When’s the last time you gave your house a deep cleaning? Although maintaining a clean home is probably important to most of us, it can be intimidating to know where to start or how to tackle the project. No matter how big or small the cleaning project, chances are we can all use a few tips and pointers on how to do things better.
With that in mind, here are 22 of the best cleaning hacks that we’ve come across.
1. Use lemon and salt to clean a wooden cutting board.
Wooden cutting boards tend to pick up everything that gets cut on them. To make sure they get a deep clean, first rub them down with some coarse salt to take all the odor and germs out of them. After it’s got a layer of salt on it, cut a lemon in half and swish it around the board. At the end, you should have a sanitized board that smells lemony fresh.
2. Use baking soda to clean a sofa.
Although the sofa is a great place to lay down and relax, it also ends up absorbing a lot of our germs and odors over time—and this is particularly true if we own any animals. Although we can vacuum up extra hair, there’s often still smell that remains. To fix that, rub your sofa down with baking soda and let it sit for about an hour. Vacuum it up when you’re done and most of the scents should be gone.
3. Clean out your oven with baking soda and vinegar.
Although nobody looks forward to doing a deep clean of their oven, it’s actually not as difficult as we make it out to be. Though there are many specialty products and foams on the market that are designed for this purpose, there’s actually a simpler and cheaper way. Simply get a bowl and mix together 1/2 a cup of baking soda with a few tablespoons of water to make a paste. Wipe it around your oven and let it sit overnight for about 12 hours. The next day, scrape it all out and finish it off by spraying vinegar solution on the inside and wiping it out.
4. Take paint off of old clothes by using a razor.
If you do much painting or redecorating around your house, there’s a pretty good chance that you have some clothes with too much paint on them. If that’s the case, never fear—you may be able to take that out. Make sure the paint is dried out and then use a normal razor to delicately scrape off the paint from the fibers—just be careful about not cutting your fingers.
5. Use lemons to take out hard water stains.
If you have an old shower or bathtub, you may have a bunch of stains from hard water or limescale. If you can’t visualize this, it’s those web-like lines that you can see outlined on metal and glass. Although many normal cleaners have a hard time taking these marks off, you can use a cut lemon and rub it on them to help out. Let the juices sit for 10 minutes before rinsing with warm water.
6. Use sea salt to clean a cast iron pan.
Though cast iron skillets are very useful in the kitchen, they need a little more tender love and care than some of your other kitchen appliances might. To clean these things, try not to use strong dish soap which can strip away the coating on these pans. Instead, use coarse sea salt to scrub away the leftover residue and do a light rinse at the end instead.
7. Use Coca-Cola to clean toilets.
Cleaning the toilet usually means breaking out lots of strong chemicals to make sure everything gets stripped clean. Still, using some of these heavier cleaning solutions isn’t always good for us. To switch things up, you can also pour Coca-Cola in your toilet and let it soak. Scrub like you normally would with your toilet brush and when you flush, the toilet should sparkle. This isn’t a great sign if you drink Coca-Cola, though.
8. Use a squeeze top bottle as a vacuum nozzle.
If you have a shop vac lying around the house, you know that not all the attachments it comes with always suit all our needs. Sometimes you need to get into very fine cracks and crannies that the vacuum just isn’t equipped for. To get around that, simply pop the top off of a squeeze bottle and fit it over the end of the vacuum hose—it should be able to get into tiny spaces with no problem.
9. Repair leather furniture with olive oil.
Although having a leather couch or recliner is a nice touch in your home, they can easily get scratched up if you have any animals running around. These marks definitely stand out but there’s an easy way to fix them. Simply get a cloth and dab some olive oil on it before rubbing it into the scratched areas. Let the oil dry for an hour and then wipe it all clean with another cloth.
10. Clean your computer or television screen with a coffee filter.
If you’ve ever tried to wipe down your computer or TV screen, you know how tricky it can be. You’re not supposed to use strong chemicals and a simple wipe down often leaves trace fibers behind. To get around that, try using the bottom of a coffee filter to wipe down any screens you may have—these catch the dust and leave no trace behind.
11. Take ring stains out of old furniture with a hairdryer.
If you’ve ever set a wet glass down on a finished table without a coaster and forgotten about it, you know exactly what happens. You go to lift it up and suddenly there’s a faded and seemingly permanent ring on the table. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for these problems. Next time you see a ring, get a hair dryer and blow on it for a while. Rub some olive oil into it when you’re done to seal up the spot.
