Holly's Household Tips

I just want to start this page off by stating that I am not the greatest housekeeper.  Sometimes my house can look absolutely dreadful.  Because of this, cleaning the house can be quite a chore.  I think because I am a horrid housekeeper, I have had to find ways to get a horrid mess clean.  Here are some of the things that I have learned throughout the years:

How to Wash Fleece and Keep it Soft.

I don't know about you, but I love really soft fleece and I hate to wash it because it looses that super soft quality that I love so much.  I few years ago I had a fleece lined jacket that I wore on my trip to Argentina, and it just had to be washed.  I google how to wash fleece and found nothing.  So in desperation I washed it with several capfuls of fabric softener at the beginning of the wash. How much you use depends on how desperate you are to keep your fleece soft.  I use about 3.   Then at the end of the wash cycle I hung it to dry.  It came out really soft.  Since then I have done this many times and it always seems to work.  The only problem is that the scent of the fabric softener is very strong, but it wears off after a bit.  I guess that I better search for a low odor fabric softener.  

Here are the steps to keep your fleece nice and soft.
1.  Add several cups of fabric softener at the beginning of the wash.
2.  Put fabric softener in the rinse cycle.
3.  Wash in hot water
4.  Hang the fleece to dry.  Do not put it into the dryer.

My husband used to do janitorial work growing up.  He has always used vinegar, and I have always hated it!  A friend of mine told me how she seemed to be using vinegar more and more because it cleans so well.  When I could not get my dishwasher to clean very well,  I poured in several cups of vinegar into the dishwasher.  I had never had such clean dishes! Since then I have found myself using vinegar on everything! (I have even gotten used to the smell.)

Here's a link to some fun information on vinegar:

http://vinegartip.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/vinegar-history/

Find out how to spruce up and old plastic file.  Just click on the picture.