It’s springtime and no better time to spruce up your home with some good old -fashioned spring cleaning.  No need to spend a small fortune on cleaning supplies.

If you look in your pantry and fridge, you will find some surprising cleaning tools.

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The experts at Southern Living offer ten cost free cleaning tools and tricks.  I am highlighting three of them in today’s article.

Vinegar: Sure you knew you could make a salad with vinegar, but did you know it is a great product to wash windows, sanitize cutting boards and clean toilets?  Fill a spray bottle with equal parts water and vinegar, add a splash of fresh lemon juice to create an effective window washing liquid.

• To sanitize your kitchen cutting boards, a few splashes of full strength vinegar will do the trick.
• Add about a teaspoon of baking soda to one cup of white vinegar for a chemical free, economical toilet bowl cleaner.

Baking Soda: It is written right on a box of Arm and Hammer baking soda that is a product for baking, cleaning and deodorizing.  So you probably are familiar with this pantry-staple work horse.  For cleaning use, try baking soda to clean sinks,  bathtubs and tile.  It is not as abrasive as many household cleaners, and the absence of fumes will be a welcome relief.

• You may already have an open box of baking soda in the fridge to absorb unwanted odors from food.  You can also use it to deodorize garbage cans, litter boxes and diaper pails.

Salt Sense: Very affordable, always available table salt is not just for cooking.  Lemon juice mixed with salt forms a paste that can remove rust spots on clothing.

• Squeeze the juice out of  a lemon half, sprinkle salt on it and put a shine back into your tarnished brass and pewter.  Be sure to rinse the metal thoroughly to avoid a green color.

Powerful Lemons: This yellow citrus fruits smell so clean, and lemons are a great cleaning agent.  Rub a lemon half over your cutting boards to remove unwanted odors (like onion!).

• Your garbage disposal will love lemon peels and some ice cubes to sharpen the blades and deodorize.

Please know that help is only a phone call away! At Tami Smight Interiors, we offer a menu of design services that are sure to please you.  Please call so we can discuss your design project.  661 430-0127

Tami Smight Interiors, a full-service interior design firm, has been gracing southern California homes with warm, accessible designs since 2004.

As a certified professional interior designer, Tami Smight shares expert design tips, tricks and trends in her column. Check out her articles in our SCV “Your Home Inside And Out” section