D

DAMP

In wardrobe

Use a cloth to wipe interior walls with ¼ teaspoon of oil of cloves mixed in a 250-ml bottle of baby oil. Relabel bottle.
Tie 6 sticks of white blackboard chalk together with string or ribbon and leave inside the wardrobe to absorb moisture. When the chalk sticks are wet, place them in the sun until they dry out. You can use them over and over again.
For serious continuous damp, seek professional advice.

DATE

On carpet/upholstery

Remove excess by lifting with a plastic comb or by blotting with paper towel.
Mix equal parts white vinegar and blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Scrub the mixture with a toothbrush or pantyhose in all directions – north, south, east and west.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.
When almost dry, repeat.
If a shadow returns in a couple of weeks, repeat again.

On cotton/fabric

Remove excess under the tap using cold water.
Blot with or soak in white vinegar.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

DECKING

(Bamboo/eco/timber)

For iron marks

Proprietary products are available from hardware stores that remove iron and fix tannin leaching.

For moss

Mix 2 tablespoons of copper sulphate solution in a 9-litre bucket of hot or cold water.
Sweep the mixture over the decking with a broom.
Allow to dry. It will blow away in a couple of days.

For mould

Mix 2 drops of oil of cloves in a 9-litre bucket of water.
Sweep the mixture over the decking with a broom. Leave for 24 hours.
Rinse with a hose.

For weather exposure

Mix 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 cup of black tea in a 9-litre bucket of blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Sweep the mixture over the decking with a broom.
Rinse with a hose, then re-oil the timber.

To clean

For sealed timber, mix 3 teaspoons of dishwashing liquid in a 9-litre bucket of blood-heat (body temperature) water. Don’t use dishwashing liquid on unsealed timber because it dries out the timber and creates splinters.
Sweep the mixture over the decking with a broom.
For unsealed timber, rinse with a mixture of strong black tea (4–5 tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water) and 1 drop of oil of cloves in a 9-litre bucket. Wipe the hot mixture over the timber. This will help prevent a silvery colour.

DEODORANT

On cotton/fabric (not silk/wool)

If it contains synthetic fibres, wipe with a little methylated spirits first.
Make a paste of Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action and water to the consistency of spreadable butter. Don’t use on wool, silk.
Apply to the stain. Leave for 20 minutes.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

On leather

Wipe with white spirits on a cloth using even parallel strokes across the entire panel.
Sprinkle with talcum powder.
When dry, brush away.
Wipe with leather conditioner. Make your own – see Household formulas.

On silk/wool

Scribble with a cake of bathroom soap run under cold water.
Rinse with 1 teaspoon of cheap shampoo and blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Gently wring and dry flat on a towel in the shade. Ensure silk is dried away from the wind so the fibres don’t tangle and leave a dusty look.

DESSERT STAIN

Desserts can contain sugar, fat and food colouring.

On carpet/upholstery (not leather)

Remove excess by lifting with a plastic comb or by blotting with paper towel.
To remove sugars, tightly wring a cloth in white vinegar. Place the vinegar cloth in one hand and a dry cloth in the other and wipe hand over hand, as though stroking a cat.
To remove fat, massage with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on your fingertips until the liquid feels like jelly.
Wipe with a damp cloth until the dishwashing liquid is removed.
To remove food colouring, expose to sunlight or ultraviolet light. (If using ultraviolet light, protect areas around the stain with cardboard.) Check every 2 hours.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.

On cotton/fabric

Remove excess under the tap using cold water.
To remove sugars, blot with or soak in white vinegar.
To remove fat, massage with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on your fingertips until the liquid feels like jelly.
Rinse under blood-heat (body temperature) water.
To remove food colouring, blot with white vinegar and hang in sunshine until the stain fades before washing.
In all cases, wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

On leather

Remove excess by blotting with paper towel.
Wipe with white spirits on a cloth in even, parallel strokes across the entire panel.
Sprinkle with talcum powder.
When dry, brush off.

DIESEL OIL

On concrete/pavers

Wipe with white spirits or turpentine on a cloth. Leave for 1 hour.
Scrub with dishwashing liquid and hot water on a brush or broom.
Rinse with a hose.

