Category: Maintenance and home security

Homemade Shower Cleaner: Everyone loves a clean and bright shower and tub. Using chemical products and expensive cleaners doesn’t even give the full satisfaction of a clean shower.

Everyone hates the water and soap scum on their showers and tubs. When hard water is mixed with soap it leaves the unbearable hard layer on the sides of the shower. This layer of scum can be very difficult to remove with regular cleaning products.

We have tried out some natural ingredients to make a homemade shower cleaner. Homemade shower cleaner is the best option for the dirty shower. You would have an idea that what products you are using for making a cleaner.

1- Recipe of Homemade Shower Cleaner

So, homemade shower cleaner is indeed the best, the reasonable and safest option for cleaning a shower. Tubs and showers regularly collect water and soap scum. Then they develop a super-scum and cleaning that can be a very tough task.

Homemade and natural cleaners are amazing. They give brilliant results and you can make them easily at home using natural ingredients. In homemade cleaners, you know exactly what you are using in them and not exposing your kids to any harmful products.

Mentioned below is the easiest recipe of homemade natural shower cleaner. You can follow the recipe and can make your own cleaner at home.

Ingredients Required for homemade shower cleaner

• Spray bottle
• Liquid detergent
• White vinegar

How to prepare?

• To prepare this cleaner, you have to measure equal amounts of white vinegar and a liquid detergent separately. One or one and a half cup of each solution would be enough.
• Then you have to heat the vinegar in the microwave for a few seconds. After that pour vinegar in the spray bottle.
• Now put liquid detergent into the spray bottle having vinegar. Close the bottle and shake it gently to allow the two solutions mixed with each other.

How to use Homemade Shower Cleaner?

• Spray the cleaning solution around the shower or your tub. Let the solution sit for 40-50 minutes.
• After this time, start scrubbing your tub using net or sponge.
• Finally, rinse the tub with plenty of water and you will feel the difference.

Instructions to follow

When you plan to use this solution make sure that all the windows of your bathroom are open. The bathroom should be well ventilated because the smell of vinegar is so strong.

It is better to use a face mask while cleaning your shower with the solution. Some people cannot tolerate strong smells, so it’s better to be careful before using any of these cleaning products.

2- Recipe of Daily Tub Cleaner

Here is another recipe from which you can make a shower cleaner for everyday use:

Ingredients Required

• Half cup alcohol
• Half cup liquid detergent
• Half cup hydrogen peroxide
• Three cups of water
• Two teaspoons liquid jet dry

How to prepare?

You just have to mix all these ingredients in a spray bottle. Then shake all the ingredients well to prepare this spray.

3- Glass Shower Door Cleaner

Every recipe we have shared with you is suitable to clean glass shower doors. You just have to be very careful while cleaning the stains and scratches from the door.

Try to use a soft cloth or a soft sponge to clean the glass doors. Rough sponges and nylon clothes for cleaning the door can scratch them.

4- Cleaner for Counter-tops and Tubs

• One teaspoon Borax powder
• Half teaspoon Washing Soda
• One teaspoon liquid Castile Soap
• Few drops of orange essential oil
• Four drops of lavender essential oil
• Four drops of lemon essential oil
• Two Cups of Hot water

How to prepare?

You just have to put all these ingredients in a spray bottle and then shake it well. So, it will allow all the ingredients to properly mix with each other. You can use this liquid to clean almost everything.

5- Toilet Cleaner Recipes

• 1 can of coca-cola
• 1 cup of white vinegar
• 1 cup baking soda

Method

• Pour coca-cola can into the toilet. Then wait for 10-20 minutes to let it sit. After that time flush it.
• Then sprinkle baking soda in the toilet and pour vinegar over it.
• You can scrub your toilet if there are any stains. But scrub it when the mixture stops bubbling.
• After that flush, it again to see the final results.

Why Homemade Shower Cleaner?

A homemade cleaner is easy to make whenever you need to clean your shower. This cleaner works so well because vinegar and liquid soap both are cleaning products.

Liquid soap cuts the oils and grease from the shower or tub. Soap also helps the cleaner to be thick, so it clings to the surface and floor of your tub. It doesn’t run directly into the drain.

Liquid detergent has many uses same like white vinegar and other cleaning agents. It is best for cleaning toilets, kitchen tiles, and others.

Vinegar is used to eliminate the bad smell. It helps to remove stubborn marks and also dissolves tough scums. Vinegar adds shine and freshness to your tub, as it is a bleaching agent too. White vinegar has many benefits. It can be used for cleaning almost everything.

You can also use a little amount of white vinegar while washing your clothes. As it adds whitening and brightness to your clothes.

I hope you like my article about “Homemade Shower Cleaner” You can also visit some other interesting posts like:

• How to Make Almond Butter at Home?
• Homemade Gummy Bears
• How To Make Aloe Vera Ice Cubes?

Cleaning a coffee maker machine is very important. The coffee maker should be clean and maintained timely. Coffee makes gets deposits of coffee or other residues of minerals or water. Sometimes coffee maker smells so nasty so having these deposits in your coffee maker is really unhygienic and unhealthy, these deposits can affect your coffee and it’s also not good for your health. The coffee maker should be clean timely for a healthy living otherwise it can harm you.

