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Cleaning hacks to clean your space

Cleaning Hacks…Inexpensive Cleaning Tips You’re Going To Love

March 29, 2022

Cleaning Hacks

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

“Cleanliness is not next to godliness. It isn’t even in the same neighborhood. No one has ever gotten a religious experience out of removing burned-on cheese from the grill of the toaster oven.”
-Erma Bombeck

Cleaning Hacks: I started thinking about this blog the other day. I published it some 150 blogs ago (Gasp! Really? That many?). The reason it came to mind was that I was trying (somewhat successfully) to clean the microwave in the office at my store. My ladies at the store have been a little… let’s just say… lax. The suggestion that follows in this blog really did the trick and we no longer have a science project going on inside the microwave. I thought you might enjoy revisiting the topics as much as I did… so here goes…

Cleaning Hacks: To Clean Or Not To Clean… That Is Not Really The Question…

There are a few people out there who absolutely love to clean, and yes, I’m talking about you Bruce. But for the rest of us, it is kind of a necessary evil. Regular household cleaning can be a laborious task and the cost of all the special cleaning products for each cleaning job, can add up pretty quickly – talk about adding insult to injury. But it doesn’t have to be this way. No, unfortunately I can’t magically make the need for cleaning go away, but I can give you a few easy tips to save time and money cleaning what you must. For some great cleaning hacks, please read on…

Cleaning Hacks: Show Me The Money Or At Least Show Me The Distilled White Vinegar!

You will be happy to know that there are several, inexpensive products, commonly found around the house, that can help you tackle a multitude of cleaning tasks.
For my favorite cleaning hacks, you will need:

  1. Dawn Dish Washing Liquid (Hell, if it works for the birds in an oil spill, I mean, c’mon)
  2. Distilled, White Vinegar (You can buy it by the gallon)
  3. Hydrogen Peroxide (Yes, the stuff your kids scream about when you’re trying to clean out their cuts)
  4. Lemons (Not a typo)
  5. Olive Oil (Yup, you read that right… and we will get to that one shortly).
  6. Baking Soda

Making Microwave Magic

When my kids were younger, I was firmly convinced that they were using the microwave in our home, for some sort of bizarre scientific experiments rather than for cooking popcorn .The inside of that thing looked like a petri dish from the inner circles of hell. I would scrub and scrape (and admittedly curse a bit) to get that puppy clean. It was not fun. Maybe you can relate to this? But even if you can’t, who hasn’t had the occasional explosion of melting butter in their microwave? And the subsequent, awful clean-up.


Enter the first of my cleaning hacks, taught to me by my dear friend, Cindy Palmer. Use this trick and you too can make light work of this arduous task. Simply heat 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar and a tablespoon of lemon juice in your microwave for 5 minutes. The steam from the liquids loosen all the cooked on gunk. Then simply wipe out with a soft rag or paper towel. It’s That easy!

I’m Not Making This Up… An Easy and Inexpensive Way to Clean Makeup Brushes

Brush cleaning hacks

Speaking of vinegar, I mean, I guess we were, there’s a great vinegar trick for cleaning your makeup brushes and it’s way more economical than that $25 brush cleaner I bought from Sephora. Just mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar in 1 cup of hot water and add a few drops of Dawn dish soap. Let your brushes soak in this mixture for 20 minutes. Rinse in cool water and brush to towel dry on a piece of paper towel. Your brushes will be free of makeup as well as the harmful, built-up bacteria.

Brush it with vinegar - Cleaning hacks

No More Pain In The Glass… An Easy Cleaning Tip For Your Glass Cook Top

I love the sleek lines of my glass cook top, but man I have hated cleaning that thing since day two… until I learned this cleaning hack on Pinterest..

To get your cook top back to day-one status you’ll need: Dawn, Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and Lemon Juice.
To Clean: drizzle the Dawn on the cook top, then the hydrogen peroxide and then sprinkle with the baking soda. Scrub the surface with a soft bush or rag, wipe clean with damp cloth and PRESTO! Note: you may have to wipe a few times, rinsing in-between.
For Burn Marks: simply sprinkle baking soda then squeeze fresh lemon juice to make a paste. Let this sit for 10-15 minutes, scrub with a soft brush or sponge and then wipe clean with damp cloth. Cheap, easy and effective!!

Photo by Cleyder Duque on Pexels

Stainless Steel Appliances and More

“Who made all these finger prints on the refrigerator door?” I feel like I could just record that on my phone and play it several times a day. I mean, really? Didn’t I just wipe that thing off? And I’ve tried stainless wipes, stainless cleaner, Windex, Fantastic (NOT!), you name it. ‘Love the look of stainless – absolutely hate the maintenance.
So I checked the internet and tried this one: Clean the fridge or any stainless appliance with white vinegar and a microfiber cloth, then, and here’s the kicker, polish it with a very small amount of olive oil in the direction of the grain. Yes, that’s right, instead of oil and vinegar on the side, it’s oil and vinegar on the doors. But guess what? It actually works… so this one, as Adam Sandler would say… is “not to shabby!”

So What Else Is Good About These Cleaning Hacks?

Using these commonly found products reduces the environmental impact of harsher chemicals not to mention the reduced danger to your own health.

And now for a little music before we go…

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

Mahatma Gandhi

2 Comments

  • Reply
    Medelise Reifsteck
    March 30, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    love these hacks. I cant wait t o try the microwave one.

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