On an average, an American homeowner spends 5 hours per week cleaning his/her house. Most people also prefer cleaning their homes on Saturdays, and it is certainly not a fun task for the weekends. But, by following the below-mentioned easy ways to clean your house, you can save time, money and also end up with a cleaner home while keeping yourself safe.
1. Evaluate your household cleaners
Not only is this easy way to clean your house good for the environment, you will also be doing yourself and your family a huge favor. All cleaning products are not made equally. Majority of them are rather unsafe for use around children and pets. If this is a concern, you could use baking soda, lemon or/and vinegar as these natural cleaning ingredients are safe for use in kitchens and toilets and give great results. Avoid excessive use of Antibacterial cleaners as they lead to antibiotic resistance and could make you and your family more susceptible to hard-to- treat illnesses. So do go for all-purpose cleaners and hot water unless you have an infection-prone person in the house. You must also test the selected cleaners in a small area first to see if they are safe.
2. Protect yourself
Use safety gloves and protective eyewear to keep your hands and eyes safe from harsh products and abrasive cleaners. Protective eyewear are especially required if you plan on using ammonia or bleach cleaners. Certain chemicals in cleaners can actually cause blindness, so make sure you use only green and eco-friendly easy ways to clean your house as far as possible. Never mix ammonia and bleach as this could cause spluttering.
3. Clean the bathroom and toilet while bathing
Bathroom is often the hardest to clean thanks to all the soap scum and gunk. The best time to clean a bathroom is while you are bathing. You can start by spraying a little all-purpose cleaner containing some bleach or ammonia (or greener cleaners like vinegar and baking soda) on all the gunk-ridden surfaces. While you soap and shampoo your hair, allow the cleaning products to work. Once you are done bathing, you can easily scrub and wash the surfaces. Using the right products will give you more muscle power by reducing the efforts needed to remove soap scum. As far as possible, dry the bathroom once everyone has finished using it. This will reduce mold formation.
4. Clean the kitchen every night
If you regularly clean your kitchen each night, you will need to spend less effort on a weekly basis for cleaning it. This is one the easy ways to clean your house. Wipe down all the surfaces, countertops and backsplashes with anti-bacterial cleaners and degreasers. White vinegar is also an effective green cleaner for kitchen surfaces. All these prevent grease from hardening on the kitchen walls. You could also use bleach for countertops-(dilute a bit of bleach and use it all over the kitchen)- as it is also works as a bacteria-killer. Another easy way to clean the kitchen is to straighten and organize all the items inside the cabinets. Once a month, you must try to clean inside the cabinets. You could line the shelves with some paper and also use borax powder to prevent ants and termites etc.
5. Clean windows with rubbing alcohol
This is an easy homemade recipe for cleaning windows: add some rubbing alcohol and a pint of ammonia to a gallon of water. Mix it well and fill up the mixture in a spray bottle to spray on windows. (It is best to wash windows on a cloudy day as sunlight could cause streaking). You can also use a dry newspaper crumpled up in a ball to wipe down the sprayed windows, mirrors and other glass objects. The newspaper absorbs the moisture leaving you with streak-free surfaces.
6. Easy way to clean silver with baking soda
One of the easy ways to clean household silver is to use baking soda and hot water. In a large container, place all the silver items you wish to clean. Liberally sprinkle baking soda on top and pour boiling water to cover the objects. The mixture will bubble and froth. Let the objects soak for few minutes. After the mixture has cooled down, you can easily wipe your silver objects so they sparkle and shine.
7. Clean dishes daily with good quality dish cleaners
Many dish washing detergents with lemon are effective in degreasing dishes and utensils. It is not a green practice to run the dishwasher for small loads; nor is it a good idea to use it every night. So make sure you wash smaller loads manually. You can soak the dishes in the sink and add hot water and a teaspoon of dish detergent (Ajax Dish Detergent and Dawn dish detergents are great choices!). The detergent helps cut the grease and you will need to spend less time in scrubbing. Many of the top quality dish detergents are also effective on other kitchen surfaces. You can use diluted dish soap on stove tops and inside ovens. Moreover, you can also use Dawn dish detergent to bathe your pet dog or cat in order to reduce fleas and ticks.
8. Protect your floors
If you have hardwood floors, you can protect them from hard-to-remove scratches and marks by placing plastic gliders under the feet of the furniture. Wood floors are best cleaned using a mop and some hot water. Avoid using harsh detergent as it can leave streaks and could also damage the surfaces. You can use phenyl based cleaners for marble or tile floors. Carpeted floors must be vacuumed twice a week or more often if you have pets and kids. For preventing ticks and fleas, it is best to liberally sprinkle some food grade diatomaceous powder or Borax powder on the carpet. These cleaners kill larvae and eggs of fleas and ticks. You can vacuum as usual after 4 hours of treatment. Repeat these easy ways to clean your home once every fortnight to keep your household free from insects and pests. For preventing stained carpets, you can use steam cleaning or apply some carpet shampoos.
9. Get everyone involved
No matter how easy these ways of cleaning your house sound, you will need to spend some time and efforts. To reduce your workload, try getting the entire family involved. Parents must set a good example for their kids by following regular cleaning and organizing practices themselves. You could also offer monetary incentives to children so that they keep their rooms cleaner and well organized. You must also try and look at daily or weekly household cleaning as a way of burning calories and getting in shape at no cost. These easy ways to clean your house can help you get in shape and also give you peaceful , cleaner and better-organized surroundings for overall health and wellbeing.