Different deposits in coffee maker can affect your coffee machine’s drip operation; it also makes the taste of the coffee so unbearable. So you should learn how to clean a coffee maker at home by trying some home remedies. Although you can get many coffee maker cleaners from your nearby market they contain chemicals so it’s healthy to clean your coffee maker at home with natural cleaning ingredients.

That’s why here on vequill.com, we are providing you some many easy and effective ways on How do you clean a coffee maker with vinegar without damaging it.

Things required cleaning a coffee maker with vinegar

• Lukewarm water
• Liquid detergent
• Soft sponge
• White vinegar

Steps to follow cleaning a coffee maker with vinegar

• First thing before cleaning a coffee maker you should do is to empty the whole coffee maker, remove its glass flask, and wash it properly. Then check that if coffee maker’s filter section is completely empty or properly fixed or not. Now remove all its parts like a coffee filter and water filter if your coffee maker has these things.

• Now take water and white vinegar and mix 6 cups of water with 3 cups of white vinegar. Mix the two solutions well with each other by shaking them.
• Then fill your coffee maker water flask with this solution of white vinegar and water, and then run this solution from its drip cycle or from its cleaning program if your coffee maker has this.
• After one cycle has finished then turn off the coffee maker machine and leave the solution of white vinegar and water into the machine for few minutes. After few minutes again turn on the coffee maker machine and then turn it off. After two cleaning cycles, open the coffee maker machine and throw away the white vinegar and water solution.

• After performing the above-mentioned step, only run pure water without vinegar form the coffee maker’s drip cycle or from its cleaning program. Repeat this process for several times so all the traces of white vinegar and its smell will be removed from the coffee maker and your coffee maker will become clean and hygienic again like a new one.
• As we all know white vinegar is very good for cleaning purposes, when we mixed it with baking soda or other cleaning products like lemon juice then it works magically. White vinegar is also used to remove all the foul and nasty smells from anything. White vinegar makes things clean, whiter and brighter to use. It is natural sanitizer, you can use white vinegar to sanitize your washroom by mixing it with a little amount of baking soda.
• Vinegar and baking soda can even unblock your sewerage system by splashing a solution of baking soda and white vinegar into the hole of your washroom and kitchen sinks. When you wash your white clothes with white vinegar it makes then whiten and fresh without any foul smell. So you can clean and sanitize almost every household using white vinegar, it is very effective natural cleaning product.
• Now after cleaning a coffee maker from inside with vinegar, you should also clean its outer side. Clean the filters of the coffee maker and wash its glass jug with Luke warm water and liquid detergent. Gently wash its glass flask with the help of a soft sponge and Luke warm soapy water to make it clean and shiny. You can also replace a coffee maker glass jug with a new one.
• So now your coffee maker is free of grease, dirt, nasty smell and dust. It is ready to use once again, and enjoy your coffee with friends and family.

• Now finally after cleaning your coffee maker with vinegar, your coffee maker is back to use, and now your coffee will taste good without any unwanted smell or unhygienic substances. Cleaning a coffee maker is very simple and easy task you should do it once in two months.
• Majority experts recommend that cleaning of a coffee maker should be done at least once a month if you use it more frequently. You can also clean it with vinegar after every 2-3 months. Coffee maker usually needs cleaning quickly if you use hard water in your coffee maker machine to make coffee. So if you want your coffee maker to be hygienic then only use pure water or soft water, so the deposits will not stick to your coffee mater machine.
• We will recommend you all not to use hard water to make coffee in your coffee maker machine. Hard water deposits stick into the coffee maker machine making it unhealthy to use.

• You can also clean your kettles, gas or electric oven, refrigerator and many other households with white vinegar. White vinegar also removes the nasty smell from your refrigerator, you only have to put a small container filled with white vinegar into the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours or more and white vinegar will absorb all the nasty and foul smell from your refrigerator very quickly and easily.
• You can easily clean your kettle with vinegar, by pouring little amount of vinegar in it and leave it for some time and then wash with Luke warm water, to remove all the deposits of vinegar and all the deposits of hard water from it, so your kettle will become clean and hygienic to use for your family and kids.

I hope you find my article helpful if you have any further queries you can mention in the comment section down below, I’ll be humble to help you out. For other related articles, you can visit Tape daily.

Water is one of the essentials of life. Without water, there would be no life on this globe, either in form of humans, animals or plants. All these life forms need water for their survival. Water is necessary not only for drinking, cooking, washing, gardening etc. but it is also required in form of moisture in the air. For a smooth life, a certain level of moisture is required in the air, which is also referred to as the humidity.

Moisture or humidity up to a bearable extent in the air is therefore as necessary as the air itself. Humidity level below that desirable point is not feasible for life, as is the case with the higher level of humidity. The tolerable level of humidity in the air is considered to be between 30 to 50%, with 40% being the ideal level.

