Why a Lint Roller Is My Favorite Tool to Keep Kitchen Counters Clean

It’s becoming more common to try to find multiple, inventive uses for items you have around your home. In the spirit of decluttering, I’ve found that an often underappreciated household item, the lint roller, has brought new life to my kitchen-cleaning routine.

Lint rollers, while designed to remove lint and hair from clothing, have proven to be extremely useful in a rather unusual way in my household. I live in an older apartment (think: vintage tiling in the kitchen and the bathroom, popcorn ceilings, and light fixtures that have existed longer than I’ve walked this planet), which means I have the joy of keeping up with cleaning every single crumb, cat hair, and coffee ground that gets trapped in between the baby pink tiles in my 1950s time capsule kitchen. My solution: Using an ordinary lint roller to help keep the surface of my kitchen countertops crumb-free.

The exterior of the roller provides just the right amount of stickiness, proving to be much more effective in picking up dry countertop messes than the ol’ “spritz-and-wipe” method, especially when combating the ultra-contrasting black cat hair that somehow mysteriously ends up on my kitchen counter.

When I’m doing my daily reset of the kitchen, instead of collecting the crumbs in a pile with a sponge or a paper towel, transferring them into the palm of my hand, and throwing them in the trash, I simply swipe the lint roller across the counter a few times and let the sticky surface pick up those pesky crumbs. Not only does it save me time, but it also limits the amount of waste I create with paper towels or the number of germs I spread by using a sponge. Any brand of lint roller will do the job (you can even try a reusable one), but I have grown particularly fond of the Scotch-Brite Everyday Clean Lint Roller.

Keeping a lint roller handy in my kitchen doesn’t create an eyesore; I set it on my windowsill, which makes it easy to quickly grab and use. But because most kitchens are designed to, well, store things, concealing your lint roller within an easily accessible drawer or cabinet is never a bad idea, either. The convenience of the kitchen lint roller also comes in handy when I’m rushing to leave my home and need to swiftly de-fur my clothes before dashing out the door.

Do you have any ingenious cleaning tricks that repurpose everyday items for unexpected tasks? Share it in the comments.