Home Cleaning Hacks that Make Staying Home Bearable

Save Yourself Hours Of Scrubbing

You’ll then need to let this sit in the sink for about an hour or two. When time is up, pour out the water, and then you’ll be able to easily wipe away the mess that was stuck on the pot or pan. This cleaning hack will save you hours that you usually spend scrubbing away.

That’s not the only thing you can use dryer sheets for around the house. You can also use them to sweep your baseboards. It will not only keep your home clean, but it will smell lovely and fresh too. Attach a dryer sheet to your mop or broom instead of a microfiber cloth.

A Magical Cleaning Hack In Your Bathroom Cupboard

This bathroom cleaning hack will help to pick up all the dust around your home like never before. This tip is fast and easy, and you should definitely try it as soon as you get home. Do you need to get rid of those awful stains on your upholstery?

Go into the bathroom and open the cupboard – you’ll hopefully find a can of shaving cream somewhere in there. You probably thought you would need to hire a professional service to get the stains out of your favorite chair, but we have good news for you – you don’t.

Don’t Spend Money On A Professional Cleaning Service

Instead of spending a whole bunch of money on hiring a professional, get the shaving cream as long as it’s not a gel kind, and rub a small amount of it into the stain. You then need to let it sit for 30 minutes or ideally overnight.

You then have to blot it dry. You should have a beautifully clean couch now! The experts do, however, suggest that you first test out this method before doing it on the stain. Pick a spot on the upholstery that isn’t as visible and give it a try there to see if it damages the fabric. This cleaning ha k will save you a lot of money.

Say Goodbye To Your Dirty, Old Mop

Gone are the days when you want to be squeezing out a dirty old mop after you’ve cleaned the floors with it. This method also isn’t very hygienic, according to recent research. When a mop is stored wet, it will have a lot more bacteria growth.

This growth actually can’t be cleaned even with chemical disinfection. So, what’s the solution to mopping your floors? Thankfully, we have a cleaning hack for that. You need to make sure that you buy a mop that can be put into your laundry. This feature helps keep the germs away.

Upgrade Your Life With A New Mop

There are so many wonderful options on the market for machine washable mops. It’s time to update your cleaning items, and the mop is the first item for an upgrade. Life becomes so much easier when you can pull off the mop head and put it in the washing machine.

During the current crisis, so many people are working from home, and this notion means you should often be cleaning your computer keyboard. Keyboards are tricky things to clean, but there are so many bacteria on it that it is a necessity, especially if you are using it daily. Keep reading to discover the best way to handle cleaning a computer keyboard.

Keep Your Keyboard Clean

A test was done on clean keyboards versus unclean ones, and it was shocking what they found. The unclean keyboards contained bacteria that can cause many diseases, and also one that causes upper respiratory tract infections.

It may seem like it’s just another thing to add to your cleaning list, but the good news is that it’s quite easy. Take a toothbrush and dip it into a mixture that is half vinegar and half water. Then scrub between the keys and spaces to get rid of germs when it is unplugged from the computer and power source, of course.

An Effective Way To Keep The Tub Clean

When it comes to bathing, you also need to make sure it’s nice and clean before you enjoy a good old soak or bubble bath. Instead of using bleach with chemicals in it that may sit around in your bathtub, we have a more natural and effective solution.

Purchase some extra grapefruits next time you do the grocery shopping that you can use to clean out your bathtub. Experts say that this citrus fruit provides the perfect way to clean out a dirty bathtub. So, how do you do this awesome cleaning hack? Keep reading!

A Natural Way To Clean With Fruit As a Cleaning Hack

Cut open the grapefruit and then cover it in salt – not sugar, unfortunately! The point of adding the salt to the grapefruit is that it will create an abrasive texture when mixed with the citric acid from the fruit. This cleaning hack will then break down the stains and dirt on the bathtub.

Another great natural option for cleaning is a lemon. You can use it for so many things in the kitchen, aside from cooking. Firstly, you can use it to freshen up the awful smell that is coming from your garbage disposal.

Freshen Up Your Garbage Disposal Cleaning Hack

We throw away so much into the garbage disposal that obviously, it is going to smell at some point. There is such an easy way to get rid of this odor, and it’s with a lemon. Cut up some of your lemons in the kitchen and throw them down the drain.

When your disposal starts to get rid of them, it will release a pleasant fresh smell and help to break down the odor that has been lingering there. But, that’s not all that your lemons can clean in the kitchen. Try your cutting boards as well. Easy cleaning hack? Check.

Clean Your Wooden Cutting Boards

We are so used to putting our plastic cutting boards into the dishwasher and having them come out nicely sanitized and clean. But, what about the wooden ones? These are in a completely different league of cleaning, and they get stained easily.

The cleaning hack for this is simple. Get a lemon and some salt. Sprinkle the salt on your cutting board and then cut a lemon in half. You will then rub the lemon half over the cutting board and then let it sit like this for a few minutes.

Like New!

Once it has sat for a few minutes with the mixture on it, you then just need to give your board a rinse with water, and you should then have a spotless and clean wooden cutting board. This hack is a real lifesaver when you think you might have just to throw it away.

Another gross thing that we always have lying around the kitchen is our sponges. We use them every single day to clean a variety of dishes, and sometimes they even get used on our counters. It means that they have many bacteria on them.

Don’t Spread Germs With Your Sponges

Every time you use a sponge, you could actually be spreading more germs, which is the opposite of what you want to be doing when you are cleaning up. There is an easy solution to this problem, though, and it is your microwave.

Take your sponge and make it slightly damp. You can then put it in the microwave for 90 seconds on full power. Just by doing this, you will end up reducing the bacterial contamination on it by 99%. Also, make sure you don’t do this with a sponge with metal on it; otherwise, there will be a big, dangerous explosion.

Cleaning Hacks In Your Cupboards

So many of these cleaning hacks are just in your kitchen cupboard. A favorite among the cleaning experts is baking soda. This hack is something that can help you clean so many things that you thought would never be clean again.

Did you know that you can un-scratch your plates with some baking soda? We all know how it happens; by accident, people damage the plate with a knife or fork when they are enjoying dinner. However, what’s left is a ruined plate, right?

Buff Your Plates With Baking Soda

You then feel frustrated when you host a dinner party, and your plates don’t look like they should. But, baking soda could resolve this for you. Start by making a paste of baking soda and water. You then will need to buff this paste into the scratches.

Once you’ve completed the buffing process, your dishes will be free of scratches and look like they are brand new. Moving away from the kitchen now, and into the bedroom… You can use baking soda in here too.

Don’t Forget To Clean Your Mattress

We generally wash our pillowcases and pillows regularly, but something that gets forgotten about is our mattress. This spot is a place where bacteria build up, and it can lead to some problems with your allergies if you don’t have a cleaning hack for your mattress.

You need to vacuum your mattress at least once a month to get rid of this bacteria. But, to make sure that it is extra clean, once you’ve vacuumed, sprinkle an ample amount of baking soda on it and then vacuum it up again. This cleaning hack will leave you with a lovely fresh mattress.

Use Your Vacuum To Clean Your Blinds

Another thing that a vacuum can clean, apart from floors and mattresses, are your blinds. Blinds in homes build up so much dust, and they are quite tricky and tiresome to clean. So, to make this process easier, you can use your vacuum as a cleaning hack for blinds.

All you’ll need is an upholstery attachment for your vacuum, and then you can start cleaning your shades in a much easier way. If you don’t have this, there is an alternative. Instead, you can grab a dryer sheet with a pair of tongs and then wipe off the blinds.

Use A Lint Roller Around Your Home

Another fantastic way to get rid of dust is with a lint roller. These handy rollers are an excellent way to get rid of unwanted fluff and hair that may have gotten onto our clothes, but you can use them around your home for a similar purpose too.

You can use it on tricky things like a lampshade or even if your child has made a mess with glitter. Just get out your lint roller and roll it over the mess to pick up all the glitter without any stress. It’s also great to use on your bedding to get rid of pet hair before the next wash.

How To Clean A Window Properly

If you’re busy trying to clean your windows and mirrors, you’re probably doing it the wrong way. You always get left with streaks on the mirrors which block your view when you’re trying to see how your outfit looks or it blocks the beautiful view out the window.

It is probably happening if you are using paper towels. There is a much better way to clean your glass surfaces. It’s with a newspaper. It has soy ink which won’t leave the unsightly streak marks on windows or a glass table with lint from the paper towel.

