By Jennifer Noonan
Spring cleaning is upon us. If you’re not ready to commit several days to the task of sprucing up, take a few of these shortcuts to make quick work of some chores.
Put Your Shower Curtain in the Washing Machine
No more scrubbing down a mildewy shower curtain liner with bleach. Save yourself the effort by simply throwing it in the washing machine on the gentle cycle. Add in a few towels, and it will come out free of soap scum and mold, with almost no effort from you.
Drop Denture Tablets in the Toilet
For deep anti-bacterial cleaning that requires absolutely no elbow grease, drop a couple of denture tablets into the toilet bowl and walk away. Come back in about 5 minutes and flush before moving on.
Clean the Dishwasher with Vinegar.
Don’t laugh: Even your dishwasher needs a good cleaning periodically. Soap residue, food scraps, and build up can dirty your appliance over time, eventually compromising its efficiency. You can restore its cleaning power by giving it a wash—but you don’t need to make a big deal out of it. Place a dishwasher safe cup of vinegar on the top rack and run it through on the hottest water setting. When you return, your dishwasher will be squeaky clean.
Give Your Oven Racks a Bath
Soaking baking dishes is a great way to remove grease and grime without lifting a finger. The same goes for your oven racks. Give them an overnight soak in the bathtub, after first laying a towel down to protect your enamel from scratches. Lay your oven racks on top, fill the tub with the hottest water you can, and swish in some laundry detergent. Call it a night, and then go to bed. When you wake up, the grease will have dissolved, and all you need to do is rinse and dry.
Run Your Shower Head Through the Dishwasher
Shower heads that have collected a nasty assortment of mineral deposits and mildew should be cleaned, both for freshness and function. If yours is detachable, run it through the dishwasher in the top rack. Same goes for drain plugs that have gotten gunky. Just be sure to remove any hair that might be tangled in them first.
Apply Canned Air to Your Keyboard
The computer keyboard might not be the first thing you think to spring clean, but it really does need it—and probably more than once a year. Rather than breaking out a toothbrush to clean between keys, get a can of compressed air, and blow out the dust and dirt. It’ll take about 30 seconds, and you’ll be amazed by how many crumbs fly out.
Dust with Your Old Socks
As effective as microfiber cloths are for cleaning, they can actually slow down your cleaning routine. Next time, try this trick instead. Put on old sock on one arm and carry your dusting spray in the other. Then give every surface the old one-two! Turn the sock as it gets dirty. You’ll be finished in half the time!
Give Your Microwave a Steam Bath
Splashes and splatters in the microwave can get baked onto the interior surface, making it a time consuming task to clean this household appliance. Make it easier on yourself by boiling a cup of water in the microwave first. That will create a mini steam bath that will soften stuck on food, allowing for faster clean-up
Vacuum Window Treatments
If your drapes and curtains aren’t visibly dirty, you can skip taking them down to launder, and vacuum them instead. Use the upholstery attachment to remove the dust, and you’ll be able to stretch the time between full launderings.
Purge Pet Hair with Rubber Gloves
It takes a long time to vacuum all of those tiny pet hairs off upholstery—and even then, there are always some left behind. Put on a pair of rubber gloves instead, and wipe your hands over the surfaces of your couches and chairs. The fur will ball up, and you can easily pick it up to throw it away.
Invest in a Microfiber Mop
Make quick work of dusting walls and ceilings by using a microfiber mop with a long handle. It eliminates the need for a step ladder and reduces strain and effort.
Dust the Ceiling Fan with a Pillowcase
Cleaning the blades of a ceiling fan is a yucky job, but it has to be done. Do it fast, and keep the dust and grime controlled by using a pillow case as the cleaning rag and the dust bin at once. Slide the case over each blade in turn. When you pull it back, all the dust and debris will fall into the pillow case, instead of on the floor.
Vacuum Blinds and Pleated Shades
The tedious work of cleaning dusty blinds and pleated shades cuts into time that could be spent on other chores. Instead of cleaning them by hand, save on time by employing the long bristle attachment on your vacuum to suck up dust and dirt quickly.
