Cleaning your house is probably about the last thing you want to do on your weekend, which is usually the only opportunity where you actually get the time to do it. Working all week and coming home late, only to snatch a few hours trying to relax before you sleep and do it all over again doesn’t really give you the time, desire or patience for something like a home deep-clean. Cleaning up on a Saturday morning, likewise, feels like a betrayal. You worked hard all week so you could…work harder?
Here are some ways to make cleaning your house a bit easier. You may still have to do it on the weekend, but at least it’ll be shorter!
1) Live with a pet? Use a Rubber Squeegee to ‘wipe’ your floors
I love my cat, but one thing I can’t stand is how much hair she leaves all over the carpet, no matter how much I clean or vacuum. It’s always there, ready to cling to everything I own, and everything my friends and family do too. If you get a small window squeegee (or a large one, if you can find a place to store it), rub it firmly along the floor – like you’re cleaning a window – and you’ll be amazed to find how much hair it picks up.
2) Use an old sock to clean blinds
Take a sock out of the laundry hamper, stick it over your hand and clean all those awkward places around your house quickly and easily. Venetian blinds are a nightmare, but with a sock-duster, things become a lot easier. Sure, you could go out and buy dusters from the grocery store and fiddle around with them, but why not save time and money and use a piece of laundry that you were going to wash anyway?
3) Use a dirty pillow case to dust a ceiling fan
Do you find that when you turn on your fan you tend to get sprinkles of dust everywhere? Don’t have a step ladder to reach that high, or just plain think that dusting awkwardly at height is dangerous? Just take an old pillow case, slide the open end onto one blade of the fan, gently pull down and drag it along the fan and off, cleaning it and all the gunk that’s lived up there for so long.
4) Protect baseboards from dust and hair with dryer sheets
Dryer sheets have special chemicals in them that repel dust and hair with static electricity – leverage this around the house! Rub down the bottoms of your walls and be amazed at how vibrant they can look for weeks to come, and you don’t have to worry about anything – the dryer sheet residue will take care of the rest.
5) Use an old (washed and dried) toothbrush to clean out your computer keyboard
Are you at your computer for long periods of time every day? Never taken the opportunity to wipe down that keyboard to see how dirty it can get? Well don’t worry about it anymore, because as soon as you get an old toothbrush, you can get right into it and clean out all the nitty gritty holes and cracks gunk can fall into. You may be surprised at what you find down there.
6) Get small scratches and scuffs out of leather with a bit of shoe polish
Wipe that black couch down with the same polish you’d use on your work or dress shoes, just be careful not to use too much! A small touch will go a long way. If you don’t have a black leather couch, boot lanolin serves the same function and has very similar results! Next time your friend scuffs up your expensive couch with their boots, don’t get too mad, just get them to use their own elbow grease.
7) For kitchen cleaning, fill a blender with warm water and put in a dab of dish soap
Love blending foods to drink on the go? Have a small child and make your own baby food often? Blenders and blending are fantastic ways to prepare meals, but cleaning them is always a hassle. With this simple trick, you can have a perfectly clean blender in moments. Just be sure to rise thoroughly after you soap up the insides! The last thing you want is a soapy smoothie.
8) Put ice-cubes made of vinegar down the garbage disposal
Is your garbage disposal making a noxious smell? Shoved a bunch of chemicals down there, but it just isn’t quite right? Try freezing vinegar, then slowly placing one cube after another down the disposal. After you fill the receptacle, turn the machine on and let it grind all the ice cubes – this coats and sanitizes the inside of the machine and the chunks of vinegar also serve to dislodge and ‘scrub’ the rest of the mess away! Flush with cold water after a while and see that your garbage disposal is as good as new.
9) Freshen up a sponge with the microwave
Sponges are disgusting havens of bacteria most of the time. Usually they’re kept next to the sink and usually they aren’t fully wrung out when you use them, which ends up with you having moldy, smelly sponges. Instead of letting a sponge simmer in its own juices, try cleaning it thoroughly after use with soap and water, then, while still moist; toss it into the microwave for about two minutes. The heat disinfects and deodorizes the sponge, so you’ll never have to worry about it getting disgusting again!
10) After cutting meat, always clean the cutting board
Food poisoning is a huge concern for any kitchen, so do what industry professionals do on a daily basis: after use, soak your cutting board in a sink with water and a small amount of bleach. Not only does this disinfect, but it also dislodges – making your job much easier!
We’re always on the hunt for more info, so what are your cleaning tips for a quicker, cleaner house?