We all need to save time, especially during the holidays. And since the last thing we really want to do is clean, we at WizMop thought we’d compile some suggestion to make your cleaning chores easier in the most used rooms in your home.

In the Kitchen

It’s inevitable that with all the cooking we do during the holidays, there will be some baked on food to struggle with. One of the easiest ways to deal with this situation is a ball of aluminum foil. Just crumple some foil into a ball, start scrubbing and watch that baked on food give up! Please, though, don’t try this on any cookware with a coating such as Silverstone, Teflon, or one of the newer ceramic coatings.

The holidays is usually when most of us take out the good silver but after sitting in storage all year it’s often become tarnished. Wash the pieces in soapy water with mild soap first then line a fairly deep pot with aluminum foil. In another pot, boil a quart of water with ¼ cup baking soda. Pour the mixture over the silver and cover the pot with a well-fitting lid. Take the silver out after 5 minutes, rinse the items with clean water, and dry with a soft cloth. Your silver items will look as if you spent all day and a lot of elbow grease polishing them!

You’ll probably be making your favorite coffee for guests and if you use a coffee grinder you can get it fresh for the season. All you need do it add a handful of uncooked rice to the grinder an turn it on. The rice will remove all the stray coffee bean bits trapped in the blades and crevices and leave it smelling fresh. When you’re done, throw away the rice and wipe the grinder to get rid of any stray residue.

Cutting boards are often used more than normal during the holidays and they can get rather smelly and pick up stains. Wood and plastic cutting boards can be rubbed with half a lemon to clean them; let them sit for 20 minutes then rinse the juice off. Your cutting boards will smell great and be stain free.

Tired of water spots on your faucets? Rub them with waxed paper and they won’t get marked up with water spots and fingerprints. Your sink will look lovely! And to make your stainless steel appliances shine just as nice, wipe them down with Pledge furniture polish.

Dishwashers can be a problem, especially if you have hard water. Lime deposits and iron stains can affect how well they function as well as their appearance. To get rid of these deposits and stains just pour a packet of ordinary Lemonade KoolAid into the soap dispenser and run it through the empty dishwasher through a complete cycle.

If you have a gas stove you know how hard it can be to keep the grates clean. Just one accident of a pot boiling over can start a build up that’s nearly impossible to scrub off if you don’t take care of it immediately—and who has time for that?! Now you can make the grates like new by pouring about ¼ cup of ammonia in a trash bag. Put your gas grates inside, tie the bag shut, and leave them sit outdoors overnight. In the morning they will look like new! Just remember that you only need a little ammonia; you’re not soaking the grates but letting the ammonia fumes dissolve the grease, grime, and stains.

Cookie sheets are used a lot during the holidays if your house is anything like mine. I find that non-coated cookie sheets clean up beautifully with a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It works on those stubborn baked on stains and the residue from cooking sprays to leave them looking like new with minimal effort.

Living Areas

Oh, those dreaded ceiling fans! You meant to wipe them down each month to prevent dust build up but that just didn’t happen. Don’t despair; just go get an old pillowcase. Put it over each blade in turn and slide it off so that all the dirt stays inside the pillowcase instead of falling on the floor and your furniture. If you need a stepstool or ladder to reach your ceiling fans, please avoid using the top step for safety reasons.

If you have spots in your carpet or on your furniture, one part Blue Dawn dish soap and two parts hydrogen peroxide will lift just about any stain. For old, set stains you may have to let it sit for awhile but this mixture is effective on nearly everything you don’t want on your clothing, carpet, linens, and furniture.

Do you have artwork that looks dingy or just hasn’t been cleaned in years? Use doughy, soft bread to safely clean dirt off paintings. Bagels are easy to handle and just as effective as a slice of white bread. Cut the bagel in half rub lightly over the surface of the painting. You’ll be surprised how much dirt will come off. Use a soft, clean paintbrush to get rid of the crumbs it will leave. Your painting will look like new!

Don’t forget the vents in each room of your house. They can get pretty grimy from the flow of air from your heating and air conditioning units. After cleaning them, just coat the vents with car wax and your vents will be dirt and dust free all year.

If you have blinds as window treatments you know that they are a real chore to clean. Use kitchen tongs and a cloth sprayed with disinfectant to clean them. Rinse the cloth often to avoid streaks.

If you want your house super clean, use WizMop to wash the walls. You’ll probably be surprised how much nicer they look afterward.