Life hacks: 10 simple cleaning tips for your home

It wasn’t long ago that once a year households would undertake a big spring clean: the annual tradition of cleaning your house from top to bottom. It does however appear that those days are long gone. A new study has revealed that households in Britain have little time or inclination to complete what once deemed to be an important part of people’s annual routine.

A YouGov poll commissioned by green energy company Good Energy, showed that less than half (49%) of those surveyed said that they still undertake a once a year comprehensive clean of their homes. A sizeable 30% also confessed that they have never even attempted to do so.

The Wiltshire-based renewable electricity company also found that 41% of people saw spring cleaning as an old-fashioned practice, whilst nearly two thirds (60%) felt that their parents and grandparents generation were more concerned about having a cleaner home.

Although cleaning can be annoying and rather time consuming, Juliet Davenport, founder and CEO of Good Energy, argues that a few clever cleaning hacks can make your life a lot easier. “There are some great ‘lemontastic’ vintage cleaning ideas out there.

“Simple, cheap ingredients like lemons and vinegar can be used to get homes in tip-top condition and we’re encouraging everyone to give it a go.

“Not only are these top tips kinder on the pocket – they don’t require any electricity either!”

A great example is creating a spray made from lemon juice and water as an alternative to air fresheners. The zesty natural spray will not only keep the home smelling fresh but lemons also have some great anti-bacterial qualities that make them perfect for cleaning.

These planet saving cleaning hacks can not only go a long way to making your everyday clean a lot easier but you can also reap other benefits. Choosing the right polish for your furniture and wooden floors for example can be a bit of a pain, so instead, a solution of one part lemon juice to two parts olive oil will not only buff your wood to perfection. It’ll also help you to save a few pennies and any leftovers can be used as a tasty salad dressing too!

Tips and tricks like this are being adopted country wide and Joanna Gamester, National Trust House Steward at Nuffield Place, said: “We’re big fans of a spring clean at the National Trust – it helps to care for the buildings we look after.

“We use natural ingredients like lemons and traditional techniques where we can, as these are kind on our collections and the environment.”

These little tips can help you too, here is a list of 10 of the best hacks to make your cleaning troubles a lot easier:

1) Use chalk before you wash your clothes to clean greasy stains quickly.

2) Baking soda gets out coffee stains.

3) Use a hairdryer to remove water rings from wooden surfaces and refresh them with olive oil.

4) You can get scratches and scuffs out of your leather sofa using shoe polish.

5) Coca cola is perfect to clean oil stains off your garage floor.

6) Use a razor to remove paint from clothes.

7) Rubbing half a grapefruit over surfaces, sprinkling some salt and washing off with a sponge and hot water can help you to achieve a gleaming sink.

8) Sprinkle carpets and rugs with a small amount of bicarbonate of soda. After 15 minutes you can then simply sweep away the dirt and any fustiness will evaporate too!

9) Clean your blinds with a 50:50 vinegar and water mixture and an old sock.

10) Clean your grater by grating raw chunks of potato.