Washable Fleece Dusting Mitt

Today I was in productive clean mode (yes, the Christmas tree and the decorations came down!). While I hate cleaning them, I noticed our blinds were a little too dusty to leave alone and they can be such a pain to clean too! I then remembered something I had seen online; fleece dusters. I was thinking of this:

From Dollar Store Crafts

However, in the midst of my cleaning storm, I did not consult the interwebs and developed my own dusting friend with the inspiration of the above photo; a washable fleece dusting mitt!

Two scraps of fleece, sewn on 3 sides, then cut in strips - super easy!

If the picture isn’t explanation enough, here are the instructions:

  1. Take two pieces of fleece, bigger than your hand
  2. Sew on 3 sides (leaving the bottom open) enough room to fit your hand inside
  3. Cut the sides (do not cut into the seams) into strips, rounding the corners if you would like
  4. Get to dusting!

This mitt worked fabulous for picking up dust off those pesky blinds! You can wear it on any side – the smooth or the strip side. Plus, with the fleece on your hand instead of another tool, you have much more control around those small corners and edges. Then when you are done, throw it in the wash! I won’t post the after pictures because the amount of dust I picked up was a bit scary!

*UPDATE:

I found an even better use than using your mitt for cleaning blinds: Cleaning a ceiling fan!

I coaxed my husband the other day to finally dust the darn thing and since my mitt was dirty, I whipped up another one in about 2 minutes. He sprayed one side with cleaner, and kept the other side dry (double duty) and it worked great! The dust clumps didn’t fall off and fly everywhere which is what happened the last time we cleaned our fan.

Best 2 minute, minimal sewing, super cheap, craft cleaning product I have made so far!

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Natural Dishwasher Detergent Fail

Looks like I have been M.I.A. these last few weeks. I have just been busy doing random things and haven’t spent too much time on the internet. Give me another couple of weeks and I should be back here full-swing!

Anyways, I wanted to post about homemade dishwashing detergent. There are plenty of recipes out there for you to substitute store bought cleaner for you dishwasher with something natural and homemade. The many recipes I looked at involved 2 or more of these ingredients:

  • Borax
  • Baking Soda
  • Castille Soap
  • Vinegar
  • Lemon Kool-aid (or citric acid)

Despite using various ratios and different recipes my dishes did not turn out very clean. Even with the vinegar and lemon kool-aid rinse the dishes still came out cloudy with a powdery film.

Maybe my dishwasher is too old or our water too hard, but we had to turn back to store bought dishwasher detergent.

Anyone else successfully use homemade dishwasher detergent?