Forget the hassle of cleaning chores by using these 8 clever tips
Nobody wants to spend a lot of time cleaning, but sometimes, we just have to. When it comes to ground-in dirt or awkward surfaces to clean, we need to be careful and patient, ensuring we get the wished-for results. And we may not even realize there are some items that get dirty (like shoes!), that we can return to near-new condition in just a few, easy steps.
Therefore, it is always worthwhile check out any cleaning tips you come across: below, we list a few of these!
Toasters
Are your toaster's crumb trays caked with charred food? You don't have to use sponges or stiff brushes that will scratch the coating - just go to work with some vinegar. The trick is not to spray the vinegar on the trays, but to use some blotting paper instead: spray the vinegar on the blotting paper, and when the toaster is still hot, place the paper on the trays, then push them back into the toaster. With the toaster off, there will only be residual heat.
After a few minutes, the charring will have been absorbed by the paper, and you can easily remove any residue.
Keeping your shoes white
Mix baking soda and hydrogen peroxide in a small bowl, and use the cream with an old toothbrush to scrub the dirt off your shoes. Let the cream dry and then, with a clean toothbrush, scrub it off. In the meantime, you can also soak the laces in the same bowl.
Alternatively, this treatment could serve as a pre-wash before you wash your shoes by hand in warm/hot water!
Neat, orderly plastic bags
If you don't have a bag dispenser, don't leave your plastic bags just stuffed into a drawer: any empty container of wet wipes - or even a box into which you have cut a slot - is the solution. Simply fold and slip each bag into the handles of the previous one.
Hard-to-reach oven spots!
The edge of the internal face of the oven door is very difficult to reach, and it is also the dirtiest spot. To deal with this, you just need to wrap an old sock (or even an old terry cloth) around a knife or some other similarly-shaped object. Then stick this into the groves, nooks and crannies, removing the dirt. You can, of course, wet the cloth/sock with detergent or white vinegar beforehand.
A natural scrub for metal and wood
When you need to remove limescale from sinks, or clean a wooden chopping board, use half a lemon as an abrasive sponge by pouring rock salt onto it!
Clean and fragrant microwave
Take a lemon and cut it in half, squeezing the juice from each half into a plate. Put the juice and the lemons themselves into the microwave, activating it at medium-high power for 3 minutes. The dirt inside will soften and a few passes with a sponge will remove it easily.
Check out these and other useful tips in our video below:
