spring cleaning tips
 

Now that I've neglected my house for the past week enjoying all the iNSD parties, it's time to get back to reality and face the mess it's become.

I thought it might make the cleaning more fun if we shared our favorite cleaning tips.

My favorite cleaning tip is to use a wet dryer sheet to clean the soap scum and water spots off shower doors. Just wet, scrub, rinse and squeegee.

What's yours?

This is good to know!

My tip is a homemade cleaner recipe I got from a YouTuber Clean My Space.

Recipe is 1 part white vinegar 3 parts water 1 squirt of blue Dawn. Mix up and put in a spray bottle. I now use this for all my counters, my windows and mirrors in place of windex, I think it works great.

Thanks for the shower door tip - that's one of the dreaded jobs I put off because it takes a lot of effort ... I'm going to try it later today!! :)

That is my go-to mixture as well!! Sure beats having to buy separate detergents for different jobs!!

I use WD-40 to shine up our stainless appliances. It won't take off the spots (I use a stainless cleaner for that), but the WD-40 really makes them shine. I spray a squirt (doesn't take much) and rub it on the appliance and then polish ... they look fantastic!

Best thing I've put into practice is using a squeegee on my glass shower doors after every shower. I'll also wipe down the tile, the faucet, the niche and the seat. No build up of soap scum by doing this and my cleaning lady has told me that mine is so easy to clean because I do this!

If I have visitors that stay overnight take a shower, I either wipe it down when they are done or shower instead of making them do this. A friend shared this with me after she had remodeled her bathroom and has a huge shower area with glass surrounding it. She got married not long after and trained her DH to do it as well.

The thing that helps me most with cleaning is setting a timer, a la The Flylady. I HATE cleaning, but if I tell myself that I only have to do it for x minutes, I will get started. Normally, once I start, I finish the job, though sometimes I do quit when the timer goes off. The truth is, though, that I'm always amazed at what I can get done before the timer goes off. The mess is usually not nearly as overwhelming as it feels.

I'm watching this list for inspiration. This is not an area of strength for me LOL

I don't know if this is what you were looking for when you asked for Spring Cleaning tips, but ... when I've tackled a big day of deep cleaning, especially if it's anywhere near our great room (ours is an open concept floorplan, where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are all one big room) I don't cook. Like, at all.

It feels totally self-defeating to immediately re-dirty the space I've just worked so hard to clean. So both while the cleaning is going on and that night for dinner, we do some form of take-out. For example, I might pick up pre-made sushi from our grocery store for a quick lunch that feels like a treat, and then for dinner we'll order a meal from one of our favorite restaurants in town.

That lets me focus on whatever deep cleaning I'm doing and feeling a sense of satisfaction when I'm done - which is super important because I freaking hate cleaning, the result of my mom using it as a form of punishment when I was a kid - and not feeling like the work is immediately undone by the kitchen getting dirty right after I've cleaned it.

Cleaning is NOT something I am good at...LOL I make my boys clean esp their own bathroom. Hubby does ours since I am struggling with knee pain....we just deep cleaned/painted our gameroom (second living room for the kids). I pulled everything out of the room and am only bringing in a few things and donating or packing up the rest....when deep cleaning it is nice to pull everything out and start over.

I use the dryer sheet trick too- but in general I try to wipe it all down when I'm done so it's never too bad. I too make a vinegar/dawn spray bottle that I keep in the kids' shower- they spray it all down when they are done so their shower is always pretty clean too. Showers & floors are my least favorite things to clean...

I really suck at the cleaning thing...

Our house feels very cluttered to me lately so I have been going through each room/area very slowly and decluttering. We just did the basement (which became my new art studio and library.) So my old art space in the laundry room is going to become a home office area since all that sat in the upstairs hallway... so tips on reducing clutter and paper work would be nice too.

I did start keeping a scrub brush with the refillable part (filled 1/2 dish soap and 1/2 vinegar) in shower to scrub down, so that helps some. Gonna try that dryer sheet trick!

I like to pick my house up with my hands turn it over a shake everything out and start fresh... sigh. in my dreams this could be a reality. I, too, suck. LOL

I hate clutter but the task of getting rid of it is exhausting lol

I guess that's one of the benefits of you living alone. I use the squeegee after I shower and wipe things down, but getting my hubby and kids to do it is another story. They forget and just don't care, so it's the dryer sheet to the rescue for me. :thumbup:

Good to know! I'll have to see if I can use the vinegar on my new quartz counters. I can't use acidic cleaners on them so I'll have to see what the ph is of that mixture.

Great tip. I forget that WD-40 has so many uses. I've been using my norwex enviro cloth on my stainless appliances. It works great, especially on windows and mirrors too. Just wet it with warm water, wring, wipe and buff with the polishing cloth. Works like magic.

oh yes, I love the flylady philosophy. I've been a flybaby for years and years... I just need to remember to use her tips. Thanks for the timer reminder. ;)

oh I feel ya on feeling like you clean for no reason and it's immediately messy again. Great tip on the take out.

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I declutter too when I'm deep cleaning. I love getting rid of all the crap. My problem is that I have a hard time getting started on the deep cleaning... I'd rather be scrappin! :D

I also wish I DH would clean our bathroom - he's the one who makes it messy. But he doesn't clean it to my standards and then we both feel bad, so it's just easier to do it myself.

I do make the kids clean theirs and they have go back and touch up where they missed. They hate it when I make them do that, but they have to learn how to clean. My youngest DD is the worst. I really have to hound her to clean her bathroom and stand there and bark orders so she gets it clean.

I told my DIL that I taught my son how to clean properly, so if he doesn't clean well at their place, it's because he's playing her and is trying to get out of cleaning like his dad does. ;)

Your kids sound amazing! My older kids would clean like I wanted them too, but my youngest is so stubborn and messy. She is definitely the spoiled baby of the family. We call her Messy Megan. It's like pulling teeth to get her to clean her bedroom and bathroom.

Congrats on the new art studio! As far as reducing clutter and paper work. I do what Kimberly suggested in her deep cleaning post and dejunk while I'm cleaning. Don't move anything that you don't love into the new spaces.

Figuring out what organizing style works for you may be helpful., especially when setting up the new spaces. Check out the clutterbug organizing styles.

Dumping out my house would be great! :D Sometimes I wish I was magic and could wave a wand and have the work done for me.

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I agree de-cluttering is no fun and you'd rather be scrappin or selfishly, I'd rather you'd be designing more products for us! :thumbup:

Training them or make them clean it!

Many years ago when Mom had new tile put in the bathtub, she insisted that Dad and I wipe it down after every shower. Guess who cleaned it if we didn't. I started wiping it down every shower after just a couple times of having to clean it. When Mom had surgery and couldn't do it, Dad cleaned it once. He also started wiping it down after every shower!

Oh!! Can't wait to watch some of her videos!!
And I did toss lots of stuff and lot got donated too as we redid the spaces!

We have a housecleaner that comes twice a month and does things (like the tops of fans, the stuff that's up high (I have glass bottles on the tops of my kitchen cabinets, she cleans the inside of the microwave, polishes all the floors, wipes down the walls and tops of all the doorframes - the verticle blinds, things like that - anyplace that collects dust. Plus, she does deep cleaning.

The rest of the time, we just keep the house dusted and the bathrooms cleaned. She will do any "extras" that we'd like too. We have her clean the inside of the refrigerator every so often.

I used to love to clean and now I detest it! My "secret" if I have one is to keep the clutter to a minimum. I don't have a lot of "stuff" sitting around, not even a bunch of pictures. When I dust, it's quick!

ditto