Some people love to clean, while others accept it as a reality. Either way, we all can use these cleaning hacks to make the job quicker and easier!
Clean Your Sponges
Sponges are known to be hoarders of bacteria. Think about it: it’s just sitting there wet. Then you pick it up, and you wipe those other surfaces in your kitchen with it. To ensure that you aren’t spreading that bacteria around to other surfaces, you will need to clean that sponge.
Two options that work: drop it on the top rack of the dishwasher with your next load of dishes, or microwave it for one minute. We suggest the microwave because it releases moisture which will help loosen up any dried substances on the inside of your microwave, making wiping it out even easier. Two birds, one stone. A side note about the microwave method, don’t pick the sponge up right away! It’s going to be very hot.
Blender Love
Made some smoothies? Need to clean up that blender? Easy-peasy! Put some water in there with a couple of drops of dish soap and blend away. Rinse. All clean!
Coffee Pot or Tea Brewer
For a lot of us, the coffee pot is the start of our day. A quick and painless way to clean it up is to run one part water, one part vinegar through a cycle.
Hard Water Stains
Quickly and easily remove hard water stains from those bathroom surfaces or your kitchen sink with a lemon. Simply rub a cut lemon on the problem areas, and let the juice sit for about ten minutes and then rinse it with warm water.
Coca-Cola can clean your toilet. It’s easy to find an alternative to whatever cleaners you’ve been using. Grab a 20 ounce Coke, and pour it into the bowl. Use care to make sure you hit every area. Now, different from the other cleaners that you are accustomed to using, you need to let the Coke sit. Allow it to sit in there for at least an hour. After your wait time is up, grab your brush or rag and get to scrubbing. Scrub every spot, get the entire inside of your bowl. Once you think you’ve gotten it all, give it a flush and watch the sparkle!
Stove Hood Vent Cleaning
This is an out of sight out of mind spot. It’s up there, collecting grease. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to clean. Buy some borax in the laundry section of your store. Fill your sink with hot water and add ¼ cup of borax. Place the hood vent in the water. You might want gloves; borax can be rough on the skin. Swish it around, then let it sit and allow the borax to do its thing. After about fifteen minutes, come back, glove up, and check on it. Wipe it with a paper towel. If any grease remains, repeat steps one and two. Then wipe the edges and rinse thoroughly with water. Allow your sparkly clean vent to dry and replace.
Air Vents
There are a few tools that come with most vacuums that making cleaning air vents simple. However, if you find that the job doesn’t get done well enough, try using a rag and your favorite cleaning agent. Wrap the cloth around a screwdriver or a butter knife to be able to slip it between the vent pieces. Cleaning this reduces dust being sent into your room every time the air kicks on, as well as remove any blockage allowing your unit to function better overall.
Window Blinds
Often, window blinds become big time dust offenders in many homes. Here’s a quick and easy solution to clean up the dust and dirt that accumulates here. Take equal parts vinegar and water, use a rag or a sock dipped in the mixture and then simply wipe the blind slats. Dust and grime disappear.
A Brilliant Way to Make Your Stainless Steel Appliances Shine.
Many homeowners find that stainless steel appliances are beautiful, but, they seem to be littered continuously with fingerprints. Giving them a new shine is easy. Grab some rubbing alcohol and a lint-free or microfiber cloth. Another quick fix: spray it with WD-40 and wipe it off. If you want to see your reflection in your appliance, you can go the extra mile. After washing it down with some dish soap and water, dry all of the wet spots. Next, wipe it with a couple of drops mineral, baby, or olive oil on a clean, soft cloth.
Shower Scum Can be Easily Cleaned
Ready to destroy that problematic soap scum and yucky grime that’s been creating a home inside of your shower? We have the answer for you! Take a dish wand with a sponge on the end and a handle that holds the liquid soap, and fill it with half dish soap and half white vinegar. You can now get to scrubbing those walls! If you don’t want to use the sponge handle, a toothbrush or an old sponge will work too. Mix the solution in a cup and dip the brush or sponge into it.
Don’t Forget The Shower Head
This is an easy cleaning solution where soaking it does all the heavy lifting. Grab a baggie big enough to fit around your shower head. Mix equal parts water and vinegar right in the bag. Take a rubber band and secure the baggie around the shower head so that the head is submersed into the solution. Let it soak for 15 to 20 minutes.
Use Tape or a Lint Roller to Clean Up Dust
Use a lint roller or some strong tape wrapped around your hand to pick up dust, debris, and crumbs pretty much anywhere around the house. It works well for lampshades and the insides of drawers.
Use Your Dishwasher
We already talked about throwing your sponge in there, but I bet there are a ton of other household things you never thought to throw in the dishwasher to save yourself some time and effort. You can wash hair brushes, tweezers/nail clippers, makeup brushes, shoes, toothbrush holders, pet bowls, even some of your kids’ plastic toys. Don’t forget about those stove knobs, and drip pans either. Make sure the temperature of the dishwasher does not get high enough to melt anything.
Garbage Disposal Freshening
Lemons. Cut them in half, drop them in your disposal and turn the water and the disposal on. Done.
Short on time for these hacks? Give TLC Cleaning a call, whether you need some weekly spot cleaning or a seasonal deep clean; we are here for you anytime.