The humidity level in the air, less than 30% is considered to be dry condition whereas more than 50% is rated as a humid atmosphere. In fact, both these conditions are not considered to be good for human health.

While dry atmosphere also has its impact on human health, the humid atmosphere affects our daily life in so many ways. Apart from having a bad effect on health, humid conditions also spoil our house, buildings, wooden furniture, steel items, clothes and almost every precious belongings in a household. Consistent humid conditions may also result in mold on almost everywhere in your house, if left unnoticed.

Therefore, getting rid of humidity from your house is the essential part of your house upkeep. Here we are suggesting some useful tricks to remove humidity from your house.

Causes Of Humidity

There may be several reasons why your house gets humid. Here is some major causes that makes your house humid beyond the tolerable level.

• Weather conditions in your area are the major cause of creating humidity inside your house. If you are living in an area where there is heavy rainfall or if you living near a river, lake or sea, there is every possibility that your home may catch humidity beyond the desirable level.

• Lack of ventilation in your house or poor ventilation may also cause excessive humidity in your house.
• If you keep doors and windows in your house, always closed or open them occasionally, your house is the ideal place for getting affected by excessive humidity.

• Excessive use of the window or split type air conditioners with doors and windows always closed, also causes humidity in that particular area.
• If you do not use exhaust fans in your kitchen or washrooms, these places also get humid.
• Indoor plants are also one of the major causes of humidity, as is the case with hanging wet clothes inside the house for drying them.

In addition to the above, there may be several other reasons that may end up with excessive humidity in your house.

How To Get Rid Of Humidity?

An ideal situation should be that where you do not permit humidity to go beyond a certain level in your house. But when it catches your house, you need to get rid of it as soon as possible so that you may save your precious belongings and health of your family. Here are some effective tricks for doing that.

De-Humidifiers

These are the best choice for effective removal of humidity from your house. There are so many types of such dehumidifiers. You may choose one according to your budget. But basically, these are of three types depending on the way how they work.

Desiccants

These are made up of natural absorbent materials. Considered best for cold areas. Being small in size, can be placed easily at any place in your home to absorb moisture from the air. The best thing about these dehumidifiers is that they don’t produce water; rather they absorb it.

Refrigerant

These are the dehumidifiers that convert the humidity into water through condensation. These are the best for the areas where the level of humidity is much higher. It is also very effective in hot areas. However, you have to clear the condensed water regularly from the device for its optimum performance.

Peltier

This type of dehumidifiers are for local use. You can use them in restrictive areas, such as a room or just in a closet.

All these are readily available in any superstore in your area. You may select one of a reputable brand.

More Tricks To Remove Humidity From Your Home

In addition to the, above there are many other little tricks which may go a long way in removing humidity from your house.

• If you are living in an area which is prone to high humidity level in the atmosphere, it is highly recommended that you should not hang wet clothes for drying, inside your home. Start hanging such clothes in outdoors, such as garden or veranda and you will feel the difference instantly. You can also opt for drying your clothes using spinners and dryers.
• Often you face a situation where cabinets and cupboards in your house are badly damaged due to excessive humidity. Place a small container filled with rock salt in a safe corner in these cabinets. This salt has the ability to absorb moisture from the air. This is an effective trick to remove humidity from your cupboards. However, the salt has to be replaced regularly (once in a month).
• Washrooms are the places that are highly prone to get maximum humidity. The best way to prevent or get rid of humidity in washrooms, is to leave the windows open after every use. Additionally, you may also use exhaust fans in your washrooms to throw out the humid air.

• Same trick may also be used for kitchens. Whenever you use your kitchen for cooking, switch on the exhaust fans and leave the windows open quite for a while after the cooking.
• Use of exhaust fans and leaving the windows open can also be applied in other parts of the house.
• For the residents of colder areas, one best trick is to use heaters in the house. In addition to providing you a cozy temperature inside the room, heaters help decrease the humidity level.
• Some devices and gadgets used in daily household drip water or moisture by default, such as air conditioners and refrigerators. Try to keep the drip pans of such devices dry, by throwing away the accumulated water. This will help a lot in reducing the humidity in your house.
• Don’t place plants inside your house. Try to shift them out in the open air.
• If you are facing the problem with condensation of water on windows, you can get rid of it easily. Soak a sponge in salted water and let it dry naturally. This will leave sponge filled with salt. Place it near the window and it will absorb the condensed water from window pans.
• In acute cases of humidity in houses, consider replacing carpets with marble floors. This will go a long way in reducing moisture level inside your rooms.

If you like my article about ‘Tricks To Remove Humidity From Your Home‘ and you’re interested in reading more related articles you may visit the ‘Household‘ category at TryArticles. Please leave a comment below that how much you find this article helpful. You may also hit your queries in the comment section below if any.

An ideal environment that is conducive to the life should neither be too dry nor too wet. That means a certain level of moisture must be present in the air. But a situation may come when moisture or humidity level is more than the desired. This may happen anytime, anywhere but is most likely during the rainy season. In areas that receive too much of rain may have a very high level of humidity in the atmosphere.

