April 2015 
Clean your home cheaply and effectively by swapping your regular cleaning products for these home-made alternatives. You needn’t spend a fortune on cleaning products when most of these natural cleaning solutions can be found in your kitchen cupboards.
1. Keep taps sparkling with foil – Take a balled up piece of tin foil and use it to scrub your chrome taps and appliances. Remember to use the shiny side!
2. Lift stains with lemon – As we all know, lemon is a natural bleaching agent so squeeze over any stains and let it dry in the sun. It works better than most stain removers and is cheap too. Do not use this method on any natural stone worktops or tiles, you could damage the surface of the stone.
3. Banish dust with softener – Using fabric softener is an excellent way of reducing the static cling that attracts dust to your television. Pour a tiny amount onto a soft cloth then wipe over your screen and stand.
4. Clean a microwave with water – Cleaning the microwave is always a chore – but it needn’t be! Clean it effortlessly and effectively by placing two cups of water in the middle and cooking on high heat for 5 minutes. The moisture will help stubborn stains glide off when sponged down.
5. Unblock a kitchen sink – Have you got a pesky blocked pipe? Clear it by dropping two Alka Seltezer tablets down the drain, followed by a cup of water. Leave for five minutes then run the hot water tap – a quick and easy way to unblock.
6. Roll to remove dust – Using a lint roller is the quickest way to remove dust and pet hairs from fabric blind, lampshades and sofas.
7. Make tarnished silverware sparkle – Next time you boil some potatoes, remember to save the water. Soaking your tarnished silverware in it for an hour then wash and polish with a soft cloth to leave like new.
8. Shine garden furniture with bicarbonate of soda – Get your plastic garden furniture out of the shed and give them a quick spruce-up by wiping them down with some bicarbonate of soda. Rinse well and they’ll be sparkly clean!
9. Rescue burnt pans with rhubarb – If your burnt pans have seen better days then simply chop up some rhubarbs, boil until sticky and then rinse. Good as new.
10. Mop the bathroom floor with vinegar – Dilute a half a cup of vinegar with a bucker of water to create an effective floor cleaner. It will help eat away the scum and hard water stains on your tiles, leaving them shiny once again – only use this on ceramic or porcelain floors, not natural stone as it could etch the surface.
11. Clean wine stains with soda water – If you’ve spilt red wine on the carpet don’t panic! Reach for the soda water and douse the stain then dab with layers of kitchen roll. Repeat until no colour shows through on the paper.
12. Remove limescale from a shower head – Simply take a plastic bowl, fill it with cheap hot white vinegar (heat in a saucepan) and immerse your shower head in the bowl. Leave for an hour then gently scrub it with an old toothbrush to loosen the limescale. Rinse and you’re done.
13. Get streak-free windows with vinegar – Dilute 25% vinegar with 75% warm water. Soak an old cotton towel in the water then wipe down the windows. Scrunch up a piece of newspaper and gently buff the windows for streak-free shine.
+ A bonus tip we found in the comments section – Clean oven doors with a dishwasher tablet. Dampen one side slightly and rub onto the burned on grease and watch it disappear. This really works, Marie tried it on our oven at home and it cleaned the glass brilliantly and with no harsh chemicals.
The above article is courtesy of Expert Home Tips and can be found here www.experthometips.com Please use common sense when using any methods detailed above, we accept no liability for your actions!