14 Simple Cleaning Tips to Make Your Home Sparkle

Scientists proved that cleaning is an effective alternative to meditation and can help you deal with stress. So, even if you don’t really like doing it, this nice bonus will at least partially compensate the effort, plus the place will be clean, of course. And in order to make the process more efficient and less time-consuming, we offer you to take a look at some tricks that will make it much simpler.

We at Bright Side have read a lot of blogs and watched a lot of videos to make this compilation of effective ways of making a house clean. These tips helped a lot of people so we recommend you to try them!

1. Dust in tight spots

Modern vacuum cleaners have a lot of additional accessories to make the process easier, but even they can’t always deal with very tight spots. In this case, you can use a homemade accessory — a toilet paper tube. You can crumple it as much as necessary to get the dust out of places you’d never reach otherwise.

2. Old leather furniture

You can revitalize old leather furniture by simply applying shoe polish to it. You will notice that scrapes and scratches will disappear in no time.

3. Dents in carpets

If you have dents in your carpet after moving the furniture, you can use regular ice cubes to get rid of them. You just need to place them on the dents and leave them to melt for the night. The carpet will absorb the moisture and will look as good as new. If you need to do it quickly, you can use a steamer.

4. Cleaning kitchen cabinets

In order to clean the oily surfaces in the kitchen such as the cabinets, the handles, the place where you cook and so on, you need to mix coconut oil and baking soda. Put the mixture on the dirty spot and rub it with a sponge, a cloth, or even your fingers. You can even use a toothbrush to get into the toughest spots. Here you can find a more detailed description and a “before-and-after” example.

5. Unpleasant smells from the trash can and bathroom

In order to get rid of unpleasant smells, you can make special flavor disks. It is really simple: you will need 1-2 glasses of water, 2 glasses of baking soda, and some essential oil. Mix the ingredients, put them in a special mold, and leave them for 1-2 days to dry. One disk is effective for about one month and it’s just as good as a store-bought air freshener. You can find a detailed description here.

6. Oil stains on carpets

There’s probably no one in the world who hasn’t spilled something on the carpet at least once. You can use baking soda, a regular dishwashing liquid, and vinegar to get rid of these stains. The baking soda will absorb some of the liquid and the combination of the other 2 liquids will remove the stain. You can find detailed instructions here.

7. Unclogging a sink

This is a very old hack but it’s incredibly effective. Just pour vinegar and a lot of salt down the drain and don’t use the sink for some time. You can read more about it here.

8. Tough carpet stains

You will need a mixture of hot water and ammonia and an iron. Spray the mixture on the spot, put a piece of cloth on top of it, and iron over the spot. After several times of doing this, the paint will be removed from the carpet and it will look as good as new. You can find a detailed description here.

9. Glitter

You can use playdough to collect glitter. The surface will be cleaner and the toy will be brighter and even more beautiful. Here, you can see how to do it.

10. Making an old flat iron look like new

You can fix this problem with a mixture of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Put baking soda on your flat iron and pour some hydrogen peroxide on top. Repeat several times. Then leave it for some time and the dirt will be removed. You can see a great example of how effective this trick is here.

11. Getting rid of the smell in the garbage disposal

If you have a garbage dispenser in your kitchen sink, you probably have the problem of the unpleasant smell in it. In fact, it’s much easier to deal with this problem than it seems. Just freeze ice cubes with lemon and put a couple of them in the shredder. It won’t only become cleaner and start to work better but also will have a great smell. Check the detailed instructions here.

12. Cleaning an iron bottom

A cheap and simple way to make an iron bottom look as good as new is to wash it with a mixture of baking soda, vinegar, and toothpaste. Heat up the iron a bit and rub it with a sponge using the paste you made. It won’t take much time. You can watch a detailed video here.

13. Cleaning beauty blenders and brushes

In order to clean your sponges from the bacteria, you don’t have to use expensive professional products. You can make your own mixture using coconut oil, a dishwashing liquid, and antibacterial soap. Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Soak the sponges in the mixture and wash them with water. You can see the entire cleaning process here in this video.

14. Cleaning stove burners and grates

If you use a gas stove, you most likely know how hard and painful it is to wash the surface and the grate. We have good news: you don’t need to spend hours doing this anymore. All you need is an ammonia solution and plastic bags with a zipper. If the grates are big, you are going to need bigger bags, but it’s definitely worth it. Put the grate in a bag, pour the mixture inside and leave it to soak overnight. In the morning, you will only have to gently rub the surface. You can find more detailed instructions here.

Do you know any other useful cleaning tips? Share them in the comments section below.