Home Cleaning Time Savers
2. To get baked-on coffee out of the bottom of a coffee pot, try adding about 1/4 cup machine dish detergent and then just enough water to cover the affected area. Let it soak overnight. In the morning, swish the water around in the pot to loosen and most of the burnt stuff will pour right out. Rinse and clean as usual.
3. Save time and wear and tear on your knees when it’s time to clean baseboards by simply running a small mop along them instead of getting down on the floor and wiping them by hand.
4. Simplify. Take a look at your cleaning chemicals and tools and ask yourself how many of these are really necessary to get the job done. Often times, one disinfectant will do just fine for many purposes, or make your own. Dish soap and water leaves your dinnerware clean enough to eat off of, surely it’s good enough for most cleaning purposes as well. Use it in your mop bucket when cleaning tile, linoleum or Formica floors. Use it to wipe outdoor furniture, to clean ledges, counter-tops, appliances, tables, cabinet doors and other surfaces. Use it to clean the bathroom, then sanitize any areas you aren’t sure of with bleach. The seemingly minute concentration of about one capful of bleach per gallon of water is approved by many departments of health as an effective sanitizer in food service areas. Now that you’ve saved so much money on chemicals, splurge on the fancy air freshener of your choice!
5. For the serious penny pincher or the person in a pinch, re-use vacuum bags by emptying them out when the become full. Slice down the length of the bag with scissors, dump the contents into the trash (keep your face away, this is messy) then use duct tape to seal the bag back up and re-install. Be sure to wash your hands when you finish so you don’t rub dust into your eyes.
6. Another vacuuming tip, when purchasing bags, many manufacturers list brand names on the front of their bags but if you look closely and experiment a little, you will find that the bags are much more inter-changeable than they claim to be on their packaging. Have a good feel for the size and shape of your bag and also the size of the opening and you will be able to get a better deal on bags by looking more closely at the bag than at it’s labeling. Some companies also manufacture re-usable bags for their machines. If interested, you might want to contact the manufacturer of your vacuum and see.
7. As an extreme last resort carpet or clothing stain removal (last resort meaning you’re about to have to throw the it away), make a mixture no stronger than one part bleach to three parts water and using a Q-tip, carefully dab the mixture onto the stain. Stop, wait for it to dry and see how it’s going, then do it again if necessary until the stain is lifted.
8. For dirty jobs, use a plastic grocery store bag or a trash can liner as a glove. Pick up the offending item with the bag turned inside out and your hand inside, then pull the bag off your arm and over the item, thereby bagging it without having to touch it. Tie off the bag and throw it away.
9. Make use of any and all kinds of baskets to cut down on clutter. Wicker baskets on the back of the toilet to hold frequently used toiletries are easy to pick up and clean under, just like wire mesh baskets to hold fruits and veggies in the kitchen.
10. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in the kitchen and use it to quickly sanitize counter-tops. Squirt some onto a dry, clean counter-top then distribute with a dry paper towel and allow to dry.
11. For quick cleaning of patio doors, spray liberally with dish soap and water, scrub where necessary with a paper towel then, starting at the upper left corner, pull a squeegee across, wipe, down a little but overlapping the first row, pull across, wipe, etc. Continue until finished then wipe away the collected water at the bottom. It takes a little practice, but sure beats trying to clean large surfaces with glass cleaner and a paper towel. Note — never clean windows while they are in the sun as they can crack and also the liquid evaporates so quickly that it is very hard to get them streak-free.
12. Skip the mammoth supply of vacuum attachments and save some wear and tear on your back, too. Be sure that your vacuum has a hose, but after that, leave the fancy stuff in the closet. Use an angle broom for cleaning all the floor-level right angles that you normally would bend over and use the hose on. Simply sweep these areas out onto the carpet and away from the wall, then vacuum the room normally. This will save you time and energy and also works a bit better.
13. While you’re putting your supplies in the closet, better add your dustpan to that pile. Plan to sweep, then vacuum and sweep the floors out onto the carpeted areas before vacuuming. Not a huge time-saver, but every little bit helps.
14. To clean up sticky spaghetti noodles or other wet pasta stuck to the floor, sprinkle the area with a little salt from the shaker then sweep as usual. They’ll come right up with the rest of the dirt.
15. To clean up crayon marks on furniture, glass or linoleum, simply spray first with an wax-based furniture polish. The oil will release the crayon so you can simply wipe it off. Do not use the spray on any surface that would be damaged by furniture polish and be sure to wipe residues from floors lest they become slippery.