The toughest situation that makes it difficult for the people is, when the temperature is higher than normal and at the same time, the humidity level is also very high. In general, a higher humidity level may badly affect the life, especially for the people who have allergy problems. Very hot and humid atmosphere may also be much harmful and tough for the people having respiratory issues.

In addition to the health problems, higher humidity level may also badly affect different household items, such as furniture, books, clothes and even the paint on the walls. That makes it highly important to have at least a basic information about the causes and remedies of excessive humidity at your home.

Here we are suggesting some useful tips on causes of humidity and How to Prevent Humidity at Home

Causes Of Humidity At Home

Humidity at home may occur at any time, even if there is no much rain in the area. Humidity may occur due to some other factors as well. General causes of humidity may be:

• Excessive rain in the area where you reside.
• If you are living in the area which is near to a river, lake or sea, you will have to face humidity problems.

• If there are some factories near your home that deals with the steam generation, there is every likelihood that you may often face humidity problem.
• Humidity may occur in your home if it is much congested and air flow is obstructed.
• Restricted or no ventilation in your home may also result in humidity.

How To Prevent Humidity At Your Home

There are so many little things that you can do at your home that may help reduce the humidity level, either it is due to natural atmospheric conditions or due to any mismanagement at your home.

Ventilation

Whatever may be the reason for the higher level of humidity at your home, it can be controlled effectively, if you have a good ventilation system in place. A house having less or no ventilation may develop humidity at any time. The inflow of fresh air in your house is as important as anything else. Rooms should be organized in such a way that fresh air consistently passes throughout the room.

The basic idea of good ventilation is to have a free inflow of fresh air with ample exhaustion. That means air should come in and go out of your house freely. To achieve this target, you may need to re-arrange the furniture and other items in your house, so that there is ample space for the fresh air to pass through the room. Having windows at an appropriate place in your room may help a lot in improving the ventilation.

Additionally, you may also install exhaust fans or other such appliances in your house, especially in the kitchen or washrooms that throw out the humid air from your house. When using Air Conditioners, make sure that its ventilation system operates correctly.

While using AC in your room, you have to close all windows and doors so that temperature inside the room may remain cooler. Doing so, the humidity level is most likely to rise in that particular area of your house. That’s why it is very important that the ventilator of the AC must function correctly.

Reduce The Chances Of Production Of Humidity

There are such activities in your home which may be a reason for the production of humidity, such as your kitchen and washrooms. Kitchen and Bathrooms are perhaps the most likely sources of production of humidity in any household. So, it becomes much important to have a control over these areas. Use of exhaust fans is one remedy.

While cooking and especially when boiling something, you may open the window if you have one in your kitchen. That will help a lot in throwing out the humid air. Otherwise, you may also cover the boiling pot so that steam may not spread all over in the kitchen.

Similarly, when taking a shower, especially with warm water, make sure that the exhaust fan is on. If you have a window in your washroom, open it for a while after taking the shower. This will vent out the humid air.

Using heating system during the winter season may also increase the humidity level in your room. Reason? Hot air results in evaporation thus making the atmosphere more humid. To maintain a balance, always try to keep the thermostat of your heating system below 20 degrees centigrade.

Tips

• A humidifier can be used in your house to control the humidity level.
• Try to reduce cooking activities, especially the boiling actions, during the rainy season.
• Avoid hanging the wet clothes for drying them, inside the room. Try to hang them out in the open air, such as in the garden or in verandas.
• Open all the windows in your room and switch on the ceiling fan for half an hour. This will vent out the humidity of your room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlF1ecY9fas

If you like my article about ‘How To Prevent Humidity At Home?’ and you’re interested in reading more related articles you may visit the ‘Household‘ category at TryArticles. Please leave a comment below that how much you find this article helpful. You may also hit your queries in the comment section below if any.

A very common and serious issue that you might have faced so often in your house is the bad smell from the drainage system. While the kitchen is the most likely place where you may come across such bad smell in drains, it may also come out of your bathrooms or anywhere else as well. Sometimes this smell is so strong that it takes over the entire environment of your house.

Drainage system consists of gutters, floor traps and pipes etc. that are normally laid underground for draining out the waste water from kitchen, washrooms and from floors or any other parts of the house. Due to this, these pipes run through major part of your house. In modern construction, plumbers prefer to keep these pipes out of the interior of the house, as much as possible. That facilitates its effective cleaning without disturbing the interior of your house.

But in any case, floor traps have to be fixed at various places in order to collect the wastewater from all around the house. When something goes wrong with entire or a part of this drainage system, the bad smell starts emitting from any drain, anywhere in the house. If not fixed timely, this smell may spread all over in the house and in the worst case, the drain may be blocked. It is therefore very important to fix the problem immediately on noticing the bad smell from any drain in your house.

Here we are suggesting some very effective tips on how to fix the bad smelling drain.

