It’s lovely to know you are helping the environment by green cleaning of your outside. Baking soda, vinegar, salt, lemon and lemon juice are all a great help. Start with your patio furniture, by the end of winter it’s usually in a pretty filthy state. First of all get a cup of baking soda and mix in some warm water, then wipe it all over your furniture and rinse off. For wicker furniture, moisten with salt water and scrub the furniture getting into all the nooks and crannies and then rinse thoroughly and leave to dry in the sun turning it every so often. Do this every so often to help prevent it from yellowing.
If you go camping, baking soda is great for deodorizing sleeping bags and putting our camp fires. It is also good for cleaning your pots and pans and even your teeth.
If your decking gets stained from sun lotion or grease for instance, shake some baking soda over the affected area, leave for an hour or so and brush off, repeat if necessary. Do this as soon as you can after making the stain.
For your outside grills, the best thing is elbow grease and a stiff brush. For those stubborn bits rub some baking soda on followed by vinegar and then rinse thoroughly.
For paddling pools and plastic beach toys, mix a solution of a bucket of water to a cup of baking soda and rub all over item, this will get rid of mildew and yukky smells.
If you have left metal items in your garden over winter that have probably now rusted, not to worry, you can solve this problem. Firstly, mix equal parts of salt and cream of tartar and mix with a little water to form a paste. Using a cloth wipe over affected areas of your items and leave to dry in the sun. Wipe off and repeat if necessary. Then rinse with warm water and dry. You can also use lemon juice and salt instead.
If you have rusty bolts, nuts and nails, put them in a jar, fill with vinegar, put the lid on and leave over night. The next day, rinse them all. You can also do this with your tools, just use a bucket instead of a jar.
If you are painting inside or out in a confined area, place little bowls of vinegar about to get rid of the horrible smell, leave the bowls around for a few days after painting changing the vinegar each day. Surfaces, before painting, particular metal, should be cleaned, and vinegar does a brilliant job of this, by using one part vinegar to 5 parts water. It also makes the paint less likely to peel. If you didn’t wash your brushes last time you used them, this simple solution will solve the hard bristle problem. Mix half a gallon of boiled water with a cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of vinegar and leave them to soak.
Made with love by: