13 Housecleaning Hacks That Save You Time and Money

You probably spend at least some of your day wiping down counters, scrubbing the grill and cleaning the coffee grinder. If those chores feel like a pain, we have a slew of cleaning hacks to make your life easier.

They will save you time — and money to boot.

Use a caddy for your supplies

It may not necessarily be a hack, but having a cleaning caddy is a smart move. When all your bottles, rags and other supplies are in one place, it makes it quick and easy to get the work done.

For more on making your own cleaning supplies, check out: “9 Expensive Cleaning Supplies You Could Easily Make for Pennies.”

Discover the many, amazing uses for vinegar

This isn’t just one cleaning hack. It’s six cleaning hacks, most of them very hands-off. Here are all the miraculous things a little vinegar can do.

1. Microwave a bowl of equal parts water and vinegar for five minutes as a disinfectant for the microwave. Be very careful opening your microwave when the five minutes are up. Crack the door, and let it cool before using a rag to wipe down the inside.
2. Soak the exhaust filters from above your stove in a mixture of vinegar and water to remove the cooked-on gunk. After soaking, rinse and return.
3. Use a paper towel to rub vinegar on cloudy glasses to make them shine.
4. Put vinegar in a baggie, and put it on your shower head. Use a rubber band to secure the bag and let it soak to remove buildup.
5. Cover the bottom of a burned pan with vinegar and water. Heat to boiling, and then turn off and let it cool so you don’t burn yourself. Add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda, and scrub to make the pot shine again.
6. Pull an old sock over your hand, spritz with vinegar and use it to wipe down dirty blinds.

The product is simply a miracle. Check out: “82 Amazing and Environmentally Friendly Uses for Vinegar.”

Clean your grill with an onion

Rather than using a wire bristle brush, use a long fork to spear half an onion. Rub the cut side on your grill grates as an alternate way to clean them.

Use a potato on your cheese grater

If you still use a hand cheese grater, you know what a pain they are to clean. Depending on the cheese you’ve used, there’s a good chance it’s been mashed down in between the grates and is mocking your attempts to remove it.

Rather than losing your sanity trying to clean all the crevices, pull out a potato and grate that. Its flesh is stiff enough that it should slough away the cheese, and then you can easily rinse the potato off the grater.

Use stale bread or rice to clean your coffee grinder

Coffee smells fabulous in the morning, but when you shift gears and decide to grind spices or nuts, you don’t want them to remind you of your morning cup of joe.

For a blade grinder, use some stale bread or dry, uncooked rice to absorb the coffee smell and clean out your grinder. If you have a burr grinder (also called a burr mill), bread won’t work but dried rice might. A note of caution: Uncooked rice can be harder than coffee beans and may tax your grinder’s motor. Some companies say using rice as a cleaner will void the warranty.

Furniture polish will make stainless steel appliances shine

Let furniture polish do double duty on your stainless steel appliances. Clean off any grime first, and then spray on the polish and wipe dry.

And speaking of appliances, if you’re faced with replacing one of these costly items, check out: “7 Ways to Save Big on Household Appliances.”

Make grease stains disappear with rubbing alcohol

To get a grease stain out of carpets or other surfaces, mix four parts rubbing alcohol with one part salt. Rub into the stain to lift the grease. Then let the surface dry and wipe up or vacuum up any leftover salt.

Bleach your cutting boards

If only you could see the bacteria making itself at home on your supposedly clean cutting board.

Luckily, cutting boards are easily sanitized by soaking them in a bleach solution. Use 2 teaspoons of bleach per gallon of water for plastic boards and 2 tablespoons of bleach per gallon for wooden boards. You don’t need to soak them long — just a couple of minutes will do — and then rinse.

Try lemons and salt for a more natural clean

Of course, not everyone loves the idea of using bleach. For a more natural way to disinfect your cutting board, liberally sprinkle kosher salt on the board. Then, cut a lemon in half and rub the lemon (cut side down) on the board. The lemon juice should kill the bacteria, while the salt should scrub away any small particles of food that may be present.

Then, you can use the other half of the lemon to scrub your faucets to make them shiny and clean as well.

Roll a lint brush over lamp shades

Lamp shades come in all sorts of shapes and materials, which can make it difficult to figure out how best to clean them. A lint roller can be used on almost any shade to pick up dust and light dirt.

Blow canned air into exhaust fans

The exhaust fan in your bathroom could probably use a little TLC, but how on earth do you clean that?

Easy. Use some canned air — like the kind you would buy to clean a computer keyboard — and blow it into the fan to dislodge lint. Place a towel on the floor to collect the dust bunnies as they fall.

Even if you can’t see the dust in your fan, it’s a good idea to clean it on a regular basis. If too much lint builds up, your fan could burst into flames.

Remove dust from vents with a knife and rag

Another way to remove dust from vents such as those on window air conditioning units is to cover a butter knife with a rag and run it along the inside of each vent. Despite what the commercials tell you, no special sham or wonder cleaning cloth is required.

Pull out dryer sheets to clean baseboards

Finally, give your dryer sheets another purpose in life by whipping them out when it’s time to clean your baseboards. Running a sheet along the baseboards will remove dirt and help repel dust. What’s more, they might just make the room smell temporarily fresher too.

What cleaning hacks can you add? Share your tricks in comments below or on our Facebook page.