On cotton/fabric

For synthetic fibres, wipe with methylated spirits on a cloth first, then follow instructions below.
For natural fibres, massage with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on your fingertips until the liquid feels like jelly.
Rinse under blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.
If there’s odour, mix 2 cups of full cream milk in a 9-litre bucket of water.
Soak overnight. Then follow the instructions above.

DIRT

On antique/delicate fabric

Scribble with a cake of bathroom soap run under blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Rinse under blood-heat water.
Lay flat on a towel in sunshine to dry.
For stubborn stains, blast with a cool hair dryer and brush with a soft brush until removed.

On carpet/upholstery (not leather)

Remove excess by vacuuming.
Mix equal parts white vinegar, bicarb and water in a spray pack. Alternatively, mix ½ teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 litre of water in a spray pack.
Lightly spray over the surface. Leave for 5 minutes.
Rub with a cloth.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.
When dry, vacuum.

On cotton/fabric (not wool)

Remove excess under the tap using cold water.
Mix Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action and blood-heat (body temperature) to hot water to the consistency of spreadable butter. Don’t use on wool, silk or leather.
Apply to the stain and leave for 20 minutes.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

On leather

Wipe with saddle soap on a damp cloth.
Polish with a clean cloth.
Wipe with leather conditioner. Make your own – see Household formulas.
For kid leather, mix unprocessed wheat bran and drops of white vinegar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Either place the mixture in the toe of pantyhose and wipe over the kid leather, or apply directly. The latter is a bit messier.

On secateur blades

Rub with lemon juice on a cloth.
Rub with a cork coated in coarse uniodised salt.
Wipe with a clean cloth.

On suede

Mix 1 cup of unprocessed wheat bran with drops of white spirits until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Place the mixture in a pillowcase and add the suede item.
Sit on the pillowcase for an hour a day over the course of a week.
Remove the item (outside the house) and shake until it’s free of bran.
If there are grubby marks, wipe with a little white spirits on a cotton ball, then sprinkle with talcum powder. When dry, use a brush over the suede.

On wool

Sprinkle with uniodised salt.
Rub with a clean handkerchief or piece of linen along the grain – don’t rub in circles.
Give the wool a good shake and brush with a bristle brush.
Wash in 1 teaspoon of cheap shampoo and blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Rinse in blood-heat water.
Gently wring and dry flat on a towel in the shade.

DOG HAIR

On carpet/fabric/upholstery

Put on disposable rubber gloves.
Wash your gloved hands with bathroom soap and water. Shake your hands dry.
Wipe over the dog hair. It will stick to the gloves.

DOG POO

This is high in proteins and fats.

On carpet/upholstery

Remove excess by lifting with a plastic comb or by blotting with paper towel.
Scribble with a cake of bathroom soap run under cold water. If stubborn, scrub with a toothbrush or pantyhose.
Leave to dry.
Vacuum.
Alternatively, remove excess then fill a bucket with cold water and enough dishwashing liquid to generate a sudsy mix.
Apply only the suds with a toothbrush, using as little water as possible.
Fill a bucket with blood-heat (body temperature) water and dishwashing liquid and apply only the suds with a toothbrush.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.

DOG URINE

On carpet/upholstery

For new stains, absorb excess by blotting with paper towel.
Wipe with white vinegar on a cloth or toothbrush. Repeat, if needed.
For old stains, first find where the urine is. In a darkened room, turn on an ultraviolet light and the urine stains will show up yellow.
Mark around the yellow stains with a piece of white chalk so you can see where to clean.
Wipe inside the chalk marks with a cloth tightly wrung in white vinegar.
For new and old stains, absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.

On stone/timber

Wipe with white vinegar on a cloth.
If stubborn, mix plaster of Paris and water to the consistency of peanut butter.
To each cup of mixture, add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar.
Spread 5 mm to 1 cm thick over the stain.
Allow to dry completely. If it feels cold on the back of your hand, it’s not dry.
When dry, brush away.

