Household chores are part of daily life. Regardless of how we deal with them, there is no escape from them. Sometimes we share them among family members, try to turn them into a game, or simply integrate them into the weekly routine. In any case, we all want household chores to take less time and money, but at the same time be as effective as possible.
Since 33 ideas are better than one, we asked our users around the world to share housekeeping tips that will help even beginners become experts in home economics. Whether it’s anti-insect herbs in Australia or green tea for bad odors in Japan, these magical tips have one thing in common: they’ve been tried and tested by the very best experts – you!
Since 33 ideas are better than one, we asked our users around the world to share housekeeping tips that will help even beginners become experts in home economics. Whether it’s anti-insect herbs in Australia or green tea for bad odors in Japan, these magical tips have one thing in common: they’ve been tried and tested by the very best experts – you!
Studio Stamp
Kitchen
1. Freshness in cupboards and pantry
1. Freshness in cupboards and pantry
- Australian user georgi02 recommends spreading bay leaves in your pantry to get rid of insects such as flies and beetles.
- If the plastic container smells like food even after washing, then according to decanio3, our US user, leave it open outside: “By morning, there will be no smell.”
2. Clean countertop
- Liubov fiore, a Russian user, advises covering the countertop with baking paper or foil while you peel fish or vegetables: “You can just throw out the paper along with the garbage.”
- “Place a container with a piece of cotton wool that has been soaked in vinegar on the countertop to get rid of the unpleasant odors left over from cooking cabbage or broccoli,” advises Islanine from Australia.
- Amanda Cali of Property Reviver Ltd, a UK real estate agency, recommends stopping by a hardware store and buying a sponge: “It can be used to wipe away any stain, as long as you rinse the sponge in water.”
Bull O’Sullivan Architecture Limited
3. Improved cookware and household goods
- Marta Fincato from Italy recommends pouring a mixture of vinegar and detergent into the dishwasher to make your plates sparkle.
- Another Houzz user from Italy praises the positive quality of vinegar. According to mikea62, it will help you get rid of water scale in your kettle. Pour two to one ratio of water and vinegar into a kettle, boil and leave for 15 minutes.
- To keep the refrigerator clean, Pernille Jensen from Denmark advises not to store food close to the refrigerator wall, as unpleasant odors can develop here: “Food particles fall on the ice that forms on the refrigerator wall, which then melts, turning into musty water.” Check your refrigerator once a week to avoid large cleaning.
- Rie Munthe-Rasmussen gives another simple piece of advice: “Sometimes I use lemon juice to break up plaque on the taps or around the sink drain. Put the lemon in and let it sit for a while for the best effect. “
- Would you like to learn how to keep your microwave clean? Take advantage of this ingenious trick from our French user Val Cats: “Take a wet piece of cloth, roll it into a ball, and put it in the microwave. Heat the fabric for one minute, until steam comes out of it. Thanks to it, all food debris inside the microwave will lag behind the walls, and you can wipe them off with the same piece of cloth. “
- “If you want your cutlery to sparkle like new, take a large container, line it with foil and fill the bottom with table salt. Now fill the container with water, put the cutlery in it and watch the process, ”says Yves Chasselin from France.
Affinity Construction Group
Living room
1. Glittering windows and other surfaces
1. Glittering windows and other surfaces
- Many Houzz users prefer natural materials solutions. Soda, vinegar, lemons, boric acid, newspaper sheets for window cleaning are some of the most popular natural remedies our users have to offer. “We really don’t need household chemicals,” says Lara Copley-Smith of British design firm Laara Copley-Smith Garden & Landscape Design.
- To get rid of stubborn water stains on the outside of window panes, Jean, a Houzz user in the UK, says you only need a few drops of toilet cleaner commonly used against water stain and rust: “Wear gloves, put some on a piece of cloth cleaner, wipe the window and after a while rinse the cleaner off the glass. Works perfectly. “
2. Care of textiles
- Maria BM from Spain recommends wiping the lampshades with the sticky clothes rollers.
- Veillet, our user in France, has some great advice on how to get rid of pet hair: “Put your tights on the mop – they will catch all the hair in their path. Then just turn them out and throw them away – it’s just magic! “
Odosdesign
3. Simple ways to clean floors
- “I love my new Robot Vacuum Cleaner – it works exactly the way I imagined it: it’s quiet, it vacuums all over the place. You can rely on him, writes our German user kirchmaier. “I was so impressed that I bought a robotic lawnmower.”
