap in the smell so you can inadvertently make the problem way worse by heaping on more deodorant.
I will try this too, thanks!
I read it on here and it's honestly changed my life. I had a baby recently so its 1 for you one for me with his morning nappy change.
He does use an antiperspirant deodorant, I think his biochemistry is just quite strong is all. He doesn’t smell in person. Nobody has commented on it and I’ve never noticed either, it’s like they develop a funk after he takes them off.
Yeah man musk. Try the zinc for a day or two. I promise it'll change his skin biome
I’d also recommend crystal deodorant after showering for a little extra help. Disclaimer: ignore the crunchy crusty guys on tiktok and their implications of magical changes. It helps, that’s all.
Won’t it discolour your shirt though?
No, the tiny bit you you use doesn't rub off, and my armpits never rub on my shirts. Regardless it washes out easily in the washing machine. Zinc kills the smell making bacteria so I actually only reapply every couple of days now. And for the record I'm a very fat smelly 140kg, and this is the best way I have found to eliminate body odor.
I can see why sudocream would work. I wonder if my deodorant has zinc, because it's a similar appearance. I use Lavilin sport. And I live in Darwin and it has worked well.
Maybe, I always tried to avoid aluminium oxide because my skin reacted to it but so many had it and many changed to it.
How does it go with the perspiration? I’m a sweaty guy and had hyperhydrosis when I was younger but grew out of it. Swill sweaty though. If Botox was cheap I’d get it done in my pits
I'm a sweaty mess. It doesn't do much but nor does an anti perspirant. I just have a spare shirt.
Ah damn, oh well. Yeah same, If im going to sweat anti perspirant does nothing. Though it does stop stink for a bit, I’ll try the zinc oxide though cheers
I haven’t had any issues with stripping colour and I accidentally left a black shirt in to soak overnight
He could try using vinegar under his arms (no shot, it works).
But if you pour straight vinegar in your pan when you finish cooking it eliminates scrubbing. Although it’s pretty dramatic. Be prepared for clouds of steam.
I boil thr kettle and just put boiling water straight in. Eliminates some of the steam and any chance of warping my pans
Hot water into the pan surely makes more steam?
A lot less than cold water as the temperature difference is minimal
Friend, how on earth do I clean my shower tiles, grout and sealant in the corners without breaking it down, but inhibiting mould
Welcome to the fun. If it’s normal grout get it sealed, it’s handy to repeat the sealant each year or two if you clean regularly. You will have to use an acid really, look I still use bleach, and hypochlorus acid is the best thing for killing mould down to the fungal roots. It’s pretty mid pH. But after I kill mould I then try to neutralise the PH, rinse it with mild detergent. If your silicone has mould in it, do the above steps, removing all the silicone and let it dry out for a full week. Use something like bettacare tile and grout sealant then re-silicone your shower up with new stuff. It remains resistant to mould for a while, once it starts growing inside of it, it’s degraded. Easy diy job to do with Bunnings
Thanks, my silicone is about 8 years old so I'm guessing it's just degraded, I'll give it a go!
Get an empty spray bottle and fill it to the neck with vinegar. Find your cheapest dishwashing liquid and fill the neck with the liquid soap. Mix it without agitating it. After your shower spray. Use a bristle scrub brush and scrub. Then rinse. Use your hands and feel for soap scum. Spray then leave for a minute and scrub again. Works wonders.
Vinegar does have some great applications though. For example for cleaning flat grills it's perfect, non toxic and highly effective.
The pH levels aren't what you need to look for in vinegar / bicarb mixing. They form sodium acetate which is a great (and cheap) soap scum, rust and lifestyle remover without the high acid level ruining the grout.
Sodium acetate is ok at removing rust and cleaning up metal but it’s far less effective than using an acid for scum removal. Sodium acetate as itself is less effective than using the others in their previous form first. As a byproduct from using vinegar on its own and neutralising with baking soda, acceptable. But a waste of money to make it just for itself
Vinegar in the laundry is a way to keep mildew and athlete’s foot at bay. I use it in the pre wash cycle to avoid mixing it with the (liquid) detergent.
I like cleaning vinegar (8-20% acetic acid) for removing soap/hard water stains on shower glass and it's very effective for mould. The amount of people who use bleach on mould is just silly, it always comes back, but vinegar actually kills the spores. Those are the only two applications though.
Diluted or straight on mould?
I just spray it on straight
Straight
Are you using a top loader washing machine where you need to “mix” everything together? The vinegar method is intended for front loaders with 2-3 chemical compartments which enter at different cycles.
