or how Pinterest saved my bathroom sink.
Over the weekend I decided to try a few of the household cleaning tips I’d been seeing on Pinterest. These are usually with the eye towards using less toxic chemicals in your house.
First is this one for removing soap scum:
The directions state that you heat 12oz vinegar and add 12oz of original Dawn for a 1:1 solution.
Ok, so on the first go round I forgot about the heating the vinegar part. But I tried it overnight on my SUPER scummy bathroom sink – this sink had a steady drip for the first 5-6 months we lived here and looked like it had had the drip for years before we moved in so there was a distinct ring of hard water and scum that nothing was getting it off. I sprayed it on one night and scrubbed with a stiff bristled brush in the morning and it seemed to be working but, oh my god, Dawn suds so much that it was taking forever to get the solution off. So I added another cup of, heated this time, vinegar. This seemed to help things. I also used it on my tub and shower to great results.
I need to go one more round with my bathroom sink to get the final bits of super stubborn scum off but the results so far have been AMAZING. I went from seriously considering replacing my sink at some point in the future to having a sink that looks almost brand new – of course, I have no pictures of this amazing transformation :(
I think the problem with the original “recipe” is that it assumes that you have original Dawn and not the super concentrated Dawn that is also readily available and looks just about the same if you’re not paying attention. If you’ve got the super concentrated, I would recommend 2:1 vinegar to Dawn. Maybe even 3:1.
Oh and a couple of the comments I’ve seen talk about how wonderful and clean everything smells… um, personally, original Dawn scent + vinegar smells hideous! But it works so I’ll stick with it.
The second is homemade Drano:
Source: bonzaiaphrodite.com via Marcy on Pinterest
The directions are 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup vinegar, and a gallon of boiling water.
Our shower has been running slow in the last few weeks and with Sweet Pea underfoot I wasn’t keen on buying Drano which was our go-to in Virginia. I figured I would give it a try and if it works – yay! If not, we’ll just lock up the Drano.
The original poster talked about needing something to force the suds back down the drain. Since this was a flat shower drain, I just grabbed one of our rubber jar openers. So armed with my supplies (baking soda, vinegar and the jar opener), I left our biggest pot on the stove to boil (I don’t actually know if it was a gallon or not) and went to begin. Getting the baking soda down the drain was a bit of a challenge so I got as much of the 1/2 cup as I could, poured on the vinegar and slapped on the cover as quickly as I could. Let me tell you – this part was FUN. It just foams everywhere and that’s when I felt like I was doing science experiments at home. Then repeat with the rest and let it sit until the water was boiling. Getting a whole pot of water that was just at a rolling boil up the stairs and into the shower was a bit of a feat – one that I would never dream of doing without Will home to keep the baby out of my way – but it was accomplished.
And we’ve had no problems since. I assume we’ll have to do this periodically but it sure beats having Drano in the house and the ingredients are much cheaper than a “single serve” bottle of Drano. Though I do want to know where one finds the bag of baking soda she shows in the picture above.
Update: My mom checked and you can get an 11lb (or was it 13lb) bag of Arm & Hammer in Sam’s for under $6.
No comments:
Post a Comment