House cleaning shortcuts to make your life easier

Between work, cooking, cleaning, shopping and childcare, there is a lot to do and little time in the day. If only there was a way to extend the day by a couple of hours. Unfortunately, that’s not possible (yet!), but there are a few shortcuts you can take to become more efficient and still end up with some extra time at the end of the day. Here’s a list of our house cleaning shortcuts to help you be more efficient and still have time to spend with your family.

1. Washing dishes is now a breeze

Washing dishes is one of the most time consuming household chores, if not the most. We are all guilty of piling our dishes in the sink and not touching them until we need something or it turns into the leaning tower of Pisa. Here’s a house cleaning shortcut that will help make doing the dishes easier and faster. I like to wash the dishes while I cook so I can keep up with everything. One thing that always helps, though, is to fill the sink with warm, soapy water and while I’m using the dishes, just place them in the sink. This will help get all the extra grease and food off the dishes and then when I go to wash them, it’s a breeze.

2. Clean fan blades in seconds

Typically, you would tie a scarf around your nose and mouth, walk up a ladder with a rag in your hand, and wipe each sheet (top and bottom) while dust flies everywhere and eventually settles on the floor and the furniture. Cleaning up after that is perhaps one of the reasons why you avoid cleaning your fans altogether! Well here is one of our fantastic, less messy and time saving house cleaning shortcuts to cleaning your fans. Take an old, worn-out pillowcase and place it over the blade; Place one hand on the blade and the other under it, and using a steady rag, slide the pillowcase over to remove all the dust and trap it inside. In a few seconds, your fan will be clean and you will have significantly reduced the amount of house dust.

3. Don’t mop until you drop

Mopping usually means having to re-dip the mop in a bucket multiple times before you can finish an entire room. Using a bucket is quite inconvenient and time consuming because you have to carry it or walk back and forth to wet the mop. This is what you do; Take a clean, empty plastic bottle and mix a solution of water and floor cleaner in it. Put the lid on and use a 34a poker to poke a hole in it. Now, you can use this bottle to wet down half the room and clean it, before doing the same to the other half. It’s best to scrub barefoot so your slippers won’t leave footprints when the floor dries.

4. Gas stove cleaning is quick and easy

The top of your gas stove is one of the dirtiest places in your kitchen because this is where food is inevitably spilled and left to harden (as the area is too hot to clean right away). Since you’re dealing with stuck-on gunk here, the quickest and best way to clean between the burners is to use heat to loosen it up. Take some dish towels and soak them in a hot soapy solution; then sprinkle a decent amount of baking powder over the soiled areas and place the towels on top. Remember, the hotter the towels, the faster the dirt will loosen. Wait about 3-4 minutes before dragging the towels to the side to pick up and remove the dirt. Finish cleanup with a dry towel to help absorb any collected water.

5. Dusting has never been so fast

Using a rag to dust furniture isn’t too bad; But once you’ve tried putting a sock on your hand to clean curiosities and surfaces, you’ll never go back to dusting cloths or anything else! This is easily one of our best house cleaning shortcuts because it’s so simple! You can use any old pair of socks to do this; however, cotton ones work best. It helps to have at least two or three socks on hand when dusting so you can use a clean one when the first one gets too dirty. In addition to socks, lint rollers are also great tools for removing dust. They are especially useful for quickly cleaning walls and lampshades.