Annie’s All Natural Pots and Pans Cleaner

Last night I made some super yummy stuffed peppers. I will post the recipe in a future blog, but for now, I need to tell y’all what I did. I burnt the peppers to the bottom of the pot.

Not just a little scorched, either. The “food-was- burned –to- the- bottom –of- the- pot -and –there- is- no- hope- for- redemption- might –as- well –throw- it- all -out –and- buy- new” kind.

But here is the problem. I love that pot. Therefore, I couldn’t give up on it. Not without a fight. Enter, Annie’s All Natural Pots and Pans Cleaner.

Annie’s All Natural Pots and Pans Cleaner

·        Cover affected area of pot or pan with ¼ inch of baking soda.

·        Pour vinegar over area until completely covered.

·        Let mixture sit for 5 minutes. Call the kiddos over to watch. Everyone likes a good fizz show.

·        Scrape and rinse.

·        Repeat first three steps, adding extra vinegar.

·        Bring pot to a boil, watching it carefully. Boil 2 minutes.

·        Let cool, then scrape and rinse.

I have used the recipe several times. Most of the time the pot or pan becomes as good as new. I have always seen marked improvement in the pot or pan, and I have always been able to salvage it instead of throwing it away.

I hope y’all never need to use this recipe. Hopefully you will never scorch a pot or pan. However, if you are like me, life gets busy, distractions arise, something shiny appears, and eventually the food gets burnt. While I cannot salvage you’re your meal, at least I can give you a way to salvage your pan.

“The grand essentials of life are something to do, something to love, something to hope for.”~ Thomas Chalmers.

~Annie

Annie's All Natural Coffee Maker Cleanser

This morning, as I eagerly anticipated that first sip of coffee, my fingers drummed the counter. When the coffee was finally in my cup, doused with a bit of almond milk, I took the first taste.

What I expected was a tasty, wonderful mouthful of a richly, brewed drink. What I got was bitterness. It was time to clean the coffee pot.

Cleaning a coffee maker is relatively simple. I am sure that they sell some sort of coffee maker cleansers somewhere, stock full of chemicals that you in no way want to ever ingest. Ever.

Instead of some high priced cleanser, let me let you in on a little all natural secret of mine. This little secret will cost just a few pennies, and a bit of wait time.

If you read my blog with any regularity, you will know my secret weapon of choice for all sorts of things. Its name is vinegar.

Annie’s Coffee Maker Cleanser

• Pour vinegar into carafe. For large (12 cup) carafe, use 2 cups of vinegar. For small (4 cup) carafe, use 2/3 cup of vinegar.
• Pour vinegar from carafe into the holding tank, where you normally would pour the water.
• Leave filter basket in place. This is a great time for it to get a cleaning as well.
• Turn on coffee maker.
• Let the vinegar run through the coffee maker.
• Turn off coffee maker.
• Pour vinegar from carafe into holding tank, taking care not to burn yourself. The vinegar will now be very hot.
• Repeat three times.

While the coffee maker is running the vinegar through four times, I take this time to clean my sinks, and prepare them for cleaning their drains. This little tip is found here.  Since the vinegar still is useful, and is already hot, why waste it? Right? After the vinegar has ran through the coffee maker for the fourth time, just pour the vinegar from the carafe, down into the drains as directed in the drain cleaner post. In this way, you are killing two birds with one stone.

Ok, back to our coffee maker….

• Fill carafe with water.
• Pour it into the holding tank.
• Run water through coffee maker.
• Once the coffee maker has finished filling the carafe, pour the hot water down the kitchen sink. I pour half down one side, half down the other.
• Repeat six times. Yes. Six. For a total of seven times. I have found that it takes seven times to completely rid your coffee pot of the vinegar taste. If you want to chance it and live life on the wild side by only running water through a total of six times, do it. (I am currently on round number five of running water through the coffee maker as I write this post.)
• Your coffee maker, filter basket, and carafe are now ready to be used again.

If you have found that your favorite coffee now seems to have a bitter taste to it, clean your coffee maker. If you find that your coffee is taking forever to brew in the morning, clean your coffee maker. If you can no longer see through your carafe, clean your coffee maker.

For only a few cents, you can have your coffee maker back in like-new condition, and your favorite coffee tasting like a little bit of Heaven with each eagerly anticipated sip.

 As Aristotle said, “Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities. “

~Annie

Annie's Bathroom Rug Freshener

 If your family is at all like mine, then you will be able to relate to our bathroom rug dilemma.

Long before the bathroom rugs are in need of a washing, they looked trampled down, old, and neglected. If I washed them every time they looked this way, I would be washing them daily.

Instead, I have come up with Plan B.

Annie’s Bathroom Rug Freshener

• Shake rugs outside.
• Spray vinegar solution that we used for our upholstery freshener onto rugs, being sure to lightly and fully cover them. Be sure to test the solution in an inconspicuous spot on your rugs first. I have never had an issue, but you never can be absolutely sure until you try it.
• Place in dryer for 3 minutes. Seriously. Just 3 minutes. That is all it takes.
• Return to bathroom floor.

You will find that your rugs have returned to that “just home from the store and looking fabulous and fluffy” state. They will smell lovely too. Trust me.

I find this works well if you have company on the way, or if your mother just called to say she will be dropping in for a visit in ten minutes.

Have a wonderful day, my friends. Enjoy this extra blessing of snow while we have it. Very soon it will be a distant memory.

Remember what Thomas Edwards said, “To rejoice in another's prosperity, is to give content to your own lot: to mitigate another's grief, is to alleviate or dispel your own.”

~Annie

Annie’s Stain Pre-Wash Treatment

If your house is anything like ours, y’all get a lot of stains on clothes and towels that you may not mean to get stained.

