10 Need-to-Know Cleaning Hacks for Busy Mums

10 Cleaning Hacks You Can't Live Without

Here’s a list of the most innovative and simple cleaning hacks to make your life easier and give you back more time to binge-watch your favourite Netflix show. You’re welcome!

1. Reduce Clutter

If you want to save time cleaning and tidying your home and devote your attention to what matters most to you, reduce your inventory. The more stuff you have, the more time and money you spend caring for it. As busy mums, every second counts, so start paring down clutter to give yourself more breathing room. 

Kids’ clutter makes up a large portion of the stuff we have in our homes. Lucky for you, it’s possible to get the kiddos on board, reduce your home’s inventory, donate or swap it on Sassybae and make it easier to clean. 

2. Conquer Pet Hair with Rubber Gloves and a Squeegee

When you have pets in the home, it takes your cleaning regime to a whole new level, especially if your furry pal’s a heavy-shedder. Instead of spending a ton on fancy pet hair tools and creating more waste with sticky lint rollers, you just need two simple items. Get a pair of rubber gloves and a squeegee.

Use a damp squeegee to pull pet hair out of carpet, off furniture, and more. In a pinch, a pair of slightly wet rubber gloves makes it a breeze to remove pet hair from the deepest of fibres. It’s a great way to get to hard-to-reach places, including carpeted stairs and couch cushion crevices.

3. The Cleaning Power of Toothpaste

Sometimes, the overwhelming number of cleaners makes a mum’s head spin. You get so confused about what product to use that you decide it’s easier to skip the cleaning and polishing altogether. 

But what if there were items you already had that make home cleaning more manageable? Toothpaste works wonders on chrome fixtures, soap scum, and more; just ask Mums Who Clean. 

Use it to clean shower doors, the bathroom sink, and even your toilet. When you’re brushing your teeth, add a squirt of toothpaste into the toilet and scrub with a toilet brush. Before rinsing that toothpaste down the sink, use a sponge to give the sink a good scrub and make it shine.

4. Learn the Many Powers of Vinegar

Vinegar is another cleaning powerhouse. Add it to your dishwasher to give glass extra sparkle by filling a small glass bowl about halfway and placing it on the top rack. Run your cycle as usual. Vinegar also helps prevent filmy residue, buildup, and stains from hard water.

Vinegar is also an excellent window cleaner. Mix ½ cup vinegar in a spray bottle of water, spritz it onto windows, then follow with a Magic Eraser for a streak-free clean. These are just a couple of the many cleaning hacks vinegar makes possible.

5. Clean Bathroom Grout in Minutes

Sometimes, finding the right cleaner does make all the difference, especially on tough stains like mould and mildew. That’s exactly what a Woolworth’s shopper discovered when it came to cleaning bathroom tile grout. Pick up a bottle of Strike Pro Bath & Shower Spray Cleaner at Woolies. 

Pour half a bottle into a bucket of hot water. Then mop your tile floors, let it sit, then do a pass with a clean mop to rinse. Many mums tried the product hack and found it left their grout gleaming with hardly any effort at all.

6. Use Shaving Cream on Tough Carpet Stains

Oops! Did your red wine slosh onto the carpet? Use a foam shaving cream to lift stains without breaking a sweat. Work the shaving cream into the stain, let it sit for ten minutes, then use a damp cloth to wipe. After removing the stain, resume drinking your wine.

7. Brighten Your Whites with Denture Tablets

Skip the harsh bleach when you want to brighten your whites. Use this tip from Mama Mila, and soak your whites in warm water with one to three denture tablets. Allow the tablets to dissolve, soak them for an hour, then wash them as usual.

8. Remove Rust Stains with Baking Soda and Lemon

Make a paste of equal parts lemon juice and baking soda and apply it to rust spots on faucets, around drains, kitchen knives, etc. Let it sit for a few minutes, then scrub it away with water to reveal metal that shines like new. For extra-tough rust stains, allow the paste to sit for 30 minutes.

9. Set a Cleaning Schedule

One of the best household tips when it comes to cleaning is to create a schedule. It’s a lot less daunting to clean your home when you don’t try to do it all at once. Plus, creating a schedule means you clean things regularly, so grime and gunk don’t have time to build up and become tougher to tackle.

10. Create a Chore Chart

If you have kids in the house, then you have tiny helpers. Everyone needs to pitch in to keep their home in tip-top shape. List out the chores and assign them to those living in the house. And if your kids complain about their assigned chores, just remind them that cleaning is like a superhero power. With great power comes great responsibility. And if they still don't get it, just threaten to take away their WiFi. That always does the trick.

A Quick and Easy Way to Clean House? Yes, Please!

There you have it, mums! Home cleaning has never been so simple, whether vanquishing pet hair with your trusty squeegee or banishing hard water stains with vinegar.

But let's face it, the real cleaning challenge is getting your kids to help out. If only we could invent a hack that turns cleaning into a game of Fortnite or Minecraft. Until then, we'll just have to rely on good old-fashioned bribery and threats.