Cleaning

Although cleaning your driveways seems like something painful, it’s like most things and needs routine maintenance. It’s easy to forget about, but will be quickly remembered when you have to fork over the cashola to have a new one poured. Click through the jump to learn 8 essential driveway cleaning tips that can save you great hassle down the road. Cleaning your driveways is something best done with regularity.

AT DC, I moved into an apartment with old bathtub stains that really gross me out. The former resident’s bathmat left dark stains on the bottom of the tub. I love taking baths but wouldn’t be able to relax with those icky stains. I’ve tried various bathroom cleaners and none have gotten rid of the stains. Any ideas? I really miss my bath time!

In our apartment building there are 15 units with roughly 40 people in them. On the main floor there are 2 washers and 1 dryer for everyone to share. Needless to say, laundry is always running around our place (even at 6am, which we have found to be the best time to do ours!) and because of it, there are a few tricks and tips we have picked up to insure our laundry turns out clean and timely. Before heading downstairs to run a load of laundry we always fill our Downy Ball with a bit of vinegar.

We were going on day six (no, that’s not a typo!) of living with the horrific lingering smell of burnt popcorn. The usual drills of opening the windows, spraying air freshener, and lighting candles seemed to have little lasting effect, so it came time to do some research. Here’s a roundup of the helpful tried and true advice that restored our home’s air quality to breezy good health… 1. Vinegar.

Last year we purchased a sectional sofa with clean lines and best of all, removable and washable upholstery. Even though the tag said it was ok to do so, we were still shy about using our washer to get things clean. Curiosity won in the end, so we tossed them in — said a silent prayer — and hit start! We originally purchased our ridiculously large sofa (over 15 feet total!) from a dealer in KC, just before the holiday season last year.

We reuse jars and bottles everywhere in the home – to store bulk grains, dish soap, buttons, nails, you name it. Removing the sticky labels and any odors (most often from foods like tomatoes, pickles, and garlic) from the jars is a mundane yet satisfying task. Here’s how we do it.MaterialsHot waterDish soapSponge or steel woolVegetable oil or peanut butter (optional)Sunshine (optional)Vinegar (optional)Baking soda (optional) ToolsHair dryer (optional) To remove labels1.

Did you know your bathroom sponges, loofahs and poufs can be a serious breeding ground for some nasty bacteria and germs? It seems silly since we soap them up and rinse them clean, but we recently learned they should be tossed out far before you see any wear and tear. We were shocked at how short their lifespan really is!

Inspired by the this Recycled Wine Bottle Torch post and annoyed by mosquitoes this week (how is it that they’re already out and there’s been only a few weeks of spring?), we hit up the hardware store and threw together a $3.48 recycled wine bottle torch filled with citronella. While it’s not as classy as the real thing (nor as safe), it keeps the bugs at bay and looks pretty good. And it was quick and cheap.

Often times once we’ve gone to the trouble of buying flowers and arranging them in a beautiful vase, we’ll let them die there, becoming a different kind of bouquet. The only issue is that this can often mean that our vase has a residue left inside that can be hard to clean.The same goes for vintage glass containers we find in thrift stores that have residue or mineral deposits left behind. Here are our go-to ways for making them sparkle.1. Salt and Vinegar.

Q: As a student in interior design I was taught to use naphtha for cleaning antiques. Now I am more concerned about being green. What is best?Sent by BrendaEditor: Here’s what our friends at Green Home Guide say.Answered by Jennifer Davidson, J. Davidson Design & Consulting Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the metal surface you want to clean.

For as nice as fabric softener can make your clothes smell, it turns out that sometimes, they're not so great for the environment, or your skin.

I am a quilt hoarder. No matter the style, if the price is right it’s coming home with me. I’ve never paid more than $50 for a quilt (but only because of budget restraints, believe me, I know the more expensive ones are worth every penny!), so this means that I’m often purchasing them from yard sales or thrift shops. And this means its imperative they get a good cleaning before taking up residence in the blanket closet.

