If you spend hours doing housework you could probably do with some top cleaning tips. If you have a grandmother or another female relative of a certain age, they are a mine of little treasures about cleaning. Even though they may use as many chemical products straight off the shelves these days as us younger ones, they have certain tricks and top cleaning tips that have stuck with them for years and which they’ll always use. Next time you visit Granny, ask her advice for some top cleaning tips and you’ll get that housework done in no time.
One of the top cleaning tips I have heard (and this was from my own grandmother) is to keep a selection of cleaning supplies in each suitable room. Part of the pain of housework is the carting of creams, and polishes, and cloths, and dusters, and brushes etc., from room to room. If you have a cleaning bucket in the kitchen, bathroom, and similar rooms, there’ll be more motivation to clean more often and it will be over more quickly.
Cleaning glass is a real pain. It’s an effort to get glass nice and shiny and streak free. One of the top tips for cleaning glass is to use newspaper rather than kitchen towel or fabric cloths. For a terrific streak-free finish you could also use rubbing alcohol instead of a propriety cleaner.
Do you think you have to use fabric conditioner when you wash clothes? They are supposed to make clothes smell fresh and soften the fabrics, but in fact, some scents are so powerful they compete with your own toiletries. White vinegar does the same job as softener without that all-pervading fragrance. And, it’s cheaper and easier on the environment. Add ½ to one cup each wash.
If you have sticky finger marks or your darling child’s latest art masterpiece on your walls, do not use water to remove them. Water can sink into wallpaper and make it bubble, can discolor paint and soak into plaster. The best cleaning method for ink, crayon and sticky stuff on walls is a dry microfiber cloth or sponge block. (I have to admit, this is one of Grannie’s top cleaning tips – she didn’t have microfiber!)
We’re talking about the plain white stuff here, without stripes, but toothpaste makes an excellent stain remover and only needs to be used sparingly. You can use it on those stains on walls that the microfiber won’t budge, and also to remove scuffs on furniture, scuffs on shoes and white sneakers, the plates on irons and also chrome surfaces.
To me this is sacrilege, but one of the most interesting tips for better cleaning I found is to spray bathroom tiles with neat vodka and let it rest for 10 minutes. It cuts through soap scum and water marks and you’ll have those tiles shining and sparkling in no time.
You love your pet(s), but clearing up the hair they leave behind is no fun. Apparently, if you wear a dry rubber washing up glove and rub your hand quickly over the hair-covered surface, the build-up of static electricity will make the hair stick to the glove.
We’ve all heard the stories about how a tooth will dissolve in a glass of cola if left long enough and that cola can clean dirty coins, but did you know it makes a great toilet cleaner? Splash some cola liberally around the rim and scrub with the toilet brush. Leave it for about an hour to let the acids break down the stains. You can also use soda water if you’re concerned about cola leaving behind sugary deposits.
If your dishwasher isn’t performing as well as you’d like, forget those expensive one-clean bottles from the supermarket. Simply run it on empty – with a dishwasher tablet – and add 2 cups of white vinegar in the rinse cycle.
If you’ve followed all these top cleaning tips, the last thing you want is lingering odors. Even though modern air fresheners have some very pleasant fragrances, all they do is mask the odor. The best air fresheners are natural ones. Beeswax candles, fresh flowers and potpourri are all better air fresheners than sprays or blocks with chemically generated scents.
I’d love to know if these top cleaning tips help you get through you housework routine faster and easier or if you have you own favorite tips to share?