Top 10 House Cleaning Hacks for The Problem Areas

No one we know likes cleaning the grout between tiles. All the time spent Scrubbing? The best way we’ve found to keep it up once it’s grungy is a mild bleach solution, 2 Tbsp of bleach to one quart of water, just dab it at the grout with a cotton swab. That said, Grout is no problem at all if you use a grout sealer you can find in most stores. You should only have to do that once a year.

Chopping-block countertops are great, but the more you use them, the more the little nicks get harder and harder to clean. Usually you can scrub them with soap and water, but you should regularly disinfect them too, with the same mild bleach solution you used on the Grout. Make sure every time you disinfect, you rinse well, then rub them down with a thin coat of mineral oil, let that soak in for a half an hour or so and buff it out.

Before we start on this, a warning…NEVER put Drain cleaner down the Garbage Disposal, you risk damaging it. Another thing you don’t hear often is don’t run hot water down the disposal, using cold instead will cut down on the smells coming back out. A lot of people clean their disposals by tossing citrus rind down them, but those rinds are actually harsh on the mechanisims. Instead, Fill an ice tray with a solution of 2/3 water and 1/3 white vinegar. Let that freeze, then toss the cubes down the disposal with some cold water running behind it and let it run!

Every so often, you’re going to have to use a good commercial oven cleaner on the oven, but take care and follow the instructions carefully. To cut down on how often you have do do that, clean up spills as soon as they happen. Most burnt food will come off if you pour some salt on the spill, let it cool, then wipe clean. If the oven is dirty, but not too bad, you can get good results from sprinkling some baking soda on a damp cloth and scrubbing it that way.

You can keep electric coils clean just by burning them, but the stainless steel reflectors need care, and you want to keep them shiny. Use window cleaner or full-strength vinegar. Gas burners, drip trays, rims, anything removable can be soaked in a strong detergent solution, rinse well, and dry with a towel A sponge and hot water should be enough to keep the surfaces nice and tidy, try to avoid harsh scrubbing powders. In a pinch, a touch of cooking oil on some paper towels can be used to make all the surfaces nice and shiny!

Enamelware does good in the dishwasher, but stay away from harsh powder based cleaners, metal brushes or steel wool, as you can damage the enamel. Soak with water, and use stiff nylon brushes for burnt on food.

Wash silver often in hot, sudsy water, rinse and buff with a dry cloth. You can wash sterling silver in a dishwasher, but not Silver plate. Most other things you can do to sterling silver, it’s ok to do to plate.

Always clean carpet stains right away, even if you’re busy. Letting a stain sit on carpet compounds the problem, as set stains are always more difficult to remove. With wet spills, put a nice sized wad of paper towels over the spill then step on it, and step around until the paper towels soak up the stain. You can add a little more warm water and carpet cleaner solution and repeat to pick up more of a large or particularly pungent spill. Make sure you step around the paper towels until you’ve picked up all the stain.

The single best thing you can do to keep Hardwood floors in tip-top shape is to sweep and dry-mop as often as possible. The worst thing for these floors is ground-in dirt, so the more you sweep, the better your floors will look. A little spritz of spray-wax on your dry-mop will keep the floors looking nice and shiny

Toss most drapes or curtains into the dryer on low to remove dust. Semi Close your blinds and use an all-surface spray then wipe each down thoroughly. Glass cleaner will work as well, but all surface spray is better. Make sure you wipe all the droplets up