Moldy shoes. I know… scary stuff. I can understand how your first thought might be “Quick! Throw them out!” But fear not; if you are a fellow humid climate dweller who has faced this situation and shamefacedly thrown out pair after pair of otherwise perfectly good shoes. I have the solution! It’s quick, it’s easy, and you more than likely already have everything you need. You don’t need any harsh cleaners.

In a perfect world we would all have furniture made from 100% sustainably sourced materials and press board or particle board would be a thing of the past. But here in the real world that’s not always the case. We find pieces at thrift stores and auctions, rescue them and bring them home. We clean them up and have big plans for painting or making them over and then we see it, or rather smell it. Yes, that’s right: mouse pee.

With winter well behind us in most parts, it is once again time to stow away all those bulky blankets. Here is a dead simple tip on how to save loads of space with nothing but a vacuum, a garbage bag, and a rubber band!Bulky blankets, pillows, linens, clothing, you name it!Vacuum with a hoseGarbage bagRubber band 1.Fold the blanket, winter coat or whathaveyou. Stack several on top of each other if desired.2.Place the folded material into the garbage bag.3.

If any of you set off fireworks on the sidewalk or driveway (if you have one) last night, you might wake up this morning to black powder and sulfur stains marring the concrete. Want to rid any concrete surface of them?

A few years ago I was hosting some friends when the spill of all spills happened. The one you nervously laugh about when purchasing anything white. Yep, the dreaded red wine spill, on a white wool rug, because really, what fun is a red wine spill unless it happens on something white? But my friend was quick on the draw. She ran to the kitchen and returned with salt, club soda, and a dish towel. By the next morning the stain was gone.

I’m the kind of DIY-er who imagines elaborate and wonderful furniture re-finishing ideas and is consistently too busy, lazy, or pre-occupied to execute them. But in desperate need of bedroom dressers I dropped $70 for a pair from craigslist that had good bones, but were grimy, scratched and in need of help.

Science is cool, right? Clean a slow drain with baking soda and vinegar, and it makes things smell better but it doesn’t do much for getting rid of the unwanted matter blocking your pipes. So instead try a little instant yeast. To which you say, I’m sorry, what?If your shower or bathroom sink is running a little slow, it’s been said you can pour two packets (or a few tablespoons) of instant yeast down your drain.

What's going on inside those wizard sticks?

I have long, dark hair and lots of it. You’d know this if you went into my home even if you’d never met me because it is everywhere. Whether the hair in your home is your own or belongs to your pet, dealing with shedding hair is a challenge. Here, some tips on how to deal with it!Dust with a dryer sheet: Yet another use for the all-purpose dryer sheet! They’re a magnet for hair (the used ones work just as well as the new ones) plus they leave behind a fresh scent.

Is it possible to find a laundry hamper that’s cheap, sturdy, and so stylish that it makes you feel like Jean Seberg in 1960s Paris? No, it isn’t. That’s why you’ll have to make your own. This vintage inspired design cost around $20 to make and is perfect for holding all your Breton stripe shirts.

Even though you rarely see the top of your kitchen cabinets, that doesn’t mean they aren’t busy getting dusty and dirty. Grease, humidity and general kitchen use can make this a tricky and icky spot to clean. Forget the hassle and bust out a pantry staple to do the dirty work for you.At some point in time everyone has bought a roll of wax paper. Maybe you thought it was parchment paper, maybe you only bought it because your mom always had a roll and you thought you needed it.

Don’t knock it ’til you try it, the saying goes, and in this case it applies. While some of the things I’m suggesting might sound a bit nutty (and too meticulous) they’re tricks that work, and hey, isn’t that really the bottom line? Keep a marker in the freezer: If you’re the type of person who cooks a lot and freezes the leftovers, or someone who likes to buy in bulk, keeping a marker in the freezer might mean the difference between “what is this?

