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.
I chose well. I still use these tips 10 years later.
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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.
Karin
We use cast iron a lot and have a chainmail scrubber which works so much better than any other scouring pad. Gets off all the crusted on bits without soap so you don't ruin your seasoning. Plus it's chainmail and that just looks cool.
Cathy
I have one of those chainmail scrubbers. It is fantastic. Bought mine at Lee Valley.
Karen
Thanks Karin! I should try one of those. I use cast iron a lot too. I use one of those hard plastic post scrapers to knock off the high bits. ~ karen!
Jody C
Toilet bowl cleaner will revive even old grout. Don't be like me, wear a mask from the start - don't wait until you have a pounding headache and wonder why! Do a small section at a time and move/push the cleaner to a new section, you will eventually need to add some more cleaner.
Karen
If I had grout I would test it, but alas I stuck my kitchen floors down with glue. ~ karen!
Kelsey
This will eventually eat your grout and then you'll need to redo it, which is more work. This is popular on social media but a bad idea in the long run.
Chris
You can use straight vinegar to remove bug "guts" from your vehicle safely. It really does work and fast...and won't hurt the finish.
Char Marie
Use dryer sheets to clean and dust baseboards. Keeps them clean and dust free for several weeks!
Cat
I use Barkeeper's Friend on anything metal. It is my absolute go to for polishing up old brass pieces to new.
Karen
Barkeeper's Friend is fantastic! ~ karen
Karen but definitely not the Karen who runs the blog
I have never had much luck with it- do you use it on stainless steel pots or sinks?
Kasia
My husband recently introduced me to the miracle of an SOS pad. He uses it to clean all the stainless steel pots and pans, and I now use it to clean the inside of my stainless travel mugs that get gunked up with tea stains. I cannot believe how well it works and was so convinced it would leave scratch marks (especially when I saw him use it on our stainless kitchen sink… I may have freaked out a bit. Just a little.) Anyway, it doesn’t scratch, amazingly enough, and it works to clean things I thought would never be clean again!
Abby
I pressure wash my grill. Surprisingly nothing falls apart and you will have very little scrubbing or scraping left to do.
Karen
The outside or the inside? Or both? ~ karen
Jan in Waterdown
I’ve used my pressure washer to clean the bbq cover, it gets so gross. Most of our power tools sorta belong to my husband but the pressure washer is mine! We’ve been married 52 years but if anything “happens”, I’m gettin’ custody for sure.
Joanna
We like to scavenge/collect treasure like old bottles. Denture cleaner tablets work well to get decades of crap out of them. They also work well on insulated coffee cups that can’t go in the dishwasher - even those that rarely see soap and are covered in nasty stains.
Suzie
Yes. Used these for years.
Karen
I remember that tip from yearsssssss ago but have never tried it. It always seemed like a good tip though so I've added denture cleaning tablets to my shopping list to try it out. :) ~ karen!
Mary C
You can use them in your toilet bowl too. I get them at the Dollar Store.
Darla
When you switch to a new toothbrush use the old one to scrub gunk from sink drains and around garbage disposal openings...then throw the brush away!
LC
Or put brightly colored tape around the handle and use it again and again.
Barb B
My only tip is when it’s time to scrub walls I use a sponge mop and a bucket of water with woolite. So easy to wash walls from a standing position without the need for a ladder. Plus you can cover more area faster.
Karen
You just made me look at my walls which are filthy from candles and fireplace smoke. Not even a wall sized mop would do the trick. I'll be repainting. ~ karen!
Jan in Waterdown
Who the heck washes walls?
Lol
Karen
It's the sort of thing you have to commit to. There is NO washing part of a wall. ~ karen!
Kelsey
Excellent when moving out of a rental to ensure your get your damage deposit back. Also washes off fingerprints from little hands dragged down the hallway.
MaryJane
My best cleaning hack came from my good friend, Elfie. To remove any fruit or veggie stain, drape stained fabric over sink. Carefully pour boiling water straight from the kettle over the the stain. Pouring from a few inches above the fabric seems to work best. That’s it. Works every time. Impress your friends.
PS: Surpress your urge to treat with soap or stain remover first, it make the boiling water less effective.
Karen
That sounds like a fun one. Off to smear carrot on myself. ~ karen!
