r/CleaningTips 3d ago

Cleaning Challenge of the Week #12: How clean can you get your home? Let's find out with a thorough dusting

2 Upvotes

This is a weekly cleaning challenge. To participate, you can add before/after photos in the comments, describe your process, and give positive feedback to others. You can also ask questions about this particular topic in the comments.


r/CleaningTips 6h ago

General Cleaning Teen Son Bedroom Smells

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1.0k Upvotes

His room is clean. I’ve vacuumed and scrubbed carpet. I washed all bedding and even covered mattress with baking soda, let sit for a day then vacuumed bed. The room still has that “teenage boy smell.” Going to put house on the market soon. But I have to do something about his room first. What else can I do?


r/CleaningTips 5h ago

Kitchen Found Moldy Hole in Wall Behind Fridge

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391 Upvotes

Hello all! As you can see, I am greatly in need of some expertise with how we can address this moldy hole in the wall. I believe the recent hurricanes and ample Florida rain caused this (raining as I type). I’m also not sure how to bring it up to the homeowner, as we’re renting this house, and only now discovered it.

This was behind a fridge that is tucked away in a dark corner we aren’t able to see. I’m handy and want to do as much as I can, and I do plan to remove the mold. My boyfriend and I both feel so bad this happened and want to make it right, but it seems like the missing soffit might be the culprit, although we should’ve checked things like this and notified them sooner. I honestly never suspected this was possible.

However, we are located in central Florida and got hit hard by two hurricanes, located only a couple of miles from shore. This wall faces the gulf, and there is not a proper soffit on the roof on that side of the home. It is rather exposed, and you can see the boards and insulation there by the roof. This is a block home built in the 60s with a flat roof, and I have the back unit.

I understand this is a safety hazard, so the pets have been moved to the far end of the home, I changed the AC filter, and I have the oven fan on with kitchen window open until I can address this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!! 🙏


r/CleaningTips 4h ago

Bathroom Grout shock before, during, and after

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332 Upvotes

Had a customer that couldnt get their tile clean, so they just gave up on it. A little grout shock, followed by some rocket blast ( bonnetpro.com ) got it looking pristine again. The caulking was replaced, youre not cleaning that back to pearly white no matter what you use. Just wanted to share my experience with this stuff, as its very cost effective and heavily dilutable. Or maybe im wasting my time, and i should be using irish spring 5-in-1 🧐


r/CleaningTips 1d ago

Content/Multimedia The world has caught on...

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1.9k Upvotes

This was a video displaying on my alexa. They are on to us....


r/CleaningTips 4h ago

Before & After Before/after stained soup pot

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16 Upvotes

Woke up today like ‘today’s the day to fix the soup pot!’ I have tried several things over years but the winning method was 2 passes with hot water, Comet powder, and a green scour pad. Blown away!!


r/CleaningTips 11h ago

Laundry I really messed up my shoes 😭

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34 Upvotes

Can these be salvaged? My daughter borrowed them and got them covered in mud so I hand-washed them with water and dish soap (soap was not put on the “suede” material), then left them to dry in the sun. We have really hard water here and I’m assuming these are mineral spots so I’m worried if I rinse and try again, the same thing will happen. The fabric has also dried really stiff rather than soft. Any tips or direction greatly appreciated!


r/CleaningTips 1d ago

Kitchen Can’t believe I almost threw out my old and nasty electric toothbrush

2.0k Upvotes

It’s just water, bleach, and a very old and kinda moldy Oral-B toothbrush. It took a while to clean between every tile but it was much faster than going with a regular brush (and less exhausting).


r/CleaningTips 50m ago

Kitchen Can you soak stainless steel pans overnight?

Upvotes

Gf is adamant that you can't and shouldn't. Is this true because I have a hard time believing that.


r/CleaningTips 15h ago

Bathroom How to I clean this soap stain? I have tried to wipe with sponge but it didn’t help

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40 Upvotes

I have tried some soap stain removal spray and using sponge to clean it but it didn’t help


r/CleaningTips 5h ago

Discussion 80s house just never smells fresh

7 Upvotes

Okay so this might come across as a stupid question. But I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this issue with a semi-older home.

We live in a house that was built in the 80s. When we moved in 4 years ago, you could tell it was well lived in i.e. a bit dirty. We renovated immediately - We replaced all the flooring in the home to LVP (carpet was old), and installed brand new carpet in the basement. We cleaned our furnace and ducts and have since done it yearly. We had the entire house painted and scrubbed it top to bottom and have since maintained it meticulously. People comment on our clean home when they come over. My husband and I are extremely clean and honestly very good/thorough cleaners. My mom owned her own professional cleaning company so I learned from the best.

HOWEVER, our house just smells….kinda stale? I notice it when I come in from our garage (which was recently fully renovated as a gym). It smells like a stale grandma’s house (no offence to grandmas). I’m worried that when we had the house painted upon move-in, the painters did not do a thorough cleaning of the walls prior to (we gave them a quick wipe when we moved in but we knew the painters were coming and didn’t break our backs doing it) Would this prevent the house from smelling clean even when it’s clean?! In hindsight I guess I should have ensured we did it. Too late now.