Causes Of Bad Smell

There may be several reasons for the bad smell coming out of a drain. It may be a single or the combination of any of these:

• The smooth flow of water is the lifeline of a drainage system. If for any reason, the flow of water is blocked that particular part of the system starts accumulating debris that ultimately causes the bad smell.
• Sometimes the main pipeline that drops into the main sewerage starts smelling that ultimately comes out of any drain or floor trap in your house. Actually, this smell is coming from the main sewerage pipe.

• Elbows and U-bends are frequently used in the drain system. Sometimes waste residues and debris starts accumulating in these bends. This may cause the bad smell in the drain.
• The kitchen is perhaps the major culprit when it comes to the blocking of any part of the drainage system. Food wastes should normally flow away in the pipes from your kitchen without any hindrance. But it may start accumulating around the kitchen sink or in any bend or pipe in the kitchen that results in bad smell and blockage of the drainage system.
• The laundry area is also vulnerable to accumulation of lint and debris in or around the washing area. That also causes blockage and bad smell.

How To Get Rid Of Bad Smell?

The bad smell may come out of any drain in your house. You should, therefore, be ready to get rid of it immediately before it spreads all over your house. Some useful and effective tricks are as under

Clean And Clear The Bends

Elbows, bends and especially the U-bends are always prone to get blocked with waste residues. Ensure to clean U-bends periodically. Remove the u-bend, clean it thoroughly with water and reassemble it on its original place.

Apart from it, all other bends (including the U-bends) may be cleaned regularly with water. Normally, these bends have an open end, covered with a lid. This lid can be unscrewed easily thus providing you access to the bent portion. Clean this inside of the bend with plenty of water, remove any debris from it and screw back the lid. This may be done frequently so that debris should not accumulate so much.

Clean The Drains

Drains or pipes and even the bends can be cleaned with different types of solutions available in the market or homemade.

Clean With White Vinegar

Prepare a solution of white vinegar in warm water, taking 250 ml of white vinegar and half a liter of warm water. Also, mix 100 grams baking soda in this solution. Drop this solution in the smelling drain and leave it for some time. Now pour plenty of hot water in the drain so that entire solution may be drained out. This action will ensure removal of bad smell as well as be cleaning the entire pipes thus reducing the chances of accumulation of debris

Clean With Yeast

Yeast is another useful product for removing bad smell. Just dissolve some yeast in the water and throw in the smelling drain. Leave it overnight and then clean by flushing water in the drain. Preferably this should be done at night before going to bed. Doing so at least once in a month will ensure cleaning of the drains quite effectively.

Clean With Chemical

Sodium Hydroxide is a powerful chemical that removes the debris and waste residues from the drains quite effectively. Use it in diluted form. Being highly toxic should be handled very carefully. Before using this chemical be sure that the pipes and other material used in your drainage system should be resistant to this highly toxic chemical. If the material used in your drainage system is not resistant to it, don’t use it, or you may damage the entire pipelines.

Clean With Cleaning Products

Different types of drain cleaners are readily available in your local market. If you opt to use one of these, make sure that it should be of a reliable brand. Buy one of your choices and use it as per the instructions printed on the packet or bottle. Use correct quantity for the correct time to ensure best results.

Normally these tricks should work well in removing bad smell from the drains of your house. But sometimes you may face a situation where all these tricks fail. That means the problem is more than serious. In this case, don’t wait anymore and call the professional plumbers to get the drainage system of your house thoroughly examined for removal of any fault in it.

If you like my article about ‘How To Fix A Bad Smelling Drain?‘ and you’re interested in reading more related articles you may visit the ‘Household‘ category at TryArticles. Please leave a comment below that how much you find this article helpful. You may also hit your queries in the comment section below if any.

Despite the fact that more than 70% of the earth is covered with water, very little of it is usable. In fact, the earth is consistently under threat of scarcity of water. Due to climate change, natural freshwater reserves are decreasing whereas the underground water level is also decreasing day by day. Scientists are consistently warning the human race about the shortage of water in coming years. Hence conservation of available water resources is the call of the day.

Apart from this worsening situation, some areas in this world are already facing acute shortage of water, especially when rain also does not fall abundantly in these parts of the earth. A drought is, therefore, an inevitable consequence. Drought is a calamity which is almost out of our control but we can reduce it’s impact by adopting some water conservation strategies.

Conservation of water is a collective effort by the entire human race. On the local basis, you can play your role effectively by adopting some useful ways, where you can reduce the usage of water. Changing your lifestyle and reducing the water consumption is in fact, your obligation towards your community. Each one of us must play our part in the conservation of water for today and for the future.

Here we are suggesting some useful tips on “How To Conserve Water During A Drought?”

Each Drop Of Water Is Important

When it comes to the drought situation, you may realize that each drop of water has its own utility and importance. In your normal life, where you have an abundant water supply, you cannot imagine how important is each and every drop of water is. Have you ever noticed a tap in your house, constantly dripping water? A fair estimate would reveal that a dripping tap in your house causes wastage of around 10 gallons of water in a day.

From the above, you may realize how important each drop of water is. So, for saving water you must take care of each and every drop of water available to you. You may preserve a handsome quantity of water by adopting following habits.

