We don’t think that many people are happy about cleaning their homes, but even this task can be done in an interesting way if you do it cleverly. So instead of spending an entire day cleaning, you can try a few tricks that will make your life easier.
Bright Side shares some secrets of keeping your place clean from people who don’t know what dirty shelves look like.
1. Soap vs. shower gel
Cleaning the tiles in the shower is no fun at all, but you won’t have to do this as often if you follow this piece of advice and substitute soap for shower gel or liquid soap. Regular soap contains fats and oils, which is why it’s more difficult to clean the foam afterward. And the foam from shower gels doesn’t accumulate so easily in the tiles.
2. Use all the power of your dishwasher
Very few people know that a dishwasher can be used for more than washing dishes. The list of things you can wash is quite long: lampshades, baseball caps, hairbrushes, vent grates (as they explain here), makeup brushes, stove grate plates, refrigerator shelves, stationery holders, toys made of metal or plastic, and even artificial flowers.
3. Blinds
In order to clean the dust from your blinds more quickly, use a sock as shown here. Just put it on your hand, and hold one of the blinds from both sides.
4. Fridge shelves
Put some Press’n Seal on your fridge shelves as recommended in this blog. It will be much easier to clean them, especially if something spills.
5. Lint brush roller
As they show here, you can use a lint brush roller for more than cleaning your clothes. Try it on some other things, such as lampshades, furniture, and shelves.
6. Knife stand
We don’t forget to wash the dishes, but there is one important thing we do neglect: food leftovers in knife holders. Here they share a useful trick of cleaning the holder with the narrowest vacuum cleaner nozzle. If you don’t have such a thing, just use a hair dryer to blow the food out.
7. Shower curtain
To avoid having mold on shower curtains, here they recommend machine washing them with a few towels. Then dry them well in the fresh air or on a balcony.
8. Soft toys
Put your soft toys into a plastic bag, and add a glass of baking soda (or 2 tablespoons of baking soda for each toy if you have more then one). Shake the bag well, preferably outside. To get even better results, you can keep the bag in the fridge for 40 minutes, as recommended here, or add a few drops of essential oil. Baking soda and static electricity will do the trick and pull the dust and dirt out of the toys. Take the toys out one by one, and then clean them with the smallest nozzle of your vacuum cleaner.
9. Cleaning the most difficult places
Sometimes even the smallest vacuum cleaner nozzles turn out to be too big for some gaps in your apartment. The problem is easily solved with a toilet paper roll. Put the roll on the vacuum cleaner tube, like this reddit user did, and squeeze its end so that it’s small enough for those gaps.
10. Nail polish
If you have metal glasses or holders for soap or sponges, there can be some unpleasant rust. To avoid this, put a small amount of clear nail polish on their bottoms, as advised here, and the problem will be solved.
11. Air conditioner
Before you clean your apartment, turn on the air conditioner to make the filters suck in the dust. This will help prevent the dust from going up in the air when you start cleaning. Here they say that this makes cleaning easier with better results.
12. Kitchen stands
Sugar, coffee, tea, and other granulated products that we use a few times a day should be kept on shelves or plates with boards. Even if you spill something, it won’t fall onto the table (and later on the floor). And the plate or the shelf can easily be cleaned in the sink.
13. Plastic bottle and duct tape
To clean cushions or furniture quickly, a brush or a lint roller might not be enough. Put double-sided duct tape around a bottle, and try cleaning the dirty spots. Hair, fur, dust, and dirt will come off much faster, and the furniture will look way better.
14. Pet bowls
When your pets eat, they don’t care much about cleanliness. They move their bowls, and the food falls on the floor. Stick your pet’s bowls to the floor using double-sided tape to keep your kitchen clean.
15. Grapefruit with salt
A grapefruit half can be a great detergent for your sink and bath if you put a lot of rock salt on it.
