We dove down the rabbit hollow of #CleanTok movies and located some tips — together with for dusting and choosing up puppy hair — that labored nice. Others fell flat.
Dust baseboards and trim with dryer sheets
In a video that was once seen greater than 500,000 occasions, consumer @ken.c.long asks: “Have you ever used dryer sheets to clean your baseboards? Well, maybe you should.” Not handiest will this trick clear the baseboards, he claims, however the movie left in the back of through the sheets can even save you extra grime from amassing.
Okay, I’ll admit: I used to be biased going into this hack, as a result of I’ve finished it sooner than and will attest that it completely works. One sweep with a dryer sheet alongside the trim of my partitions alternatives up all visual grime and mud. This time, I ran the sheets alongside my doorways and door frames, as a result of I haven’t been as conscious about dusting there, and I used to be very glad through how a lot they have been ready to scrub. Two weeks later, I checked the similar spots, and, certain sufficient, they have been nonetheless dust-free. So, if you have already got a package deal of dryer sheets, you’ve additionally were given an efficient duster — and safety measure.
Fight puppy hair with one rubber glove
Animal rescuer Felicia Wilson shared her secret to conserving her house freed from puppy hair in April, and it has since gained more than a half-million views. The key? A rubber dish glove. That’s it. Put one on and run it over a floor with a large number of puppy hair, and the hair will allegedly hang to the glove and are available proper off.
My cat Honey loves to hang around on my velvet sofa, leaving in the back of various hair. Quick backstory: I used to be as soon as influenced through TikTok to shop for an roughly $30 reusable contraption referred to as the ChomChom pet-hair remover. It’s indisputably higher than your reasonable lint curler, however the clingy section wore out after a few yr. All in all, no longer well worth the cash, individually. Would TikTok once more steer me to a subpar pet-hair resolution?
Not this time! Using a glove I already owned, I adopted Wilson’s directions. It took six or seven company sweeps to gather the entire cat hair, however the glove picked it up and left my sofa and my cat’s favourite blanket utterly fur-free.
Deodorize your rubbish disposal with pantry pieces
Nearly 100,000 other people have appreciated a video through which consumer @partyideas4you (up to now @homehacksforyou) describes a favourite “kitchen cleaning hack”: Pour about two cups of baking soda into the rubbish disposal, let it sit down for half-hour, upload white distilled vinegar till it stops fizzing, then end with a pot of boiling water to deep-clean your disposal and stay it smelling contemporary. Repeat about as soon as every week.
If you’re apprehensive about probably messing up your disposal like I used to be, plumbing professional Paul Abrams from Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup confident me by way of e mail that baking soda and vinegar make a very good cleaning aggregate, regardless that he did be offering a couple of revisions to the TikTok directions.
Abrams says that two cups of baking soda could also be a bit heavy for a unmarried utility and that you’ll go for one cup of baking soda and one cup of vinegar as a substitute. And he does no longer suggest the usage of the boiling water except your sink is product of chrome steel or porcelain over metal, as a result of superhot water could cause cracks “in some of the newer composite sink materials,” reminiscent of quartz or granite, and “very hot water from the tap is more than adequate.” Luckily, my sink is chrome steel.
In preparation, I made certain to run various onions and garlic down the disposal. Cleaning it was once a easy, if long, procedure. I gave a couple of cast shakes of Arm & Hammer to coat the drain, then let it sit down for a 30 minutes. It took a couple of glugs of vinegar — not more than a cup — till the fizzing stopped. Finally, I tipped within the pot of boiling water. Once the whole lot had tired, I straight away spotted that the sink regarded glowing clear and that any lingering meals smells have been long gone. I plan on incorporating this into my cleaning regimen as soon as a month. For a two-person condo, as soon as every week looks like overkill.
Use a Swiffer for glowing home windows
Jacqueline Stein’s video, seen greater than 65,000 occasions, assures audience that cleaning home windows with a microfiber towel connected to a Swiffer sweeper “takes less than 5 minutes and your windows will be GORGEOUS!”
I’ve tall home windows that I ordinarily desire a step stool to scrub, so I believed, “Alright, let’s give it a go.” After dousing a microfiber towel with cleaner, I secured it onto the corners of the Swiffer pad. (I used Safeway brand glass cleaner; within the video, Stein makes use of a mix of vinegar, water and dish cleaning soap.)
The Swiffer straight away felt very clumsy and awkward to make use of; there was once little keep an eye on or float, and it saved flopping round. Looking again, Stein had instructed dunking the Swiffer right into a bucket of cleaning resolution. I figured my very own fabrics can be tremendous, nevertheless it took a large number of sprays to soak the towel, or even then, no longer a lot was once transferred onto the home windows.
In the top, I needed to ask my 6-foot-3 fiance to immediately spray the home windows for me. The consensus? A step stool, rag and spray (or actual window-cleaning kit) would have finished a greater process.
Clean your disposal with ice
Maybe I did one thing incorrect, however this hack merely didn’t paintings for me. Professional organizer Jamie Hayes went viral over the summer season for running lots of ice and water thru her rubbish disposal till it necessarily vomited up a disgusting, brown liquid.
Not handiest did not anything occur after I attempted, however ice additionally were given caught and got here just about breaking my disposal. I consulted Abrams, who mentioned readers shouldn’t really feel utterly dissuaded through my failure. Next time, he instructed including a little bit of ice with the aforementioned baking soda and vinegar, or with a degreasing dishwashing liquid, reminiscent of Dawn.
“We think adding ice cubes helps with the cleaning process, and it helps to knock off stuck-on food particles,” Abrams says.
Nonetheless, for me, it was once a 0 in all classes. Would no longer suggest.
Where I drew the road: Stick a container of Fabuloso on your rest room tank
Wary from my garbage-disposal mishap, I determined to not pursue this hack from TikTok consumer @lexi_gray_, who reduce a hollow in a bottle of the cleaning resolution Fabuloso and saved it in her rest room tank. Essentially, each time she flushed, a little bit of Fabuloso was once launched into the tank and bowl, allegedly freshening up the bathroom robotically.
I envisioned my cat consuming rest room water laced with chemical substances, plus the feedback for the video screamed: DO NOT DO THIS. Abrams showed that commenters have been proper.
He warns that the bottle may just fall out of place and block shifting portions within your rest room tank, both conserving the bathroom from running altogether or inflicting it to run regularly. And for the reason that form and dimension of bathroom tanks range, the chance that this is able to paintings for everybody is narrow. Some issues simply can’t be hacked.
Kalina Newman is a contract author in D.C. who covers meals and tradition.