With the season of flea markets and antique fairs now upon us, I’m prepping for the summer influx of secondhand furniture finds and putting together the ultimate used furniture cleaning kit. With most of these household items already in your kitchen, you’ll be ready to get any grimy piece sparkling in no time.  Baking soda. Mixed with water, baking soda forms a paste that polishes silver, lifts coffee and tea stains from ceramic and porcelain, and removes mildew and grime.

Is this the secret to chemical-free mold cleaning? I just had a root canal, which absolutely was not much fun, but it did gave me a few hours of recouperating time during which I discovered a new-to-me show from Australia on Hulu Plus called Lush House. During the course of watching a few episodes, I learned that getting rid of mold might be easier and greener than I knew.The host of the show (and one of my new housekeeping heroes – she’s so calm and helpful!

Coming home from a long trip can be a welcome reprieve: you look forward to sleeping in your own bed, raiding the fridge, and cozying up in front of the TV. That is, until you arrive to an overstuffed mailbox, fruit flies, and a fridge full of semi-liqified produce (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything).

As I mentioned recently in a post about cleaning stuffed animals, my somewhat psycho-rigid side prevents me from having too much fun with things like grime and dirt in general. Imagine my badly faked smile when a couple of weeks ago, my kids giddily brought up a box full of 30-year-old LEGOS from my parents’ basement! This brought up a mind-numbing cycle: the inventory of all plastic toys needing to be cleaned in our house and how to do it. Well, turns out it’s not that complicated.

I was hoping to sink my teeth into a juicy duct cleaning debate (possibly including scandals!), but it seems that the experts are unanimous: unless you see insect or rodent droppings in your ducts, or if someone in your household is having mysterious illnesses and/or respiratory difficulties, duct cleaning is unnecessary…and in fact can do more harm than good. Scandal! Let’s start with the big guns: The Environmental Protection Agency.

Rebecca just showed us how to refresh our bathrooms, but let’s zero in on the shower for a minute. I’ll venture a guess that it’s the area that gets cleaned the least in all the bathroom. Here are five easy ways to have a sparkling shower all year long. Cover your shower faucet with bag of vinegar and secure with a rubber band. Leave it there overnight and you’ll have a clean shower head without all the scrubbing.

I don’t know about you, but my kids are not the type to sit and play quietly on their own while I tidy up the house. My oldest daughter (soon to be four) is my constant shadow – if I’m not sitting on the floor playing princess or barn with her she likes to get involved in whatever it is that I am doing. Whether it’s cooking, putting the baby down for a nap, or cleaning – she’s there too.

Keeping your home clean is less about being born naturally obsessed with cleaning and more about finding the schedule that works with the way you live in your home. Though there are a number of methods to keeping one’s house clean throughout the week and month (like cleaning a little bit everyday, for example), this is a plan you can follow to keep your house regularly clean without lifting a vacuum or mop on the weekdays. How?

A kids’ epidemiology book, its cover depicting an ominous microscope surrounded by an eerie sci-fi green haze, confirmed what my mother always told me: Wash your clothes before you wear them — or else. Or else what? Well, poisoning for starters. Seriously. In the medical mysteries book I read, a boy was slowly poisoned through his skin by his new jeans.

As we all probably know from experience at one time or another, it doesn’t take much for the kitchen to get away from you. Especially if you cook at home a lot, have a particularly small kitchen, or share the space with family or roommates; it’s a room that can definitely develop a mind of its own. Here are some of our best tips for reigning in the beast without becoming a slave to kitchen cleaning: Clean as you go. This is a big one that we had to include prominently in the title.

Paper is the bane of my existence — and probably yours, too. In preparing for tax season, I recently digitized a box of old receipts but also ended up clearing out a filing cabinet full of statements, warranties, and other papers that have sat forgotten for years, but looked like they could be important. When it comes to paper clutter, what should you keep and what’s safe to toss?

I’ve moved in and out of eight different rentals in the last nine years, which means I’ve done my fair share of post-move-out cleaning. The one task I always dread is cleaning the oven. I hate using toxic oven cleaner, yet it seems to be the only effective combatant against that hardened puddle of food crumbs, melted cheese, and pie juice from a year of careless cooking.

