Traditionally associated with housemaids, home cleaning is often thought to consist of routine cleaning procedures across all sorts of commercial products. While the domestic maid job description has hardly changed, domestic cleaning itself has become more of a DIY habit for occupants willing enough to explore alternative means as much as routine ones. Contemporary methods have seen an upsurge in organic tools, most of which involve the goodness of vegan food, or that which comes from the ground.     

Even more novel than removing rust with lemon juice and vinegar, it's amazing how the absorbent capacity of white bread can serve to eliminate all of those unsightly wall stains.

It's surprising how marks can start to appear on walls, especially as they tend to show up suddenly and not gradually. That leather guitar case slumped in the corner has probably shed a bit of black dye onto the wall - next time you go to pick up your guitar, inspect behind where the case was resting. Elsewhere, if you have young children, it's likely that fingerprint marks will appear from time to time, while if you have active teenage children, any full size sports bag held causally off one's shoulder can smear dirt, plastic, paint and fabric onto the wall. But don't stress out through thinking that the stains are irretrievable. And don't resort to concealing the marks with paint either. Even if you apply the exact same paint tone according to the colour spectrum, it won't quite match the original colour since paint exposed to such things as moisture, sunlight, dust, human oils and food residue will have certainly faded with time. 

While the less imaginative among us are quick to dismiss using stale bread in favour of using 'rags', they don't realise that semi-stale bread doesn't require that anything else be applied to it. A rag is only useful when it's saturated in chemicals, and even then it's not that useful. Indeed, the eco-friendly option of bread functions as both a sponge and an abrasive cleaning agent. This is because bread is both spongy and absorbent since it is comprised of flour. Contained within flour is baking soda, and commonly added to that is starch, most chiefly corn starch and potato starch. The additives ensure bread remains dry as they absorb any moisture. This is why your post-expiry date bread can serve as a sponge. 

By now you're probably thinking along these lines - it's great that my half stale bread can function as a sponge, but how can a dry sponge eat away at stubborn stains that have been on the walls for months. While this is a fair question, the answer is very basic. First of all, our magic bread excludes crusts. Remove these before kneading the dough into a firm ball. Now, simply introduce a soft cloth to proceedings, dipping it in cold water before pre-wiping the stained area. Proceed to blot your bread to the stain gently, avoiding any aggressive rubbing. This technique penetrates that which comprises the stain since all moisture contributed by the cloth is immediately swallowed up by the spongy bread. This includes any potency in colour your stain might have.            

This unique domestic cleaning technique is genius in that it means you won't have to use your exclusive kitchen sponges to complete the task, therefore preventing any cross-contamination. What's more is that, since semi-stale bread is of little use to the picky eaters among us, it probably would have been thrown away otherwise. So, next time you go to chuck out any dated bread or fruit, pause for a moment to consider how these food items can be used to clean things. You'll be surprised. Oh, and don't fret about those beetroot stains - the bread technique outlined above covers that. Simply refer back to the simple steps and apply the method.