Cleaning

5 Best Cleaning Tips for Every Room in Your Home

There are all kinds of methods and hacks for cleaning just about everything — some of them more effective than others. There are golden rules, 15-minute and 20-minute rules and various stage cleaning methods, which instruct you to follow two, three or up to five steps to help ensure that your home is spotless at all times. But, at the end of the day, most people are just looking for the best cleaning tips to help them clean faster, more effectively and less frequently. Luckily, we know how to separate fact from fiction when it comes to cleaning so you can actually get your home sparkling with minimal effort.

Even though spring is usually known as the time for deep-cleaning, there’s no reason you can’t get a head start on your list of spring cleaning chores right now (with the exception of maybe waiting for some warm weather to clean up the yard). You might even be able to make spring cleaning a much smaller event in your home if you tackle a few things ahead of time. Grab your gear and check out these tips from our experts in the londonheartsandhomes Institute Cleaning Lab. Before you know it, you’ll have every task on your checklist done.

Vacuum your dryer vent

Once a year, pull your dryer away from the wall and disconnect the vent. Using the hose of your vacuum cleaner, reach into the vent as far as you possibly can and vacuum.

Deep-clean your mattress

Your bed needs a proper cleaning every few months to get rid of dust and dead skin cells, sweat and oils from your body. Remove and wash your sheets as usual. To clean your mattress, use a garment steamer and go over the top, sides and box spring thoroughly to kill any dust mites that may be hiding near the surface. Then use your vacuum’s upholstery tool and go over your mattress again. (This will remove the dust mites steaming has killed.) Remove any stains with a carpet and upholstery cleaner without over-wetting the mattress.

Update your gutters

It’s best to call in a professional when it’s time to clean your gutters, but you can avoid having to make that call too often by having gutter covers installed that allow water to flow into the gutters while keeping leaves and other large debris out.

Remove stains from car seats

It may be hard (or downright impossible if you have kids), but implementing a no-eating-in-the-car rule is the best way to keep car seats free of stains. To remove stains from fabric seats, use a liquid carpet cleaner or portable carpet cleaning machine. Leather seats should only be cleaned with leather cleaner. Don’t forget a leather protector afterward!

Vacuum your window blinds

The best way to keep your window blinds clean and looking like new is to remove dust from them weekly. Using the dusting brush attachment on your vacuum, remove the dust from your blinds starting from the top slat, from left to right. Close the blinds in reverse and repeat on the opposite side.