Cheap Household Cleaning Tips

Household cleaning is an expensive chore, if you buy a different cleaning product for each task. Living on a budget, (aren’t we all?) I have several tips that will save you money by using one product to multi-task with.

Baking soda is a gentle abrasive that will clean and deodorize almost any solid surface. Sprinkle on and use a damp cloth to rub in, then rinse. It is gentler on your hands as well.

My favorite tip for using baking soda is for cleaning the microwave. Put a tablespoon of baking soda and 1/2 cup of water in a coffee cup, microwave until the mixture boils. Let it sit inside the microwave for a couple of minutes so the steam can penetrate whatever crud is inside the microwave, then wipe clean. The baking soda will deodorize your microwave too.

Love Fabreeze, but don’t like the price? You can make your own cheap alternative by mixing 1/2 cup of your favorite liquid fabric softener in a squirt bottle filled with water.

Half of a fabric softener sheet is just as effective in the dryer as a full sheet. Buy them on sale, cut them in half. You save twice this way. Fabric softener sheets are also good air fresheners in small spaces such as closets, suit cases, car trunks, etc.

Repurpose those small pieces of bar into pump able soft soap. Place a few pieces in a pump dispenser, add water and shake.

Cheap baby wipes are great for quick clean ups on almost any surface, from fabric, to floors, to walls.

No budget-minded, frugal or down right cheap household would be complete without a roll of duct tape or a can of WD-40. Since this article is about household cleaning, let’s talk about the some of the many cleaning applications of WD-40.

WD-40 shines stainless steel sinks and appliances. It will clean and restore luster to the padded dash boards and bumpers of vehicles. It will remove lipstick stains and tomato stains from fabric, and remove crayon marks from your walls. It will remove black scuff marks from your floor, loosen your stuck zipper and keep your bathroom mirror from fogging up. That duct tape I mentioned earlier, well WD-40 will remove any traces that duct tape leaves behind.

One last cheap tip for using WD-40, while it is not a cleaning tip, it bears mentioning. Folks spray it on their joints to relieve the pain of arthritis, and it’s cheaper than pills and rubs.

That’s good to know, in case I ever develop arthritis from cleaning my house the cheap way.