House cleaning can be a daunting task. It requires a lot of energy, stamina, and some good ol’ elbow grease. It quickly begins to feel like you are not only cleaning, but getting a workout in as well. Cleaning your home very easily can become a dreaded event as you feel like you need three cups of coffee to get through and a two hour nap after.
Here are some tips and tricks on how to save time (and your biceps) when it comes to deep cleaning your home.
1. Drill Out the Dirty Work
When you hang curtain rods, you think to use your drill, but did you know that you can also use it to get all the gunk and grunge out of your bathtub? Simply attach a scrub with an attachment piece (found in your local automotive section) and watch the drill do the scrubbing for you!
2. Ammonia to the Rescue!
If you are cooking on your stovetop and start to smell something funky, it’s probably time to clean your stove burners. But how do you get all that crusty gunk and stuck burnt pasta noodles off? Place your stove burners in ziplock bag with a 1/4 cup of ammonia and let them sit overnight. The next day the grime should wipe away with a sponge!
3. Dishwashers Are For More Than Dishes
If your floor vents are made of aluminum or steel, you can place them in the dishwasher on a water-only cycle and rinse off that built up dirt for better air ventilation and no sore scrubbing muscles!
4. When In Doubt, Iron It Out
At some point in your life you may have dropped something on your carpet that left an “oh no!” stain. For set-in stains, make a solution of one part vinegar and three parts water. Spray the soiled area, take a cotton cloth that you don’t mind staining and place it on top. Turn your iron on it’s highest steam setting and run it over the cloth for 10 seconds. The stain will transfer off your carpet and onto the cloth. Voila! No more stain!
5. (Not) Under Pressure
If you’ve noticed that the water pressure in your shower isn’t what it used to be, it could be from mineral build-up on the shower head. This quick overnight fix should do the trick. Fill a sturdy bag with white vinegar and attach it to your shower head with a rubber band. Make sure that all of the water holes are covered by the vinegar. After an overnight soak, your shower head will feel right as rain.
6. Blow Them Away
Instead of breaking a sweat sweeping and wiping out all the dust and dead buggies from your garage, put your leaf blower to use and blast them all away. You can use it on the floors as well as the shelves, just make sure that you pick up any loose or light-weight things that may catch wind as well.
7. Crayon Marks Be (Goo) Gone
If your child believes that your walls are their own personal massive canvas, you’ve experienced the horrors of trying to remove dried crayon. Place a little Goo Gone in a spray bottle and spray the markings. Wait a moment for it to soak up the mess and then wipe it away with a rag. Easy, peasy, no hard scrubbing squeezy.
8. Meet Your Match, Mattress
Every once in awhile it’s good to give your mattress a deep clean instead of just flipping it over. It’s too big to fit in the washer and requires too much muscle to drag outside to beat out. A much easier way to clean it is to dust baking soda over the mattress and let it sit for at least an hour. The longer you let it sit, the longer the baking soda has time to absorb the odors. When you are ready, place the attachment on your vacuum hose and suck up the baking soda. Your mattress now smells good as new!