You don’t need a bucketful of products to make your house look spick and span. Instead, getting more than one use out of a cleaning product can help you cut down on clutter without impacting your cleaning routine.
Whether it’s using denture tablets in your toilet or bleach in your dishwasher, these unconventional cleaning hacks might sound strange but users swear by the results. So, if you want to get more bang for your buck out of cleaning products, here are online comparison site Finder’s best ways to use specific cleaners in more ways than one.
When it comes to vacuuming, getting behind furniture and lifting rugs can mean musty odours escape, then linger in your rooms. To avoid this, try putting a scoop of cinnamon in your vacuum bag to spread the sweet scent of baking rather than dust – without having to actually bake a cake or splash out on a fancy room fragrance.
When it’s time to mop, don’t waste that fresh bucket of cleaning solution you’ve prepared in readiness. Before you put the mop into the bucket and get the water dirty, use the solution to wipe down surfaces such as window sills or counters to collect dust and remove marks.
When it comes to marked surfaces, there’s nothing more frustrating than nice white plates being ruined by stubborn food stains or dulled by frequent use. So your white crockery has lost its sparkle, put small amount of bleach into the dishwasher to get that brand-new shine back.
Dishwashing tablets themselves have some cleaning uses outside the actual dishwasher too, such as cleaning the oven. Dip a tablet in some warm water and use it to scrub your oven door – it dissolves the grease and grime, meaning much less elbow-grease is required.
For water streaks on bathroom glass, try spraying window or glass cleaner on your glass shower screen while it’s wet. The worst of the streaks will wash away during your next shower, leaving you to quickly run a sponge or chamois over the glass to remove any remaining stubborn marks.
If you’re doing a load of laundry but it’s not enough to justify using a whole laundry detergent tablet, cut down on your wastage by breaking the laundry tablet in half to save the second piece for later. It’ll work just as well but cost half as much.
And don’t forget denture tablets, which are real cleaning all-rounders that are so useful, they’re worth having on hand even if you don’t have dentures.
Put them in your toilet bowl to make it sparkle or rub them around stained plastic and ceramic food containers to remove ingrained stains – they can even be used to clean delicate porcelain items. Pop a tablet in some warm water and wait for it to fizz up before transferring to a bottle with a spray nozzle, then use the liquid to lightly spray your couch surface (research your couch material first, of course, to ensure that it can be subjected to home-cleaning) and giving marked areas a good scrub. Then pop the fans on, wait for it to dry and enjoy a much cleaner couch!