21 Spring Cleaning Hacks & Time Saving Secrets
Spring is here!
After months of long winter days indoors it’s time to open the windows and enjoy the sunshine and blooms. Spring brings with it the need to slough off the layers and to clean and refresh the home. It’s time for spring cleaning and we have some great time saving hacks to help you.
Spring Cleaning
For some spring cleaning breaks us into a panic. Our homes have been nestled in comfort for the winter and now it is time to peel away the layers. Open the curtains, wash the floors, clean the dust and refresh our home for spring.
Simple Cleaning Tip
A simple trick to bring the smell of spring indoors is to place 5-10 drops of orange essential oil or a combination of mint and lime essential oils into a diffuser with water. Both of these smells will uplift your mood and make your home smell amazing.
Cleaning Sress
Don’t let spring cleaning get you down. If the thought of spring cleaning stresses you out don’t let it. Follow our simple tip above, turn on some great music and follow a few of the time saving cleaning hacks below.
21 Spring Cleaning Hacks:
1. Find a cleaner you love
Not every all purpose cleaner is the same. If you only grab one hack of this list let this be the one. Cleaning goes so much smoother if you like your cleaning materials. Checkout these DIY cleaning products that will save you a bunch of money.
Keep a supply of cleaning materials you like such as dusters, cleaning rags, a mop, a broom and cleaning solutions.
The most frugal, simplest all purpose cleaning solution you need is a 50/50 solution of water and vinegar. Add essential oils for scent and added antibacterial cleaning.
I love adding sweet orange oil or peppermint oil to my cleaning solution. This solution will cost you pennies to make and can be used on counter tops, fridges, bathroom surfaces and floors.
2. Divide and conquer
Section your home off into cleaning areas. Today you can accomplish the kitchen and the bathrooms, tomorrow the bedrooms and on Saturday the garage.
Another approach would be to get the whole family involved and give everyone a task. Divide up your home and accomplish more in less time.
3. Baking soda is your frugal cleaning friend
Discover all the places you can use baking soda in your home to get it amazingly clean. Carpets, counters, showers, soap scum, stuck on grease you can clean it all with baking soda.
4. Does the microwave grime have you down
Stop scrubbing! Place a small glass bowl filled with water, lemon slices and/or essential oils in the microwave. Set the timer to one minute. Steam clean the grime away. You may need to rinse and repeat depending on the level of grime.
5. All the hard to reach places
Some of you have long handled dusters to reach all those hard to reach corners or the blades on the ceiling fan. If you don’t place a pillow case over the end of your broom and dust away.
6. It’s time to put the toys in the wash cycle
Has the toy area gotten a little bit sticky? Simple solution. Place all the plastic washable toys including the Lego in a wash bag and send them through the laundry but skip the dryer unless its a stuffed toy.
Please make sure to not wash electrical toys this way. Note this works great for Legos, blocks, army men and other plastic toys.
7. Bring back the shine
Has your stainless steel sink seen better days? Bring back the shine with a lemon and some coarse salt. Slice the lemon in half, shake some salt into the sink and scrub.
Once the cleaning is complete send the lemons down the garbage disposal and turn it on. This will help clean and remove any grime and deposits in the disposal.
8. Clean your electronics with one wipe
Remove finger prints, stuck on food and the odd coffee drip on your laptop, tablet or cellphone using the all purpose cleaner recipe listed above and a clean cloth.
Make sure the electronic is turned off! Spray the cleaner on the cloth, not the electronic and wipe clean.
9. Magic cleaning tips
Did your children accidentally draw on the walls? Or has the soap scum taken over the shower? Or have your white running shoes seen better days?
You can clean it all with a Magic Eraser. And a frugal tip, cut the Magic Eraser in half to help you cover more area and make your cleaning supplies last longer.
10. Take the hassle out of cleaning the blinds
Don’t stress blind cleaning anymore grab your duster, close the blinds and wipe the blinds clean. Pull string or turn the knob to reset the blinds to the other side and dust clean.
11. Before you dust turn everything on
Before you dust turn on the air conditioner, the forced air heating or the vacuum. All of these items will circulate dust so let them run for a few minutes then dust. Doing this will alleviate the need for a second dusting.
12. Don’t like the smell of vinegar add this
As we suggested above vinegar makes a great cleaner but it has a very distinct smell. You can add citrus peels to your vinegar to make a more spring like smell.
Simply place citrus peels in a jar and cover with vinegar and let soak for a few days. You can also do this with herbs like rosemary and mint. Discover 21 other uses for your discarded citrus peel.
13. Has pet hair got you down
Don’t worry! Use this re-usable lint roller to collect pet hair from the couch, clothing and the carpet.
14. Deodorize and clear the air all in one go
Do you have forced air heating? You can place dryer sheets under your floor vents to help deodorize your home and cut down on the dust circulation.
15. Decrease your laundry drying time and make your laundry smell great
By adding cotton dryer balls to your dry cycle. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the dryer balls to help your laundry smell great.
16. Cut the grease
Do you have grease stains or build up on your counters or stove top? Do you have a hard time removing grease stains from your laundry? Dawn dish liquid can help you solve both problems.
Use Dawn as a fabric stain fighter on clothes. Simply dab a small amount on to the stain before putting your clothes in the wash cycle. Use Dawn mixed with water to clean greasy counters or stove tops.
17. Buy an extra toothbrush
For all those hard to reach places that need an extra scrub. Toothbrushes are great for getting tile and grout clean.
18. Clean your faucet hard water build up
By placing the faucet or shower head in a bag of plain white vinegar. Then scrub and rinse clean.
19. Get rid of fridge odors quickly
Let’s face it we wipe the fridge shelves down and clean up the messes but sometimes there is still odors that appear. Get rid of the odors quickly with a small jar of baking soda containing a few drops of essential oil. Place this jar in the back of your fridge and it will help keep the odors at bay.
20. Simply clean shower curtain
No more scrubbing the shower curtain or replacing it every so many showers. Simply toss your cloth shower curtain into the washing machine and hang it back up to dry.
21. Keep your eye in the prize
Spring cleaning your whole home can be a big task. Keep your eye on the prize. Break the jobs down. Get your family involved. Implement some of our time saving hacks.
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Updated June 9, 2021