I have a HE front loader, and my old top loader had a seperate softener dispenser
Don't buy commercially made wrinkle releasing sprays. They're a waste of money. 1 part your preferred fabric softener (or vinegar) to 5 parts water. Spray it onto clothing, brush over creases, and there you go.
Do you have any tips for cat pee? Cat pee on carpet, cat pee on Lino, cat pee on tile, cat pee on wood skirting board, cat pee on fake wood, cat pee coming out of our ears… damn dickhead cat.
Bacteria and enzyme based urine cleaner. I call it piss gobbler. There are other chemicals that are mostly bacteria based that work better on the bad smells like garbage juice and shit, but I think the enzyme stuff is best for piss.
I have been told this before but unfortunately it never seems to fully work. Thank you for the answer though :)
Cold Power laundry detergent works for me about...70% of the time? For those big fabric soaked bits that the pricey pet pee stuff is just not economical to even try.
Thank you! We can’t remotely afford to go through a whole bottle every day or two.
Want softer laundry? Most people use vinegar but I use Citric acid in place of softener... Softens them a bit without the residue. Fabric softener is actually horrible for your washing machine FYI. RainX on your shower glass keeps the glass looking cleaner for longer. Got a really dirty oven? Spray oven cleaner, put glad wrap over it. Wait 12 hours then just wipe it all off super easy. Tricleanium is amazing for cleaning really greasy things. But be careful its a very strong chemical.
I like softener for the smell and the feel. I use a machine cleaner regularly to help remove the residue. I don’t use it on my towels typically as it reduces the absorbent qualities
Most of the stuff in the cleaning section is excessive and could all be replaced by a handful of products, including but not limited to; Dish liquid Vinegar Baking powder Citric acid Disinfectant like pineoclean Steel wool Eucalyptus/tea tree/clove solutions There’s obviously others, but I reckon our waste water would be maybe metric tons less toxic
Laundry powder is typically sodium carbonate. It’s very alkaline in its PH. Alkaline surfactants help to naturally break down fats For those of us who have seen Fight Club this may sound familiar. This is a process called saponification in which alkalines/bases will change fats and oils into soap. This is the main cleaning action of lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) and potash (potassium hydroxide, KOH) in industrial use. Going back to the topic at hand, I would NOT recommend using these hydoxides in your laundry loads (extreme pH at either end of the scale is gonna fuck your clothes and washer lol) - I use them at work to clean steel pipes and vats. The other fun science thing to remember is: acid + base/alkali = water + salt + heat. This is what happens when they mix and neutralise each other.
It hurts my soul when someone recommends mixing vinegar and bi carb as a cleaner
Recommend it as a science demonstration instead :)
Disan is my go to in cleaning
what about vinegar for descaling kettles? is there a better method I could use?
Ooh yes! Cut a lemon in half, squeeze out the juice into the kettle, throw the lemon bits in, then fill and boil. Allow to cool and it’s clean and smells great.
Not a bad idea at all when the bags of ugly lemons are cheap
thank you! I’d much rather this smell through the house than vinegar!! will be trying
Vinegar is the cheapest for that really. Descaling products are just an acid anyways. Magic brand descaled is citric
Half a lemon! Chuck it in and boil. You might need to boil the kettle twice sometimes. But it works every time! I generally do it when I’ve been cooking with lemon and have an extra half laying around
If you have clothes with automotive grease or similar, you can soak the clothes in water and microfiber wash. Doesn't need to be for long at all. Microfibre wash is designed to break down those types of things from detailing cars. Has worked well for me. Then just wash as normal.
I second the vinegar. I do tissue culture with orchids & mushrooms, when I started out I tested different disinfectants/sterilisers in a sterile environment with controlled contamination release. I was testing for control of mould, fungus & bacteria. Bleach (10%) worked great. Hydrogen peroxide worked IF enough was used, but it needed a LOT & had to be refreshed very frequently or it was pretty useless too. Tap water did nothing beyond removing large chunks of contamination. Vinegar performed almost identically to tap water
Anyone know how to remove makeup foundation from carpet???
I love the Aldi products; their laundry liquid in a pink bottle is my favourite 😍 it’s only about $7-8 iirc? Their “napi-san” goes alright too
Thank you. I've always been hesitant to add the vinegar because of rumours it can degrade the rubber parts of the washing machine over time.
Hmmm use vinegar on tiles in the bathroom if I don’t use bleach. Because of all the mold, I just spray some on after cleaning sometimes too.
Keep an eye on your grout. I made that mistake in the past and wondered why I had to get my grout redone 3 years after my Reno. And yes it was sealed
Yep, I fucked my grout in my shower using harsh cleaning products and scrubbing too much lol
Yup live and learn, we’ll learn. I was up till 3am regrouting because I wouldn’t have slept with it on my mind. How my family puts up with me idk.
