People Are Sharing the Hacks That “Changed Their Cleaning Game”
Having a clean and tidy home can certainly spark joy. But if the idea of tackling dust bunnies and mountains of dishes is feeling a little less than joyful, never fear: There are plenty of methods and tricks out there to help get your cleaning routine back on track. One hack? Turn to Reddit to see how people “changed their cleaning game” — you may just pick up a new tip or two.
In a thread in r/Cleaning Tips, Redditor Icy_Hedgehogs asked users to share their go-to tips and tricks that changed their cleaning game for good, and many of the responses are pretty incredible. Read below for seven cleaning hacks you should implement now.
1. See the room from your company’s perspective.
Want to know what your friends and family see? Take a moment to see the room from their perspective. Before any company comes over, sit where they’ll be sitting so you can see what needs to be cleaned. User Asleep_Advisor1235 says, “You’d be amazed at all of the little things you notice!”
HattieMac concurs and even takes it one step further, stating succinctly, “Start from where a guest would walk in.” Meanwhile, doodlekatsnap and ellsiejay urge thinking about what taller people might see, too. Don’t neglect the top of your fridge or the dust that may have acquired along your bathroom door.
2. Invest in a good robot vacuum.
Don’t have the time or energy to walk around with a vacuum cleaner? Sit back and let a robot vacuum get the job done for you. So many users sang the praises of this handy cleaning tool, like cocokatta, who says, “I keep so much more of the house clear for it.” It actually was how this whole thread got started by Icy_Hedgehogs in the first place, who says they use it to combat debris that gets stuck on socks — and they liked it so much, they even bought taller legs for the couch so the vacuum could easily get under there, too.
Plus, because it’s on the louder side, they started reading for about 40 minutes every night “while it was whizzing around.” User BronAmie recommends investing in a more expensive model like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, about which they succinctly say, “It was expensive for me but worth the money.”
3. Steam clean.
If there’s grease and grime caked onto multiple areas of your house, you may find yourself wanting to invest in a steam cleaner. “In less than an hour I had completely clean windows,” says user JungleOutHere of their first experience with one, who recommends it for everything from the stove and countertops to “all the hidden corners of the bathroom.” User Nixthebitx points out that a steam mop can reach high places, while a detachable top with multiple attachments helps scrub grout and sinks.
4. Get cleaning products that smell good.
Let’s face it — no one wants to clean with stinky products that leave the house smelling nastier than it did before you even cleaned. Make cleaning that much more enjoyable by investing in cleaning products that smell as good as they’ll make your home look. User KeiylaPolly says that with this method, “I found myself cleaning more just so the house would smell so good!”
5. Wear well-fitting gloves while doing the dishes.
Whether you don’t have a dishwasher or you just have some items that need to be hand-washed, there’s usually at least a little time spent at the kitchen sink. Because I always wear rubber gloves to do the dishes, I completely agree with this cleaning hack from user ferociouswhimper, who recommends finding an extra-long pair that fits well for dishwashing time.
“I have always hated doing dishes and I tried to figure out how I could make it less miserable for myself,” they say. “I realized I hate having my hands in the water and my wrists and arms wet, and normal dish gloves would slide down and I’d wind up with wet shirtsleeves and water inside the gloves. Since getting better gloves, I don’t dread washing dishes so much, and I find that I do dishes more frequently so they’re not piling up.”
6. Create a digital to-do list with the Tody app.
Feeling overwhelmed by all of your different chores and areas to clean? Just breathe, take it one step at a time … and download the Tody app for good measure, recommends user CrewFluffy3843, who says “it game-ifies cleaning.” The app helps you make housekeeping more manageable by breaking down cleaning tasks room by room, and even helps you schedule them out during the week, month, or season.
CrewFluffy3843 recommends it for everything from cleaning the stovetop and microwave each week to wiping cupboards once a month. User alliquay, who uses Tody, too, says it “literally turned my house around!” Writer Barbara Bellesi Zito, who reviewed Tody for Apartment Therapy, called the app a “game-changer” and said “a little bit of work at a time adds up to a lot.”
7. Split up the chores you hate.
Whether you hate cleaning the bathroom or despise taking out the trash, there’s typically at least one chore that just keeps sitting on the to-do list. Why not break them up into different days so you don’t feel overwhelmed? User purelyamuse does this for the bathroom, splitting up the cleaning tasks into multiple days. “I absolutely hate cleaning bathrooms [and] showers so I’d procrastinate until it was gross,” they say. “Now, I simply split up bathroom cleaning tasks to one a day until it’s clean.”
They recommend cleaning the mirror on day one, the countertop and sink on day two, the toilet on day three, and the shower wall on day four. “You’d think it wouldn’t look clean after all those cleaning days, but it does, and it made a huge difference in my willingness to start cleaning the bathroom,” they rave.
Further Reading
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