Sure we all have our “work clothes,” but sometimes you just get sidetracked and before you know it, you have your Sunday-go-to-meeting attire filthy.

Never fear! Annie’s Stain Pre-Wash Treatment is here! (Courtesy of my sweet mama.)

This stuff works phenomenally well. Remember me telling you about how dirty I got my clothes on the night of the fateful meeting with the skunk?  Yep. This is the same stuff my sweet mama used on my clothing, and there was nary a stain to be found!

Annie’s Stain Pre-Wash Treatment

• Clean out and clearly mark old spray bottle or dish soap bottle
• Add one cup liquid laundry detergent
• Add one cup ammonia
• Add one cup water
• Shake

That is it, folks. So easy. So simple.

To use:

• Test in small spot to make sure it is safe for your garment. I have never had it not be ok, but one can never be too careful when it comes to our favorite clothes.
• Generously douse stain, allowing it to soak in mixture for at least one hour.
• Wash as you normally would
• After washing, look for stain, if still there, do not dry. Repeat above steps until stain is gone.

My sweet mama has used this recipe for years, saving all sorts of my favorite clothes from certain demise.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

~Annie

Annie’s Natural Upholstery Freshener

As spring-cleaning time approaches, I will be sharing little tips for your cleaning pleasure. I love to organize. LOVE it. Cleaning? Not so much. However, I do realize it is necessary, and try to make the best of it while I clean away.

To freshen up the upholstery on furniture that has started to have an odor from daily use, pets, too many gym socks, etc., here is a tried and true, inexpensive idea.

Annie’s Natural Upholstery Freshener

• Obtain a 32 ounce spray bottle.
• Pour 8 ounces (1 cup) of white vinegar into bottle.
• Pour 24 ounces (3 cups) of water into bottle.
• Shake well.
• Test spray on hidden section of upholstery to ensure that it will not ruin the fabric. (I have never once had this mixture ruin anything, but you can never be too careful.)
• Spray entire piece of furniture with mixture, paying special attention to highly used areas. The piece of furniture will be damp.
• Allow upholstery to dry before using. I have found that a fan will help in the drying process.
• This spray may be used on carpets as well.
• While the white vinegar does have an odor while wet, once it dries, it will have no odor and will have taken away most, if not all, of the odor in the treated upholstery or carpet.
• If necessary, repeat steps until odor is gone.

A wonderful friend once gave us a much-needed sofa bed that had been left in their new home when they moved in. The former owner of the house had smoked around the couch for years. When I first got the couch to our house, I set it outside and doused it with Febreeze and other products like it. All it did was mask the odor for awhile.

My mom, who is my go-to person for all things natural, suggested the above vinegar-based spray. While it did take three applications, the smoke smell did come out of the upholstery. We were able to freshen up the sofa bed for hardly any money, and we were able to do so without using harsh chemicals.

I now use this mixture whenever I have upholstery or carpet that needs to be freshened up a bit. It is quick, easy, and inexpensive. If only all spring-cleaning projects were as easy as this one….

Enjoy your day, lovelies. And remember, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”

~Annie

Annies Kitchen Drain and Pipe Cleaner

On this beautiful, pseudo spring day, my thoughts turn to spring cleaning. Y’all, people think that because I have OCD that I love to clean. That is simply not true. I love to ORGANIZE.  Cleaning, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. I do clean. Everyday. However, it is not my passion.

The other day, JP commented on a “funky smell” emanating from the kitchen sink. While I didn’t smell anything, JP is super sensitive to odors, so I just took it as a pre-warning that the sink pipes and drain needed to be cleaned.

You might ask how one actually cleans the drain and pipes. It is actually very simple. And completely chemical free. You can amaze your friends, your kids, even your super olfactory sensitive spouse!

Annie’s Kitchen Drain and Pipe Cleaner

• 2 Tbsp baking soda per drain. Remember back when I told you to make sure that your baking soda didn’t get too old because then you couldn’t get your baked goods to rise to their supreme fluffiness? This is where the old baking soda comes into play. As you will soon realize if you follow my blog long enough, I never waste anything. Ever.( If you do not have old baking soda to use, just use your fresh soda. Just think of it as using it up so it never gets old!)
• Shake baking soda into drain, trying to cover as much of the inner drain as possible
• ½ cup vinegar per drain. Again, try to cover as much of the inner drain and pipes as possible as you pour into the drain.
• Sit back and enjoy the fizz. Come on. Admit it. You love the sound of the fizz as much as I do. It reminds me of the days of homemade volcanoes for science fair projects gone awry. It actually is loosening all the gunk that has slowly built up on the walls of the inner drains and pipes. Walk away for 15-30 minutes. Take a coffee break. Go outside. Pet the dog. Read a few pages of your book. Call your mother.
• Pour 4 cups boiling water down each drain, starting with the one farthest from the main pipes. If you don’t know which this is, just take a peak under the sink to see which drain has the long pipe running over to connect it to the other to go down into the cabinet floor. Wait five minutes. The boiling water will continue to loosen grime and wash it away.
• Squirt 2 Tbsp of lemon juice into each inner drain, doing your best to coat the inner drain and pipes. This will leave your kitchen sink with a wonderful citrus scent. (if you have a garbage disposal, send a cut up lemon through the disposal.)

Presto! Non-funky smelling kitchen sink! No harsh chemicals going down your drains. No hazardous odors. No fears of children ingesting toxins from the cleanser. Just good, old-fashion clean drains and pipes.

I try to do this at least once a month. (If I remember.) In that way, I am able to keep JP’s nose happy, while at the same time ensuring that I will not have a clogged or slow-to-drain kitchen sink due to gunk build up.

Enjoy the beautiful reprieve from winter today, my friends.

“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.” ~Edith Sitwell.

~Annie