Not only is finding time to maintain your household a struggle but finding quick cleaning hacks that are also affordable is a whole other issue to tackle. What we often don’t consider with cleaning our homes is how much it can cost to keep them clean.
That’s why we scoured the internet to find these easy, quick and cheap cleaning hacks that require things you probably have at home. You might as well start putting them to use!
Here are 16 cheap and easy ways to clean your home using everyday household items. You can thank us later.
1. Dryer Sheets – These little multi-purpose miracles aren’t just for making your laundry smell good. Try using a dryer sheet to buff out water spots or wipe your baseboards clean.
Shutterstock | digitalreflections
2. Vinegar – Remove bacteria on produce by creating a spray bottle concoction of 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water and spraying your fruits and veggies before rinsing them. Believe it or not, this is also the perfect mixture for cleaning your toilet! Pour some vinegar onto paper towels and put them along the edges of the toilet bowl, letting them sit for a couple hours.
Instagram3. Lemons – Lemons have multiple purposes including an easy way to clean your cutting board (add a little kosher salt) and keeping that garbage disposal smelling fresh (try making lemon ice cubes).
Shutterstock | Robert Przybysz
4. Baking Soda – Sprinkle baking soda on your couch and let it sit before vacuuming up the mess. Add carpet cleaner for those really tough stains.
Shutterstock | focal point
5. Razors – Paint stains on your wool or denim clothes? Try scraping away at it with a disposable razor (preferably an old or dull one).
Shutterstock | Michelle Lee Photography
6. Socks – Remember that vinegar concoction we just told you about? Pour some onto an old sock and voila! Now you have a hard-surface cleaner.
Shutterstock | Seksun Guntanid7. Duct Tape – Too lazy to take out the vacuum? Use a piece of tape to pick up small crumbs that don’t warrant the extra hassle!
Shutterstock | Suslik1983
8. Aluminum Foil – Use just enough aluminum foil to line your toaster tray. After you cook something on it, throw away and repeat. No need to clean that tray if it isn’t getting dirty!
Shutterstock | ALPA PROD
9. Liquid Shower Gel – A quick fix for that soap scum in your bathtub or shower, shower gel contains fats and oils specifically formulated to prevent buildup.
Shutterstock | nikkytok
10. Soap and Water – Aside from all the usual things soap and water help us accomplish, another (somewhat lazy) way to make sure your blender is squeaky clean is to add some soap and water and just press blend.
Shutterstock | S_Photo11. Dish Soap – Grab some of that dish soap and pour it into a bowl of water. Add your combs and hairbrushes into the bowl to clean out that product buildup.
Shutterstock | Tinatin
12. Fuzzy socks – Have a pair of fuzzy socks you wouldn’t be caught dead in, or maybe you lost the matching pair? Put those socks to good use and make a Swiffer pad out of them! Instead of buying expensive refills at the store, you can just wash the sock and continue to use it.
WikiHow
13. Clothes Iron – Use some ammonia and the heat from your clothes iron to remove those unwanted carpet stains.
Shutterstock | namtipStudio
14. Salt – There’s nothing worse than an oil-splattered kitchen. If you want to prevent that extra clean up, sprinkle a little bit of salt in the pan before frying!
Shutterstock | Artit Wongpradu15. The Microwave – Worried your sponge is looking a little gunky or has a funny smell? Just throw the sponges in your microwave, “cook” for 2 minutes and voila! 99% of all the germs on that questionable sponge are gone.
Shutterstock | Africa Studio
16. Ammonia – If you have grimy gas burners that take forever to clean, throw your burners in a bag with ¼ of ammonia and let it sit overnight. Remove burners from the bag and wipe clean.
Shutterstock | Maderla
