Cleaning the house and keeping it organized isn’t something you can avoid, especially when you have children at home. Thankfully, people are coming up with creative and ingenious household hacks to make things in life go smoother and easier. I’ve gathered 21 of those hacks and posted them here, to give you tips on how to handle your household chores like a boss! You’ll be surprised just how simple these hacks are and once you start using them, you’ll never go back to your old methods of cleaning, organizing, and keeping things together.
Common Household Hacks
1 – After putting a new garbage bag in your trash can put an old newspaper in it. Having the newspaper at the bottom of the bag will help collect and absorb any liquid from food you throw out.
2 – It’s easy to get crud from food all over the inside of your microwave. Clean it up with little to no effort by microwaving a bowl of water and lemons for 5 minutes. Once the timer goes off, let the bowl sit in the microwave for another 5 minutes, so the lemony hot steam can do its job. Use a damp rag to wipe out the microwave and you’ll be surprised just how easy it is to clean!
3 – When cleaning your blender, add some water and a couple drops of dish soap and blend for a couple minutes. This will help get that soap into all the grooves and smaller spaces and get out any food that might be stuck. After that, a quick wipe out, and you should have a clean blender.
4 – Keep your steel kitchen sink looking incredible with a little extra something when cleaning. Use salt and half a lemon! Use the lemon as if it were your sponge or cleaning brush. Scrub the salt into the sink using the lemon and you’ll be surprised how incredible it looks once you’re done!
5 – Need the bathroom mirror clear but it’s wet from steam? Don’t just wipe it off with a towel – that can leave behind smudges. Use your hairdryer, blow-drying the mirror will clear it right up for you and will prevent any smudging.
6 – Keep the family’s toothbrushes out of the way and in a clean spot, by using a cutlery organizer. Just pop it into a drawer in the bathroom – then everyone can have their own designated spot to put their toothbrush, as well as toothpaste and floss. Keeps your bathroom counter tidy!
7 – Clean your shower head like a pro in no time! Add white vinegar to a baggie and place it over the shower head. Make sure there’s enough vinegar in it so that the front of the head is submerged in the liquid. Rubber band the baggie on and let it sit there and soak for an hour. When you come back and remove the bag, it’ll be nearly effortless to wipe clean.
8 – Rust rings from shaving cream cans are a pain in the butt! Avoid ever getting them again by taking clear nail polish and painting the bottom ring of the can. Now it can sit in the shower without causing a mess.
9 – Having space to keep a family’s worth of soaps, shampoos, and conditioner can be a stretch if you’ve got a lot of people and a lot of supplies. By hanging a 2nd shower rod in the shower, you can hang shower appropriate baskets on it. Designate a basket for each person, so all of their things are kept in it, and that way the actual tub and shower remain clear.
10 – Continuing on the theme of organization and keeping things tidy in the bathroom – hang spice racks on the wall to keep hair supplies, lotion, face cleansers, and makeup. This will keep the counter free and clear for everyone.
11 – Similar to using the lemon and salt to clean the kitchen sink, use half a grapefruit dipped in salt to help clean your bathtub. The reaction because the acidic fruit and the salt will cut through shower grime like a charm!
12 – If you know you have lost something small on the floor but can’t see it, put a nylon over the end of your vacuum cleaner hose and rubber band it on. When you vacuum, anything that can’t fit through the nylon will be stuck on the end. That way you can find what you lost and not lose it forever to your vacuum.
13 – Have a stain on the carpet? Vinegar and baking soda to the rescue! Lightly soak the stain with vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes. Then, pour a little baking soda over the vinegar, let that sit for a few more minutes and let the chemical reaction work its magic! Vacuum up everything and enjoy your stain-free carpet!
14 – Another carpet tip – there’s no need to buy expensive carpet deodorizers, make your own! Before you vacuum, sprinkle your carpet with baking soda and lavender essence oil. When you vacuum it up, it will leave the carpet and room smelling clean and fresh.
15 – This carpet hack is for pet owners! Get a small squeegee and run it over your carpet. You’ll be surprised how much pet fur gets stuck in the carpet, that not even the vacuum can get out.
16 – Give your scratched wood furniture a new repaired look but using a mixture of 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 3/4 cup of olive oil. Use a rag to rub the mixture into the wood and you’ll be surprised by the results!
17 – Hanging things on the wall can leave unsightly little holes in your white walls. Fill them in with this temporary fix. Use a white crayon and go over the hole with it until you can get a little piece of the crayon in the hole. Smooth over it until it looks like it’s flat with the wall.
18 – Chalk is a great way to help dehumidify small places. Hang a bundle of chalk in a room, such as your laundry room, so it can soak up moisture and help prevent mildew from growing. It’s a great inexpensive alternative to electric dehumidifiers.
19 – Another great reason to keep chalk in your laundry room is to help remove stains. If you get a fresh grease stain on your clothes, immediately apply chalk. It’ll help soak up the grease. Then you can toss it in the wash and clean it as usual.
20 – Between the tv, DVD player, gaming consoles, lights, and other electronics plugged in, in your living or family room, it’s easy to not know what cord goes to what item. To keep things tidy and easily identifiable, take a piece of washi tape and write on it what the item is. Then fold the tape in half over the cord. Repeat until all cords are labeled. Now, when you need to unplug something, it’ll be a snap! This also works great for your office – label the computer, printer, router, modem, and so on.
21 – Breaking glass is never easy to clean up. You can spot all the large pieces and take care of them, but those small little pieces are a pain. To make it easier to find those little shards of glass, use a piece of normal sandwich bread and press it into the floor or surface where the item broke. The glass will get embedded in the bread and you can just toss it away before anyone gets hurt.