17 Cleaning Hacks That You Will Use Everyday

Cleaning can be hard work, and let’s face it — it’s not fun. Here are 17 life hacks that will make your cleaning chore just a little bit easier — and maybe just a little bit faster!

17 Cleaning Hacks That You Will Use Everyday

1) There is a hack for remove the stinking smell from your microwave, that also makes it easier to clean. You simply take a microwaveable glass, squeeze in the juice from one full lemon, and add a sprinkle of cinnamon. Microwave that sucker for 5 minutes, and them immediately wipe clean. It will smell and look lovely!

2) Lemon is also a good hack for the bathroom. Squeeze the juice of one lemon onto a rag, and wipe down your bathroom fixtures. Rinse with warm water. Everything will be sparkling clean. Lemon also help get rid of that bathroom lime buildup.

3) Do you have hardwood floors, and you want get them looking fantastic? Pour 1/4 cup of fabric softener, and the juice from one lemon into at least two gallons of mop water. Clean your floors with this combination, and you will love the result.*

4) Do you have scratches on your hardwood floors, and you want to cover them up? Brew some coffee, and then wipe it on the scratches with a rag. The scratches should disappear — or at least be hidden by the color of the coffee.*

5) Do you have nail holes in your wall, and you need to cover them up fast? There are several things you can do here. First, rub a crayon that matches the color of your wall over the holes to fill them in. Second, fill in the holes with a bit of toothpaste. Third, take a bar of soap, and rub it over the holes in your walls. It will “magically” make the holes look so much better!

6) Did you sit in gum, and you need to get that sticky mess out of your clothes? Take a piece of cardboard, and place it on your ironing board. Put your gummy clothing onto the cardboard. Make sure the gum side is down, so the gum is sandwiched between the cardboard and your clothing. On MEDIUM heat, iron the back of your clothing. This should loosen the gum, and eventually, it will stick to the cardboard INSTEAD of your clothing. Voila!!

7) Need to get gum out of your carpet? No problem. Rub the gum with an ice cube, to make it hard. Then, you just pick the pieces of gum out of your carpet.

8) Alternately, if you have gum on your carpets, you can spray a bit of WD40 onto the gum, and rub with a cloth. It may take a couple scrubs and sprays of WD40, but the gum will eventually all come up.*

9) Do you have a white erase board that became a drawing tablet for your child and a permanent marker? You can get that ink off of that board easy-peasy. Put some rubbing alcohol on a rag, and wipe down that white erase board. The marker should come right off!

10) Did your kid decide your walls needed some beautiful marker art, and now you are left trying to figure out how to get that marker off your walls? Just grab some KH7, Goof Off, or other degreaser. Put a bit on a washcloth and use some good ol’ elbow grease on the walls. That marker should wipe right off.*

11) Tired of banging your car door against the wall in the garage? Secure a pool noodle to the wall of your garage, right about hip level. This will ensure the car door hits the pool noodle instead of the wall.

12) Tired of vacuuming, just to have the disgusting smell of vacuum bag permeate the air? Suck about 1/4 cup of cinnamon up into the vacuum. Boom! No gross smell.

13) Alternately, if your vacuum is stinking up your room, sprinkle about a 1/2 cup of baking soda onto your floor. Vacuum it up. It will neutralize the odor.

14) Did you accidentally leave your clothes in the washing machine too long, and now they smell like sour mildew? Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of baking soda into the washing machine. Pour 1/2 cup of white vinegar on top of the baking soda. Add your laundry detergent. Rewash that load of laundry. It should smell nice and clean when the washer is complete.

15) Baking soda and vinegar will also work wonders in your oven. Make a paste with baking soda and water. Wipe this paste onto the burnt-on food in your oven. Put some white vinegar on a sponge, and wipe off the baking soda. The combination of the baking soda and vinegar should dissolve the mess, making your newly cleaned oven beautiful!

16) Woops you spilled some greasy food onto your brand new cotton shirt. No fear! Rub some Dawn liquid dish detergent on the spot, and then launder like normal. The grease should come right out!

17) Yikes! Did your pet lay on your black pants, and now there’s fur all over them? Wrap some Scotch tape — sticky side out — around your fingers, then pat your pants clean. That tape will pick up all that pet hair, and your pants will look like they just came out of the dryer!