A warning before you read further: this post will make your skin itch. A good friend of mine aptly pointed out that bed bugs are like the adult version of head lice. I never had head lice as a child, and I never imagined that I would have bedbugs as an adult, until it happened to me. I had heard about the great bedbug epidemic in New York back in 2010, but my personal nightmare with bedbugs began last fall.

Usually the first sign you have a moth problem is when you pull out a sweater and discover it’s laced with tiny holes. Clothes moths are sneaky little pests. They like to lie low in dark corners, snacking on your best cashmere. They rarely take time out from feasting to flutter about your house, so before you start swatting at each and every moth you see, here is what you need to know. Tineola bisselliella and Tinea pellionella are the two most common types of clothes moths.

Last spring, I celebrated sundress weather with some huge, blotchy bites on my calves. San Francisco is known for its lack of mosquitoes, so I did the sensible thing and panicked: BEDBUGS. Nope — it was spiders! In an effort to save you the same confusion, I’ve put together this list of tips for IDing your household pests. Bite in the night? Get yourself to a doctor.

Although they aren’t actually dangerous unless you’re allergic to their bites, bedbugs are pretty revolting. And, as we all probably know, infestations have been on the rise. Following are some ways to help ensure that these very unwanted guests don’t end up in your home. Here are a few ways you could unintentionally bring bedbugs home — and how to avoid them.

As nice as it would be to always keep a perfectly clean, perfectly smelling house — the truth is, bad odors happen. Whether it’s smelly upholstery from a great thrift store find, a pet’s potty training accident, or a party that needs a massive cleanup, funky smell are an unavoidable part of everyday life. With that in mind, here are the 5 products we’d recommend always having in the house to combat and remove odors. 1.

All rugs can use a good overall cleaning occasionally. But if you have a small stain or flaw that you want to address immediately without having the entire rug cleaned, spot cleaning is an important skill to have in your arsenal. Following are spot cleaning techniques for a few different scenarios: Get it while it’s wet. Once a stain dries, it’s much more difficult to remove.

Spills are almost always unexpected, and always a pain. My mother clearly knew this: when I left for college she gave me a small, thick book called “Field Guide to Stains,” which I still have and reference more frequently than I ever thought I would. STAIN REMOVAL STAPLES I find the best way to deal with stains is to be prepared.

Here’s a quick tip I learned from friends who regularly go car camping: they always bring a large size salad spinner with them, just in case they find themselves needing to wash, then dry a t-shirt, socks, or intimates… I’ve got several technical synthetic material athletic shirts, socks, and tights/sleeves I prefer to hand wash and hang dry throughout the week immediately after workouts (they can accumulate a funk quickly, the sweat hog I am).

What’s big, blue, and one of my all-time favorites from IKEA? At $0.59, the FRAKTA bag is cheaper than a soft serve cone from the Swedish behemoth, and it just might be the brand’s most versatile product. What’s it good for? How much time have you got? Laundry – The FRAKTA is enormous and weightless, which makes it great for hauling dry cleaning and laundry. The flat bottom even makes it work for collecting clean folded laundry before putting it in its place.

Alright, I keep telling myself, this is your one chance. You may never again have a bathroom with a brand-new bathtub and shower surround. Of the 10 bath/shower combos I’ve lived with in my life, none have been remotely new nor perfect…but soon all that will change. I’ve got one chance to do this right!

Give yourself a break when things get overwhelming and let go of that “I have to do it all” feeling. As long as you don’t let any extended cleaning breaks slip into a comfortable habit, there are some chores you can ignore every once in awhile. Here are five you can skip when you’re busy… Wanna know what we think are the chores you should never skip?

Assassin bugs (or kissing bugs) get their names from their habit of biting humans on the face near the lips. (It’s true people: I can’t make this stuff up.) Here’s what you need to know about this not-so-nice insect. Assassin, a.k.a. kissing bugs, are found all across the bottom two-thirds of the United States, and predominantly in Arizona, California, Texas, and New Mexico.

