More on Spring Cleaning

Here are more cleaning tips for you to use all over your home, including your car and lawn!

Tips for the Kitchen:

• Brush food from the counters first; then sweep the floors to eliminate double duties.
• Use ice cubes and citrus peels to clean and deodorize your garbage disposal blades.
• Place a heated bowl of vinegar in your fridge for 5 minutes to remove stuck-on spills.
• Remove odors from plastic containers by filling them with newspaper and sealing them overnight.
• Run sponges through a dishwasher to keep them sanitary and strong.

Tips for the Bathroom:

• Clean mirrors with newspapers for a streak-free shine.
• To keep your bathroom mirrors steam-free during hot showers, clean them with your favorite cleaner and dry with newspapers and a light coating of furniture polish, which will repel steam.
• Spray furniture polish on shower doors and buff lightly with a clean cloth and a dose of lemon.
• Clean your shower curtain in the washing machine with a dash of detergent and a splash of bleach.
• Coat your shower and tub with a quality car wax twice a year after cleaning them; the wax repels the dirt and makes the tiles shine.
• Remove light stains from your bathroom sink by rubbing them with a lemon wedge.

Tips for the Bedroom:

• Dust light bulbs regularly.  A dirty lightbulb emits 20% less light than a clean one.
• Attempt to recycle wire hangers by taking them back to the dry cleaners.
• Remove oil and grease stains from your carpet with your favorite caret cleaner.  Blot the stain and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before rinsing the carpet with soapy water.
• Vacuum carpets at least once a week.  A majority of the soiling in carpets is loose dirt.  Frequent vacuuming helps prevent the dirt from being ground in and will help extend the life of your carpets.
• To freshen up your linen closet, spray a basket full of cotton balls with your favorite scent and place it in a corner of the closet.
• Mount hooks on empty closet walls for hanging belts and handbags.

Tips for the Home Office:

• Use disinfecting wipes to keep commonly touched surfaces such as your phone, computer mouse, keyboard, and desktop germ-free.
• Add features such as computer speakers, dual inputs, source mix control and headphone jack to make work more fun.
• To keep your hard drive free of clutter, be sure to discard old or dated files.  Burn important items and records to CD.  Don't keep anything on your hard drive that doesn't get regular use.
• Defragment your hard drive at least once per month in order to keep your computer runningat top performance.
• Delete temporary files.  Temporary files reduce your hard disk space and increase the time Windows requires to boot, print and access the hard drive.

Tips for the Car:

• Detail your dash with unique tools such as cotton swabs to clean the various grooves on your dashboard and a soft paintbrush to clean the inside of your air vents.
• Clean your carpets.  The carpet in your car is likely to be the dirtiest part of your interior; use your favorite carpet cleaner and spot remover.
• Wash your car in the evening.  If you wash your car on a sunny day, your car will be littered with spots when the water dries.
• Clean corrosion from your car battery by pouring baking soda and water over it; similarly, clean rusted bolts from your engine by soaking them in baking soda and water.
• Extend your vehicle's mileage by removing its air filter and vacuuming it with a hand vacuum between scheduled replacements.

Tips for the Lawn:

• Mow your lawn when the grass is dry in order to protect your lawn mower from wear and tear.
• Alternate the direction in which you cut your grass, moving horizontally one week and vertically the next in order to keep grass growing upright and prevent soil from compacting.
• Apply granular weed and feed products when the grass is damp or wet to help the weed control stick and increase effectiveness.
• Never cut more than a third of your grass's length; mowing at a longer length allows your lawn to absorb more sunlight and retain more moisture while deterring the spread of crabgrass and weeds.
• Collect the owner manuals for your outdoor equipment and store them in a binder.
• Avoid bagging your mowed grass because the clippings will keep sunlight from reaching the soil beneath them, thereby preventing weeds from growing.