Steam The Inside Of Your Microwave

We use it every day but generally forget that it should get a good and proper clean too. We’re talking about your microwave. It occasionally gets dirtied from a splatter of a tomato sauce you’re warming up, and it’s a mission to clean up once it has dried.

But, there is a way to clean it up without it taking too much of your energy. You can do it by steam cleaning your microwave and not by using all your elbow grease. All you need to do is fill up a microwave-safe bowl with three tablespoons of white vinegar and a cup of water.

Cleaning Hacks To Loosen Grime

Place the bowl of the mixture into the microwave and set it to microwave for a few minutes. You’ll be able to see that inside your microwave, things are getting steamy. This cleaning hack will help to loosen the messes inside so that you can wipe it down quickly.

Just like baking soda, vinegar is also a great kitchen staple that you can use around your home for cleaning purposes. For example, you can use your vinegar to clean your shower head. It may surprise you, but these are significant sources of bacteria.

Clean Your Shower Head

Research has shown that 20 percent of the tested shower heads were contaminated with bacteria that can cause severe respiratory health issues. One way to prevent breathing problems at home is the regular cleaning of your shower head, and it isn’t that hard.

All you will need is a sandwich bag and vinegar. Fill the sandwich bag with white vinegar and then attach it to your shower head with rubber bands. Do this at night so that you can leave it throughout the night to soak.

Vinegar Is A Great Way To Clean Surfaces

Due to the acetic acid in the vinegar, it will reduce the bacteria that are lingering in any area of your home. You can also get rid of any water stains you have around your house with vinegar. You’ll notice these stains on your drinking glasses.

Create a mixture that is half water and half white vinegar. You then just apply it to the water stains and let it sit on the item for about 15 minutes. You can then wash it off since it has now broken down the debris or scrub it off, depending on the substance.

Rinse Out Your Coffee Maker

Last but not least, you can also use vinegar to clean out your coffee maker. For those of us who are coffee addicts, this is a great cleaning hack. We use our coffee makers daily, but we probably don’t clean them as much as we should.

Coffee makers are actually a hotbed of bacterial activity. You don’t need bacteria with your special roast that you’re dining on with your family. It’s time to tackle the bacteria, and just a monthly rinse with vinegar should do just that for you.

Remove The Vinegar Smell

What you will need to do is simple. Just fill your coffee maker’s reservoir with about three tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with some water. Then run it and, after that, rerun it with only water in it to remove any vinegar smell that may be left behind.

One of the best cleaning hacks is with your blender. This particular small appliance can be a real pain and mission to clean up, especially after having made a delicious smoothie with berries. Firstly, cleaning a blender is a scary mission when you get close to the blades.

Navigating The Blades Of A Blender

You then have to try to navigate around the blades to get to the bottom of it to get rid of any leftover seeds or residue. Instead of risking your hand and getting cut by the blender, make the blender clean itself so that you can sit back and relax.

Instead of making a smoothie, you’re going to make a cleaning cocktail. Pour some warm water, some baking soda, and top it off with some dishwash liquid into the blender. Then, pulse your blender for a few seconds.

Keep An Eye On Your Sink Fixtures

Once you’ve done that, rinse it out with some fresh water, and your blender will be nice and clean again. When you’re in your kitchen cleaning your blender, you might also notice that your sink fixture could use some TLC as well.

We always clean our dishes and utensils, but what about our sinks? They are some of the dirtiest places in our homes. Sinks, according to research, are crawling with drug-resistant bacteria, so we should be washing them more thoroughly.

Sanitize Your Sink

We put so much wear-and-tear on our kitchen sinks, and the metal never looks quite as clean as when they did when we first had them installed. There are excellent kitchen cleaning hacks for this that will have it looking good as new.

Once you have sanitized your sink using an antibacterial cleanser, make sure that you polish your taps and the handles with some wax paper. The wax paper will help to remove the water spots that will be left behind and will also prevent stains in the future.

Wash Your Washing Machine

Another thing that you may think can self-clean in your home is your washing machine. While this technology may be accurate for a blender, it’s not the case for a washing machine. Yes, you clean your clothes in a washing machine, but it doesn’t mean the appliance cleans itself.

To remove viruses and bacteria from a washing machine, you will need more than your average washing powder. You will need bleach. Run your appliance in a sanitized setting with hot water and just a quart of bleach. It’s now clean and ready to run.

