17 cleaning tricks for hard-to-clean household objects

What you’ll need: Rubber bands

Stretch a rubber band around a wineglass and over the spokes of the dishwasher rack to keep the glass from moving around and breaking during the wash cycle.

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If you have a bucket or a large watering container that won’t fit under the faucet, place a dustpan with a hollow handle beneath the stream of water to redirect it into the larger vessel on the floor in front of the sink. Avoid these other cleaning mistakes that make your home dirtier.

What you’ll need: Dustpan

If you use this tool to crush spices as well as coffee beans, process a handful of hard breakfast cereal such as Cheerios in the appliance for 30 seconds. This will remove any smells from the machine before you brew your next cup.

Try vertical stacking: Place folded shirts vertically into drawers to make it easy to see and reach what you need.

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Want to clean the blades of your ceiling fan without raining dust down on your furniture? Take a pillowcase and slide it over each blade. Press down and slide the pillowcase back off; it’ll take all the dust with it.

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What you’ll need: Cleaning toothbrush

Use a cleaning toothbrush to scrub down the coils of your pop-up toaster with clean water. Make sure it’s unplugged first, of course! Take out the crumb tray and stick a paper towel underneath the toaster so that crumbs don’t get out of control.

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What you’ll need: Baking soda

Make sure you’re vacuuming your mattress every time you rotate it. But did you know that baking soda can banish sweaty mattress odours? Put some baking soda in a sifter and shake it over the mattress. Let it sit for a half an hour and then break out the dustbuster to vacuum it up. To make it smell extra-good, mix in a drop or two of essential oil with the baking soda before you sift. Follow these steps to spring clean your whole house in one day.

Throwing your plastic curtain liner in the wash is all well and good, but that won’t banish mildew for good. TipHero recommends adding a cup of vinegar to the washing machine, and only using half the recommended amount of detergent. After that, throw the liner into the bathtub itself, fill the bath with enough water to cover the liner, and add a cup of salt. Soak it for three hours. The salt helps the liner build up a layer of resistance against mildew.

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 Source: RD.com