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5 Quick [And Chemical Free] Ways To A Cleaner Home!

November 24, 2015

By:

Erin Schrader

If you know me at all personally and have been to my house, you may say that I am a little anal when it comes to the cleanliness of my home. This was proven just last week as I had a house full of women over along with a few small children – the kids were doing what they do best [eating cookies on the couch] and as I saw crumbs falling everywhere, I quickly got out the vacuum and started sweeping while everybody else was trying to enjoy one another’s company. I think they laughed at the fact [and maybe thought I was an idiot] that I was vacuuming while they were there trying to chat however, ain’t nobody got time for a couch full of crumbs. Unfortunately this cleaning incident has happened smack dab in the middle of one too many hosting occasions. #sorrynotsorry.

I’m pretty sure my husband doesn’t know if he should love this character trait about me or despise it terribly. He often tries to remind me that “it’s okay, we can live in the house..” to which I quickly remind him “well that’s fine, just live cleanly in this house so please, use this paper towel immediately to wipe up that coffee ring you just left on the counter..” Really, I am a peach to live with.

While I am very particular about having a clean home, I am also very particular on not spending a massive amount of time or chemicals to get my house this way. In fact, the only place that chemicals are used in our house are in the bathroom where toilets and showers are involved because yikes, I know what happens on toilets and in showers and kill that shaz immediately. Besides that however, no dust sprays, no window cleaners, no wood floor cleaner, no nothin’. Today I thought it’d be fun to show you how I clean up the most frustrating areas of my house in no time at all.

1. Lets start with the most time consuming area of the house, the floors. While I love our hardwood floors, the dark wood loves to show every.single.thing all.of.the.time. Because of this, I find myself sweeping constantly [because Lord knows we can’t have one piece of dust floating around in a corner ;)]. Just recently I was introduced to the Hoover Cordless Vacuum and OH.MY.WORD. this thing is life changing and yes, I know I am seriously adulting right now over it. I wish I could appropriately confess my love for this piece of cleaning technology in this one blog post but I just don’t think my words will ever do it justice. You guys, it’s cordless. You know what this means right? No plugging in anything. No dragging anything behind you. No getting that freaking cord stuck under the bar stool tipping it over denting your lovely hardwood floors. The better part to this story? It is made for both hard surface floors and carpet, meaning I can cover every square inch of my house without having to change what I am using. It’s the most genius invention I’ve ever experienced.

I am using the Hoover Air Cordless Lift Upright Vacuum in our house and well, I haven’t even told you one of the coolest parts about it yet [building the suspense, you know]. The Lift part of the name you ask? Let me tell you — you can lift the canister right out of the base of this thing and then carry it all around your house (or shoot to your car or to your boat or to wherever you may need to) and suck some things up. Being the couch sweeper that I am, this is perfect for being able to easily do just that. 

A few other things to note about this bad boy – the Hoover Cordless Vacuums are powered by LithiumLife batteries which have double the capacity of a standard lithium Ion battery which means it will run much longer [I have cleaned my entire house several times before needing a charge] and at a much higher power.
The Hoover cordless line currently has 4 different cordless cleaners – 3 are vacuums and one is a hard floor wet cleaner, all of which use the same battery meaning you can interchange between products. 

So you’re asking – does it really clean up floors well? Why yes, yes it does. The windtunnel 3 technology uses three channels of suction to lift and remove dirt quickly and easily. There is a button you push depending on what type of floors you are on which will change the roll of the brush. My favorite part? It is so flexible, it clearly was in gymnastics as a child. I can get this baby under nearly everything and it turns on a dime. 

Clean up is a breeze and oh friends, you need to ask for the Hoover Air Cordless Lift Upright Vacuum for Christmas like yesterday. End of story.
 

2. Next up, the most commonly ignored thing to clean [or at least in my house] – windows. My mom is a window nazi, she cleans hers several times a week, both inside and out. I prefer to stick to the twice a year routine. Because I am trying to do better about this, I have found a way to do it quickly and easily. All I use is water [no smelly vinegar or funky other items] and a microfiber cloth. I get that microfiber cloth wet, swirl in circles and then dry it off with a polishing cloth – toss em’ both in the washing machine when I’m done and wa-la, clean windows! I can now wash windows in a matter of minutes and the fact that it’s just with water, perfection!

3. The problem area, microwave. This is a tip I learned from a friend and it’s this – to clean the inside of your microwave, simply microwave a cup full of water for a minute or two to steam the inside. Once you have done this, simply take a rag and wipe. All of that hard crusty stuck on pizza sauce will come off in one swipe making your job easy as can be. And bonus! You didn’t have to spray any chemicals that would later get cooked in with your food!

before 
after

4. The nitty gritty, grout. Just recently I learned what a difference a little lemon oil can make on this problem area. All you need is a few drops [feel free to dilute with some water] and start scrubbing. Our grout has never looked more white after we get some lemon oil on it. As an added plus, your floors will have never smelled better either! The good news is you can go ahead and lick em’ – it’s all natural! Go ahead, I won’t tell anybody.

5. Dust here, dust there, dust everywhere. Again, I turn to microfiber to make all of my easy cleaning dreams come true. No sprays are necessary as the fibers trap and capture the dust particles leaving them non-existent in your home. Simply wipe the microfiber [can either be a cloth or wand like pictured below] over all areas and dust be gone! No more sticky residue left all over your side tables and cute vases.

And there we have 5 cleaning hacks that are worth your time [or lack thereof]! What’s one cleaning tip/trick you have? I’d love to hear it below! 
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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