Hi everyone ~

I thought it might be nice if we all posted here some of our best ideas for substitutes to use in a pinch when you really gotta get something done and can't run off to the store first.

My two favorite tips are:

FOR TARNISHED SILVER that MUST be polished in a hurry and you are out of silver polish -- Toothpaste works great and won't grate the finish.

FOR A BURNED ON MESS ON A REGULAR POT OR PAN and you are out of scouring soap pads -- Ido NOT do this on a non-stick surface!)

First, add some water to the pot or pan and put on to boil. Allow to boil for a while and that will loosen up the worst of it. Empty pot or pan and sprinkle with Comet or Comet-like scouring powder. Make a wad of aluminum foil and scrub, turning the wad frequently and re-wadding as needed.

Anyone else?

Merme

Merme

I think my stove runs hotter than "normal" stoves or something

After letting the cleaner work for several minutes (you have to "spray & run" anyway, to keep from coughing & gagging... one of the active ingredients is ammonia, I believe), it might require some scrubbing with a chore girl or a wire brush, but it really does the job & cuts right through serious char.**

I've also used it on the OUTSIDE of electric skillets, waffle irons, griddles, etc., to remove that yellowed baked-on sticky stuff** ...careful not to spray on electrical parts.
DO NOT use oven cleaner on non-stick, painted, aluminum or copper surfaces.

Not long ago Cindy asked me what she could clean a stained (steel) thermos with, & I suggested that she try oven cleaner.
Cindy, did it work?
For glass coffee pots it's lots faster than a Brillo pad. Of course, you'll want to rinse & wipe... then rinse again! Oven cleaner has absolutely no food value & tastes really gross!

P.S. Oven cleaner is also a great time saver for removing soap scum build-up from PORCELAIN bathtubs & when cleaning oil/grease from hand tools, such as screw drivers, wrenches & sockets.**
(Use on accessories, but not ON power tools. Avoid contact with plastic/fiberglass tub surrounds/shower stalls, as it will dull the finish.)


**HIGHLY CAUSTIC** Rubber gloves might be a good idea ..if you have any left over!

I didn't try it...because I was afraid to spray oven cleaner with Lola in the house. There's so many things that can kill her...just to be in the house when it's used...I have to be so careful. No carpet fresh...that's instant death to a bird. No room freshener spray. Nothing aerosol.

So...I remembered that Rachel had told me that Cascade would clean stainless steel.

I put a little Cascade in the Thermos with some hot water, and the built up coffee stain just started flaking off and floating to the top of the thermos. It was just like brand spankin' new in about 10 minutes!

It's good to know that about Cascade Cindy, & I'm glad it worked in the thermos. (Also glad there was something you could use to keep Lola safe!) I know that Dawn detergent works better for heavy-duty cleaning jobs (like venetian blinds) ...& won't leave spots, where other dish soaps can't.

About the oven cleaner... because I don't like daring myself to breathe after spraying it, don't like ammonia particles floating around dulling the finish on my cupboard doors, & also because I have plants in the kitchen, when I spray oven cleaner on anything I take it out on the deck to do it, then leave it sitting on the railing while it does its stuff. (Of course, I don't take the kitchen stove out on the porch, but then I never clean the oven anyway... cuz it hardly ever gets used!)

A cleaning short cut for blood stains is to use dishwasher soap mixed with just a bit of water. (It won't make a "paste", but needs to be scrubbed into the fabric with a scrub brush, toothbrush or fingernail brush, then swamped with water & scrubbed some more.) The thing that makes it work is the enzymes in dishwasher soaps that attack protein.

When LaRelle accidentally shot herself in the hand while cleaning a hand gun, she was afraid that she would have to pay to have her apartment re-carpeted, because LOTS of blood had dried into the light beige carpet. I went to stay with her when she got out of the hospital 4 days later, & attacked the carpet with dishwasher soap, lots of water & a shop vac, & there wasn't a trace of stain when I finished!

You should see what it did to my stainless steel kitchen sink!


First thing that comes to my mind is...
...if you are out of Jim Beam, Wild Turkey 101 will work.

Patty thanks. If anyone ever asks how too get rid of 'the evidence' I'll know!

also salt and ice cubes,cleans coffe pot stains and thermos stains.

Those are all great sounding ideas. If someone made me, I would try one, but, here's what I did.
I once had a set of amber colored glass pans, which I no longer have. When one got so charred it was too hard to clean (I hate to put out too much effort)I just chucked it in the trash! Now they're all gone! And I'm glad. I hated those, and would never have glass ones again!!

Shirley, I had those amber colored glass pans once too. They cleaned up nicely with oven cleaner, but I got tired of messing with them & gave them all to my kids several years ago. When I made the gravy at my son's house the other day, I'd forgotten how easy those pans scorched stuff when they're used on top of the stove! (I hate cooking, but can make prize winning gravy, so that's always my job on holidays when dinner is at his house.) Half way through making the gravy I remembered that I only used to use those pans in the oven or for making hot cereal or heating up canned veggies... so I switched to a stainless steel pan & didn't ruin dinner. (Turkey dinner without gravy would be awful!)

I also had another set of those glass pans with the non-stick coating, but I always turn my burners on high, & I ruined them before I found out that high heat wrecks the coating. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I thought of another handy hint....
Don't you just hate price stickers that don't want to come off?

*** Put the item in the freezer! The glue is disabled when frozen, & the stickers will lift right off! ***


I also do this with the bags that postal prescriptions come in... cuz those bags are handy for mailing plant cuttings or rooted plants in. They reseal on their own, after refreezing the bag to get it open again!

Wow, that Price Sticker solution is priceless to me!! That's the worse thing I hate, trying to get them off! Thanks so much for a solution.

To clean coffee pots , salt and ice . Put a few pieces of ice in the pot then a couple table spoons of salt . Swish around til the ice melts and the pot will be clean and it will take that scorched taste out of the coffee as it takes the scorch out of the pot .