As of: February 10, 2024, 4:21 p.m
By: Steffen Maas
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You don't always need expensive cleaning products.
If you want to start spring cleaning soon, you already have a secret all-rounder at home: dish soap.
Hanover/Düsseldorf – Power cleaners, bleach, glass cleaners and stain removers: If you want, you can get the right cleaning product for every single stain in your household.
But experts advise against buying the expensive – and usually environmentally harmful – products.
Because with dish soap in the kitchen, most people already have the right all-purpose weapon against dirt at home.
The dishwashing liquid helps with cleaning many places in the home - and according to consumer advocates, just three more cleaners are enough for everything else.
Cleaning with all-purpose cleaner dish soap: stove cleaner or help with spring cleaning
But even the dish soap from the kitchen can do a lot more than you think it can.
You would probably have come up with one or two alternative uses other than dishes on your own: after all, the hand dishwashing liquid works impressively as a degreaser when used.
It is obvious that you can also use it a few meters away on the stove or other kitchen surfaces where there are lots of unsightly fat splatters after frying.
If you want to remove stains or make the windows shine during spring cleaning, you can also use simple dish soap.
(Symbolic image) © Zoonar/Imago/Uwe Anspach/dpa/Montage
But dishwashing liquid doesn't just help in everyday use, it also helps with the upcoming spring cleaning.
For the ever-popular window cleaning, a bucket of water, a small splash of detergent, a squeegee and a dry, clean microfiber cloth are all that is needed for polishing, explain experts from the
consumer advice center
in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Too much cleaning agent in the water often only leads to streaks and streaks on the glass pane.
Dishwashing liquid also takes care of grease stains on clothes and floors
But numerous lifestyle magazines are becoming even more creative when it comes to using dishwashing liquid when cleaning the house.
The
For You
recommends removing grease stains not only from the stove, but also from clothing or the floor.
In the case of cotton clothes, a drop on the contaminated area should be enough before rinsing thoroughly with water.
The subsequent round in the washing machine should be even more effective.
Warm or cold water – when does degreaser dish soap work best?
Cold, warm or hot?
When it comes to the question of at what water temperature the dishwashing detergent can be most effective, the lifestyle magazine
Jolie
has a simple rule of thumb: “The more grease there is, the warmer the water should be.” The reason for this is that warmer water has a higher fat-dissolving power has.
You have a little more work to do with the grease stains on the floor: The tip here is to distribute the helpful household helper on the relevant area and then work it in with a brush.
Add a little water, continue to swing the brush and finally rinse thoroughly with water.
For people who have the benefit of a garage, this even helps with oil stains on the floor.
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Creative use of hand dishwashing liquid: stain remover also on carpets, furniture and jewelry
Even if the mishap didn't make it to the floor, but instead found its final destination on the carpet or upholstered furniture - dish soap helps.
Jolie
magazine
advises: “Mix a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid with a liter of water and apply the mixture to the stain with a clean cloth.
Gently dab the stain until it disappears.” The careful procedure ends with clean water rinsing the area.
The magazine also reveals that dish soap also works for washing cars and even cleaning jewelry.
Even those who don't want to clean at home in the spring but want to completely revamp their home have an effective helper in hand dishwashing liquid.
Namely when removing old wallpaper.
The advice portal
For Me
suggests the following when renovating:
Take warm water and some dish soap and moisten the wallpaper with this.
To do this, use a sponge or a paint roller and ensure that the wallpaper is completely moistened.
If the material turns dark, it has absorbed the water.
To remove wallpaper, remove it from the wall by hand or with a spatula.
Consumer advice centers don't believe in special cleaners: These four products are sufficient for cleaning your house
All-round dishwashing liquid helps a surprising amount in the household - even in places where powerful special cleaners would otherwise be intrusive.
According to the
NRW consumer advice center
, four cleaners are sufficient for a thorough house cleaning: all-purpose cleaner, scouring powder or scouring milk, hand dishwashing liquid and acetic or citric acid or corresponding cleaners with it.
However, you can safely avoid special cleaners, disinfectant cleaning agents and aggressive power cleaners with bleaching agents such as chlorine in private households.
“They have no hygienic benefit, but can pose a health risk, harm the environment and are usually more expensive than ordinary cleaning products,” explains Kerstin Effers, an environmental and health protection expert at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center.
(sm/dpa)