12. Clean your bathtub with grapefruit and salt.
Just like with the toilet, the bathtub can be one of the more unpleasant things in the house to clean. To avoid using more strong chemicals, sprinkle coarse salt throughout the bathtub and cut a grapefruit in half. Use the grapefruit like you would a sponge and wipe it all around the tub. When you’re done, rinse the tub out and throw the grapefruit away.
13. Clean lampshades with a lint roller.
Do you own a lint roller? If you do, you know just how convenient these devices can be for taking tiny fibers and dust off of your clothing. Still, they also have other uses. Cleaning lampshades can be a pain but using a lint roller on them works surprisingly well. Give it a try yourself!
14. Clean your iron with vinegar and baking soda.
If you’ve had an iron for a long time, you probably know that the bottom of the iron starts to accumulate burn residue and build up from being used so often. The extreme heat of the iron seems to really set in whatever it touches. Fortunately, you can fix it. Simply make another mixture of vinegar and baking soda and apply it while the iron is off. Scrub it away and the iron should be as good as new!
15. Clean your microwave with a lemon.
Cleaning microwaves is so irritating and unpleasant that we almost never do it. Still, what if there were a simpler way to accomplish this without buying heavy chemicals? To do this, simply get a lemon and cut it in half. Throw the halves into a half glass of water and microwave it all on high for three minutes. Let it stand for five minutes so that the fumes can work on the food stuck on the walls. Once it’s done, wipe down the inside!
16. Use a rubber glove to pick up excess dog hair.
Dogs are man’s best friend but they also make our cleaning life quite a bit harder. Dog hair seems to stick to whatever it touches usually—but you can use this fact to your advantage. Simply put on a rubber kitchen glove and wipe your hand over whatever cloth surface is sticky with hair. The glove should easily pick it all up!
17. Clean your shower heads with vinegar and a plastic bag.
Though we do a pretty good job cleaning the rest of the bathroom, we don’t usually pay much attention to the shower heads. It may simply be because we don’t know the best way to clean them. Fortunately, we have an easy trick. Simply get a plastic bag and fill it with some vinegar. Pull it around the shower head, tie it tight and let the chemicals work their magic. At the end, run the shower, wipe it down and everything should be good as new.
18. Deep clean your stove burners with ammonia.
Although some of the hacks on this list try to find natural alternatives to cleaning solutions, not everything can be that simple. For example, cleaning your stove’s burners can be extremely difficult as everything gets caked on permanently. To resolve this issue, get a plastic bag and fill it with a little bit of ammonia. Seal the bag and let the burners sit for about 12 hours. At the end, dump the chemicals safely away and wipe the burners down.
19. Remove grease and oil from carpets with baking soda.
If you haven’t learned by now, baking soda is something like a miracle chemical. One particularly tricky thing to fix is when you get grease or oil stains in a carpet. Fortunately, we have an all-natural solution. Sprinkle baking soda all over the problem area and then spray it with a solution of vinegar and water, mixed 50/50. Let it all set for a few hours and then vacuum it up.
20. Use chalk on any clothing-related grease stains.
Similarly, grease can stain your favorite shirts and make it seem like they’ll never be usable again. Wherever the stain is, simply rub some chalk on it and let the dust absorb some of the fat that has soaked into the fibers. Once the chalk has absorbed a good amount of it, wipe it off and wash it like you normally would.
21. Clean your blender easily with a drop of dish soap.
Don’t want to wipe out your blender by hand? An easy trick to avoid this is simply to put one drop of dish soap in it and fill it about halfway with water. Run the blender with the soap and the water in it to make suds that will clean out the inside. Once you’re done, rinse it out and it’ll be ready to go.
22. Use toothpaste to clean your sneakers.
Not everyone cares equally about how clean their shoes are, but to some people it can be very important. While water and other cleaners don’t always do the job, simply get a toothbrush with a little bit of toothpaste on it and give it a rub into the dirty areas (on white shoes). Scrub it with a toothbrush to lather the dirt and grime out. At the end, wipe the shoes down with a damp towel and you’re good to go.
23. Get Rid Of Cobwebs And Dust On Your Broom
Fill a bucket with some warm water and soap – then soak your broom in it for an hour before rinsing and drying it. This will get rid of the cobwebs and dust that get stuck on the end of a broom by
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