• Check all water outlets in your house and fix each dripping tap.
• Always ensure that the water tap is firmly closed after use.
• Don’t wash your clothes singly. Gather these clothes and wash them only when you have a full load of your washing machine.
• Same goes for the dishwasher. Use your dishwasher to its full capacity, instead of washing the dishes separately, each time.
• Flush the toilet only when defecating.
• If washing your car or your motorbike, use water bucket instead of a hosepipe. Using a hosepipe for washing your car may waste three to four time more water as compared to what actually is required.
• Water your garden with water bucket instead of the hosepipe.

Usage Of New Devices That Save Water

In daily household affairs, a number of devices are used which consume water. With the passage of time and due to consistent usage, these devices start consuming more water, such as washing machines and dishwashers. So, it is advisable that you should get it fixed so that they use less water or the best option is to replace it with new ones.

Many manufacturers are nowadays, offering new improved versions of their devices that are specially designed for lesser water consumption. A good example of such devices is low flow toilets and showers, known as aerators. These are designed to use almost half water as compared to their older versions. Composting toilets is another good idea, where usage of water is zero.

Re-use Or Re-cycle Technique

There are so many ways where you can reuse or recycle the water. Though looks something out of the box, it can really save a huge quantity of water in your house. Examples are:

• Instead of letting the rainwater flow into the sewerage system, try to collect it in some containers, which can then be used for gardens or for washing floors and toilets.
• When boiling rice or pasta, don’t throw the water away; it can be collected in a bucket for onward use in your garden or toilets.

• Don’t throw away leftover ice cubes. Let them melt in a container. The resultant water is equally good for drinking or for any other usage.
• On a larger scale, some towns have an arrangement of reusing water coming out of the factories. They use such water for watering the parks in their cities. But care should be taken that this water should be free of any toxicity.

Follow The Water Usage Restrictions

There are so many towns and cities where local management has declared some restrictions on water usage. An example may be the case where management has restricted the citizens not to water their gardens more than twice a week. Similarly, some areas impose the restriction on washing your cars on specific days of the week and so on.

If you are living in such an area, you must strictly follow the restrictions thus contributing towards the noble cause of conservation of water. Don’t wait for the authorities to get the plan implemented by force; adopt it on your own with true spirit.

Conserve water for you and for your next generations.

If you like my article about ‘How To Conserve Water During A Drought?’ and you’re interested in reading more related articles you may visit the ‘Household‘ category at TryArticles. Please leave a comment below that how much you find this article helpful. You may also hit your queries in the comment section below if any.

A small but highly important device which every household must have is the Clothes Iron. Like every electrical appliance, Iron also needs a certain level of care and maintenance for its optimum performance. Apparently, this little device seems to have no such parts that may need maintenance. But you may have observed that with the consistent usage, your Clothes Iron may start behaving abnormally, such as dripping of water, the irregular spray of water on clothes and development of stains on the base of iron.

Hence at this stage, you will have to clean your iron otherwise it may spoil your precious clothes. That makes it necessary for the user to have some basic knowledge about cleaning and maintenance of electric iron used for pressing your clothes. Here we are suggesting some useful tricks to clean your clothes iron.

Parts Of The Iron

Before moving on to the tricks to clean the iron, you must have a brief knowledge about different parts of the iron, especially those which need care and maintenance. These are as under:

• Sole Plate – This is most prominent part of an iron that is heated to press the wrinkles of the clothes. This is almost a triangular in shape and is made up of metal. It is normally coated with aluminum and a non-stick material.
• Thermostat – Thermostat is installed in the electric iron for having a control on the temperature attained by the sole plate. There is a knob on the iron through which you can set the temperature as per requirement of the fabric, you want to press. The desired temperature is then controlled by the thermostat to ensure the safety of your clothes

•  Water Tank – A small water tank is installed inside the iron, where water is stored for the creation of steam.
• Power Cord – A very important part of your iron that is responsible for connecting it with power supply.
• Handle – Usually made up of Injection Molded Plastic. The handle is a multipurpose part of the iron. It is used to hold the iron and additionally it accommodates thermostat and steam releasing system.

Tricks To Clean The Iron

Following are the tricks to clean the clothes iron:

Care & Maintenance Of Clothes Iron

An iron comprises of very few parts that need care and maintenance. However if not taken care of timely, your iron may start spoiling your clothes and in general, the performance of the appliance declines. Mainly there are two parts that require cleaning from time to time; the Sole Plate and the Water Tank.

Cleaning Of Water Tank

Since water is stored in the tank which creates steam that passes right through the inside of the iron on the sole plate, the inside of the iron and the water tank itself needs cleaning periodically. Scales may develop in these parts which have a damaging effect on the iron.

A useful trick to clean this part of the iron is to wash it with Vinegar. Vinegar is a natural ingredient that has the ability to remove scales and other debris in different parts, especially those, which are in direct contact with water.

To clean the iron, you need to prepare a mixture of water and vinegar (in equal quantity). Pour this mixture into the water tank and then plug in the iron. Let the mixture be well heated, then press water & steam button so that the water-vinegar mixture is sprayed out of the iron.

