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1. Make your bed first thing in the morning so your bedroom instantly looks neat and tidy, no matter how messy the rest of the room happens to be.
2. Microwave a bowl filled with water + lemon for three to five minutes — then leave the door closed for a few minutes so everything can steam — and you'll be able to wipe off every single dried-on food bit with one swipe of a paper towel.
3. Then start covering everything you microwave with a dishwasher-safe silicone lid to put a stop to any new splatters from here on out.
4. Lay down a layer of wax paper or paper bags on the tops of cabinets and furniture — especially in the kitchen — to catch greasy dust, then simply swap it out months later when it gets grimy.
5. Shine up your cooktop or stove in five minutes: Drizzle on some Dawn and hydrogen peroxide, sprinkle with baking soda, and scrub in circles with a dish brush. This combo in smaller doses would work for spot-cleaning both this and your oven, too!
6. Then prevent (at least some of) that mess from building up again with the help of a splatter screen. The holes let all the steam out so your dumplings can crisp and your egg can fry, but blocks oil and sauce from popping its way out of the pan and creating a greasy mess all over the stovetop (and elsewhere in the kitchen).
7. Mix cream of tartar and water into a thick paste to clean that sticky dust buildup that nothing else seems to touch.
8. Eradicate any lingering stains on your wooden cutting boards with a mixture of salt, water, and baking soda.
9. Break up hard water deposits and generally freshen up your dishwasher by running an empty load with baking soda and citric acid scattered in the bottom.
10. Bust through cooked-on grime in your oven by scrubbing with a Magic Eraser — unless your oven's absolutely covered in gunk, a few minutes and a little bit of elbow grease will go a long way to making it look new again.
11. Shine up your refrigerator and any other stainless steel appliances with a coat of Pledge. You may think of it as a furniture polish, but it's actually a powerhouse multi-surface cleaner!
12. Dissolve hard water stains on your water faucets by wrapping them up in vinegar-soaked paper towels for an hour — they'll wipe off in one go.
13. Wash your sink out like a dish after you've finished doing all the other dishes for the day — your hands are already wet and soapy, and this will take just like, one minute longer!
14. And whiten a grungy porcelain sink with a paste of baking soda and a little bit of hydrogen peroxide.
15. Secure microfiber cleaning cloths to tongs with rubber bands so dusting your blinds can be less of a chore — because this gets the top and bottom of each blind at the same time, it'll take half as long!
16. Grab another microfiber cloth and once a week (or once a day; you do you!) go around and brush it over all the of the other conspicuously dusty parts of your home. Just remember the rule: always dust top-down!
17. Stash a pack of cleaning wipes (or a roll of paper towels and your favorite all-purpose cleaner) under your bathroom sink, then swab things down once a day so you never have to deal with a buildup of dust or mildew.
18. Mix up a homemade Daily Shower Cleaner using ingredients you have laying around the house already, then start misting your walls, curtain/door, tub, fixtures, and floor after you turn off the water. You'll (almost) never need to deep clean your shower ever again.
19. Catch all the hair you and the people you live with shed in the shower using a silicone drain cover, so you can a) skip the chemical de-cloggers and b) stop smearing your hair on the shower wall to prevent it from going down the drain.
20. Soak your clogged and mildew-y shower head in a plastic bag filled with vinegar for a couple of hours, and it should dissolve every bit of the buildup.
21. Stamp some gel into your clean toilet to actually keep it that way for weeks at a time, no scrubbing required.
22. Pass an afternoon scrubbing out your grout with a homemade hydrogen peroxide-based cleaner. And while an old toothbrush or sponge would work just fine, some specialty grout brushes just might help you cut down on your elbow grease.
23. Reach for bleach or a bleach pen when faced with surface mold (aka mildew) in your shower — oh, and a good scrub brush.
24. Dust your ceiling fans with an old pillowcase to trap the grime, instead of just brushing it back into the air and onto your floor.
25. Find a dust mop, broom, or lightweight stick vacuum that you won't mind pulling out of the cleaning closet two or three times a week to a quickly de-grime your floors. Doing it regularly means your space will actually stay clean, especially if you have pets that seem to bring in mess wherever they go.
26. Or to really keep your floors cleaner than you ever thought possible, splurge a little on a robo vac. Idk about you, but there's no way I'm ever going to vacuum or sweep every day without one of these little buddies doing it for me.
27. Set up a ~crap basket~ system so you can just toss all the headphones, school books, sweatshirts, and other random things your family leaves lying around into their respective bins. They still have to put it all away, and you can enjoy a nice, neat space. (Or just vacuum or dust more easily!)
28. Banish embedded pet hair from any upholstered surface — in your car or in your home — by spritzing the the area with water, then scraping it up with a squeegee.
29. Spritz some Windex to clean crayon scribbles off painted walls without scrubbing off paint or leaving residue behind.
You, as you finish the last few things on your cleaning checklist and realize just how *good* it feels:
Want to see more ~sparkling clean~ ideas? You might like some of these tips and tricks!
Just 65 Things To Clean While You're Spending So Much Time At Home
23 Home Decorating Tips That May Actually Help You Upgrade Your Space
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