Category Archives: Cleaning

Oct12

Drain Cleaner

Posted on by
Standard

I have had a chronically clogged drain in my bathroom sink almost since we moved in. Mr. PTDT and I don’t have to share a sink, thank goodness, but that means I have no one to blame the clogs on but myself!! I don’t know what gets it so clogged, but Pinterest offered up an easy and non chemical way to clean it!

Here’s the pin I found

Pinned Image

The recipe is easy! and very inexpensive. Much much cheaper than a bottle Draino or Liquid Plumber – and I even saw better results!

Unclog a drain with Baking Soda and Vinegar

  1. Pour 3/4-1 cup of baking soda in the drain.
  2. Pour 1/2 cup vinegar in the drain and immediately cover the drain
  3. Leave everything to sit and work for about 30 mins (don’t use the sink during this time)
  4. After 30 mins, remove the cover and let hot water run thru the pipes for about 2-3 mins.
  5. Repeat for tough clogs

Here’s a few action shots from when I tried it! First a picture of my clogged sink, hard to see, but it was about 4 inches of water!

I took out the drain plug thingy and poured in my baking soda

This actually filled my drain – so the next time I need to do this, I will use about half the amount of baking soda. Then I poured in the vinegar!

I had to wait a few minutes to pour since my drain was so packed with baking soda. I poured in the rest and then shoved in the plug to the locked position to seal it in

I waited half an hour, and then rinsed it out for 2 minutes. At first it didn’t seem that the clog was all the way cleared. But over the course of the day it started draining faster and faster, and now it drains like it was never clogged! HOORAY!!

Very easy to find supplies, and like I’ve said, so cheap!

Check out the Pin There Done That Store to get your supplies for Drain Cleaner!!

 

Happy Pinning! Happy Cleaning!!

Aug19

Carpet Cleaning

Posted on by
Standard

WOOHOO! I know you’re excited about this one! I mean, really, what is more excited than carpet cleaning?! Ok – seriously. It’s not that fun, but, it’s necessary. Especially when you have pets. Especially when you have pets that have gone through the potty training stage of their life in your house. Especially when your pet is a big smushy English Bulldog who like to slobber all over everything!!

This is a picture of my dearest love sound asleep, notice the huge floppy tongue and sloppy piles of jowells. One of her favorite treats is ice cubes. If she hears you open the freezer she jumps up and stands at alert – then if you pull out the ice drawer, she comes a runnin! Unfortunately eating ice creates big piles of slobber – as does chewing on treats or toys. Once the puddle is there it seems like all the dirt sticks to it .Then of course there are the additional spitups and other lovely pet things. So, parts of my carpet look like this:

See the lovely stain? I’s also the highest traffic area of our carpet in the house. The tile on the step up that you see in the top of the picture is our entry way, so people walk in the door and right onto this landing. I found this pin for cleaning carpet. She was cleaning an oil based salad dressing stain – but I figured it was worth a shot to try on my icky carpet.

This pin links back to Lizzy Writes, a cute little blog where she writes about whatever she wants! I love it. She was able to get this stain completely out of her carpet! the after picture looks brand spankin new. The directions are simple:

1. Scrape up the liquid (I had already done this weeks ago).
2. Sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch on stain to let absorb for 10 minutes and then vacuum.
3. Mix one tablespoon clear dishwashing liquid and one tablespoon white vinegar with two cups of warm water.

4. Using a white cloth (I strongly believe in microfiber washcloths), sponge the stain with the detergent/vinegar solution and blot until all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Sponge off with cold water and blot dry.

I very liberally started with the baking soda:

I did enough that you couldn’t even really make out where the stain was. Then I let it sit for 15 minutes {because I lost track of time}, and vacuumed up all the powder. Then I made my mixture of dish soap {I used blue because I didn’t have clear, and I didn’t notice any negative side effects} and white vinegar and warm water. I blotted and scrubbed a little, then grabbed a clean cloth and blotted and scrubbed with cold water. Leaving it looking like this

The thing that confuses me seeing this is what actually got pulled out by the cleaning mixture. The more obvious white spot is not the same shape or placement as the obvious stain from the beginning! But – clean carpet is clean carpet, so this cleaner spot was ok with me! I figured the high traffic area is kinda screwed anyway. I decided to pull out the carpet cleaner to try to work on the traffic are a little more. Final product was not too shabby

Not perfect – but definitely better. I’m happy to have this “recipe” of carpet cleaner in my knowledge base for if I do get an oil or food stain. I think this also motivated me to get better of using our carpet cleaner more regularly.

Happy Pinning! Happy Cleaning!!