Maintaining Your Home

      Spring Cleaning - It's That Time of Year Again!

With spring just around the corner - here's a few very helpful hints to assist in your cleaning chores:

• Wipe mini blinds or vertical blinds with damp fabric softener sheets to eliminate static that collects dust.
• To keep wicker furniture from turning yellow, wash with a solution of warm salt water.
• If lining drawers and/or cupboards with Mac-Tac, use a blackboard eraser to make creases and bubbles disappear.
• Salted boiling water will immediately kill grass or weeds growing between sections of a cement walk or driveway.
• To remove lime deposits from your teakettle, fill kettle with equal parts of vinegar and water. Bring to a boil and allow to stand overnight.
• To clean your washing machine, fill the washer with warm water and pour a gallon of distilled vinegar into it. Run the machine through an entire cycle. The vinegar will cleanse the hoses and unclog soap scum from them.
• After cleaning an oven, eliminate the lingering smell by baking orange peels in a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes.
• Black heel and crayon marks can usually be removed from linoleum floors by using a dab of toothpaste rubbed on with a damp cloth.

Remember, spring is also a great time to get rid of 'junk' & clutter around the house!

If you've never used that cut glass vase - a Christmas present from good old 'Aunt Mary' 10 years ago - chances are you never will. Get rid of it!!! !

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Joe Anne has answers to a lot of your questions and more professional tips to make your real estate transaction more pleasurable. Call or e-mail Joe Anne or click on "Ask Your Own Questions." Joe Anne can send you information on any Property Listed For Sale on the Multiple Listing Service in the Ottawa area. If you would like her to help you locate a home, please fill out her Information Request Form. Surfing the Real Estate Board's web site or MLS.CA and found a house that you like but doesn't give you the civic address. Joe Anne can also help. Just fill out her Would like an address form. Or perhaps you are considering selling your home in the near future, her can also offer you a Free No-Obligation Market Evaluation Form.