While passing through the inside of the iron, the vinegar mixture will clean these parts from any debris and scales, thus clearing the entire inner system with steam and water passage. Keep wiping the iron with a soft cloth till entire dirty material is squeezed out. Now unplug the iron and let it cool down. Once cooled down, empty the water tank so that entire vinegar mixture is drained out.

Cleaning The Sole Plate

You may have observed that a new iron glides swiftly on the clothes but after some time, the sole plate gets sticky and you feel it difficult to glide it over your clothes. This happens due to the accumulation of dirt and burnt material due to consistent usage. Sole plate may also develop burn spots on it.

When your iron is in this condition, this is the time to clean the Sole Plate.

• A simple trick to clean the Sole Plate is to rub it against the cooking salt. For doing so, spread coarse salt on a thick layer of newspapers and glide sufficiently heated iron over this salt layer with slight pressure. Keep doing this and you will see that the dirt is cleaned from the sole plate. Let the iron cool down and then clean the plate with the soft dry cloth.
• Another practical trick for clearing the burn spots from your iron is to clean it with Steel Wool with a soft detergent. But be careful not to rub strongly on the plate. Rubbing the steel wool with force may damage the plate and scratches may appear on it.

• Next trick is the use of baking soda. Unplug the iron and first clear the visible dirt or lint from the sole plate. Prepare a paste of soda with water and rub it on the sole plate with a wet soft cloth. Then wipe it out with another piece of soft cloth. Be careful that water should not penetrate inside the iron.
• To remove starch accumulation on the sole plate, prepare a solution taking one part salt, three parts water and three parts vinegar. Dip a soft cloth in this solution and rub softly on the bottom of the plate.
• For removing burn spots, you can use the oven cleaner. Cover the entire iron with brown paper or newspaper, leaving the burn spots area open. Then spray the oven cleaner on these spots and after few minutes rinse with the damp soft cloth.

Tips

• Clean the handle of the iron with the soft cloth and keep it dry all the times, otherwise, you are always under threat of electric shock.
• Take special care of electric cord. Don’t twist it too much and keep it away from the hot sole plate, otherwise, it may be damaged and you will be at risk of electric shock. Try to keep this cord as straight as possible during ironing.

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Water is an essential part of our life. It is a multipurpose commodity without which we can not think of life on this globe. As you might be aware more than 70% of the planet earth is covered with water but only a nominal portion of this huge water reservoir is potable. The water supplied to our homes is potable that can be utilized for drinking, cooking and various other household requirements.

But sometimes you may have noticed that water supplied in your homes leaves stains on the utensils. In some areas, the drinking water may give a slightly, salty taste, whereas mostly water should be tasteless. In fact, the water supplied in homes may be of two types, the Hard Water and the Soft Water. It is, therefore, necessary that we should be aware of the difference between these two types of water. But before that, we need to know what actually makes a water hard or soft.

Here we are giving you some basic information on these two types of water with more emphasis on the difference between Hard and Soft water.

What Makes A Water Hard Or Soft?

When we say this water is hard, in fact, we refer to the level of minerals dissolved in it. Water has the ability to dissolve so many elements in it, including the minerals. Generally, minerals such as Magnesium and Calcium. The more the quantity of these minerals in a sample of water, harder it is. If a sample of water has the lesser quantity of dissolved minerals, it is rated as Soft Water. Again the lesser the quantity of minerals, the softer is the water.

Generally, hard water is the water obtained from the underground water. Depending on the type of soil and geological trait of the area, the water obtained may be more or less harder. The soft water is the water that we obtain from the rainfall. The softest water is the Distilled Water.

• The United States Geological Survey gives us the parameter to classify water in various categories as under.
• If the water contains less than 60 mg of dissolved minerals per liter, it is rated as Soft Water.
• When the proportion of dissolved minerals ranges between 61 to 120 mg per liter, it is termed as Moderately Hard Water.
• Hard water is considered one that contains 121 to 180 mg of dissolved minerals per liter.
• If the level of dissolved minerals in one liter of water exceeds 181 mg, this is very hard water.

Identification Of Hard & Soft Water

The simplest way of identifying hard and soft water at home is mixing soap in the water. The hard water would form less rather than the soft water. When you mix soap in soft water, you will observe the immediate formation of rich lather whereas in case of hard water, this lather formation will be very less or even it may result in just a white precipitate or what you can call soap scum.

Another glaring example of hard water is the formation scales on the utensils and on the taps and pipes which come across hard water. Due to a huge quantity of calcium in hard water, whitish spots on your utensils may appear very soon. A swimming pool filled with hard water would present a milky look due to the presence of calcium and magnesium in it.

Permanent & Temporary Hardness Of Water

Hardness in water may be of permanent nature or it may be a temporary characteristic. The temporary hardness of water can be removed very easily at home; just by boiling the water. Temporary hardness is caused by bicarbonate of Calcium or Magnesium. When you boil such water, the bicarbonate is converted into carbonates which settle at the bottom on cooling, thus leaving the soft water.

