i always keep Mr. Clean Erasers on hand to tackle any job. From wall smudges to cleaning tile, they are the first cleaning tool i grab from under the sink.

Vinegar and more vinegar...windows (half n half, buffed w/newspapers for no streaking), absorbs odors everywhere when left out in bowls or sprayed on surfaces, in the rinse water to eliminate hard water deposits (hair, too; and through the coffee maker and washing machine) and just about anywhere there's sticky crud. Flour for stainless steel shine (thanks, AT).

Use vinegar to eliminate fungus instead of unhealthy chlorine.

i had the suprising experience that water alone applied with a sponge left a streak free shine on my bathroom mirror. who knew?

Prevention :) We just installed new carpet, so for a while we will be taking our shoes off!

I use baking soda for anything that needs a good scrubbing. It's great on counters and sinks. And I LOVE microfiber cloths for dusting!

I think we have WAY too many cleaning products. Madison Avenue seeks to convince us that we need a separate product for every single task -- and that's simply not true.

My favorite multi-purpose cleaner is liquid dish detergent -- the sort you use for hand-washing dishes. I buy the grease-cutting sort and it's amazingly effective on many surfaces and sorts of dirt.

For instance, it's the BEST thing for bathtubs and showers. The gunk on your tub is, after all, mostly grease -- body oils and soap (which is made from grease). So get the tub wet, use a scrubby sponge and a little dish detergent to lather it up, let it sit for a few minutes, scrub off any remaining ring, and voila! Your tub is squeaky clean. It works much better than any of the expensive products I've tried especially designed for cleaning tubs.

I love all method products......my must haves are:

All Surface (cucumber scent)

Tub 'N Tile Cleaner (eucalptus mint scent)

The scents make cleaning enjoyable......spa like:)!

I'm hooked on the shark steam mop. Once I managed to steam off all the goop that was built up on my floors (didn't even realize there was a film until after I steam mopped) my floors now stay cleaner longer. I now realize that mopping with cleansers left my floors with a build-up that attracted dirt and grime. Now I just steam and its awesome.

I also use just plain dish washing liquid to clean my mirrors and windows for a streak free look.

A cleaning lady.

Somewhere on AT I once saw a recipe for a vodka "linen spray" that I promptly made and have been using for months as a shower freshener/anti-mildew agent. I just spray everything when I get out of the shower...it leaves little scent (except for the lavender oil I added to the bottle) and keeps everything fresh and clean.

THanks, labchick. I was curious whether the Shark steamer is good or a scam. Appreciate your feedback!

Regular toothpaste. I use it to remove stubborn marks from any hard surface.

I first discovered it when I had a dark mark on my white Eames RAR. I didn't want to use anything abrasive so my mum suggested toothpaste. The mark came off in seconds.

microfiber towels // the lifting/wicking power alone helps you avoid a lot of chemicals. you can get them in a large pack at costco or sams. we use them every day and it has reduced paper towel usage dramatically. they're much more absorbent than cotton and kind on shiny surfaces -- in fact, i use them daily to wipe my glasses after a spritz with water, iso-alcohol and a drop of soap. the downside is that you can't bleach them (ideally) and must wash them on their own as the color leaches (badly).

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers clean almost EVERYTHING. They even clean sharpie marks. The one thing I can't get them to clean is hard water stains in the toilet.

Greased Lightening and an old rag for everything else.

lal: for hard water stains in the toilet, I have had great success with Vim. You know, the oven cleaner. It's the only thing that's really worked for me. However, I don't use it every time I clean because the fumes lead me to believe something in there is highly toxic.

I use olive oil to give my stainless steel appliances a nice even shine. Just buff it out with a dry cloth.

Ditto on the Mr. Clean Erasers. They are great for smudges on walls and doors and switch-plates. Also good for stains on melamine or laminate counter tops

I use the Hoover FloorMate for when it's time to clean (not just sweep) our hardwood floors. It dry-vacuums, cleans with hot water and scrubbers, and then vacuums up any residual moisture. I really really love this product, even more than the Shark steamer mentioned above (which is fabulous for steaming the creases out of drapes!!).

We have a housekeeper in every two weeks for showers / toilets, etc. Not everyone can afford this luxury, but either way, DO clean the bathroom every two weeks. Maintenance makes this a very easy cleaning job.

