Cleaning Tips

Walls and Doors

Clean Doors Give a Great Impression

Before potential buyers arrive, clean and wash the doors in your house. No one knows why, but your whole house looks good. Scrub the door from top to bottom with a rag and soapy water, using a scrub brush for especially tough spots. While you're at it, wipe down the top edge of the frame. With all the dust that collects up there, it probably looks like velvet. Along with the upper side of a ceiling fan, the top of the door is one of the most missed spots in the home.

Cleaning Wallpaper

·         To dust papered walls, tie a dust cloth over your broom and work from the top down.

·         To remove pencil marks and other non-greasy spots from non-washable papers, use an art-gum eraser or a slice of fresh rye bread.

·         To remove greasy spots, crayon marks and food stains; apply a paste of cleaning fluid and fuller's earth, cornstarch or whiting. Let dry and brush off. Repeat the treatment until the spot is gone.

·         Wipe off fingerprints with a damp cloth, and then sprinkle the moist area with fuller's earth. Let it dry and then brush it off.

·         To prevent splash marks when you're washing baseboards or other woodwork, mask wallpaper with a wide ruler, Venetian blind-slat or a piece of rigid plastic.

When you save scraps of wallpaper for patching, tack them to a wall in the attic or closet. When you use them for repairs, they won't look so brand new.

Removing Candle Wax from Walls

Candle wax can be removed from walls or other surfaces with an iron and facial tissue. Set the tissue over the wax and gently iron. When the wax seeps through or the tissue begins to brown, apply a new tissue.

Removing Crayon Marks

Remove crayon marks from painted walls by scrubbing with toothpaste or an ammonia-soaked cloth. Rinse and dry.

Removing Magic Marker Ink

Hair spray will remove magic-marker ink from surfaces.

Un-stick That Door

Car wax applied to a sticking door will ease opening and closing.

Easy Bathroom Cleaning

Clean after a steamy bath or shower. The walls, fixtures, etc., will be much easier to clean because the steam will have loosened the dirt.

Cleaning the Sink

For light stains, rub with a fresh cut lemon.  For dark stains (like rust) rub with a paste of borax and lemon juice.

Cleaning with Rubbing Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol will clean the caulking around bathtubs. It also shines chrome and glass. Liquid chlorine bleach (1/4 cup to one gallon) will also clean caulk.

Cleaning Toilet Bowl

Clean the toilet bowls while you're away by pouring in 1/4-cup bleach and leaving it until you return. To avoid clogging and odors, pour one-cup baking soda down the bowl weekly.

Mildew

To remove mildew from the corners of the tub, dip cotton balls in bleach and let them sit, when you finish cleaning the bath, remove cotton and rinse well. The mildew will be gone.

Air Freshener

For immediate air freshener in the bath, place a fabric softener sheet in the wastepaper basket or add a dab of fragrance on a light bulb. When the light is on, the heat releases the aroma.

Freshen Drain

Shower Doors

Cleaning Shower Curtains

Sparkling Sink

Cleaning Ceramic Tile

Cleaning Plastic Tile

Cleaning Porcelain

Kitchen

Coffee Stains

To remove a coffee stain from fabric or a rug, try one of these methods:

Dip a white cloth into a beaten egg yolk and rub the yolk into the stain. Then rinse with clear water. Work denatured alcohol into the stain, and then rinse with water. Apply a solution of 1/2-teaspoon mild detergent in a pint of water. Blot with a white towel. If the stain remains, apply a 50-50 solution of water and white vinegar and blot.

Cleaning Kitchen Countertops

Cleaning with Automatic-Dishwasher Detergent.

Stainless Steel

Dishwasher Soap Film

Refrigerator Odors

Windows

Cleaning Mini-blinds

Floors

Cleaning Wood Floors

Quick fix for shiny wood floors.

Cleaning Vinyl Floors

Miscellaneous

Blood Stains

Cleaning Marble

Polishing Furniture

Indoor Plants

Fresh Curtains

Mix Your Own Cleaning Solitions

Dusting Tip

Cleaning Chrome

Removing Blood Stains

Removing Gum

Removing Smoke Odor

Additional Helpful Hints

Cleaning Safety Tip

Great Way to Tackle Cleaning

This is just a sample of the cleaning tips you will find in the book Tips 4 Home Selling.