What cleaning things do you do that you dont think anyone else does?

[SurlyCue]

Inspired by the wet wiping the stair carpet thread. It got me wondering what other cleaning tips i dont know and i do like to collect them

So what do you do that you think others should know about?

I'm trying to think of any of my own but cant right now. Will add if i do.

How do you wet wipe a stair carpet?!

wiping stair carpet

I hoover my oven, dh goes mad if he catches me. Love the magic sponges for cleaning walls etc.

I hoover the inside of oven too. And the dining table when it's covered in sequins/hair once the hairdresser has been.

Put the kitchen bin lids in the dishwasher.

Hang a car air freshener (magic tree etc) in the underside of of your bin

Underside of your bin lid even!

I am so doing that wet wipe stair thing tomorrow!
I may also hoover the oven

I use cotton buds round the inside edges of the windows to clear out the gunk/cat fur where the cat sleeps on the windowsill. It's surprising how grubby the sealy bits get.

Use the bicarbonate stuff on shower grout and scrub with a toothbrush.

Spice rack in alphabetical order.....very important!

When you make a cup of tea and there is boiling water left in the kettle but you know you won't have another drink for a while, pour the boiling water over your dishcloth, get the rubber gloves on and wring it out and hang over tap or dish drainer to dry.

Keeps bacteria at bay, dishcloth smells nice for longer, no need for bleach.

I'm another Hoover duster :) I have a little attachment :) I baby wipe pvc windowsills, the tv, the dust magnet tv unit.....everywhere really!

*When you make a cup of tea and there is boiling water left in the kettle but you know you won't have another drink for a while, pour the boiling water over your dishcloth, get the rubber gloves on and wring it out and hang over tap or dish drainer to dry.

Keeps bacteria at bay, dishcloth smells nice for longer, no need for bleach.*

What a good tip! I never would think to do this but will now!

I microwave my dishcloth to keep germs at bay. Rinse in cold water, then squeeze out excess water and pop in the microwave for 15 seconds. Take out and it should be steaming. Hang over tap or rack to dry.

Surly

I have a Karcher Steam Cleaner and my understanding of them is that they don't actually clean but that the steam jet shifts dirt - which they're extremely good at. Unless you're doing a shower or bath (when the water and dirt go down the plughole) you need something to collect the shifted dirt and/or emulsify the shifted grease or gunk.

I should imagine the principle is the same for steam cleaners with a towelling head - ie the steam loosens the dirt and the towelling collects it and then goes in the washing machine to be cleaned?

When I microwave my dishcloths I do it for about 2 minutes!!

I use water from the kettle as it is more environmentally friendly

Yes that makes cozie. I think what confuses me is that people say they do their carpets or sofas with them and i'm thinking "but how is that cleaning them?"

I use odd socks and old knickers as dusters. And old scouring pads to clean the toilet.
Hoovering the oven- may have to give this a go

It will loosen dirt so that when that dries, it might be possible to hoover it up. (What they're probably doing though is driving the dirt deeper into the pile or fabric so that the items simply look fresher - you'll have to be tactful. )

Basically, dirt doesn't disappear of its own volition. It eventually always leaves the house through the rubbish bin or (usually with water) through the drains. (Or garden/compost I suppose for some houses.) If you can't work out its exit track, it's still around somewhere.

my only helpful hint is to heat a ramekin (or other small container) of water with a squirt of lemon washing up liquid in the microwave for 30-60 seconds - the inside gets coated in lovely grease-dissolving lemony condensation & all you have to do is wipe it down with a microfibre cloth. Doesn't have to be lemony but I when I was first given this hint it was to use a slice of lemon; then I got a Neff oven, with its own special program to do this, which also involves washing-up liquid in water

(microfibre cloths for all cleaning jobs is my other cleaning Thing. It's possible to clean the bath & basin to a dazzling shine with no chemicals at all - it's bloody hard work shifting the bath scum but gives me a saintly glow afterwards)

Presumably people who steam soft furnishings are concerned with germs rather than grot. There isn't much that can survive temperatures above 100 degrees.

Don't put oils on the radiator. Put them on a damp tissue or cloth on the radiator. Definitely works though. At cold season you can use eucalyptus stag. and/or tea tree to make the suffering less.

I recently discovered the "dots in the collar" method for sorting laundry, and I can't find its originator to give praise and thanksgiving. Basically you put one dot in the collar or waistband of the clothing of DC1, two dots for DC2, etc. When you pass clothes down, add a dot. You think you know whose is whose when you're sorting washing but generic things like plain vests or grey joggers can go into the wrong drawer, and that's before you factor in matching items or a bad memory Instead of getting it wrong or rummaging for the age guide on the care label, you see the dots in an obvious place.

My entire house gets cleaned with wet wipes...

Yes, if it can't be hoovered or wet wiped clean then it has no business being in my house

This isn't cleaning as such but we put down transparent sticky back plastic on kitchen surfaces likely to accumulate grime (drawers, cupboard where we keep oils etc) over a period of time and that you wouldn't necessarily clean regularly - then we remove it after a long while et voilà, surface underneath is super clean.

So no cleaning actually involved.

I use the Hoover to dust with instead of using a duster and polish, but then I dust the Hoover down with a duster before I put it away.

I use both toilet cleaner and bleach to clean the loo. Toilet duck first to get rid of limescale, scrub around the bowl, flush, then leave bleach down to kill any remaininging germs.

I wipe the radiators with a cloth wrung out in diluted fabric softener. It smells nice and the softener is anti static so it stops dust settling.

I'm addicted to cleaning light switches and doorframes. I can't cope with mucky finger prints.

Rabbit - I thought that was the correct way to clean a loo! It's what I've always done.