We're a fan of Method cleaning supplies, especially the scrub stuff. I use it for sinks, showers, toilets.

SimpleGreen is also a great "green" cleaner when you need a tough grease cutter.

If you prefer traditional cleaning supplies, do read the product labels -- you'd be surprised how many rely on the same cleaning agent, meaning, one product will clean most surfaces. You don't really need a different bottle for every object in every room of the house.

Ugh, I'm in the middle of a cleaning dilemma personally.

I have craptacular old windows that don't hinge open for cleaning, and I live several stories up in a building with no outdoor hose connection. Aside from hiring someone to do it, I'm a loss at how to clean the outside of the windows, and maaaan do they need it.

The suggestions above are all great, but for a post-move-out clean, I agree with the cleaning lady option. You can hire an agency to do a move-out clean. It's cost me about $120. I do a pretty good job of cleaning my home regularly, but for the move out, get-my-security-deposit back thing, I'd rather leave the agency to do the deep, deep clean that'll satisfy the landlords.

While they clean, I go to the store and get those under-burner thingies- I learned the hard way to replace those myself. I also get the spackle to take care of nail holes.

I like to have the moving truck come the morning before I move out. In the afternoon, I have the cleaning. The next morning, all I have to do is deflate the air mattress, pack the car with the travel stuff, and do the run through with the landlords.

Even if I am moving town-to-town, I still do this. I've sent the hubby ahead to meet the truck, or gone with the truck and returned to clean later, but the concept stays.

It's VERY different from the typical living-in clean. For living-in cleaning, the above ideas are all great- esp the vodka one!

I have to add another vote for microfiber cloths, those things are great! You do have to wash them seperately from the other laundry, though, or they will pick up tons of lint. They do a particularly good job on fingerprint-y brushed stainless steel, always a problematic thing to clean.

Citra Solv is another great product, used undiluted it is twice as powerful as Goo Gone, diluted it makes a great all-purpose cleaning solution, I add Hydrogen Peroxide to the spray bottle so it disinfects, too.

"buy new cleaning products". Why? Just used basic products found in your pantry. Vinegar. Lemons. Baking soda. Castille soap and such. These are just a few of many things you can make.

Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner
http://sheenalashay.com/2010/04/homemade-natural-toilet-bowl-cleaner/

Homemade Tub and Tile Cleaner
http://sheenalashay.com/2010/03/homemade-tub-and-tile-cleaner/

Homemade Wood Floor Cleaner
http://sheenalashay.com/2010/03/homemade-wood-floor-cleaner/

I did spring clean my bathroom and have now moved on to my office and my closet. http://sheenalashay.com/2010/03/spring-cleaning-the-bathroom/

I obsessively use microfibre cloths for practically everything. I've always just chucked them in the wash with other non-delicate things like towels, undies, jeans... Sometimes they pick up lint but who cares? You can just brush it off once they're dry anyway, or live with it - it doesn't affect their absorbent qualities, or their ability to pick up dust and scrub off grime.

Vinegar for mirrors, windows, hair rinse (apple cider)...

Also vinegar as a laundry softener, and a few drops of lavender and tea-tree oils in with the powder. And being in Australia where we don't consider dryers an absolute essential on par with the fridge, I line-dry everything which acts as a second cleaning job and makes it all smell nice.

Lock everything that's really personal into the trunk of your car and then give your mom the keys to your apartment for the day.

@ rosie: (re: microfibers in the wash).

we've found that the ones we use (from costco/sams) leech color even after a dozen washings. ask me how i know ;) ...

so the wash-separately isn't as much for their sake as the sake of, say, all of your now-yellow underwear.

Microfiber! I just throw them in the regular wash with no problem. Perhaps Costco isn't the best place to buy them... (but then again, I live in Germany where they are much more common and perhaps made slightly differently.)

Borax 20 Mule Team for almost everything - non toxic

For kitchen counters I mix some with hot water in a spray bottle and add just a dab of dish soap..it cleans the oven like magic, cleans the fridge and really is an excellent deodorizer really takes any lingering odor AWAY! I use it to clean pots and pans, just a tablespoon and a soak it takes an burnt or grease off right away.

Great for stains, I add some to Method Laundry soap to get stains out and wash my dog's beds and use to wash and keep my whites white.

I use it to clean the bathroom, make my tub and sink, tile sparkle. I even soak my hair brushes and make up brushes in Borax with hot water.

