Cleaning Shortcuts for Lazies (Like Me!)

Cleaning Shortcuts for Lazies

There is never enough time in the day to get everything done. Work, schooling, kids, dinner, T.V., they all get in the way of keeping a tidy house. Or even that bar of chocolate, it just wants you to sit with it instead of doing dishes. So I give to you, my new segment, cleaning shortcuts for lazies.

I am pretty lazy in my own home. I keep up on it as best I can, but with three kids and a full work schedule I’d rather sit and watch Big Bang Theory. I have a schedule (see blog below) but how I actually clean those extra things is a different matter.

Blinds are the bane of my existence. I actually got rid of pretty much all of my blinds except for one in my own bedroom and put up curtains. Blinds get dusty, discolored… and they are a pain in the rear to wipe down. The easiest trick I found is to take your vacuum cleaner, and use the upholstery attachment, the one with the little bristles. Then just run it over the blinds, scrubbing with the bristles. This gets rid of a lot of dust and saves you lots of time! Sometimes it can take 10-15 minutes PER blind to wipe them all down by hand. This I do in about 2-3 minutes. If your blinds are very stained, take them outside and spray them down with vinegar or some other cleaner, and let them soak. Then just hose them off, and hang them over the fence to dry. Voila! It may not take off the discoloration though. For that you can try a bleach spray if they’re white. For me, I’d rather pay someone like me to do it, or just buy new blinds ha!

Another thing I found a shortcut for was my oven. I hate dripping stuff on the bottom of it and then since it bakes it on there, it takes forever to get off. Self cleans are sometimes dangerous, and that oven spray smell is awful. Once I cleaned it out the first time, I put a sheet of tin foil on the bottom, and even around the burner bottoms (electric only!). Now when my oven starts to have a bunch of crap at the bottom, I just swap out the tin foil!

Baseboards in my house hardly ever got done til I found this next one out. It’s so easy! Take your soft broom and just run it across the boards! Or, if you’re feeling a bit less lazy, use the vacuum cleaner attachment with the bristles we mentioned earlier. Put that baby on the extension and you don’t even have to bend down.Vent covers are the same thing, the vacuum is preferred so you don’t knock dust into the vent part. The greatest shortcut I ever found though? Hand your kids a damp rag and promise them a candy bar. Easiest way ever. (Yeah he got a candy bar afterward)

And last but not least, fridges. If you don’t want to alter the look of your fridge, what you can do is line the shelves with wax or parchment paper. I ended up using double sided tape, and just laying it down. That way when you spill a bunch, it doesn't

get stuck to the glass and you can just change out the paper once in a while! No more taking the giant fridge apart and cleaning out the whole dang thing.

If you like these and want to share your own shortcuts, just post them in the comments below! Happy Cleaning!

Tiffany