Whether you enjoy cleaning or not so much (like me) you still want to find ways to make cleaning easier and to spend less time doing it, even cleaning fanatics would rather be watching a movie than wiping down a counter (at least I hope so)! That’s why cleaning hacks are so helpful.
It’s my job to find those cleaning hacks, research them, test them, tweak them and then, share them with you. So I’ve got five more cleaning hacks that will save you time.
Cleaning Tricky Vases
It’s always fun to buy a nice glass pitcher or a vase but they are not so fun to clean. Instead of buying a bottle brush, all you have to do is fill the vessel with a quarter cup of white rice, which acts as your abrasive, an 1/8th of a cup of water and a squirt of dish soap. Give it some really good swirls. Then, rinse it out and take a cloth and clean the upper part of the inside of the vessel. Rinse it out again, buff it, dry and you’re all done.
Faster Ironing
Aluminum foil has a lot of great uses around the house and in fact, we have a video on aluminum foil but this one is specifically for saving time when you’re ironing. Remove the ironing board cover and take a piece of aluminum foil and start to line the ironing board itself with the aluminum foil. Do that until the entire base is covered. Then, put the ironing board cover back on top and iron as usual.
What’s happening is that the heat from the iron is being absorbed into the tin foil and then, reflected back up onto the garment. Your garment is getting a double whammy when it goes down on the ironing board. It’s getting ironed from the top and then, heated from the bottom, making ironing a lot quicker, which means less time in front of an ironing board and more time living your life.
Dust with Dryer Sheets
If you use dryer sheets and you want to find a second life for them before you pitch them, why not use them to clean your baseboards after they come out of the dryer? You might notice that they’re not as stiff, they’re a little more crinkly and they don’t have any of that coating on them. Well, that’s a good thing when it comes to cleaning baseboards. Your dryer sheets are still going to have some electromagnetic charge to them, which means they can attract dust – great for dusting. All you need to do is wipe your baseboards with the dryer sheets and then when it’s done, you can crumple it up with those dust bunnies, pitch it in the garbage and know that at least, you did a little bit of upcycling.
Pool Noodle Shoe Holders
Pool noodles now have uses all year round because they’re absolutely great for keeping your boots in shape. Consider this: If you ever put on a pair of boots and they started to bunch and wrinkle at the ankles that’s because they’re not being kept in shape when you’re not wearing them. Take your pool noodle, cut it to size, make a pair and then, when you’re not wearing your boots, stuff the pool noodle inside and it will keep your boots upright and long-lasting.
Safety Pin Dryer Ball
If you’re sick and tired of static cling (and don’t have any dryer balls) all you have to do is pin a safety pin to something like a towel or a sock and put that in with your load of laundry that you’re going to dry. The safety pin acts as kind of a lightning rod to absorb all of that electro-static energy. When your stuff comes out of your dryer, it doesn’t have static cling.
Rice, some tin foil, a pool noodle, a pin, and a dryer sheet. These are probably all things you have lying around the house. I mean, we certainly did and there are things that you can use to make cleaning a little bit easier.
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When it comes to “going greener”, I have a question about dusting. What kind of material would you recommend that would be the most effective when it comes to dusting material. I am looking at dry mop (swifter dry mop) and duster (the swifter hand duster) reusable pads but i am not sure if fleece, terry cloth material, cotton are the better options to use. What would you recommend as derable material to look at that will also get the job done? Any help or insight would be great!
How do you clean soot from gas burning fireplace from bricks and walls?
Love all your cleaning hacks , tips , and DIY products . I only use the DIY products in your book. Now I’m in the need of something natural to clean my copper bottom pan . Thank you in advance .
For the lady with the lasagna pan mess. Pour a shot glass full of dawn dish washing liquid and fill the pan with hot hot water. Pour the dawn in there and kinda swish it around. Let soak for a couple of hours. Then wash right off. Dawn breaks up the stuck on gunk.
Try putting a denture tablet in vases with warm water. When the fizzing stops rinse and dry.
To get the blue ring out of toilet bowl I use a half Dixie cup full of Bon Ami and toilet brush. My family finds the magic eraser trick too gross.
Instead of the safety pin, roll up a ball of aluminum foil and throw that in the dryer with your clothes. Works great.
I’ve talked about that one before too!
Although that works it may damage clothes and/or cause an electrical fire.
I used sand in a stainless steel oil dispenser which smelt a little as I had not used it for sometime. Shaking dry sand in it got all the smell and the dispenser was all clean.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing, Kamla!
I use 100 percent wool balls instead of dryer sheets. There is no static cling.
Haven’t tried the safety pin but my sister swears the same effect results from a crumpled up ball of aluminum foil (or 2).
I’ve tried the aluminum foil ball– it really works!!
Mother will use the filtered water out of the refriderator to fill up the kettle or coffee pot, or Keurig so the appliances don’t get calcium spots, thus requiring any cleaning hacks to take away the spots. She used to buy distilled water but that became costly.
Thank for the tip Jaysen!!
HELP! My husband roasted a turkey in my (never-used)BIG stainless steel roasting/lasagna pan. The juices have adhered like permanent glue! I need a real “how-to…”
Hi Shermie! Sorry to hear about your roasting pan! Here’s a quick how-to:
Cover the whole pan in layers of baking soda and dish soap. Pour boiling water into the pan and let it soak. After soaking, usw a wooden spoon to scrape away the gunk. Hope that helps!
Story putting a brand new dryer sheet in the pan and pour boiling water over it ….leave overnight and you will be able to remove without any problems
I use safety pins in the dryer to keep my socks together. Never knew I was fixing a static cling problem to boot! 🙂
That’s great, Monica!!
I use dryer sheets in pots and pans with caked on stuff – I fill the pan with warm soapy water and put in a clean dryer sheet – then squeeze it and let it soak while I do the rest of the dishes- by the time I’m ready to clean the dirty pot or pan, the caked on stuff easily comes away with a swipe of the sponge……