Cleaning is a necessary evil. You’d like to live in a home that looks and smells nice but spending endless hours scrubbing and cleaning can be exhausting and a little dreary. So, instead of wasting that beautiful Saturday scouring pans or the inside of your oven, try a few of these cleaning hacks instead.
These tips will make some of those cleaning jobs just a little easier and more effective (and perhaps with a little less effort!)
The Kitchen
1. The Cutting Board: Wood cutting boards are fantastic, but they can be germy. Properly clean the board by coating it with kosher salt and using a lemon half to scrub the board. Lightly rinse and dry well.
1. The Cutting Board: Wood cutting boards are fantastic, but they can be germy. Properly clean the board by coating it with kosher salt and using a lemon half to scrub the board. Lightly rinse and dry well.
2. The Microwave: All You recommends adding white vinegar (and some water) into a microwave safe cup. Microwave the cup for three minutes and let it set for a few minutes. Remove the cup (dump the liquid) and easily wipe away grime with a wet cloth.
3. Foil your Glass: Need to scrub stuck-on debris from your glass cookware? Grab tinfoil. Scrunch the foil into a ball, add a little soap and water and scrub away. It works like a steel wool pad, according to Real Simple.
The Bathroom
4. Clean the faucets with a lemon: Get the fresh smell of lemon and some seriously shiny faucets in the tub and sink by scrubbing them with a cut lemon half and a bit of baking soda.
4. Clean the faucets with a lemon: Get the fresh smell of lemon and some seriously shiny faucets in the tub and sink by scrubbing them with a cut lemon half and a bit of baking soda.
5. The bathroom fan: If you want to clean that bathroom fan without taking it apart (though you should tackle that task at least twice a year), The Family Handyman recommends a can of compressed air. Turn the fan on and then hit it with a blast of canned air. You’ll need to dust the bathroom afterward.
6. Wall wash: This works for any room in the house really. Grab a mop and some cleaner and scrub the walls. The mop lets you reach up high and low so you can clean faster. Use all-purpose cleaner on paint and a 1 part vinegar to 1 part water for tile surfaces, according to Life Should Cost Less.
7. Give the loo a proper scrub: Your toilet may need a little more TLC than you’re giving it. When cleaning the bowl, Clean and Scentsible recommends scrubbing under the rim. You should also remove your toilet seat a few times a year to get all of the crevices. (This is particularly true if you’re potty training boys…)
Laundry
8. Chalk it off: If you accidentally splatter grease on your clothes while cooking dinner, grab a bit of chalk and rub it into the grease spot as quickly as possible. Then launder as normal. (Bonus: this works on rings around the collars of shirts too, according to Reader’s Digest.)
8. Chalk it off: If you accidentally splatter grease on your clothes while cooking dinner, grab a bit of chalk and rub it into the grease spot as quickly as possible. Then launder as normal. (Bonus: this works on rings around the collars of shirts too, according to Reader’s Digest.)
9. Cheap sneaker scrub: If you want to get your sneakers looking clean and new, snag some white toothpaste and an old toothbrush. Remove loose debris and dampen the exterior of your shoes. Dab the stained areas with toothpaste and use the brush to scrub. Wipe away and rinse, according to ShoeMetro.
10. Wash your clothes in pepper: Toss a teaspoon of pepper (yes the pepper you use to season your chicken) into the wash. The pepper prevents clothes from bleeding and helps keeps colors staying bright, longer.
Disaster Cleanup
11. Candlewax: If you were to accidentally spill candle wax all over the carpet and needed to get rid of it quick (because say you weren’t supposed to have a candle warmer in your dorm room…) this hack is a life-saver. Place a paper bag over the spill. Then run a hot iron on top of the paper. The heat will melt the wax and the paper bag will soak it up.
11. Candlewax: If you were to accidentally spill candle wax all over the carpet and needed to get rid of it quick (because say you weren’t supposed to have a candle warmer in your dorm room…) this hack is a life-saver. Place a paper bag over the spill. Then run a hot iron on top of the paper. The heat will melt the wax and the paper bag will soak it up.
12. Paint on the Clothes: If you accidentally got paint on your favorite jacket during your last craft project, don’t toss it in the donation pile just yet. Grab a new disposable razor and gently shave the paint away. Remember to be gentle and you may want to skip this on 100 percent cotton (as it could tear your clothes,) Ask Anna recommends.
13. Spilled eggnog: If someone had a little too much eggnog at the family party and spilled some all over your white carpet, don’t cry yet. Instead, grab some nail polish remover and a bit of dish soap. Blot the stain with the nail polish remover and then spray the stain with some soap and water. Blot gently until clean.
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