Simple House Cleaning Hacks to Save You Time and Money

Unless you’re vying for a guest spot on a reality show about dirty houses, you probably spend at least some of your day wiping down counters and wondering why nothing ever stays sparkling.

Wouldn’t you rather do your cleaning in less time and save money to boot?

We thought so. Here are a whole slew of cleaning hacks to make your life easier.

1. Use a Caddy for Your Supplies

It may not necessarily be a hack, but having a cleaning caddy is a smart move. When all your bottles, rags and other supplies are in one place, getting the work done is quick and easy.

For a tutorial on how to create your own home cleaning kit (including recipes for homemade solutions), head on over to the Empress of Dirt.

2. Discover the Many Amazing Uses of Vinegar

This isn’t just one cleaning hack. It’s six cleaning hacks, most of them very hands-off.

Here are all the miraculous things a little vinegar can do.

1. Microwave a bowl of equal parts water and vinegar for five minutes. The steam will loosen any food bits, and the vinegar will act as a disinfectant. Be very careful opening your microwave when the five minutes are up. Everything will be hot! Crack the door, and let it cool for two minutes. Then use a rag to easily wipe down the inside.
2. Soak the exhaust filters from above your stove in a mixture of vinegar and water to remove the cooked-on gunk. After soaking, rinse and return the filters to their rightful place.
3. Use a paper towel to rub some vinegar on cloudy glasses to make them shine.
4. Put vinegar in a baggie, and put it on your shower head. Use a rubber band to secure the bag and let it soak to remove buildup.
5. Boil vinegar and water in a pan that’s been burnt. You only need enough liquid to cover the burnt part. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and let it cool so you don’t burn yourself. Then add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and scrub to make the pot shine again.
6. Pull an old sock over your hand, spritz with vinegar and use it to wipe down dirty blinds.

3. Clean Your Grill With an Onion

Were you a little grossed out to hear that wire from grill brushes was accidentally ending up in food and being ingested? Yeah, me too.

Rather than using a wire bristle brush, use a long fork to spear half an onion. Rub the cut side on your grill grates for an alternate way to clean them.

4. Use a Potato on Your Cheese Grater

If you still use a hand cheese grater, you know what a pain they are to clean.Depending on the cheese you’ve used, there’s a good chance it’s been mushed down in between the grates and is mocking your attempts to remove it.

Rather than losing your sanity trying to clean all the crevices, pull out a potato and grate that. It’s hard enough that it should slough away the cheese, and then you can easily rinse off the grater.

5. Use Stale Bread or Rice to Clean Your Coffee Grinder

Coffee smells fabulous in the morning, but when you shift gears and decide to grind spices or nuts, you don’t want them to remind you of your morning cup of joe.

For a blade grinder, use some stale bread or dry, uncooked rice to absorb the coffee smell and clean out your grinder. If you have a burr grinder (also called a burr mill), bread won’t work, but dried rice may.

Be aware that uncooked rice can be harder than coffee beans and may tax your grinder’s motor. Some companies say using rice as a cleaner will void the warranty.

6. Make Stainless Steel Appliances Shine With Furniture Polish

Let furniture polish do double duty on your stainless steel appliances. Clean off any grime first and then spray on the polish and wipe dry.

7. Make Grease Stains Disappear With Rubbing Alcohol

To get a grease stain out of carpets or other surfaces, mix four parts rubbing alcohol with one part salt. Rub into the stain to lift the grease.

Then let the surface dry and wipe or vacuum up any leftover salt.

8. Bleach Your Cutting Boards

If only you could see the bacteria making itself at home on your supposedly clean cutting board.

Luckily, you can easily sanitize cutting boards by soaking them in a bleach solution.

Use 2 teaspoons of bleach per gallon of water for plastic boards and 2 tablespoons of bleach per gallon for wooden boards. You don’t need to soak them long — just a couple of minutes will do — and then rinse.

9. Try Lemons and Salt for a More Natural Clean

Of course, not everyone loves the idea of using bleach. For a more natural way to disinfect your cutting board, liberally sprinkle kosher salt on the board. Then cut a lemon in half and rub the lemon (cut side down) on the board.

The lemon juice should kill the bacteria, while the salt should scrub away any small particles of food that may be present.

Then you can use the other half of the lemon to scrub your faucets to make them shiny and clean as well.

10. Roll a Lint Brush Over Lampshades

Lampshades come in all sorts of shapes and materials, which can make it difficult to figure out how best to clean them.

A lint roller can be used on almost any shade to pick up dust and light dirt.

11. Blow Canned Air into Exhaust Fans

The exhaust fan in your bathroom could probably use a little TLC, but how on earth do you clean that?

Easy. Use some canned air (like the kind you would buy to clean a computer keyboard) and blow it into the fan to dislodge lint. Place a towel on the floor to collect the dust bunnies as they fall.

Even if you can’t see the dust in your fan, it’s a good idea to clean it on a regular basis. If too much lint builds up, your fan could burst into flames.

12. Remove Dust from Vents With a Knife and Rag

Another way to remove dust from vents such as those on window air conditioning units is to cover a butter knife with a rag and run it along the inside of each vent.

Despite what the commercials tell you, no special sham or wonder cleaning cloth is required.

13. Pull Out Dryer Sheets to Clean Baseboards

Finally, give your dryer sheets another purpose in life by whipping them out when it’s time to clean your baseboards.

Running a sheet along the baseboards will remove dirt and help repel dust.What’s more, they might just make the room smell temporarily fresher too.

Your Turn: What cleaning hacks can you add?