Rozi
This is something that I found years ago online and still use it. Mix vinegar and dawn in the tub and spread it around. Wait some time. Then all the soap scum come right off the tub. A little rubbing may be necessary, but you will have a perfect shiny white tub. We do not have hard water though, so not tested on lime scale.
Karen
I'll try it! My tub always has stains from the minerals in the water. :/ ~ karen!
Jayne
I have an old cast iron tub with enamel that gets discoloured. I’ve had success with this Marta Stewart tip: add one teaspoon of liquid soap (I use Dawn) and several drops of an antibacterial essence (such as tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, or peppermint) to one cup of baking soda. Mix, adding just enough water to form a paste, and use it with a sponge or brush to scour bathtub surfaces. I like to leave the mixture on the tub for a few minutes before scrubbing it off.
Karen
I'll give it a shot! One day. One day I will give it a shot, lol. ~ karen!
Lynda Zuber
To clean all floor vents run them through a dishwasher cycle.
Karen
I would never ever have thought of that! ~ karen
Izzy
My best cleaning tip is to hire a good house cleaner.
Cindy Courtney
Amazing that you discovered a method of cleaning that I have also been using for years. Great minds, yada yada.
Suzie
Snort
Celeste
Pure genius...of course, that was my thought from the start. Naturally, would need to be one that reads all these "for sure" cleaning tips.
Karen
I tried that once. They were not good. 🤣 ~ karen!
Kristin S.
My favorite cleaning tip is that for most standard residential ovens (not super fancy ones), you can take the oven door off to clean the oven. There are two metal latches on the hinges, and if you unlatch those you can just lift the door off. Check your model number, but this has worked for every oven I have tried, and when I tell people they seem shocked.
Karen
I have a post on that! Specifically how to remove the oven door and take it apart to clean the glass inside. ~ karen!
Megan W.
To clean the inside glass of my toaster oven I first scrape any gunk off with a razor and then dip a dishwasher tablet into water and use the wet tablet to scrub away any residue. It works incredibly well.
Karen
REALLY?!! A dishwasher tablet. The kind that are compressed detergent I take it, as opposed to the kind with a dissolvable film around them. that could get really messy and frothy really quickly.😆 And yes, the razor is probably my #1 cleaning tool as well! ~ karen
Karen but definitely not the Karen who runs the blog
Magic erasures esp for the glass- just make sure you don’t leave any bits of the eraser in the oven
Karen Q, UK
Two for you that I discovered recently Karen.
Boiling up a sliced up lemon in the kettle and leaving the water in it will dissolve limescale (if you have that flaky, crusty nastiness in Canada) and if it is not too hard and thick. The remainder lemon that you haven’t used for your gin and tonic works fine.
Bicarbonate of soda removes bugs squished onto your car. I think you are meant to dissolve some in water but don’t know the proportion - I dipped the edge of a wet cloth into some and used it as a paste and it worked brilliantly, though did need washing off (hose was great!).
Karen
Thanks Karen! We do indeed have lime! My kettle is clean though mainly because I don't drink tea, lol. ~ karen!
Rod from Calgary
I love the cleaning power of powdered dishwasher detergent. I use it to clean bird poop and otter poop (awful!!) off my boat canvas. It will also clean all the gunk off your smoker grills – just put hot water in an old picnic cooler, add half a cup of powdered dishwasher detergent (I use Cascade), mix it up, and then soak the racks overnight. They'll clean up nice and shiny next day.
Karen
I believe I remember you sending me that tip some time ago! Thanks for the reminder. ~ karen
Joanne
I really don't like cleaning but I like your tips and will try the toilet brush tip for sure.
My contribution is to use the link roller when sewing! It picks up all the loose threads and fluff. Now the sewing machines sit on the dining room table until they migrate to the floor, and then the basement, and then a random corner ...till next time!
Karen
Lint rollers are really capable of anything. ~ karen!
Kay
World domination?
Tricia Rose
My goodness, I'm first!
Use Biz instead of OxiClean, it's the same basic stuff but with enzymes so organic stains get digested away - that's how I understand it anyway.
Karen
Oh! Interesting. Thanks Tricia! I am wearing a lovely white linen shirt from Rough Linen at this very moment! ~ karen