Permanent hardness is caused by Chlorides and/or sulfates of Calcium and Magnesium. Such hard water cannot be converted into soft water by boiling at home. However, on the industrial scale, such permanent hardness of water can also be removed.

Drinking Water

Both the Hard and the Soft Waters are considered good for drinking from health point of view. However, the feeling of both while drinking is somewhat different. When you drink hard water, you may have a taste of minerals dissolved in it.

Though medically, it is the perfect drinking water, some people don’t like it due to a slight bitterness in it. On the other hand, soft water is considered equally good for health. It is relatively purer than the hard water but at the same time may have a slight taste of salt.

Impacts Of Hard Water

Although the hard water is considered as safe for human health yet it leaves some bad effects on us.

• Water supply pipes, taps, washroom accessories, bathtubs and kitchen utensils are badly affected by water, as it may cause the formation of scales on these items. If left unattended, the formation of scales may also result in blockage of water supply pipes.
• If you consistently wash your hair with hard water, you will shortly feel stickiness and dullness in your hair.
• Hard water may cause eczema.
• Minerals dissolved in hard water may result in dryness of skin and hair.
• Hard water may result in scalp.

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Keeping a house tidy is somewhat tricky affair. No matter your house is of small size or it is a big house, if not kept organized, may not be an ideal place to live in. At the same time, organizing a house is not so easy; it is quite a demanding task. Keeping a house tidy does not relate only to its cleanliness. It is rather a comprehensive affair, which includes many things including the cleanliness and arranging different items appropriately.

Though somewhat difficult it is very much possible to keep your house neat and clean and well organized. It, however, needs a little bit of extra effort. In fact, it is an ongoing effort that needs regularity. If you make it a habit to maintain a certain level of upkeep of your house on daily basis, things will go smoothly very shortly. But if you don’t do it regularly on daily basis, things will go out of your control thus converting this routine affair into a nightmare.

Here we are suggesting some useful tips on “How To Keep Your House Tidy?”

Don’t Be Lazy

Make it your daily routine to spend some time on the upkeep of your house. If you just start relaxing, you will never be able to maintain the house. So, first thing is to throw laziness out of your system. Spare at least 40 – 45 minutes, preferably in the early hours of the day for maintaining and organizing your house. It involves little things that will become your daily habit with the passage of time. These may include:

• Immediately after waking up, the first thing to do is set your bed right, tidy the sheets, place the pillows properly and pack up the duvet. Don’t leave your bedroom without doing it.
• After taking morning showers, tidy the washroom, keep everything in its appropriate place.

• Have a look at your wardrobe, before leaving your room. Tidy the clothes and hang them properly.
• Dirty clothes should immediately be shifted to the laundry area. Don’t leave it for some other time; don’t be lazy.
• Keep the shoes in order at their respective racks.
• Clean the room with a vacuum cleaner.

Before Leaving For Your Workplace

Just as mentioned above, another habit you need to develop into your system is not to leave your house for your workplace before doing these things:

• Have a look at your as well as your kids’ rooms. Don’t let anything out of its proper place. Toys, clothes, books, magazines, mobile chargers, laptops, sheets, pillows, and shoes etc. must be placed appropriately in all rooms of your house.
• Arrange the cupboards and clean them by removing unnecessary and dirty items.

• Clean the rooms and carpets.
• Have a look at your drawing and dining room. Remove used and unnecessary items.
• Again, once you make it your habit, you will feel it easiest of the tasks in your daily routines.

Organize Your Kitchen

A kitchen may be most difficult place in your house to maintain, if not done on daily basis. The best time to organize and maintain your kitchen is the night time. Once you have done with the day’s cooking, clean entire utensils involved in the cooking. Clean the counters and other devices such as ovens etc. Place each thing at its respective place. Arrange all crockery properly. Don’t let any unwashed dishes  remain at sink  over night in your kitchen.

Leftover food, it can be utilized later on, must be kept properly in freezer or fridge. Uncooked foodstuff must be removed from the kitchen and placed appropriately in freezer and fridge. Floor and counters of your kitchen are highly susceptible to grease and dirt. These need to be washed, cleaned thoroughly. Leaving it for the other day may result in more dirt and grease, so, never leave it pending; wash and clean right now.

Other Daily Routines

• Don’t leave anything pending for next day. Do it right at that moment!
• Remove dust from each and everything in your house.
• Collect the garbage at one place and dispose of it properly.

• Do not let the garbage accumulate in your house; it is not good for your health as well.
• Collect all dirty clothes at one appropriate place for washing.
• Schedule different things to be done at different times. Some tasks need to be done early in the morning while others may be appropriate to be done at night before going to bed. You will be accustomed to this schedule with the passage of time.

Things To Do Periodically

In addition to the daily routines, some tasks should be done periodically, say once or twice in a month. These may include:

• Washing your clothes.
• Comprehensive cleaning of entire house.
• Removing spider web from entire house.
• Cleaning and washing the main entrance door and passage.
• Maintain and organize your garden.

Keeping your house tidy is something that has a pleasant feeling both physically and mentally. So, spare at least some time for tidying your house.

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