C’mon, Cat People! Listen Up, Dog Lovers! Clean-Up Hacks You Need to Know

Written by

Brittney Morgan
Brittney Morgan
Brittney is Apartment Therapy's Assistant Lifestyle Editor and an avid tweeter with a passion for carbs and lipstick. She believes in mermaids and owns way too many throw pillows.
updated May 3, 2019
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(Image credit: Lana Kenney)

You love your pet more than anything else in the world, but let’s face it—your favorite furry friends can make quite the mess in your home. Between weird smells, stubborn stains, and shedding hair everywhere, cleaning up after your four-legged best friends can feel kind of impossible sometimes. You can live cleanly and peacefully with your pets, it’s just a matter of having the right products in your cleaning arsenal and the right tricks up your sleeve.

A pumice stone is about to be your carpet’s new BFF

If your carpet is full of stubborn pet hair that just won’t budge no matter how much you vacuum, you can use a pumice stone—yep, your go-to pedicure tool is about to come in even handier—to lift the hair by gently scraping it along the surface.

Rubber kitchen gloves can save your furniture from hair

Is your vacuum not cutting it with your upholstered furniture, either? Dampen a rubber kitchen glove and run your hand over the surface—you should notice hair coming up and sticking to it. Rinse off the glove when it’s covered in hair, then continue if there’s still more to catch.

Add baking soda to your kitty litter to keep smells at bay

To prevent a stinky litter box smells, add a layer of baking soda to the bottom of the litter box before you put new litter on top—it’ll help absorb odors but won’t bother your cat.

(Image credit: Emily Billings)

Use essential oils to keep cats off your clean counters

If your cats are always trying to climb all over your kitchen counters, you can deter them with a mixture of essential oils. citronella, lavender, peppermint, lemongrass and orange oils are all scents that cats don’t like, so mix one part essential oil with three parts water, and spray on surfaces you’d rather your furry feline not take over.

Heat up coffee beans to fight pet odors

That’s right, your favorite caffeinated beverage can help you keep your home free of pet smells. Heat a cup of freshly ground coffee beans in a cast iron skillet on low heat, and then set them on a trivet in whatever rooms of your home smell and let them cool down, absorbing all those icky smells.

Keep a lint roller by your door for easy fur removal

If you don’t already have a lint roller handy for those moments when your favorite black pants are covered in pet hair, get one ASAP—and keep it by your door, so you can quickly spot de-hair your clothes before you leave.