9 Helpful Hacks to Keep Your Home Cleaner

Keeping an entire home properly cleaned at all times can be quite difficult, no matter what your familial makeup is. Single people may only need to cook for themselves, but they also don’t get any assistance with cleaning around the house. Families comprised of adults and kids have to constantly deal with a cycle of cleaning as younger people aren’t yet responsible and adults have to take turns cleaning up. You can start by using this coupon to get a deal on a common household cleaner that should always be kept stocked. You should know that it is always easier to straighten up as soon as you notice a mess developing. Alternatively, you can utilize the following nine cleaning hacks to keep your home healthier, cleaner, and a lot happier.

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1. Soak Your Dishes

This is an oldie but goodie that you may have already learned from your grandparents, who ultimately soaked their dishes before commercial dishwashing detergent was available. What you will need is a deep-dish bin that is sized to fit inside of your kitchen sink. Start off with a half cup of bleach OR ammonia (never, ever, ever mix the two though) and then fill the dish bin halfway to the top with hot soapy water. Keep your dishes in the dish-bin so that they can pre-soak prior to being washed. This hack will help to prevent vermin from being attracted to food kept out in your kitchen, while also making dishwashing a more convenient task.

2. Use a Shoe Tree

Floors can become gritty and rugs get filthy when you wear your shoes indoors and track dirt everywhere. This will lead to you needing to sweep, mop, and vacuum several times a week. To keep the flooring in your home a lot cleaner, put a shoe tree at the front entrance of your home. Visitors will know that they need to remove their footwear upon entry and getting ready to leave your home will be easier when you have your shoes near the front door. This cleaning hack will definitely reduce the time you spend scrubbing the floors.

3. Clean With White Vinegar

Plenty of household goods can be good for cleaning, but none are as great at cleaning multiple surfaces as white vinegar. The substance can be quite pungent when you first open the bottle, but after you wipe down countertops or clean the mirrors and the vinegar dries there will be absolutely no odor. Since white vinegar is cheap, it is a great substitute for commercially sold household cleaners. If anyone in your home has allergies to chemicals, white vinegar is your best option.

4. Scrub With Baking Soda

Once dirt and leftover food gets dried up and stuck to a surface, you usually have to use lots of elbow grease to get rid of it. Abrasive sponges can work well, but you also risk damaging delicate surfaces. That’s why you should opt for baking soda for all your tough scrubbing jobs. Get baking soda that is grittier than it is powdery and you will have smooth, shiny, sanitized surfaces without doing any harm to the environment.

5. Infuse with Essential Oils

Scented candles make homes smell great and air fresheners can help to reduce bad odors, but both options come at a cost. Aerosol sprays are known for depleting the ozone layer and scented candles are a little on the expensive side, especially if you buy the more eco-friendly soy versions. You can get hundreds of different varieties of essential oils that are potent, fresh smelling, and long-lasting. Use them to create homemade infusers or add a small amount of essential oils to water and use a spray bottle to make your home smell heavenly. If you have pets, make sure you research which essential oils are safe for your pets.

6. The Chore Chart

If you are working hard to clean a home that is inhabited by several generations, then you need to make use of a chore chart. There won’t be any guessing or arguing about who’s responsible for cleaning when you use a chore chart with a seven-day cleaning cycle. Divvy up tasks so that everyone is tasked with cleaning something different each day. This will stave off boredom as well as prevent you from having to do the bulk of the household cleaning.

7. Air Dry Your Clothes

Even if you don’t have a clothesline in your backyard, you can likely line dry most of your clothes and make laundry a much simpler task. There are laundry racks that can be set up indoors, which will enable you to dry your sheets, jeans, socks, and t-shirts within a couple of hours. The reason that you really want to line dry your clothes is so that you have more time to focus on other household chores. In addition, you can just keep putting your clothes in the wash cycle rather than having to keep up with the time spent filling the washer and the dryer. Plus, line drying is more energy efficient and easier on clothing. The lint that comes out of the lint trap? That's fibers from your clothing.

8. Look for Messes

No mess accumulates without time. It’s when you see a pile of laundry growing on the bedroom floor and you chose to walk past it rather than take care of it right away, that causes a serious mess to develop. When you spill spaghetti sauce on the kitchen countertop and don’t immediately wipe it up, your kitchen is likely to get super messy. So actively clean as you go and look to see if you missed a spot.

9. Use the Power of Steam

This cleaning hack really only works in the bathroom, but it is still a lifesaver. Just before you go clean up your bathroom, turn the shower on the hottest setting and let it run for a few minutes. To not waste water, you could place a bucket in the tub to collect the water and use it for something else. Be sure to close the door first as you want the steam to fill up the room. By the time the steam starts dissipating, all of the caked-on grime will be loosened up, making it much simpler for you to spray, wipe, and go. There are steam cleaners that would be more efficient if you choose to clean with steam often.

If you wait until your home is a mess to start cleaning it up, you will probably never finish the job. Actively work on keeping your house tidier by going from room to room and seeing how you can set a standard. Get rid of the junk, create house rules, and always clean up after yourself.  

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