Before a dinner party I wash my china with Borax it make the plates sparkle.

Howard"s Orange oil on my wood furniture- Non Toxic

Method wood floor cleaner- in Almond which smells amazing.

Vinegar and water for mirror, glass and window.

Love the ideas above! I will have to try alternatives to my mom's suggestion of WD-40 on stainless...I don't want headaches for a month ever again.

My addiction in cleaning: I am obsessed with Cameo for stainless steel sinks. When we moved in, someone had used our sink as a cutting board and it was scratched really bad. Over time Cameo and a Scotch-Brite pad have done the trick. They're almost gone. I'll revert to just Cameo and a sponge when they're gone.

Also love microfibers. I think I have about twelve haha. I've picked them up at Big Lots and dollar stores, no laundry problems ever. I just toss them in with my rags generally, though, so it wouldn't matter if I had problems with them anyways.

Can't wait to see more suggestions. I'm trying to go more natural with my cleaning. What do you use castile soap for? I have some Dr. Bronner's and haven't figured out how I want to use it. Any suggestions?

I'm serious with the cleaning lady thing. Hire her/him to work with you. Be honest and upfront that you want to learn how to be efficient.
I have (used to have) a problem with staying on track. Finding myself lost in a closet and suddenly realize that my day was lost and still had dust kitties under my bed.

@ mjs7640 Lol. They may just be easier.

Magic erasers are a mom's best friend! Bar Keepers Friend for stainless steel pots & pans & sink, white vinegar & microfiber cloths will clean almost everything. I also wash my microfiber cloth with the regular laundry but I do put them in a lingerie bag to help cut down on lint. Mine are mostly Dollar Store buys & the colors have never bled. Besides just using them as cleaning cloths I also use them instead of swiffer or wet jet refills.

I live in Hawaii where not taking your shoes off before walking into a home is pretty much taboo. Walking in barefoot keeps the house amazingly clean because barely any outside dirt makes it in. Everyone should try this!

amazingly, I am the first to mention club soda as a miracle cleaner. I use it to clean windows, steel appliances, chrome fixtures, the glass stovetop, small-kid-height smudges on walls, and the white leather upholstery.

What soda does not remove, vodka does, like ball-point pen and even sharpie from that same white sofa.

No, I don't do all my shopping at the liquor store :)

Also, I use old cloth diapers as a cleaning/polishing rag, thanks kids for growing out of them!

Baking soda, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, microfiber cleaning cloths and Mr. Clean Magic erasers. You would not BELIEVE what a paste of baking soda and water did to the nasty grout on my kitchen floor. It looks like new...seriously, my husband thought I'd regrouted!
Same paste also removed the rust stains from my stainless steel dishwasher and left it perfectly polished.
Those Magic Erasers scrubbed off the dried grout the previous owner's bad instal job had left all over the tiles when every tile guy I contacted said they'd need a muratic acid solution (nasty stuff!). I begin to wonder if they aren't indeed magical!

@designdittoes, I put about 2Tbsp of Dr. Bronners in a spray-bottle with water to clean surfaces. I put the same amount with water in the the liquid hand soap dispenser to wash hands. I will use about 1 Tbsp in the mop bucket. I have a friend who uses the same solution for dishes. I don't use the Dr. Bronners for mirrors and glass, just Vinegar and water. If I need an abrasive, I go for the bon Ami, baking soda, or steel wool.

Vinegar and baking soda!! For the windows, I've discovered the magic of a small capfull of ammonia in a bucket of hot water. Buff with scrunched up newspaper... My windows have NEVER been so clean!

I'm also FIRMLY in the vinegar/baking soda camp. All odors neutralized and everything is clean/clean/clean.

We just bought our first house, a bit of a fixer upper to say the least. I am fairly sure that it hadn't been cleaned in 10 years and it was smoked in for 4 years, heavily. Some of the best cleaning things I have found is T.S.P for cleaning the walls before painting, I found that it also worked well on mostly anything else that was greasy. Also, Spray 9. Not exactly all natural or particularly great for the environment I don't think, but that stuff cleaned things that I thought would have be thrown away because they were so gross. Glass, metal, bathroom fixtures and more. The handrails along the stairs to the basement were black when we moved in. I honestly thought they had been painted that color. Nope, it was years and years of hand grease and dirt build up. My hand rails look like new now!