Easy Cookware Cleaning Powder
Borax is great for cleaning tough stains and baked-on crustiness. Dampen the affected areas, sprinkle a touch on, and let it sit for a few minutes. Then, scrub with a soft sponge or microfiber cloth and rinse well.
Borax is a naturally occurring mineral salt that's sold as a laundry booster. It promises to fight stains, brighten whites and help laundry detergent more effectively clean all kinds of fabrics, colored fabrics included. Unlike bleach, borax is safe to use on colored fabrics without fear of dye removal or other damage.
While the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies borax as being noncarcinogenic, it does pose some risks, including: skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. digestive problems. infertility.
Drain the tub and place the sheets and towels in the wash on a rinse-only cycle. You can then dry them by running them through the dryer, avoiding using dryer sheets. Overall, Borax is a fantastic natural cleaning solution for laundry. It can be used to whiten, remove stains, and disinfect your clothes.
How to Use Borax to Whiten Dingy Laundry. When borax is added to water, it converts some molecules in the water to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a mild oxidizing or bleaching agent. Just as other oxygen-based bleaches, hydrogen peroxide breaks down safely into water and oxygen.
Oxiclean powder is essentially washing soda with sodium percarbonate, which turns into hydrogen peroxide. It's color safe and works great to get rid of stains and keeps whites white and colors bright. It's also much safer / less toxic than Borax. Borax works well too, helps get rid of stains, and whitens clothes.
Borax: Helps to clean and deodorize. Use on wallpaper, painted walls and floors. Use it with your detergent to remove stains and boost cleaning power. Vinegar: Helps remove stains, wax build-up and mildew.
Instead of sprinkling borax in the bottom of your trash can, try baking soda or used (or fresh) coffee grinds, which all work wonders. You can also use baking soda and water to clean your trash can. Throw in some vinegar for extra odor-fighting action.
Kill Boxelder Beetles and Other Pests
Ants aren't the only thing borax will kill. In fact, many companies make borax insecticides designed to get rid of household pests. Sprinkle borax powder along the edges of your sidewalk, foundation, and driveway to get rid of boxelder beetles and cockroaches.
Pour ½ cup of borax powder to every gallon you used. Stir to agitate the borax and dissolve it. Soak your clothes for 30 minutes. Transfer clothes to your washing machine and wash them like normal.
While borax is a great sidekick to detergent in small amounts, it can be used to loosen stains and brighten up clothing on its own. If you have them, adding a few other ingredients to borax will make it much more effective in the wash.
Allow laundry to soak for 5 - 6 hours, stirring every hour. Remove laundry from the tub and add to a washing machine. Wash as usual.
OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover
OxiClean's laundry products are incredibly popular with consumers — and for good reason. This particular laundry stain remover spray from the brand effectively lightened some of our toughest stains in cold and warm water.
A mixture of dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide is an effective homemade laundry stain remover. The dishwashing liquid contains ingredients to tackle greasy stains and the hydrogen peroxide helps remove discoloration.
Borax is an amazing cleaning agent that can help remove hard water stains in a toilet bowl, as well as stains in other plumbing fixtures.
Both baking soda and Borax are effective because they are alkaline and abrasive. But Borax has a higher PH than baking soda, making it a slightly harsher but arguably more effective cleaning agent.
On Household Management 101 it was suggested to mix half and half of Oxiclean and Borax into an empty container, and then use one scoop (about 1/2 a cup) of this in all loads of laundry when you don't use chlorine bleach. This helps with both laundry odors and stains.
Borax (sodium tetraborate) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) aren't the same thing. They're both salts, and they're both popular as “green” household cleaning agents, but borax has a pH of 9.5, compared to baking soda's pH of 8. This makes borax considerably more alkaline than baking soda.
First, make sure to keep it away from children's reach. Second, avoid using it as a cosmetic product and handle it with care at all times. This usually means wearing a mask and gloves when using it. Finally, do NOT mix Borax with any boric acid products, such as pesticides.
Make an all-purpose cleaning spray
To create an all-purpose spray, dissolve 2 teaspoons of borax into 4 cups of hot water, then mix with 1 teaspoon of dish soap and 4 tablespoons of vinegar.
Before you reach for a caustic drain cleaner to unclog that kitchen or bathroom drain, try this much gentler approach: Use a funnel to insert 1/2 cup borax into the drain, then slowly pour in 2 cups boiling water. Let the mixture set for 15 minutes, then flush with hot water. Repeat for stubborn clogs.
Reasons to Add Borax to Wash Loads. Adding up to 1/2 cup* of borax to every load of laundry—whites and colorfast items (check labels)—will do all kinds of wonderful things to keep your white things white, your laundry, and your washing machine odor-free. *The amount of borax depends on the hardness of your water.
Not all products react with bleach in that way. I can assure you that borax is NOT one of them! It is safe to mix with chlorine bleach and detergent, which has been proven to improve the cleaning power of both. Think of borax as a maintenance product that will keep white things white.
OxiClean™ is a Versatile Stain Remover in a powder form that is activated when added to water (warm or hot water work best). Oxygen is released and targets the stains, rather than the fabric, removing many tough stains on water-washable clothing, carpet, upholstery, and hard surfaces both inside and outside the home.