Roundup: 10 Apartment Therapy Cleaning Tips

From our favorite cleaning products to tricks, tips and how-to's, and inspiration for the person who hates to clean, Apartment Therapy covers this territory with great zeal from city to city. We've pulled 10 of our favorite tips and bit of cleaning advice from across the board -- whether you're working on a crystal chandelier, removing glue from glass bottles, recovering from a massive house party or getting a stain out of your wool rug:

(Image: The Day After An Inconvenient Truth)

Comments (11)

I wouldn't be smiling if I had to iron my clothes.

posted by david @ justveggingout.com on May 7th 2009 at 1:54pm
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Not just ironing. Ironing with a *flat* iron! Not just sewing. Darning socks! I bet most of you haven't ever seen anyone darning socks. Or sprinkling clothes.

posted by JoanneM on May 7th 2009 at 2:09pm
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You do see people sprinkling clothes if you are doing good old linen napkins and tablecloths, even w/ today's steam irons as linens tend to iron really well when damp - and yet done right can look almost like they'd been startched .

I know as my Mom still does iron stuff like that and enjoys it too.

posted by ciddyguy on May 7th 2009 at 2:22pm
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Love the illustration...

...and ironing is kinda cathartic - bringing order (smoothness) to chaos (wrinkles). If you don't enjoy ironing, it's probably in large part due to not having a quality iron that makes the job fast and easy.

posted by bepsf on May 7th 2009 at 3:36pm
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bepsf -- you are so right about having the right tools. It's as true with ironing and pressing as it is with any job.
Can you tell I have several irons and a press? My wishlist includes a mangle and/or a LauraStar. (Now what does that say about me? ? ?)

posted by MaeEast on May 7th 2009 at 4:28pm
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How about if you live in a horribly hot climate? Can I hate ironing?

posted by whytephoenix on May 7th 2009 at 4:48pm
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I don't mind ironing....I just hate getting out the board and setting everything up. I think if I had a laundry room with it set up all the time I would iron more.

posted by baileyb on May 7th 2009 at 6:16pm
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I hate ironing. so I don't ;-) I avoid it as much as I can... and it works pretty good for me. I make sure to hang things carefully, and I don't care if the clothes are not perfectly flat (but not wrinkled, just out of a dryer). far from perfect - but it helps me avoid something I hate ;-)

posted by Offtza on May 7th 2009 at 8:08pm
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I darn socks !
Surely people don't throw things away if their children snag them on a nail ????

posted by parfait amour on May 8th 2009 at 6:51am
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HAAAATE ironing, will not buy clothes if it looks like it needs ironing and if it does I will put it next to the shower so it gets steamed.

I still don't get why people enjoy cleaning, ironing etc... I do it because it has to be done, but I have no satisfaction afterwards, unlike some of my friends.

posted by Cyb on May 8th 2009 at 7:47am
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I darn socks, too!! My knee socks are expensive (to me, at least) at 6-8 bucks a pair, and usually the toe is the only part that is showing wear. It'd be a total waste to throw them out!

I think most pple over-estimate the difficulty and/or tedium of darning socks. Its a good mindless task to do while watching TV and requires absolutely NO skill.

Darn your socks, people!! :)

posted by Caroline79 on August 31st 2009 at 9:32pm
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