Pressed for time? Running late? Didn’t finish your Sunday morning “to clean” list but need to head out the door to brunch right now? Whenever you’re pressed for time — or have an extra heavy schedule a certain week — don’t let all your chores and cleaning duties slip into disarray. Keep your house functioning by being choosy with which chores you skip and which ones you tackle.

When you’re young, it’s your job to not worry and to push limits. It’s all about you, you, you. It’s up to your parents to firmly establish boundaries and rules. And while you live under their roof, it’s either their way or the highway. Sound familiar? Here are six seemingly arbitrary household rules that drove you nuts at the time, but make so much more sense today. Then: Why bother? I’m just going to use it again tonight!

Wood utensils date back to ancient Egypt and are still one of the most common tools found in the kitchen today. Wood is a great material to cook with for a variety of reasons, and with the right care wood utensils and cutting boards can last decades. After many years of new materials such as silicone dominating the kitchen tool market, wood is making a comeback thanks to its timeless functionality.

The kitchen is the heart of a home, and the countertops are where all the action is: chopping, prepping, plating, snacking, leaning, and, if you’re anything like me, even sitting. We break down, by material, how to keep those counters clean and happy for years to come: MARBLE Martha Stewart advises applying a protective sealer annually, cleaning gently with warm water, and avoiding dusting sprays (like Pledge) and abrasive cleaners.

Earlier this year I wrote the Lazy Person’s Guide to a Happy Home, full of cleaning tips for people who hate cleaning. Many of you read it, and commented, and added cleaning tips of your own, and your ideas were so good that I couldn’t help re-sharing them. Read on for cleaning tips from some very wise people, aka: you. Make cleaning easier by doing a serious purge. misterrious: One day, I just decided I had too much crap in my house.

Ah, spring: when a young man’s fancy turns to beating rugs and scrubbing the crisper. And no, those aren’t euphemisms, but chores that are infinitely easier to accomplish now that going outdoors won’t result in certain death. Some of these require access to a hose, but there’s hope for apartment-dwellers, too… I am stupidly excited about finally getting to scrub down the recycling can we keep in our pantry.

Lately it seems that I’m hearing the word “downsize” everywhere. From friends buying their first bijoux apartments after years in shared and spacious rented accommodation, to my parents’ generation selling multi-bedroom suburban houses and moving into city condos, to articles about living more minimally, owning less is trending. Obviously, downsizing is going to be different for everyone.

If you wear stockings or pantyhose, don’t let runs and snags ruin your day. And definitely don’t throw old nylons away. Because, while they might have fallen short in their promise to keep your legs looking smooth, they have a whole other future existence as versatile household helpers. Turns out nylon is pretty handy, so check out these twenty ways to reuse all your worn out hose: Locate small objects on the floor by covering your vacuum nozzle with some hose.

Anyone else at war with piles upon piles of laundry? It never occurred to me how much motherhood and laundry go together, but here we are! While it’s still an uphill battle, I have learned that some things (when I actually do them) help keep the relentless laundry situation under control.

Don’t toss those orphan socks — the singles who get mysteriously separated from their pairs between washing and drying can be helpful. Put them to use in a variety of smart ways to help keep your home a bit cleaner. Slip a couple of damp socks on your hands and give the leaves of your favorite plants the gentle touch for a dusting that won’t damage. Toss the sock in the wash when you’re done.

Now that I have my own home and family to care for, the things my mother taught me about cleaning are not only valuable because they came from her, but because they are nuggets of wisdom probably passed down through more than two generations. They’ve stood the test of time and they sure make my life easier and my home cleaner. From my home and family to yours, here are the best cleaning and organizing rules I learned from my mother.

Using technology to help manage the household can add up to a good amount of time and money saved—not to mention a significant reduction in things (paper calendars and planners) and clutter (all those papers!). Here are the top four apps I’d hate to live without. YNAB stands for “you need a budget.” And let me just say: You do. You can read more of my thoughts in Basics of a Household Budget that Works.

