8 Amazing Cleaning Tips You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Not too many people can say they enjoy cleaning their home. Let’s face it – cleaning can really take a lot of time and effort. Despite our wishes to never have to clean again, the reality is that cleaning is just a part of everyday life. To make this process a little easier, we have 8 amazing cleaning tips you’ve probably never heard of that can help you get the cleaning done in less time and with less effort.

1. Use oil to clean grease splatters on your stove

Grease splatters on the stove are pretty inevitable if you’re doing any cooking in the home. Luckily, this tip effectively deals with the mess, without the need to go out and buy another cleaning product. Oil attracts oil, so put a little bit of vegetable or olive oil on a paper towel and use it to wipe down the greasy spots on your stove. This works particularly well on stainless steel.

2. Use bleach and vinegar to clean out washing machine

Your washing machine handles a lot of dirty things, so dirt builds up inside the machine over time. The best way to handle this is to use bleach to kill bacteria and mold spores, and vinegar to take care of soap scum and hard water build up. Here’s what you do. 1) To kill bacteria and mold, fill up the washer with hot water, pour in 1 cup of bleach, let the machine agitate for a minute to mix, let it stand for 20-60 minutes, then let the cycle finish. 2) To get rid of soap scum and hard water residue, fill the washer with hot water, pour in 3-4 cups of white vinegar, let the machine agitate to mix, let it stand for 20-60 minutes, then finish the cycle.

3. Squeegee and pet hair on the carpet

Believe it or not, the vacuum doesn’t always pick up everything. Pet hair is often one of those tricky things, and it’s often difficult for vacuum cleaners to pick up all of the pet hair trapped in the fibers of the carpet. Try using a squeegee on your rugs and carpets, like you would in a shower, and see how much hair it picks up.

4. Clean your oven out with ammonia

To easily clean your oven, put a bowl of ammonia into a cold oven and leave it overnight. The next day, take the bowl out and wipe the oven clean. No scrubbing needed!

5. Conquer dust and cobwebs in hard-to-reach areas with a yardstick and a tube sock

Most homes have hard to reach areas that gather dust and cobwebs. Put an old tube sock on the end of a yardstick and use that to reach up to the cobwebs, or even under your fridge to get the dust that gathers there.

6. Clean your microwave with baking soda

To easily clean your microwave oven, mix some baking soda in a cup of water and microwave it until it’s boiling. This will eliminate odors and will make it easy to wipe away the mess that has stuck on the sides and top of the microwave.

7. Use an old dryer sheet to dust blinds

If you have blinds, you probably know they can get very dusty and are a pain to clean. Here’s a tip – to dust the blinds, close them up and wipe them up and down with an old dryer sheet. It not only picks up the dust, but creates an anti-static barrier that helps to prevent more dust from building up in the future.

8. Half an onion to clean a grill

To clean your grill, cut an onion in half and use tongs to rub one half of the onion over the grill grate. This cleans the char off and as a bonus, it even lightly seasons your grill!

Cleaning isn’t always fun, we get it. And the reality that it’s just part of everyday life doesn’t have to get you down. Hopefully these 8 tips will make your cleaning tasks a little easier so you can get them done in less time and with less effort, making the whole process totally worth it in the end.