40 handy hints for cleaning every nook and cranny of your house

You’ll have every corner of your house spick-and-span in no time by following these seriously smart house cleaning hacks. You won’t believe what everyday items can do!

Borax, or sodium borate, is a naturally occurring substance and is an ingredient in many household cleaning products. If you have a smelly garbage bin, deodorise it with equal parts borax and water. For our small garbage can, we used 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of borax. Let it soak and then rinse it out. Sprinkle some borax in the bottom once it’s dry, to keep bugs away and to absorb any future odour-causing moisture. Check out this guide to essential non-toxic cleaning products.

Every time you sweep, clumps of dust and hair collect at the ends of the broom’s bristles. To solve this problem, hot glue a wide-tooth comb to the top of a dustpan. Just run the bristles through the comb to remove any excess gunk dangling from the broom. Here are six more must-read spring cleaning articles.

Don’t throw away used dryer sheets. There’s another use for them. Wrap a couple of dryer sheets onto the flat head of a sweeper. The dryer sheets pick up dust and hair just as well as name-brand sweeper refills. Say goodbye to those dust bunnies! Don’t forget to follow the 10 golden rules of cleaning.

Dishwashers are for so much more than just washing dishes. Leslie Reichert, founder of The Green Cleaning Coach and author of The Joy Of Green Cleaning, recommends using yours to dust off knickknacks like mason jars and glass candle globes. Pretty much anything glass or ceramic should be fine going in the dishwasher. Meanwhile, find out how to clean a dishwasher with vinegar.

If you are all about ease and convenience when it comes to washing the dishes, check out this DIY mason jar dish scrubber. It even has a soap-dispensing handle. First, punch a few nail holes in the jar’s lid. Trace the lid onto a sponge and cut it out. Hot glue the sponge to the inner rim of the screw-on part of the lid. Fill the jar with soap, screw on the sponge and you’re set!

If you own a hummingbird feeder or tall flower vase, you know how difficult it is to clean inside them. A toothbrush is perfect for cleaning these hard-to-reach places. So, when your old toothbrush has retired from duty in your mouth, give it a new job!

If streaky mirrors and glass tug on your nerves, we’ll show you how to get streak-free glass with a couple of items already lying around your home. To get started, you’ll need window cleaner and newspaper. Spray window cleaner on your dirty glass and then scrub in a circular motion, using the newspaper. Switch to a vertical, and then a horizontal stroke until all the liquid has dissipated and you’re left with shiny, streak-free windows! Alternatively follow this simple guide to window cleaning.

Soap has a nasty way of forming a hard-to-remove film on the tile in tubs and showers. You won’t get rid of it by rubbing. Instead, wait for the surface to dry, then scrape off the scum with a 10cm plastic putty knife. For grout lines and textured surfaces, use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

To prevent soap scum build-up, stop using real soap and start using a synthetic. Chemically speaking, any soap in a liquid or gel form and some bar soaps are actually synthetic soaps and much less likely to leave a tough film in your sink, shower or tub. Head here for 10 great bathroom spring cleaning secrets.

Everyone knows how annoying it is when you can’t seem to find a dropped pill or the back of an earring. So how do you find these items quickly and easily? Use your vacuum. Here’s the trick; before you turn the vacuum on, cut off the end of a nylon and secure it on the end of your vacuum hose with a rubber band.