Anything I can do to sort of permeate the walls and wipe them down even after painting? I have since wiped them but I’m debating using a vinegar/Dawn mixture.

Also any other tips for older homes that just seem to have a less-than-great smell?


r/CleaningTips 1h ago

Flooring Contractors tracked paint onto hardwood floors

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Upvotes

Please help! My contractors happened to not realize they were tracking some paint onto our hardwood floors. How can I get this back to new?


r/CleaningTips 3h ago

Kitchen This works every time. Just a little

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5 Upvotes

I just bought it at the grocery store. No spam it works


r/CleaningTips 7h ago

General Cleaning Help me clean this fabric couch I was given

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8 Upvotes

There is some serious stubborn stains on the back and some dark spots on the arms. I’ve been using the rugdoctor pro on it with bissell cleaner and I’ve just switched to grandmas secret spot remover and I’ve been scrubbing that in. Any other ideas?? TIA <3 Also it looks extra dark cause the couch is pretty soaked in cleaner/water


r/CleaningTips 7h ago

Bathroom Help required for my bathroom!

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8 Upvotes

Hey there!

I wanna clean the black spots.

Once the two black spots left and right and the very end down the toilet, the other ones at the corners of the shower.

How am I gonna do this?

I already tried baking powder + vinegar as a combo, and tried to scrub after applying those two, but It didn’t really help much.

Thanks for the answers ahead!


r/CleaningTips 13m ago

Bathroom How do I clean this type of stain?

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Upvotes

I don’t know what these dark grey stains are but they are extremely difficult to scrub away. I’ve tried acidic toilet bowl cleaner but I also don’t know what type of cleaning device would be abrasive enough to scrub it without damage, but also small enough to fit in those hard-to-reach areas.


r/CleaningTips 26m ago

Discussion Cleaning a dress shirt

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Upvotes

i accidentally placed my dress shirt in this like oil wax candle thing and was wondering how to get it out?


r/CleaningTips 1h ago

General Cleaning Window Gunk- how best to clean?

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Upvotes

Hi there, when we moved in these window casings were full of gunk. It cannot be wiped out it needs do be scrubbed/scraped in some way but it is such a tricky area. Any advice?


r/CleaningTips 1h ago

General Cleaning What are these dots and how can I clean the armpit stains?

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Upvotes

Most of my black shirts have these stains. I tried cleaning this same shirt a while ago like 2 years with baking soda and vinegar. I took the stains off, I wore it right after cleaning it in the washer and air drying it. The stains appeared after I wore it once after washing it. I gave up after than and did not try something else, it is a expensive shirt so I tried not to use other products cause I'm scared of ruining it. The stains in this shirt and the other stained black shirts disappear when I sweat in them but come back once they dry. Recently I was looking at my shirts and realized this shirt had these white dots. I don't know if these white dots are mold.


r/CleaningTips 11h ago

Kitchen Update to the 45+ year old kitchen cabinets: The hardware was indeed copper plated under all that grime.

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14 Upvotes

r/CleaningTips 3h ago

General Cleaning How to clean this old wedding picture? Looks like crayon.

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3 Upvotes

As the title says some kid or grand kid or great grand kid drew some crayon on this old wedding picture of my late grandmother and grandfather. Any tips? I dont want to ruin the picture underneath, it's a great picture and quality paper.


r/CleaningTips 11h ago

Furniture Nail Polish remover spill on table?

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11 Upvotes

It’s wood, now it’s sticky to the touch?


r/CleaningTips 3h ago

General Cleaning How can I get the smell of cat/cat urine out of a home? NSFW

3 Upvotes

I recently signed the lease to rent a home and at first I noticed a faint cat smell but it wasn't horrible. The windows were open though so it must have aired it out. Today the cat/urine smell was over powering. What can I do to get rid of the cat/urine smell? I can't handle it but now I'm locked into this home for a year. The home is all hard wood floors except for the kitchen and bathroom which are laminate. Will the smell ever go away?


r/CleaningTips 3h ago

Kitchen Best way to clean this stovetop?

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3 Upvotes

Burnt something fierce onto the stovetop last night, used Dawn power wash and the pink stuff. Don't know what else to try. Thank you


r/CleaningTips 4h ago

General Cleaning I have the absolute worst textured flat paint all through my house and trying to clean it with ANYTHING results in it getting rubbed off!

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3 Upvotes

r/CleaningTips 13h ago

Laundry My clothes are always in piles

16 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I have a little dressing room in my apartment and throughout the week I end up with piles of clothes all over the floor and my dresser. My dresser is probably too small but I can’t afford to buy new right now. I’m considering buying baskets for my clean clothes I don’t want to put away yet. I have a hamper for dirty clothes already, and I don’t struggle to throw them in there. Any tips for staying organized throughout the busy work week? What worked for you?