Cleaning the house! Ohh… I really don’t like it!
Deep inside I think that having a clean house without a lot of work was my initial motivation to become a minimalist. It’s not that I am lazy (well, sometimes I am) but I prefer to spend my free time with friends or doing something that I enjoy rather than ironing my shirts…
Through my minimalist journey though, I became good at this (mostly, searching for “lifehacks” online). Let’s see some tips that I think you would find useful
- Get the edge of a dustpan wet, and all the dust won’t fly out
- If you are painting around windows, put wet strips of newspaper in the edges of the glass, then peel it right off
- For getting candle-wax off from the carpets, put a paper towel over the waxy place, press with a warm iron, and it soaks right up. Might have to do it a couple of times. If the wax dripped onto the holder, put it in the freezer, and the wax-strands will fall right off.
- Hotel maid trick that my mom taught me: To make glass things sparkle, put a little “Pledge” on it, and then buff.
- When citrus fruits are about to go off, cut them up, and boil them in a pot with some cloves. When that’s done, put them down the garbage disposal, as it cleans the blades … and keeps smelling nice. Ice cubes clean the blades, too.
- If your broom bristles are all crazy at the ends, put a big rubber band around close to the bottom, and it will last a while longer.
- When storing Christmas china and suchlike, put a good paper plate between each plate.
- To find the middle of the sheet when you’re making a bed, put a little safety pin at the top and the middle.
- Cleaning silk flowers: Run a little warm water and dish soap in the sink or bathtub (bathtub is better). Poke the flower into the water, and swish it around. Twirl it to shake off the water, and lay it on a towel. You’d be surprised how much dirt is in the bottom of the tub.
- If you run out of clothes detergent and your things aren’t super-dirty, throw in a little bottle of hotel shampoo. Just take off the cap, and throw it in. (Don’t let it go into the DRYER!)
- For a white porcelain sink, line it with paper towels, gently pour on some bleach, and wait. It will be great, and you just peel off the towels and throw it away.
- To bleach cups that are stained from tea or coffee, just fill it with buttermilk, and it bleaches right out.
- To get to the bottom of a “Windex” (or whatever) bottle, throw in a couple of marbles to raise the level of the liquid.
- To clean a copper-bottomed pan … Spread catsup over the copper part, wait, and then wash it in the sink with a little baking soda.
- If you have a carpet cleaner, and the carpet just needs a little touch-up, use cheap shampoo instead of the expensive cleaning solution.
- Put your silver things in an aluminum pot on the stove, or line a pot with foil. Drop-in a dash of baking soda, and simmer it for a few minutes. Absolutely will de-tarnishize something. Wash it, and then dry it as if you are polishing.
- If you’re having a summer pool-party, freeze giant ice cubes in loaf pans, “I can’t believe it’s not butter” pots, and cake pans.