Coffee Grounds
Use your morning pick-me-up to eliminate odors in the fridge. Simply place coffee grounds, new or used, in a bowl on a shelf. Replace them every two months for a fresh, slightly caffeinated smell.
White Vinegar
Keep your dishwasher extra clean with white vinegar. Pour ½ cup into the detergent cups and run the empty machine for a complete cycle. Cleaning tips: you can also use a few tablespoons of powdered laundry bleach, Tang or lemon-flavored Kool-Aid (it must be lemon) for the same results.
Dryer Sheets
Get baked-on foods off pots and pans with these laundry cleaning tips. Just place a dryer sheet in a pot, fill with water and let sit overnight, then sponge off the next morning. The anti-static agent weakens the bond between the stuck-on food and the surface of the pan, while the fabric softener works its loosening magic.
Play-Doh
Use this playtime gear to pick up tiny slivers of broken glass (you know, the ones you don’t notice until you’ve stepped on them). Simply press a piece into the area to grab those smaller shards. Be sure to wrap the glass up carefully before throwing it away!
The Microwave
To keep bacteria from taking up permanent residence in your kitchen sponges, rinse them with water at the end of each day, squeeze, then put in the microwave for three minutes. Let cool before touching. Do the same with your cutting boards, if they are microwaveable.
Disinfecting Wipes
Grab a few disinfecting wipes to give faucets, sinks, tubs, toilet seats—you name it—an easy daily touch-up.
Vinegar and Rags
Get rid of lime buildup on sinks by soaking an old rag in vinegar, then wrapping it around the faucet and clasping with a hair clip. Let sit for an hour, then take off rag and dry faucet.
Vinegar
For one of our most popular cleaning tips ever, fill a spray bottle with white vinegar to clean chrome and stainless-steel fixtures, and to remove scum, grime and mildew from your bathtub, tile or shower curtain.
Get Rid of That Nasty Smell in Your Shoe Closet with… An Onion?
As counterproductive as it sounds, use a cut onion to remove odors. Just leave the onion out overnight to absorb all the nasty smells; when the onion smell fades, so will the other lingering odors.
Keep Fruit Flies Out by Sticking 20-30 Cloves in Apples or Oranges
Fruit flies hate the smell of cloves, and hanging an orange pincushion full of cloves keeps them away naturally.
