Why spend a fortune on cleaning utensils when everything you need to clean your home is already at your fingertips, lying – believe it or not – in forgotten locations in the bathroom, bedroom or garage.
Intrigued? Let us illuminate you…
These 10 items have more cleaning power than you might think.
1. Toothbrush
Toothbrushes are the holy grail of multipurpose household items. They can help you conquer so much with just a little determination, from removing chewing gum from fabric and getting food crumbs out of keyboards to cleaning small and fiddly items like jewellery.
Lift grime from the fine grooves of jewellery with a toothbrush dipped in a baking soda solution. Picture: Getty
2. Chalk
Hot tip: If you keep a few pieces of chalk in the same drawer as where you store silverware, it will keep it nice and shiny. The chalk absorbs some of the moisture in the drawer, slowing down the tarnishing process that makes silver look old and worn.
3. Aluminium foil
Scourer looking a little worse for wear? Well, before you throw out that piece of tin foil, ball it up and use it like you would steel wool – to clean tough dish stains and grease, grime and burnt residue off baking trays.
4. Butter knife
Get stuck into dusty air vents, venetian blinds or plantation shutters with a good old butter knife wrapped in a dryer sheet. All of the dust and dirt will stick to the dryer sheet, leaving those tricky-to-reach vents sparkly clean – and your air smelling a lot fresher.
5. Newspaper
Newspaper is another household all-rounder that can be used for warding off bad smells when lined in garbage bins or even popped inside shoe soles. It’s also a more cost-effective, sustainable alternative to using a paper towel when wiping windows.
6. Tennis ball
Ahh the ubiquitous tennis ball. What can possibly be done with it to clean the home, you ask? Believe it or not, tennis balls act as a sort of magical eraser when rubbed on scuff marks on linoleum floors.
Also, chuck a few tennis balls in the swimming pool after a summer season, and the felted surface will absorb some of that manky human grease that floats to the pool’s surface.
7. Make-up wipes
You use them to rub the mascara off your face, so why not use them to wipe the mascara off your mirror? It’s a no brainer really. Just be sure to give a once over with window cleaner and newspaper when you’re done.
8. Cotton buds
While you’re in the bathroom, giving your make-up wipes a whirl over the mirror, get your cotton buds in on the action, too. These little gems are great for lifting the dirt that gets into the corner of picture frames, and around fiddly screws, if you’re really anal.
9. Golf club
Don’t put your safety at risk by stepping up on wobbly chairs or bookcases. Instead, grab a golf club, or hockey stick, and secure a microfibre or soft cloth around the club head with an elastic band. Use this to attack cobwebs and ceiling dirt.
10. Old, clean socks
There’s no need to throw out odd socks when you can use them to dust hard-to-reach spaces. Picture: Getty
We don’t know where all the lost socks go, but we do know a lonely old sock is not entirely useless. Cotton socks are the perfect rags to use for dusting hard-to-reach spaces, such as blinds.
Originally published as 10 random household items that can help you clean by Alice Bradley. Author at realestate.com.au.
