LA Robinson
Whoever came up with the adage “a messy home is a happy home” clearly never felt the satisfaction of scrubbing a countertop until it sparkled, smelling fresh laundry or mopping their floors until they shone.
And while a house filled with children, pets and loved ones who stop by for wine-fuelled dinners will inevitably get a little battered and bruised by the good times, there’s no need to live with unsightly drink rings. Nor should one put up with a shrunken jumper that’s more than a touch too small.
Enter Nancy Birtwhistle, the former Great British Bake Off winner turned eco-friendly household cleaning influencer. With more than one million devoted Instagram followers who tune in for her simple and effective tips, she’s the doyenne of no-nonsense cleaning solutions and household hacks.
And though Birtwhistle could easily bottle her non-toxic cleaning formulas and sell them up and down the country for profit, she is instead committed to arming people with the skills to make them at home, as she does in her latest book, Clean Magic: Essential New Tricks for a Sparkling Green Home.
Here, she shares some of her top tips from the book and beyond to swiftly fix common household accidents, from scuffs on your walls to seemingly hopeless laundry mishaps.
A shrunken jumper
“The washing machine can be the biggest culprit. Even if you use a woollen cycle, you can still end up with a shrunken jumper – it’s the spin that does it. The best fix is to soak the jumper in a solution of tepid water and hair conditioner. If you live in a hard water area, add some vinegar to soften the water. This solution will relax the fibres that have tightened. Once it’s soaking wet, roll it in a towel to remove excess water and take the weight out. Then gently pull it back into shape and let it air-dry flat.”
White clothing that’s turned pink in the wash
“There is a brilliant product I call ‘green bleach’ that does a sterling job of removing stains. You won’t usually find it in supermarkets, but it is available in independent eco-friendly shops or online – its chemical name is sodium percarbonate. It’s an oxygen bleach.
If you have a pink-on-white colour run, mix some green bleach with water and soak the affected item in the solution. To brighten whites more generally, add a little green bleach to the washing drum on a cool wash.
Compared with chlorine bleach, which is toxic and damaging to the environment – and to us, because of the harmful fumes it gives off – green bleach often works even better. You can also use it on colours. What makes it eco-friendly is that, once activated, it decomposes in about six hours into soda ash, water and oxygen.”
Scratches on hardwood
“All you need is a walnut. Break it in half so that you’ve got the raw, fleshy part exposed, and rub that along the scratch. You’ll be surprised how the mark is covered. People often ask, ‘doesn’t the nut go off and make the wood start to smell?’ No, it doesn’t because it simply fills the crack. It’s very clever.”
Drink rings on your wooden table
“Take a thick, clean towel and lay it over the stain. Then hover a steam iron above it, without applying any pressure. Check underneath to make sure all is well and, if it is, start applying gentle pressure until you’re ironing the towel over the mark. Look under the towel regularly to ensure you’re not causing any damage. The steam should lift the marks, after which you can polish the surface to restore the wood to its best.
Note, I wouldn’t do this on your finest French-polished table.”
Wine stains
“These can be removed very quickly from cottons and linens by pouring boiling water over them. If you have a white tablecloth, for example, stretch the stained area over a colander and secure it with clothes pegs so it’s taut. Then pour boiling water over it and the wine should disappear.
If it’s a washed-in stain, this can sometimes still work, but if not, you’ll need to make a soap using washing soda and green bleach and spot-treat it. Alternatively, in summer, mix a tablespoon of my Pure Magic with cold water, soak the fabric, then pin it up in the sunshine. It should bleach out.”
Dog pee out of carpet
“If Rover has left you an unpleasant surprise, I’ve got a quick clean-up fix. Spot-treat the stain with a mix of 2 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp eco-friendly washing-up liquid and 250ml (9 fl oz) tepid water. Combine the ingredients, then dab at the stain until it disappears.”
The Telegraph UK
Clean Magic: Essential New Tricks for a Sparkling Green Home (Pan Macmillan Australia) by Nancy Birtwhistle is out now.
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