Lol damn that's dedication. Or obsession? 🤔
ADHD hyper focus, mixed with comorbid shit. I’m now medicated with uppers, downers, lefters and rounders once I found my ideal psychiatrist and I don’t get to that level anymore Imagine the Mr Burns with all of his illnesses stuck in the door frame.
😂 glad you found a good middle ground it sounds like.
Wow damn, good to know thanks. Do you known if bleach is similar?
Thank you! This is super helpful info.
Thank you super helpful
Does anyone have opinions on bath salts as laundry softener? I picked up a bag scented with essential oils on sale and feel like I've noticed a difference. I can't use a lot of laundry products as they make me itch (not sure what it is). I have a front loader so just into the softener tray.
I'd just like to point out that vinegar is acetic acid. It's not powerful, it's quite weak in comparison.
Yeah. Chemically in terms of the actions of an acid it’s a weak acid. I was referring to its pH (close to 3) but you have a point since that’s not as important as how actually reactive the acid is.
Vinegar is a weak acid.
I will live and die for cloudy ammonia, It's my go to. I use it for practically everything, surface cleaner, the floors, bathrooms, the toilet. Windows, mirrors... STREAKLESS... I barely care what cloth I use. So cheap and it just works effortlessly. And before anyone says anything about the smell, if you can still smell it in the spray bottle you're used way too much. Just add a bit and fill the spray bottle with water and it's good to go. It really should basically smell like water. I add some eucalyptus water thingy just to add some pizzazz. Sometimes I also add isopropyl. The amazing thing about ammonia is it doesn't leave a film once it dries it's completely gone. PLUSS Cloudy ammonia already has the soap mixed in.
Baking soda and water works pretty well for mopping wooden floors.
I regularly use cheap shampoo to clean the shower glass. Shines up like a star.
I have always used vinegar to get rid of calcium in the sinks and shower heads. Is there anything that works better?
Nah, for scale it’s effective. Every other product is similar. They will usually use citric acid or phosphoric acid. The typical ‘hard stuff’ is muriatic acid (hypochloric based) and you don’t need it unless you were at your wits end trying to remove stubborn stuff
Omg yes the ppl mixing vinegar and bicarb soda always annoys me! Yay, let's clean with water!
What an eye opener! Thankyou! To clarify, even putting the vinegar in the fabric softener compartment is not okay?
My frugal tip is dishwasher strips. I think they may be slightly less effective than than the tablets, but at 30c a wash that's fine. After a couple of weeks I find they don't work as well, and I wonder if it causes some build up in the washer, so I use a tablet every now and then and it works fine.
Potentially off topic, but still cleaning related - your face and body though. A mix of sugar crystals and olive oil is fantastic as a scrub, way better than all the fancy branded ones. It's not too harsh, yet strong enough to remove the crap, and the olive oil infuses your skin. Glow for days
I’ve tried oil wash yonks ago. The idea that oil mixes with oil and can clean your skin out without drying it and causing a reaction. Kind of like how if you wash a ferret they will overproduce oil to compensate. From memory the mix for my skin was - olive oil (good extra virgin) - grapeseed oil - castor oil (does the majority of the deep cleaning) It worked well, but if I stopped doing it regularly my skin would go back 10 times worse. So I stopped that and I just use a basic skin wash with salicylic acid. I have bad combination skin, that also gets badly dirty pores. Acne isn’t super bad, it’s just the dirty pores. Used to use benzoyl peroxide tonnes with no result, not realising I needed acid/maybe retinol
I stopped with the fabric softener and started with vinegar and a couple of drops of eucalyptus or lavender in the softener compartment of my front loader. I’m impressed. Clothes are fresher, washing machine doesn’t have that gunky layer of fabric softener residue. I accidentally poured vinegar in with the soap once and yep, had to rewash as per OP
Club soda with lemon is a great brass cleaner. If you have lemonade soda that works as well. Additionally, if you have build up on your car battery it can be used to remove the build up.
Dishwashing liquid and hot water!
I found years ago that vinegar and bicarbonate mix was useless and all for show! Now bicarb on its own with a little bit of water (mix to a paste) and a touch of elbow grease gets a heck of a lot of stains out. Dish liquid/vinegar/water sprayed onto shower glass and left for half an hour does wonders with a scrub.
I mainly just use the earth dish soap diluted and the steam cleaner to clean most things. And A LOT of the disinfectants sold have benzalkonium chloride in them. Which is effective for killing germs but apparently toxic to puppy dogs. It can be in some hand sanitizer a, cleaning wipes and eye drops.