TIP

To deter dogs, wipe the area with a little lavender oil on a cloth. Or mix 1 teaspoon of lavender oil and 1 litre of water in a spray pack and lightly mist over the area.

DONER KEBAB

(see ‘Kebab’)

DOONA

(Feather/wool)

To clean

Fill a bath with blood-heat (body temperature) water and 1 tablespoon of cheap shampoo.
Lay the doona in the bath and stomp over it with clean feet to remove dirt and grime.
Empty the bath, fill it again with clean, blood-heat water and stomp on the doona again.
Drain water from the bath and tread on the doona to squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
Place the doona in a large garbage bag, rather than a basket, so you don’t leave a drip trail.
Hang it on the clothesline using lots of pegs, so you don’t place stress on one spot. Peg it by the two outside edges on separate lines to form a U shape. This allows air to circulate. If you don’t have a clothesline, borrow a friend’s or string a line in sunshine. It must be dried outside.
When it’s almost completely dry, whack it with your hand or a tennis racquet. This fluffs up the fibres or loosens the feathers.

DRAIN

To clean

Flatten a metal coat-hanger and wrap one end with pantyhose. Knot them tightly.
Use the coat-hanger like a bottle brush and scrub inside the drain.
Put ½ cup of bicarb down the drain and leave for 20 minutes, followed by ½ cup of white vinegar and leave for 20 minutes.
Pour a full kettle of boiling water down the drain. It will stink at first, but the smell will dissipate.

DRESSING

(see ‘Salad Dressing’)

DRIED FRUIT

On carpet/upholstery

Remove excess by lifting with a plastic comb or by blotting with paper towel.
Mix equal parts white vinegar and blood-heat (body temperature) water.
Scrub the mixture with a toothbrush or pantyhose in all directions – north, south, east and west.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.
When almost dry, repeat.
If a shadow returns in a couple of weeks, repeat again.

On cotton/fabric

Remove excess by lifting with a plastic comb using cold water.
Blot with or soak in white vinegar.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

DYE

(Fabric; see also ‘Hair Dye’ or ‘Vegetable Dye’)

On carpet/upholstery (not leather)

For coloured carpet, mix 1 part SOS Colour Run to 5 parts water. For white or pale cream carpet, use Colour Run Remover: Whites.
Apply the mixture with a cloth. Place the cloth in one hand and a dry cloth in the other and wipe hand over hand, as though stroking a cat, until the stain is removed.
Wipe with blood-heat (body temperature) water on a cloth.
Absorb moisture by covering the area with paper towel. Place a book on top of the paper towel to assist with absorption.

On cotton/fabric (not delicate)

Soak overnight in a 9-litre bucket of the hottest water the fabric can manage (check the label) and either SOS Colour Run or Colour Run Remover: Whites (as appropriate). Use twice as much as suggested on the packet.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

On delicate fabric

Rot some full cream milk in the sun until it forms solids.
Place the solids over the stain.
When the dye is absorbed into the solids, rinse using cold water.
Wash according to the fabric. Dry on the clothesline or clothes airer.

TIPS

Most clothing labels give temperature instructions. As a general rule, cotton can be heated to boiling point, nylon to 40°C and silk and wool to 30°C.

To make clothes colourfast, mix 4 cups of uniodised salt in a 9-litre bucket of water, place clothes in the bucket and leave for 5 minutes. Wash according to the fabric. Salt removes excess surface dye and acts as a setting agent.

On leather

Mix 1 part either SOS Colour Run or Colour Run Remover: Whites (as appropriate) to 20 parts water.
Apply the mixture with a cloth. Place the cloth in one hand and a dry cloth in the other and wipe hand over hand, as though stroking a cat, until the stain is removed.
Sprinkle with talcum powder.
When dry, brush away.
Wipe with leather conditioner. Make your own – see Household formulas.

On timber

If coated in polyurethane, wipe with a little Brasso on a cloth. Rub in the direction of the grain and polish with a soft cloth. It will look worse before it looks better.
If coated in shellac, wipe with a small amount of SOS Colour Run on a cotton ball and rub in the direction of the grain until the colour is removed. Wipe with furniture polish. Make your own – see Household formulas.