Posted on May 18th, 2016
No Time To Clean? Try These 7 Clever Cleaning Hacks
Between work, school, family, holidays, and friends, fitting in time to clean can feel tantamount to planning and carrying out a stealth mission. Alas, we all know we have to clean, time or no time—the longer we put off cleaning, the bigger the job becomes. Fortunately, these seven clever, quirky cleaning hacks can shave minutes or even hours off your weekly cleaning checklist:
1. Use packing tape on hard-to-dust surfaces.
Dusting becomes a much quicker job when you know how to tackle stubborn surfaces like lampshades, speakers, and the insides of drawers: Just grab a strip of packing tape, wrap it around your hand with the sticky side facing out, and pat down these surfaces, lifting dust and dirt as you go. Replace the tape when it loses its adhesiveness.
2. Clean rugs with a shower squeegee.
Vacuuming hair, dust, and fibers out of rugs can be challenging as the action of the vacuum can actually work things like hair deeper into the rug—plus hair and other fibers easily get caught in the vacuum’s brush roll. Save yourself this hassle by running a dry squeegee across your rugs (working in overlapping rows); the rubber edge of the squeegee will create a static pull that gently lifts hair and other fibers out of the rug pile. The fibers will form clumps which can easily be picked up and thrown away as you clean the rug.
3. Mop on the go—with your feet.
Do you have a long conversation with a friend or family member planned? Need to move back and forth around the kitchen preparing dinner? You can clean the floor at the same time by dampening the bottom of a pair of super-absorbent socks with a mixture of equal parts water and white vinegar, putting the socks on, and sliding your feet back and forth over the floor. As an added bonus, this method of mopping makes it a lot easier to dust hard-to-reach corners and when cleaning baseboards—no more getting down on your hands and knees and scrubbing.
4. Use car wax to prevent your toilet bowl from becoming stained.
Scrubbing the toilet bowl is just about everyone’s least favorite time-consuming cleaning task, so you’ll probably be relieved to know that you can use polymer-based car wax to prevent toilet bowl stains from building up at all—for an incredible six months at a time. The slickness of the wax means that grime simply ends up where it belongs—flushed away.
To apply a wax coating, clean the toilet thoroughly, then empty the bowl of water and dry it with a cloth. Then, using a second cloth, apply the wax to the bowl’s surface while keeping a window open for ventilation. Let the coating dry for ten minutes before allowing water back into the bowl. To keep the toilet bowl clean over the six-month period between wax coatings, just pour a half cup of white vinegar into the bowl every few months, let it sit for a few minutes, and flush. (Note that when hiring house cleaning services Oklahoma city residents should inform their housecleaner of lasting modifications like this one so that he or she knows which cleaning solutions to use and/or avoid using.)
5. Stop scrubbing tupperware—let the sun do the work.
If you have ever spent hours hand-washing a tupperware container that came out of the dishwasher still looking stained and grimy, only to find that removing the staining was all but impossible, you know how frustrating it can be to try to return a “like new” look to these useful items. Thankfully, there is an easier way: Try washing the container as you usually would in the dishwasher, then leave it outside in bright sunlight for at least eight hours. The sun’s rays act like bleach (without harming the container), helping to penetrate stubborn stains. Likewise, the outdoor air should freshen the containers and eliminate lingering odors.
6. Keep your garbage bin clean with newspaper.
Placing a newspaper in your garbage bin is a great way to stop messy trash-bag leaks before they soil your garbage pail, reducing the number of times you’ll need to scrub it out.
7. Hire a housecleaner.
It may seem like cheating, but if you really don’t have time to clean, no matter how many cleaning tips and tricks you use, the best approach is to simply hire a house cleaner before the situation gets out of hand. When looking for housecleaning services Indianapolis residents will discover that there is a range of options available to suit every budget and every schedule—so don’t hesitate to make the call and make a bit more time for what really matters: Yourself and your family.