Even though I love a clean house I dread doing the actual cleaning. It feels like it takes forever and I can always find a million things that I would rather be doing instead of cleaning our house. But, it needs to be done, and the longer I put it off the worse I feel about it. I have a regular routine that I do every week but there always seems to be additional yet random things that need to be done throughout the week to keep things sparkly and clean.

So here are some tips to help you get those random things done quicker and easier.

Clogged Sink Drains

When it comes to cleaning your house, baking soda is your best friend.

However, did you know that you can use it to help unclog your drains too?

If the water in your sink is at a standstill, or simply draining slowly, try unclogging your drain with a ½ cup of baking soda followed quickly by a ½ cup of vinegar.

As soon as you pour those in cover the drain with a wet wash cloth and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Take the cover off after 5 minutes and run steaming hot water down your drain for 2 minutes.

Stinky Garbage Disposal

This happened to us last week. Something was probably stuck in the garbage disposal and every time I came close to the sink it stunk.

I tried just running cold water.

I tried lemon juice and water.

I tried baking soda.

Of course those just freshen up the sink for a bit, but they do not unclog whatever may be stuck in there. So within a few hours the nasty smell was back.

Then I remembered someone suggesting that a quick way to clean your garbage disposal is by feeding it ice cubes.

I dumped two trays of ice cubes into the sink and down into the garbage disposal and flipped the switch.

Of course it made a loud noise and scared the cats to bits. But, it got rid of whatever was stuck in there.

After running cold water down the drain for a bit longer, the smell disappeared and has not returned.

Smelly Coffee Grinder

If you use your coffee grinder often, you will eventually find that small particles will build up under the blades and become difficult to remove.

If you simply leave it like that, you will start to notice that your coffee grinder smells stale, which could leave your fresh coffee grinds tasting awful.

To quickly clean your coffee grinder, take some uncooked white rice, about 1/3 of a cup, and drop them into your coffee grinder.

Grind as you normally would, then pour the rice in the garbage and wipe the inside of your coffee grinder with a damp paper towel until all residue is gone.

Dusty TV and Computer Screens

How often have you tried to dust your computer screen or your TV and instead of removing the dust you find that you are just sliding it around from one spot to another? Annoying, right?

If you find that as frustrating as I do, try using a clean coffee filter next time. Open it up, place your hand in the middle of the filter and wipe the other side of the coffee filter across your screen.

Dirty Glass and Stainless Steel Cookware

How often have you baked something in your beautiful glass Pyrex dish or cooked something on the stove in a stainless steel pot and found that when it was time to clean up you just couldn’t get all the food particles off? Instead of using a scratchy sponge, try using Aluminum Foil to clean up.

Grab a sheet of foil and bundle it up into a ball. Then add a couple of drops of liquid dish soap and use the ball to scrub your glass dish or pot. Never try this on a non-stick surface as you will peel off the finish.

Dusty Ceiling Fans

I love using an old pillowcase to dust our furniture. The cotton from the pillowcase picks up everything.

But what I recently learned is that I can also use a pillowcase to easily remove the dust from the blades of the ceiling fan in our bedroom.

Try this: Grab an old pillowcase. Open it up and slide the open end over one blade at a time, and then hold the pillow case close to all of the sides of the fan blade. Then slowly pull it off the blade while keeping the bottom of the pillowcase flat. As you slide it off the dust will collect inside the pillowcase instead of flying all over the room. Watch the quick video to see what I mean.

Toss the pillowcase in the laundry after doing each blade and you are done.