Household hacks to make life easier — time to get scrubbing

Kya deLongchamps shares some proven cleaning tricks for the dreaded chores we all avoid

For repellent challenges without your grandmother, try out some out our hacks - using natural, biodegradable solutions, where possible. Picture: iStock

As a teen, I would tease my grandmother over her perpetual damp cloth and canters behind the vacuum cleaner. Clutched in her non-smoking hand (another sacred light) – she didn’t put her wiper down except to do the rosary or make tea, mangling rags in scalding, soapy water with military precision. She glided through our lives on the Hoover upright — ruby lips clamped on a Rothman Blue, and knitted her own dusters.

Well, it turns out that a vacuum, a split fibre, damp micro-fibre cloths, soapy water and a vinegar spray are without doubt the best things to wipe, blot and roll out a house clean. Sorry, Nana. Here are a few hacks for repellent challenges we have to face without our nanas. Try natural, biodegradable answers when possible, but don’t beat yourself over the head with the spin-mop over a well-considered branded buy.

BATHROOM BLISS 

· Work on the toilet from the cleanest surfaces towards the dirtiest. Sanitise the bowl and then do a regular clean with dedicated cloths with neat or white vinegar solutions. Wash these cloths as an independent batch.

It's grim busting time in the house. Picture: iStock

· A cup of bicarbonate of soda, left for a long soak once a week will help keep the bowl sparkling

· If the toilet is blocking repeatedly, go from four-ply to two-ply paper. Have the talk with youngsters about wasteful behaviour causing log jams. Buy a plunger and make them use it

· To clean any toilet brush (ugh), leave it standing in bleach solution in your toilet and flush off debris. 

MOULDY WASHER 

The use of repeated temperature cycles under 40C is not great news for the hygiene and life expectancy of your machine. The first signal is often a vile whiff.

· Mould, mildew and accumulated soap scum in the drum and hoses has to go.

Get set – Setting out two cups (500ml) of white vinegar, 60ml of water and about two tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda.

· Check the machine’s 'coin' filter

· Using a rag at the end of its worthy life, use a dip of neat white vinegar to wipe out the hideous channel in the door seal. If you simply can’t face down a dirty door, Zanussi suggest a sprinkle of baking soda into the door seal, followed by a furious 90C cycle

· Find the hottest wash on your machine. Mix the water and soda in a jug before finally adding the vinegar. Pour half of your fizzy mixture into the detergent drawer and half directly into the drum. Run the machine for a standard length of time

· A 50:50 mixture of white vinegar to water is great for the outside of the machine and regular wipe for the drum.

FILTHY FLOOR FIXES 

You don’t have to get down and dirty to sort out a truly revolting hard floor (but sometimes it helps). Take an old white sock, dampen and rub it on the floor, corners, edges, under furniture. Serious clean means wall to wall attention.

Well-armed for the many cleaning tasks in the household. Picture: iStock

· Apple cider vinegar is an unlikely but powerful addition to the bucket for a vinyl or laminate floor. Use hand-hot water

· Keep emptying and refilling while mopping. Otherwise surfactants, natural or chemical will just dilute the dirt into the water and allow you to blithely spread it back over the floor

· Rinse any microfiber pad 2-4 times per floor in clean water or about every 2msq of floor. Choose machine washable mop pads. From €10 for Gleam Clean system, HomeStore & More

· Micro-fibre rugs can stop heavy petro-chemical and mud at the door. Choose washable products

STAIN HACKS THAT WORK

· Stains on walls – coconut oil or a puff of hairspray. Leave for a moment and wipe off. A slightly sudsy cloth will lift any oil residue

· Coconut oil and baking soda can lift tougher stains, the oil alone will moisturise leather and wood (no floors please). Its natural lauric acid, caprylic and capric acid will sanitise and clean old chopping boards

· Carpets. The vinegar stage for coffee and wine can be followed up with baking soda, or water and biodegradable detergent. Work in with your fingertips or a toothbrush and blot it out. Don’t over wet – it’s a surface treatment people

· Runny dog or cat doo-dah. Oprah Winfrey’s soda-water trick works with an inward blotting action with kitchen towel (don’t dig the faeces into the pile). Follow with a tiny ooze of washing up liquid before lifting that with a small spill of the soda-water. Allow to dry and comb with your rubber-gloved fingers to fluff. 

KITCHEN BLITZ

· Take the Sunday roasting pan, and put a very generous squirt of standard washing up liquid into the base with the fat (no water). Snap on your rubber gloves and massage the mank. Leave for a few minutes and rinse clean. Shine up the pan with coconut oil ready for use

· Save a lemon half from making dinner to rub over stubborn pan and counter stains – powerful stuff. If you have a rubbish disposal unit in the sink – throw a couple of lemon slices down and grind out some freshness.

· Take care of hard water spots with a 50:50 spray of white vinegar to water with a dash of essential oil and lemon juice if you like.

· Don’t like the honk of pyrolitic cleaning cycles? Make up a paste of bicarb’ and vinegar, and paint it on the oven cavity, avoiding heating elements. Leave overnight, lift with kitchen paper and remove residue with spritzes of white vinegar. Wear gloves for this odyssey.

· Baseboards and kick-boards in the kitchen need twice-yearly cleaning with soap and water. Hands and knees are really the only way. While you’re down there cursing, consider ways to seal up any open areas

· For removable grates of your cooker, intensify the treatment by placing the parts in a plastic bag after applying your paste. Seal and leave to cook. For stainless steel – wipe down with white vinegar and polish smugly with olive oil.