One of the greatest pieces of advice my mom’s ever given me since I left home was this: The best thing for cleaning is the back of your thumbnail.
You know, like when some unknown, darkish brown bit is stuck on your fridge handle. Or a wee piece of gunk won’t come off the edge of your sink. Or how about those little bits of tape on our windows after taking down all the spooky Halloween spiders and pumpkin decorations. Forget the spray cleaners or fancy cleansers, even if they’re green and not so bad for the environment. Just use the back of one of your handy thumbnails and rub.
You can’t beat it for so many household applications, including cleaning those dreaded glass-top stoves we’ve all come to hate. (More on that another day.)
But besides your thumbnail, there are a million other good household tips around. A bit of baking soda once in a while to brush your teeth. (My dentist even advises this once in a while. Believe it or not, she says, it’s less abrasive than toothpaste.) More of that baking soda and some boiling water to clear a clogged drain. And another favourite: Remove grease from your driveway by applying Dawn dishsoap, kitty litter, wood shavings or Coke. Let it sit for 10 minute and rise away.
Actually, we never use Dawn for dishsoap around our place—way too strong, and hard on your hands. But it’s good in small doses for other cleaning apps, especially when grease or oil are involved and even stronger chemicals would be a worse alternative, namely outdoors.
Remember, as Fisheries and Oceans Canada and other agencies remind us, roadside storm sewer drains are not part of local sewage systems and can feed directly into fish-bearing waterways and other natural habitat. That’s why we see painted yellow fish and other cautions near them.
BOILING WATER AND BAKING SODA GURUS
Since we’re all trying to save money and be respectful of all the other precious life forms around, the great beauty is that the best household solutions are usually nothing posh or extraordinary. They’re often the simplest, cheapest things we have on hand, and many have been used for generations—ages before social media or even TV existed.
Sure, there’s CleanTok à la TikTok, and other social media influencers, but frankly the ones I’ve researched push people towards so many expensive, overly-scented, chemically-based cleaners I cringe just looking at them. User beware. (You can’t help but wonder if there’s not some financial influencers backing them.)
But no worries if mom, dad or other practical pals and relatives didn’t teach you about some of the classic tried and true household solutions—or maybe you just weren’t paying attention. There are still a lot of good, reliable, often free resources you can tap.
In the good ol’ days, like even a few years ago, daily newspapers had household tip columnists, plus readers would write in with their most practical solutions. One of the best collections was put out by the Regina Leader-Post, the daily newspaper that has served Regina readers for more than 140 years. Household Hints, started in 1988, is sadly no longer published, but you can find second-hand copies online.
Lucky me. I still have my dog-eared copy. “Save time! Save money! Save energy!” the cover touts, with tips inside like saving the comic section from newspapers—yes, they still exist—to wrap kids’ presents with. (I’ve actually done that. Fun!) Or using your old socks or underwear for cleaning rags instead of just chucking them out then buying new disposable ones as needed.
Another favourite of mine is Reena Nerbas’ Household Solutions series, which you can still buy new or used online. Reena, who’s based in Manitoba, became a national sensation, appearing on radio and TV shows across Canada, from Breakfast Television to CBC Radio’s BC Almanac show, where I learned about her when Mark Forsythe was host. “The household solutions guru,” Charles Adler of Corus Radio Network calls her.
I especially love her third book in the series, Green Alternatives, featuring 1,500 quick, Earth-friendly fixes. They work! Mainly because she’s got a background in science and ecology. Reena’s the queen of “boiling water” and “baking soda” solutions, like the clogged drain one above. Here’s another similar one of hers: Got a nasty blueberry, raspberry or other fruit stain on clothes or whatever? Just put the item flat in your sink, boil up a kettle of water, and pour it slowly onto the stain from a ways up. Be careful not to splash yourself. Works without a chemical in sight.
WHO KNEW?
But don’t think for a sec these kinds of household-tip gurus are a thing of the past or only Canadian. Whistler Public Library, and I bet a lot of other libraries around, have this excellent resource on their shelves—Bruce and Jeanne Lubin’s Who Knew? 10,001 Household Solutions. The Lubins, who are based in New Jersey, have written a lot of similar books and figure they’ve saved thousands of dollars applying simple, practical tips to solve common household problems. They’ve also got a good website and a number of podcasts.
From placing celery leaves in the pan to keep bacon grease from splattering all over your stove (you won’t even have to use your thumbnail!), to using the cooking water from your potatoes, instead of milk, to make mashed potatoes, the Lubins have you covered, just like those other helpful experts.
Check ’em out and have fun.
Keep things flexible
Did you try mom’s easy puffed wheat square recipe last instalment? I’ve been making it, and loving it, for years, as was posted. But guess what? Hawk-eyed mom, who’s almost 97 and still an avid Pique reader, says really it should be two tablespoons of cocoa, not two teaspoons in the recipe. Tastes great either way.
Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who enjoys using quirky little hacks around the house.