Don’t Overload Your Dishwasher

Another tip for cleaning in your kitchen is about your dishwasher. We know that it is a pain when you realize that you have to do another load of dishes in the dishwasher… But this is much better than overloading your dishwasher to avoid the inconvenience.

Did you know that by putting too much into your dishwasher, it could result in dirtier dishes? The cleaning will be far less effective when it is overloaded. Instead of having to clean the dishes again after being in the dishwasher, separate them into two loads to have them cleaned properly.

Stay Safe In Your Kitchen

Now, this cleaning hack is essential for safety in the kitchen. About 41% of home fires start in the kitchen, and this tragedy happens because of the stove. One way to stay safe in your kitchen is to make sure that your oven is free of flammable grease.

You need to keep your burners clean and thanks to this hack, it’s pretty easy to do. You can start by washing any removable burner parts with a mixture of soap and water. If this cleaning hack doesn’t do the trick, then you may have to get more serious.

Use A Sandwich Bag And Ammonia

Get a large sandwich bag and fill it with a quarter cup of ammonia and then close the bag. Leave it to soak overnight, and then by the time you wake up in the morning, you will easily be able to wipe off any grease that has accumulated on the stove burner.

Our last kitchen cleaning hack is for your cast iron skillet. These are a real pain to clean because you’re meant to be careful when you do this because of their seasoned coating. If you clean it incorrectly, it will be useless to you in the kitchen.

How To Clean A Cast Iron Skillet

Cleaning a cast iron skillet is actually a lot easier than you ever thought. Perhaps the thought of this is putting you off buying one of them. All you need to clean a cast-iron skillet is some salt and a potato. This combination will clean it safely and efficiently.

Start the process by pouring some coarse salt into the pan. Then take your potato, cut it in half and then use it to rub the salt into the pan until the mess on the pan has been broken up. You can then rinse it underwater, and it will be clean and ready to be used.

Vents Gather Much Dust

If you’ve looked up at the vents in your house recently, you’ll notice that they probably haven’t been cleaned in a while. Vents accumulate much dust, and this generally happens in summer and winter because those are the months a vent blows hot or cold air most frequently.

Cleaning them may sound like quite the chore, but Turtle Wax can help make that job a lot easier. The experts say that this wax is great for this purpose because it makes the vents a lot easier to clean, and then the dust in it just wipes off in one go.

How To Clean Your TV Screen

Now, we get to the TV screen cleaning hack. You must never spray chemical cleaners or water directly onto the screen of your TV. Make sure that you just use a dry cloth that will do its job and remove any dust or debris that is lingering on the surface.

When doing this cleaning hack, you also need to be very careful not to press too hard. If there is another stain on your TV that isn’t going to come off with just a dry cloth, dampen it ever so slight and try your luck with that. The key to this is not applying a liquid directly onto the screen.

Remove Greasy Fingerprints Throughout Your Home

Do you have greasy fingerprints on things around your home? This unwanted action happens and is just part of life, especially in the kitchen or dining room on walls, glasses, and other utensils. However, it could be your cellphone screen. A wonderful hack for cleaning grease is an eraser.

You can go to your stationery drawer, get out an eraser, and erase away the marks just as you would with a pencil. Another great hack for keeping mirror surfaces clean like the mirror in a bathroom is to use shaving cream.

No More Steam On The Bathroom Mirror

To stop the mirror from steaming up in the bathroom and getting streak marks all over it, which is a lot to clean up afterward, take some shaving foam and rub it onto the mirror. It will prevent it from steaming up and will allow you to use the mirror after your hot shower.

The last tip for cleaning windows and glass – specifically outdoor windows is to choose the day you do this on very carefully. Clean your windows on an overcast day. This weather means the cleaning fluid will dry a lot slower than usual, thus preventing smears.

Cleaning Doesn’t Have To Be A Chore

Cleaning doesn’t have to be a chore thanks to all of these great tips and hacks. There is always something to make it easier. As the saying goes, work smarter, not harder, and this goes for cleaning your house as well.

The best part of these cleaning hacks is that you don’t have to go out and buy expensive and fancy cleaning items. You have them all at home and ready to be put to use so that you have a beautiful, clean, and germ-free home.

Sources:

https://bestlifeonline.com/cleaning-hacks/

https://brightside.me/creativity-home/13-amazing-life-hacks-for-cleaning-everyone-should-know-346960/