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How to remove suncream stains

by Laundry

Suncream can be a real pain to get out and the longer you leave it the worse it is going to get.  If you are out and about when the stain occurs you are naturally going to wipe the stain with a tissue or a wet wipe but the heat from the sun and perspiration can activate the grease even more making it much worse. Try to gently blot to absorb as much as the cream as you can or if you have your hand sanitiser with you, cover the stain and this will stop if from spreading.

This is a fantastic old school tip but If you are at the beach cover the stain with sand to dry out the stain.

Try to prevent Suncream stains always rub the suncream into your skin really well and wash your hands straight after application. If you are travelling with suncream always place it in a safe secure plastic travel pouch bag or place inside two carrier bags and wrap tight. There is nothing worse than getting to you destination opening your suitcase to burst suncream.

My Advice to remove suncream 

As soon as you can rinse the stain from the reverse under a cold water tap, this way the stain is being pushed out of the fabric and hopefully flushing out as much as the stain as possible.

White vinegar

Sun cream has an oil base so you need something to break that down, one of my go to products is white vinegar. Simply cover the stain in the vinegar then leave for a good 30 minutes to really allow the vinegar to work and wash as normal.

Eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil has magical stain removal qualities when it comes to greasy marks – and it smells incredible.

Coat your stain in the stuff, leave for 15 minutes, then wash as normal.

If the staining was really bad then you may need to repeat but don’t panic as it will come out.

Sunshine

For light coloured clothes where the sun cream may have stained the fabric yellow, try hanging your clothes out in the sun to dry after the wash. The sun is great at naturally bleaching whites in a natural way. If the stain is really not budging, squirt some lemon juice on it first.

If you are due to travel soon then don’t forget my Holiday organisational planners which can help with your packing and ensure all those needed jobs are done before you travel.

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Hands up if you hate Oven Cleaning

by Cleaning Tips

Oven cleaning is one of the most hated and worse household cleaning tasks.  Its one of those jobs that we tend to put off as much as we can. Once you close the Oven door you can no longer see the grease and grim.

I have to always have a clean oven and being quite a traditionalist after we have had our Sunday Roast I am straight in armed in my rubber gloves ready to go.  Daily if we use the oven I wipe the Oven over with a warm soapy cloth to ensure its stays clean. If grease and grim build up your Oven Clean can become a much more time-consuming job.

Plus having an oven door covered in grease, grim and burnt food is not good for your energy consumption, opening to check food will soon add up.

I have tried many products over the years and here are a few of my favourites:

Oven Pride makes oven cleaning less of a nightmare, it’s a unique bag cleaning system that has been designed to give unbeatable results. It’s so easy to use but please make sure before you start to use oven pride you must read the instructions and wear the provided gloves.

Scrub daddy power paste is made from natural materials, is biodegradable, non-toxic and can be used throughout the home including the kitchen and bathroom. It is Lemon-scented for extra freshness and does a marvellous job in cleaning the oven. Power paste is effective with water alone. Just dampen the sponge and swirl on the paste to produce a cleaning foam. Use it in conjunction with a scrubber to remove surface debris or with a microfibre cloth. The Scrub Mommy two-sided sponge is perfect for delicate as well as heavy-duty jobs. Her FlexTexture side changes depending on water temperature. Soft in warm water and firm in cool water for tough scrubbing

Astonish oven and cookware cleaner is a cleaning paste, that cleans all types of enamel, porcelain, ovens and cookware. This one is also lemon scented to banish cooking odours.

But I am a big fan of steering away from harsh chemicals in the oven so use a more natural method of Bicarbonate of Soda and white vinegar

Bicarb is really effective and makes the daunting task of oven cleaning a little easier. All you have to do to get a shining oven is spray the whole oven down including the glass door with a water bottle so that it is damp, and pour on a thick layer or bicarbonate of soda, especially on the bottom, until there is about 1/4 inch layer of bicarbonate of soda paste on the bottom. If any of the bicarb is still dry, I wet it with the water bottle.

Once the bicarbonate of soda has been applied then you need to add some neat white wine vinegar to a spray bottle and then liberally spray this all over the oven so it reacts and works with the bicarbonate of soda.  After close the door and leave for a few hours. The two products work amazingly with each other and will start to lift all the dirt and ground in grease.

I’ve found that it is important to make sure that the bicarbonate of soda residue has been completely removed before using the oven as any remaining bicarb  may smoke if left in contact with the heating element and a spatula works well at removing this.

For the wire racks I use wirewool and washing up liquid and I find this brings them up like new.

Then there is a the grass trick which does actually work, you simply remove the racks and leave over night on your lawn, the dew and moisture loosen the burnt on food and grim.

And lastly there is the tumble dryer sheet trick, check out my little demo here.

I hope this helps with your oven cleaning and remember if you try to wipe over your oven every time you use it with a simple warm soapy cloth this job will be a whole lot easier.

For more ideas on how to use White Wine Vinegar than take a look here

Hand,With,Microfiber,Cleaning,Rag,Wiping,Inside,Of,Microwave,Oven

How to clean your Microwave

by Cleaning Tips

The Microwave is one of those kitchen appliances many of us put off cleaning.  Its one of those items that is out of sight out of mind and as long as the outside of the appliance is clean the inside can wait.

Inside the microwave there can be food splatters and food spillages and often a nasty unclean smell.

The microwave can also be an awkward appliances to clean that you need to get the plate out and get your arm right in to reach the sides and the ceiling of the appliance.  Food can often be stuck so after a little wiping many people will just give up.

But there is such a simple easy effective way to clean the microwave and here is how.

1 – Fill a microwave safe bowl with warm water and grab a lemon from the fruit bowl and cut this into 4 quarters.

2 – Pop the lemons in to the bowl of warm water and put the bowl into the microwave.

3 – Set the microwave to 5 minutes and start.

4 – The water should boil.

5 – Once the 5 minutes cycle has finished leave as it is for another 5 minutes and let the steam from the bowl along with the lemon do its job of dissolving the grease, spilled food and grim.

6 – Remove the bowl and dispose of the water and lemons. Take out the plate if you have one and wash this is warm soapy water and then with a clean damp cloth wipe the inside of the microwave and see the dirt and grim come away really easily.

7 – If you have some really tough old food stain add a little white wine vinegar to a cloth and then rub and this should then come away easily.

8 – Dry the plate and pop this back and you will have a very fresh clean smelling microwave the looks like new.

I hope this simple tip has helped you.

Thank you for reading.
Queen of Clean xoxoxo