Many years ago I asked readers to give me their favourite cleaning tips. 220 of you did exactly that. These are the 4 reader submitted cleaning tips that I still use to this day.
Do you know how long it takes to read and test 220 cleaning tips? By tip number 175 I was ready to suffocate you all. No offence of course, but it's completely true. I even had my methods planned out.
Cleaning is fun 🤩
I've made that my mantra for the past decade. I repeat it over and over as I continue to generate mess after mess.
It hasn't stuck. Cleaning is not fun for me. Rearranging things? Ripping out things? Smashing things? Everyone knows, those are the fun things.
😻 Tidying is fun
Unless you have nowhere to put anything. As is the case in my house. Tidying is more of a move it from one place to another situation. After doing this 17-20 times I move them permanently into the loving arms of the garbageman or whoever happens to be walking past my house.
In a perfect home any items that aren't where they're supposed to be would either:
a) slowly migrate to their actual home on their own.
or
b) slowly start to disintegrate until they eventually just disappear.
Do I ever clean things? Yes. All the time. See below for proof. I just don't enjoy it.
I chose my 4 favourite tips based on my reaction to them. If my immediate thought was “That’s brilliant!” they made the list.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
I chose well. I still use these tips 10 years later.
Table of Contents
The 4 Simple Cleaning Tips
1. After using the toilet brush rest it on the seat & put the lid down. It will dry so you don’t drip dirty toilet water over your toilet seat and floor plus it prevents the toilet brush holder from getting that skanky puddle of toilet water in the bottom of it. ~ from Sylvie
2. Don't throw out used lemons. Squeeze the remaining juice into a bowl with a small amount of water and microwave on high for 1 minute. The lemon-infused steam will make cleaning the microwave easy & leave a lemony scent. ~ from Chris
3. Add enough hydrogen peroxide to a scoop of baking soda to make a paste. Add a few drops of Dawn dish soap. Spread paste on stains and let sit 1 hour. Hand scrub 2 minutes then wash ~ from Paula.
4. Use a lint roller to clean dusty fabric lampshades. ~ from Karen
My favourite thing for whitening whites is Oxiclean. I exthole the virtues of Oxiclean in this post so I won't reiterate it here. But I love Oxiclean.
So I naturally compared the Pinterest paste to Oxiclean. The first time I did the experiment the Pinterest paste performed marginally better at getting whites white.
The second time I did the experiment (just this week) the Oxiclean performed better. BOTH came out the same level of whiteness this time, but the gritty quality of the paste wore the (already very thin) fibres of the sock after scrubbing.
VERDICT? If you need to get something white and you don't have Oxiclean use the paste method. It works fantastically. Oxiclean is easier and faster for regular every day use, but it's more expensive than just buying a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide.
SO?
I know I'm going to regret this. Genuinely.
But do you have a brilliant cleaning tip? Let me know in the comments. The better the tip the less horrifying your imagined annihilation will be.
Read a book, watch a movie, plant a garden, learn to skateboard. Let’s leave cleaning for another day.
HTV9
Nightly putting away of all food and storing of all uneaten food in fridge and trash, putting away trash, that kind of stuff to prevent bugs, odors. Weekly cleaning of only what's the grossest stuff to prevent illness, with plenty of help from family members and/or a cleaning service. Source: partially disabled. Lots of cleaning is just cosmetic and not actually needed. Giving yourself permission to not overdo the cleaning is something I have to do in order to stay out of the hospital. Now it's something you can do too.
jacqueline
Used Oxyclean for years until finding a stronger whitening product (OxyBoost). My understanding is that these powdered forms of hydrogen peroxide are shelf stable and the liquid (once opened) loses its effective properties. (Doesn’t seem less expensive then.) The powdered form makes more sense to me because it’s efficient: easy to add to the washing machine and for special cleaning (like your magnificently soil-caked socks) I might toss them in an Oxy/hot water solution soak, and then toss into the next laundery load. As you’ve shown in the photo, the scrubbed sock was damaged so I’d say the scrubbing thing has a down side. The percentage of Sodium Percarbonate (SP) in the powders is the most important whitening and sanitizing ingredients. SP is 50-60% in Oxyclean and 90+% in the product I use. This product and these methods were all tested during restoration of a trousseau’s worth of vintage French linen sheets.
One other use for my Oxy surprised me and the people I buy it from: Completey cleared a toilet of "black mold" by cleaning the toilet then filling the tank (not the bowl) with very warm or hot water then pouring a gallon of hot water/Oxy solution into the tank and leaving it to soak (unflushed) for several hours or all day if possible. By filling the tank the solution passively runs through/covers all the hidden parts that can’t be manually cleaned.
Christi
Not quite a cleaning tip (or does cleaning vegetables count?). Any fresh veggies I ring home get a quick water and white vinegar dip before getting rinsed and put in the fridge. Just a teaspoon or so of vinegar in a large bowl of cold water, then rinse everything. (No the vinegar doesn't leave an aftertaste). It makes leafy green and herbs last *weeks* longer in the fridge. No joke. Game changer.
Karen
Hi Christi! I'll give it a shot and look into it. I'm just at the point where I'll be bringing scads o vegetables in. ~ karen!
Catherine
Fully concur on this one! And strawberries last much longer when I do this, too.
susan
have you read the book laundry love
really interesting
Karen
I have not! ~ karen
M
For pet hair, put on dishwashing gloves and just wipe it up.
For soap scum shower doors (never tried this on clear ones), wipe with lemon oil and see them shine.
Nancy
My idea of cleaning is to sweep the room with a glance!
Karen
😆 Ha! ~ karen
krista
pumice stones remove dog hair from various surfaces including car interiors. doesn't work on all fabrics, but sturdy fabrics works amazing! Found this out from car detailers, its what they use