If your favorite part of cleaning is when it’s over, then listen up, lazybones. You can do less work and still have a clean and tidy house if you set up these strategies ahead of time to diminish dirt, wrangle clutter and keep yourself on track. It’s sooo much easier to prevent dirt from coming inside than it is to clean it up afterwards.

Try as I might to achieve that perfect pantry look (you all know what I’m talking about), I still have errant boxes of cake mix and plastic bags of who-knows-what-anymore from the bulk bin. Recently, the hodge-podge of things I knew I had but couldn’t find and the creeping lack of space drove me to the point of yet another Great Big, Real-Life Pantry Cleanup.

Do you dread the job of cleaning home? Rather pass on tackling chores? Do you view such tasks as scrubbing and mopping as the most boring and unappealing things ever? Do you either fail to get started (putting cleaning off until things are really bad) or do you run out of energy before finishing everything on your to-do list? You might need to rearrange the order of what cleaning tasks you tackle first. Have you ever heard of something called job crafting?

I don’t buy into the I-can’t-have-nice-things-because-I-have-a-pet hype. This is especially true when it comes to textiles in my home. So when I spotted a gorgeous velvet sofa on Craigslist for a song, I did my research and went for it.

Newcomers to my home can’t ever find my paper towels. That’s because they’re hidden in the pantry so the cloth towels and rags I have are the first line of defense against spills and messes that need to be wiped. Here’s how I use cloth and when even I reach for a paper towel. When and Why I Use Cloth I use a rag for wiping off the kitchen counters and the table.

Dear Alice, I live in a big apartment building with a busy laundry room — during peak days/hours the machines are usually all full. So what about those machines where the load has finished but the owner hasn’t come back to switch the wash to the dryer or take his dried laundry home? I often have to stand around waiting for someone to show up and deal with their clothes. Is it rude to remove those loads so I can get my own laundry started?

I vacillate, when it comes to grout. Sometimes it’s que sera, sera, and sometimes it’s all-out war: baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, OxiClean, toothbrushes, grout brushes, elbow grease, and five million moppings to clean the residue with fans to speed drying times in between rounds. But ever since I’ve discovered this completely awesome way of cleaning grout, I almost look forward to doing it, and really, it’s another kind of life-changing magic.

One doesn’t always factor in cleaning when thinking about your home’s budget. But all those cleaning tools, cleaners, supplies and more can add up if you’re not careful. If you’re on a tight (or non-existent) cleaning budget but want an always-tidy, always-fresh space, consider these ideas for staying clean without a lot of green.

There are a lot of places stuff can pile up on in the kitchen. From the counters (bills, kitchen supplies, dirty dishes) to the sink to even the floor, there’s one place that doesn’t often get considered when it comes to kitchen decluttering. However this spot, when cleared off, can have a profound effect on your kitchen feeling a lot less hectic and a lot more controlled.

Having a home that’s generally in order pretty consistently— not to be confused with “perfect all the time”— is in large part a matter of habit. One such habit which has tremendous impact is one I call “completing the cycle.” Here’s how you can practice it at home. Completing the cycle is a synergistic mix of Leaving Things As You Found Them and Not Leaving Things That Can Be Done Now For Later.

Sometimes, our homes can overwhelm us. What should be a place of retreat and comfort becomes bloated with items not needed, styles experimented with and abandoned, and projects started but never completed. While a good Spring Clean (whenever it happens) is always welcome, sometimes you want to go even further than that and streamline your style, too. Read on for our Minimalist Manifesto, and for ideas on how to simplify your home.

Whether you’ve got a trusted cleaning routine that keeps your home in tip-top shape or not, there are six things you should never let go uncleaned, not even for a day (barring vacation and illness, of course). Every day, take a few moments to tackle this handful of cleaning tasks — you’ll live in a cleaner home for it! You’ve heard it said before — don’t let those dishes pile up.