Sparkly Clean: A Kintsugi 'How Do I Clean This' Thread

Don't know if this is the same kind of trap you made, but a cup or bottle with some vinegar in the bottom and a paper cone making a funnel down into the cup often works pretty well. They fly in because they smell the vinegar and then can't find the hole to get back out.

 

@TheMockingCrows that's a super good idea! I hadn't thought of that. And incense should be fine!

@LadyNighteyes I made something similar, but your suggestion sounds like it might work better!

 

Recently unearthed a purse that is about 40% cloth and 60% leather. The leather is fine, but the cloth... Seriously Needs Cleaning (covered in years of Unidentifiable Floor Gunk). My normal fix for a cloth item would just be throwing it in the washer, but that seems like a Bad Idea with the leather bits. Suggestions?

 

Hrm. If it were small portions of leather, I'd recommend chucking it into the washer anyways and then treating the leather portions with leather moisturiser stuff afterwards. Since a majority of the purse is leather...I think you might need to hand-scrub this thing.

How exactly does one go about cleaning slate floors? Because what I've been doing for the past year or so is sweeping them and then mopping with vinegar and a microfiber mop cloth that goes over the mop-head and can be tossed in the wash afterwards. The thing is, 1) there's still stuff that's not quite coming up after I mop, 2) the floor gets in need of a mopping again what feels like really quickly - it's sticky for bare feet within a few days, and I'm not sure why (it is very humid here, and we haven't been able to open the windows for weeks because one person has super-bad pollen allergies), and 3) there's also what looks like chipping at the edges of some of the tiles, and I don't know what caused that. Is it normal wear-and-tear? Did I fuck up the floors with the vinegar?

 

You might want a scrub brush on a pole so you can lean in and scrub it, that's what we do at work. You'll need to mop it dry after, but it should help. for sticky, maybe try a degrease in water?

 

My go-to for getting sticky whatever off of almost any surface is a steam mop. I have one at home and at work we use it to melt hair product residue off of the mats the stylists stand on - which is a pretty substantial mess. The heat gets up all kinds of crap without damaging surfaces.

Edit: and while I've never had slate tiles, I've had other natural stone floors, and in general you're not supposed to use an acidic cleaner on them.

 

I've never had to deal with natural stone tiles. As for cleaning, i'm on my computer now, This is what i was talking about for scrubbing. Lean a little on it, and you won't have to shove it into the ground - but it gets most things up without breaking your back.

 

Welp. I guess the answer to "did I fuck up the floor with vinegar" is "yes, but probably not more than can be explained away by normal wear-and-tear" and I'm going to stop using the vinegar on the slate tiles now. I'm also going to look into getting that deck brush, because it'd be really good to have.

 

Also slate is kind of brittle. Our kitchen has a slate floor (rough semi-natural) there has been some chippage over the years. Even pretty sizeable chunks can sheer off, that happened to me the other week and did me a bit of a frighten. So unless you are losing big chunks all the time don't fuss too much about it in future.

 

Nah - it's just little dings in the corners and edges of the sections that see the most foot-traffic. So: basically, nothing that we can't explain away as normal wear and tear if we ever move out.

 

General recommendation: I cleaned our oven the other day. It was pretty grim. But I did my research and bought something called The Pink Stuff off Amazon.

This shit is incredible. It's basically an abrasive paste type thing. My oven is now super sparkly clean. It even got all those really stubborn marks off of the wire rack things. I also used it on our glass shower doors (very gently) and the water marks are now all gone and they look brand new.

 

WHAT Where do i buy this i hate scrubbing ovens and oven cleaner makes my lungs want to hop out of my throat and fuck off

edit- never mind apparently googling Pink Stuff suffices

thank you so much for letting me know about this, and is it as hazardous to noses/lungs as oven spray?

 

I have a small backpack that I carry everywhere and in the summer...the straps tend to hold on to body odor. I don't really want to put it through the wash because it has some iron-on decals on it that I'm worried will come off.

In the past I've hand-washed the straps to get the smell out but it doesn't seem very effective. They're some kind of synthetic fabric, probably nylon. I've definitely had this issue before with polyester/sports shirts too. Is there a more effective way of getting smells out of synthetic fabric?

 

Washing soda helps de-stink stuff, you could probably also try some sort of deodorizing spray I think?

 

Four parts water one part vodka deoderizes and disinfects. You wanna use a spray bottle and spray it till it's damp, then wait for it to dry.

Edit! This can also work on laundry items that are supposed to be handwashed.

 

Would I be able to use rubbing alcohol instead?

 

I don't think so, but I've never tried it.

 

Anyone have any advice for cleaning honey out of a suitcase? A glass bottle broke in transit. The clothes are all taken care of, but the suitcase itself is still behoneyed. It's a generic plastic shell dealie with thin cloth lining inside.

 

My best advice is to let it dry into crystals and scrape off what you can, then apply a rag soaked in hot water to the remnants.

Edit: if there's a lot of it, wipe up the excess with paper towels before allowing it to dry out

 

So my computer died and my sister sent me her old tablet so I can do my schoolwork. It has a protective case which it absolutely needs in order to keep from being damaged. The case smells so bad I can barely stand it. My mother is a heavy smoker, and she contributed the box to this exchange. I know that smell can be hard to get out, but cigarette smoke makes my throat feel scratchy and swollen and I want to be able tp do homework and breathe at the same time. Does anyone know a trick to at least minimize it?