Cheap Cleaning Tips

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Cheap Cleaning Tips Posted: 08 Aug 2011 08:30 AM PDT Brand name cleaners can cost big bucks. So how do you embrace cheap cleaning strategies when every product in the housecleaning aisle is outrageously overpriced? By thinking outside the box and using affordable basic ingredients. These are my favorite cheap cleaning items. All are affordable, and all are used regularly in our home. photo credit: Valerie Everett Bar Soap: Routinely overlooked as a house-cleaning supply, bar soap is extremely versatile. You can easily coat the bristle tips of a scrub brush with it, and give your shower stall the scrubbing of a lifetime. You can also use it with a cleaning rag just as easily as you can the traditional washcloth. Once your cleaning rag is properly coated with suds, it can be used to clean kitchen or bathroom counters, the interior of a refrigerator or grimy pantry canisters. With bargain brands available at three for a buck from your local dollar store, bar soap brings frugality to the household cleaning scene for a bargain-basement price of thirty-three cents per bar. Spray Bottles: For less than two dollars each at large box-chain hardware stores, you can purchase good-quality spray bottles. Using these as containers to hold make-your-own spray cleaners is an excellent cheap cleaning strategy. There are many recipes for homemade cleaning products available, but a simple one to get started with is a half and half solution of white vinegar and water, combined with a squirt of dish soap and a drop or two of your favorite essential oil. You can also create a number of homemade cleaning products with rubbing alcohol. Bulk Baking Soda: Baking soda is the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the cheap cleaning room. It can be used as a laundry booster, scouring powder, and refrigerator odor absorber among numerous other things. Baking soda can also be used to clean your teeth in a pinch, and can help remove product buildup in your hair when added in small amounts to your shampoo. While the price is best when purchased in bulk, baking soda is certainly affordable enough even when purchased in the traditional one-pound boxes. Skip the Paper Towels: One of the most significant money-saving steps you can make as far as cheap cleaning strategies go, is to drastically reduce your use of paper towels. While we still keep them in the house, one roll tends to last at least two years. This is because we only use them for extreme jobs like a sick dog or something else that's equally messy. The rest of the time, we use cut-up, old athletic socks for things like dish rags and dusting mitts. Liquid Soap: If bar soap is overlooked as a cheap cleaning supply, then liquid soap is equally underutilized. Liquid dish detergent can be used to make liquid disinfectant sprays, stain remover and inexpensive toilet bowl cleaners.  Shampoo on the other hand can be used as a face cleaner, to hand wash delicates, and as a shower gel when stretching pennies between paychecks. As tempting as expensive brand-name cleaners can be, it doesn't need to cost big bucks to keep your home sanitary. Cheap cleaning is possible with a variety of homemade products made with inexpensive ingredients.

Free Credit Scores for Consumers with Less Than Stellar Credit Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:00 AM PDT As of July 21, any consumer who gets turned down for either credit cards or auto loans is now able to receive a free copy of their FICO credit score. This new rule is a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that was recommended by Democratic Senator Mark Udall of Colorado. According to Udall, "The purpose for the law was to provide consumers with greater access to and information about their credit scores. By seeing the clearest picture possible of their personal finances, consumers can actively work to improve their scores." A credit score is something which affects a consumer's eligibility to obtain loans, mortgages, credit cards and insurance products. The credit scores most-often analyzed in risk-based lending are issued by FICO (Fair Isaac Corp.) and assess a potential borrower's creditworthiness. A FICO credit score of 760 or higher on a scale ranging from 300 to 850 is considered to be an "elite credit score" and one that will avail that individual to prime interest rates. If denied a credit card, for example from a lending company such as Providian, or an auto loan, the new rule states that the applicant is then entitled to not only their FICO score but also the four greatest reasons that the score is not higher, such as delinquent accounts, especially low debt to credit ratio or a long history of late payments. Additionally the provision obliges risk-based lenders to avail borrowers of their FICO score for free should they not qualify for choice interest rates. Senator Udall believes that making the credit scores of some consumers available to them at no cost is "a step in the right direction" toward transparency in consumer finance. We already require that consumers be provided a free annual credit report, I think we ought to go all the way and allow consumers to access their credit scores for free as well." Prior to Udall's provision, all consumers were entitled to receive a free annual printout of their credit report which did not include their actual FICO score. Anyone not eligible for a free credit score under the provision can go to my FICO.com and purchase a copy of their credit report and FICO score for $19.95. Ilana Grene After graduating  Harvard University, my  endeavors have been featured in Fox Business News, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, Time Magazine, and Cambridge Chronicle. I  graduated Cum Laude with a Distinction in Research from Cornell University. In addition, I studied abroad at the London School of Economics. My professional tenure includes equities trading at Goldman Sachs and William Blair. I am also a founder of "PowerDown" – a Clean Energy Start up. I have become an active reporter with Forbes, The Wall Street Journal Market Watch, Fortune, Business Insider, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, New York Daily News, Boston Globe  and others.

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