We ask our community members for your favorite spring cleaning tips to keep your house sparkling clean. We’re inspired by your submissions! You'll find:
- How to remove tea stains from mugs, sweat stains from white t-shirts, and glue residue from hard surfaces
- A tip to save your back
- A hack to keep your baseboards dust free longer
... and more!
Here are the tips you shared with us:
What really helps in the kitchen is after making something on the stovetop that’s messy, put warm water in the pan/pot and let it soak right away. Once you’re done with the meal you’ll be happy you don’t have to scrub dishes for the rest of the night! – Janel
Baking soda and the flat multi coloured scrub cloth (slightly wet) are amazing for cleaning the sink or a stain on the counter - gentle but abrasive enough to clean without scratching. I haven’t had a stain on my counter yet that I couldn’t remove (and my counter is porous and in need of replacing but I’ve done the same trick on corian and it works beautifully too). – Marnie
Go room by room, and don't take on too much at once! – Erika
Invasive species removal from around property. – Eliška
Enlist the kids to clean lower down and save your back! My 9 year old loves to do the baseboards in the whole house for me. – Julie
Cleaning shower heads: put vinegar into a small plastic bag and tie it around the shower head so it is immersed in the vinegar. Leave it for an hour or more depending on need. – Jo-Anne
I keep Lysol wipes in the bathroom in a discreet, but easy to access location so I can do a quick wipe up around the base of the toilet, the handle, and anywhere else to keep things fresh each day between deep cleanings. – Jennifer
Living in a townhouse I don't love having to go up and downstairs every time I want to clean something on the top floor, so I keep extra cleaning products - rags and spray bottles on the top floor in my bathroom and linen closet for quick clean ups throughout the week. – Janna
Spray toilet brush with disinfectant and leave under the seat with the lid up so it dries out! – Kelsey
Once we get a beautiful sunny day, bring your duvet into the sunshine to really freshen it up 💕 no chemicals needed! – Nicole
Yes, instead of the old broom and dustpan and sweeping and bending, I zip around with my little swiffer vacuum type thing. Much faster and easier. – Margaret
After cleaning baseboards, give them a wipe with a dryer sheet! They’ll stay dust free for much longer! – Samantha
Using Lemon juice to take off sticky label residue has changed my life! – Jamie
A great tip is to use baking soda and water to clean…almost anything. Inside toilets, sinks…gets off tough stains and cleans really well. – Natalie
Lemon essential oil is great for removing leftover adhesive glue and stains off of hard surfaces (this includes dirty fingerprints off of windows left over from my children's dirty hands) :) – Stephanie
I read this article once that said a good way to determine what pieces of clothing you should donate when you purge your closet is to have all hangers situated so the hook faces you (under, then over the rod). When you wear a piece, you hang it the normal way. At the end of the year, let's say spring perhaps, whatever clothes are still backwards on the rod gotta go. I've never tried it myself, as I purge my closet at least three times a year. I need new clothes. – Jasmine
I microwave my kitchen sponge in a bowl of soapy water for a couple minutes to kill the bacteria. Then I easily wipe down the interior of the microwave with a cloth. – Christine
My healthy cleaning tip tackles two things!
I use baking Soda to clean/scrub my kitchen sinks. I do an initial rinse with white vinegar, wait 5 min and I then do a final Rinse with hot/ boiled water and this gives my pipes a healthy clean too! – Heather
Vinegar in a spray bottle with a little hot water makes the best window cleaner however you use scrunched up newspaper as your rag. – Colleen
If an item hasn’t been used or worn within the last year, it can be let go! Or upcycled, repurposed—give everything a second life if you can! – Priya
Start and finish spring cleaning one room at a time :) – Leana
I use dry Swiffer cloths to dust! Works great! – Heidi
I like to use vinegar(spray bottle) and baking soda to clean my toilet daily, then use a natural toilet cleaner once or twice a week for a better clean. – Tammy
Lemon and baking soda to clean the sink!! – Emily
Baskets at the door keep our entrance nice and tidy. Put a splash of essential oil on a cloth at the bottom of a shoe basket or scarf basket and it will always smell great and if you use orange essential oil it will help calm anxieties so once put in your scarf bin it will help you all day. Happy me is a cleaner me! – Carrie
Use an old baby wipes container with the pop top to store reusable cleaning wipes! I have been using the same set of cloths with homemade cleaner in the same 2 baby wipes containers for the past 5 years. I use super thin cloths and fold them using this method. – Alia
Watch Marie Kondo series on Netflix to inspire and detach yourself from unwanted items! Only keep things that spark joy :) – Carmen
