Stains
You may already know this cleaning tip, but if you don't it is a great one. If you get food spots on your clothes no need to reach for the Shout or Stain Out, just dab a big of dish detergent on the spot before you put the shirt in the hamper. My neighbor Nia told my about this and it really works. In fact there is no need to have stained cloth napkins anymore because dish detergent takes grease stains out in the next wash. No wonder I'm the only person I know with stained cloth napkins.
Mopping Floors
If you have a tile floor in your kitchen, like we do in New York, I've learned an easier way to clean it instead of pulling out that dirty old mop and spreading the dirt around with it. In Lebanon most of the floors are ceramic tile so they have cleaning them down to a science.
Many floors have drains and they just cover them with soap and water and use a squeegee like a window squeegee with a long handle to push the water and dirt down the drain. If your floor doesn't have a drain, which ours doesn't, they use a heavy duty towel, dampen it and push it around the floor with the squeegee. Then they rinse out the towel. It is fast, efficient, and much easier than mopping.
Laundry Booster
My friend Aziza helped me out when I asked what to do about laundry that never got that clean. The water in Beirut is hard and full of minerals so laundry detergent just wasn't doing the job. She told me to add 1/4 cup of Calgon to each wash and what a difference. The colors come out brighter and the whites whiter. The section of the package that I can read says to use Calgon to protect your washer from the assault of hard water, well its greater benefit is cleaner clothes. I can't wait to try it in Franklin.