- Floor maintenance can be easy. Italian user agnese guanella uses vinegar diluted in water to mop floors and get rid of ants and other small insects: “It’s enough to do this once every two weeks. You can use this remedy even if you have pets, as there are no harmful chemicals in vinegar. This is the perfect solution! “
- “To clean the tiles on the floor, mix 450 grams of oat bran and 5 liters of water and let it brew for 25 minutes. Use a strainer to strain the mixture and wipe down the floors. Wait 5 minutes and rinse the floor with clean water. Works great, ”writes our French user Germaine NGDEAN.
- To buff wood floors, make a small pouch (about the size of your palm, about 13 to 19 cm2) out of an inside out cotton fabric (such as an old T-shirt). Fill the resulting bag with rice flakes and sew. Soak it in water and use it to clean and polish wood floors, walls, or any other wood surface, ”writes Atsuko Tamura, editor of Houzz Japan.
wedi GmbH
Bathroom
1. Shower
1. Shower
- Try a tip from our Danish user Dorthe Puccio, who uses a mixture of dish soap, vinegar and ammonia to remove soap film, scale and dirt from the shower: “It works every time and saves money. However, do not use this product on marble, as vinegar will break down stone surfaces! “
- “It may be dangerous, but I use a razor to scrape off limestone around the taps and from the tub itself. Works very well, ”writes Trine Nyborg from Denmark.
- Tatyana Medvedeva advises not to throw away your toothbrushes: “They can come in handy if you need to clean hard-to-reach places. I use them to get my hair out of the bathroom and out of the drain. “
- Another valuable and sustainable tip is that vinegar can be used to remove limescale from the walls of the shower stall. “I set to soak orange peels in vinegar in a well-sealed bottle overnight. This improves the smell, although the vinegar smell fades away rather quickly. Then, as advised above, I wipe the walls with an old newspaper or, if the structure is made of white plastic, I use a cotton rag soaked in the resulting vinegar mixture, ”writes Ana Triay of Spanish Houzz.
- Sian Sampey from Australia advises keeping a strong bathroom cleaner nearby and sprinkling it on the walls of the shower stall every few days: “I haven’t washed the shower stall in years, but the walls are shiny as new.”
- Georgi02, another Australian user, recommends using a mixture of white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to clean showers, stainless steel surfaces, ceramics and porcelain. This mixture can also be poured into a sink or bathtub drain to remove odors.
Interior therapy
2. Towels
- “Do not use fabric softener when washing towels, as it creates an enveloping effect that prevents the towels from absorbing water. Use white vinegar instead of conditioner, ”advises UK user saratogabrown.
3. Toilet
- Serena Meneghetti, a Houzz user from Italy, instead of traditional household chemicals, pours one or two glasses of vinegar onto the surface of the toilet – no plaque, the toilet shines!
Kasha paris
Bedroom
1. Healthy atmosphere
1. Healthy atmosphere
- “If you get sick, cut the head of an onion in half and place the half on your bedside table to absorb harmful bacteria,” advises our Australian user Jamie Bailey.
Ardesia Design
2. Smells and moisture: how to get rid of odors in the closet
- “In older apartments, the smell of moisture can permeate the clothes stored in the closet. To get rid of this problem, simply use a rolled newspaper to absorb moisture and a glass of warm vinegar to remove odors from the closet, ”writes French user Isabelle Blanc du Collet.
- Australian user purplewombat says boric acid is the best shoe freshener: “I soak my sneakers in a bucket of water and a few tablespoons of boric acid, then rinse and dry. They smell like new. “
- To get rid of ink stains on clothes, spray them with hairspray and then wipe them off, suggests a 163hrd UK user.
- A tip from French user Germaine NGDEAN: To get rid of unpleasant odors in your wardrobe or shoes, wrap a piece of charcoal in a cloth and put it in the closet.
- Use green tea as a natural freshener and moisture absorbent. “Wrap the used and well-dried green tea leaves in a cloth (you can just use a clean sock) and put them in a shoe box,” advises Kawakami Junko from Japan. – Tea works as both a freshener and an absorbent. However, the leaves must be completely dry. They can be dried in the sun or in the microwave in a few minutes. “
YOUR TURN…
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