I like to declutter as I clean. I take “does this bring me joy” to the next level of “should someone have to deal with this when I’m dead”. I also like to indulge in takeout or dine in (remember that?) after a day of cleaning so the recently cleaned kitchen gets to stay clean a little longer! – Larissa
Anything you haven’t used in a year, donate it, sell it or toss it😉 – Priscila
I use baking soda with a wet cloth or sponge to get out any stubborn messes on the glass top of our stove. Don't need any harsh chemicals and the baking soda doesn't scratch the surface. – Tatiana
Place your damp dish cloth in your microwave and set the timer to 2 minutes. As the cloth heats up, the humidity loosens any dried food bits inside your microwave. Use the cloth to wipe your microwave. The heat also disinfects your dish cloth. You can also use a drop of lemon essential oil on your damp cloth for extra freshness! ( do not use a sponge, only microfiber or cotton cloths!) – Elke
I use the young living thieves cleaner for cleaning pretty much everything. It gives me some peace of mind knowing I am not using anything toxic to clean my home. – Rachel
I stopped using a lot of cleaning products and now happily clean mirrors and windows with water and my microfiber cloth! Less chemicals and less streaks. – Jamie
Mix baking soda, lemon essential oil and vinegar and all purpose cleaner like thieves can clean your bathtub, sink, toilet and mirror in a couple minutes, just use a scrub brush & no more long term scrubbing! – Emily
Decluttering is the best cleaning tip because then you no longer have to take care of it. Set a timer and create two piles, a yes pile and a maybe pile. Then turn that maybe pile into a no pile because there's something wrong with all the pieces in the maybe pile and you just need a push to sell or donate. – Emily
Use an app like Tody to create schedules on your phone for cleaning tasks, see how long since you have last cleaned something. – Emily
My spring cleaning tip would be making my own refillable counter and bathroom spray! A bit of white vinegar, lots of water, a drop of soap and essential oils. I add frozen rosemary too for extra good smells. It's really easy and cheap, and manages to get my counters and shower glass doors clean! – Sarah
My spring cleaning tip has more to do with the garden. Don't start removing the dead leaves from the garden until the temperatures hit around 10 degrees C and stay there for at least 7 days. While we are all anxious to get cleaned up, lots of beneficial insects like ladybugs and other beneficial insects hunker down in the leaves over winter and need time to emerge! – Jennifer
Use your mop to wash the walls!! So fast!! – Emma
Here is my tip for cleaning tea stains from mugs: Boil hot water, pour a little white vinegar in the mug then the hot water with a little bicarbonate of soda. Let it sit for 10 mins until the water cools down. Then take a reusable sponge and wipe the mug. The tea stain will come out. – Aurore
My tip is to start and focus on one room per day; clear out everything (e.g. move furniture, etc.) and do a deep clean! – Shirley
Put Happy Hits on Spotify when you start to make a party out of it. Maybe pair with a fun cocktail to really get in the mood haha – Michelle
My spring cleaning tip would be to have a certain day of the week to do a certain task, therefore you will always be able to keep on top of your cleaning. – Megan
Good way to get rid of clothes. Turn all your hangers in your closet backwards, and when you wear an item, turn the hanger back to how it was and then when you get to 3mo, 6mo, 1yr, etc. later, you can get rid of anything that you haven’t worn! – Carlie
Clean those windows - let that sunshine in! – Samantha
I like to get my dish cloth wet and then microwave it for 1 min (it HAS to be wet). Then the steam has helped to loosen the grime. It's easy to wipe down quickly after that! – Trish
Lemon essential oil directly on to glue residue left on surfaces removes it instantly without any scrubbing, just wipe off easily - be cautious for wood surfaces but otherwise fine on metal/glass etc. – Stephanie
My favorite tip is to never touch the same thing more than once. "Don't put it down, put it away". The motto I try to live by! – Shanna
Keeping glass spray bottles in each room (bathroom, kitchen etc) for quick and easy spraying. (Glass spray bottles so that they can all be refilled)!! – Christina
A scrub of dish soap and hydrogen peroxide will remove sweat stains on a white t-shirt! – Jessica
My go to cleaner is the leftovers of a lemon! After it's used or the juices have been used, I use the rinds to clean cutting boards, sinks, and even break into pieces into the garburator to get rid of smells! For hard to clean areas, sprinkle some coarse salt on top of the lemon and scrub scrub scrub! – Katherine
It's a great time to take any rugs and give them a good beating outside when the weather is nice. It helps get rid of any dust and dirt, and also helps take out any frustrations on it! – Afsaneh