With the holidays approaching, we offer some of our favorite cleaning tips to help you get through the season.
Candle wax cleanups
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At this time of year, folks use lots of candles. Their glow is warm, festive and romantic, but candle wax is a pain to get out when it drips on your carpet. If that happens, you have two options: Chill it with an ice cube and scrape it off with the edge of a butter knife, or cover it with a paper towel or brown paper bag and gently run a warm iron over it. Start with a fairly low temperature and keep checking and increasing as you go along. You’ll be amazed at how well both of these methods work. But if the candle is colored, use the chill method rather than the heat to avoid staining the carpet.
Try this method to remove the black, cruddy buildup on the bottom of a pan: Place the pan or skillet upside-down, in a plastic garbage bag. Pour ammonia onto the back of the pan, avoiding getting any on the cooking surface side. Lay an absorbent cloth over the ammonia and then add more until the rag is saturated. Close the plastic bag, making an airtight seal. Let the pan soak overnight, or at least eight hours. Remove the pan from the bag and rinse it off in hot water. Use a steel-wool scrubbing pad on extra-tough spots. While this method will make your cookware look like new, it can damage nonstick coatings, so we suggest you clean them the old fashioned way: with mild dishwashing liquid and hot water. Ovens that self-clean Chemicals can pit and ruin the porcelain surface of a self cleaning oven, and when the oven reaches 850 or 900 degrees during the high-heat self-cleaning cycle, chunks of porcelain as big as 6 inches across can pop off the oven walls. Once the oven has done its job, wipe up the carbon ash residue with a damp cloth.
White rings on furniture It never fails. Sooner or later during a holiday party or large gathering, somebody is going to set a wet glass on your fine furniture and leave it there long enough to create a nasty white ring. First, remember the stain is in the waxed finish, not the wood. Here’s how to get it out. Make sure the surface is clean and dry, then place a small amount of mayonnaise directly on the white ring. Cover the area with a piece of plastic wrap and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Remove the wrap and lightly rub the mayo into the finish using a nylon scouring pad, working with the grain. Then wipe up the remaining mayo with a soft cloth and restore luster to the area with some lemon oil or paste wax. The white ring will be gone. Next time, have plenty of coasters.
If your carpet is dark, a drop or two of fine wine will likely go unnoticed. But if you have light-colored wall-to-wall carpeting and the spill is a nice Cabernet or Merlot, the red spot will stick out like a sore thumb. What’s more, it can remain there forever unless you take quick and decisive cleaning action. First, don’t panic! Get a box of table salt and some club soda. If you don’t have club soda, water will do. Sprinkle salt on the stain – enough so that it starts soaking up the red wine. When the salt turns red, vacuum it. Then apply club soda or water, and blot with paper towels or a white terrycloth rag. Follow up with more salt, and keep repeating the process until the salt goes from pink to white. Then give a final rinse and blot the spot to remove any leftover salt. It could take several days, but the stain eventually will fade away.
For more home improvement tips and information from James and Morris Carey, visit their Web site at www.onthehouse.com or call 800-737-2474 Saturdays from 6 to 10 a.m. The Careys are also on KRKO (1380-AM) from 6 to 8 a.m. every Saturday.
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