This Is the Best Cleaning Advice, According to Reddit
Today I discovered something shocking: Reddit is an excellent place to go for cleaning tips. The site is best known for dog memes and jokes, but it’s also full of a lot of actually useful information. The massive online discussion forum has over a million sub-forums covering everything from video games to food to random thoughts people have in the shower. And with that many people around, a lot of them are bound to know what they’re talking about.
This week a Reddit user going by TheOldSoul did the entire world a favor and started a compendium of the best cleaning tips the users of Reddit have ever received. It turns out they have a lot of good advice to give! And a lot of them have experience as former messy people themselves, so they have a lot of good advice for how to get started when you’re not a naturally tidy person.
These are the best kitchen cleaning tips, according to Reddit.
1. Find the clutter and address it at its source.
“I have a bar in the dining room but no trash can, so bottle tops ended up laying around. Bought a cute little bucket that sits on the bar with the bottle openers. Now even during parties the bartop stays clean because it’s so convenient,” a user called EutecticPants said.
2. Buy yourself some Bar Keepers Friend.
As soon as Bar Keepers Friend was mentioned, at least 28 people showed up to champion the beloved cleaner. It even gets off those little gray marks on the bottom of your coffee cup from stirring with a metal spoon.
“Bar Keepers Friend is, bar none, the best cleaning compound for stainless steel in the world,” said someone going by ritmusic2k. “Oh, also it will wash your beer glasses without leaving that soap scum residue that ruins the glass’s ability to hold a nice head.”
Buy it now: Bar Keepers Friend, $3.50
3. Clean while dinner is on the stove.
“Clean while dinner is on the stove,” said a user named Inteusx. “Do the dishes and wipe the countertop, sweep the floor, etc. most of the time you only have to occasionally stir stuff so it can be a big time saver, not to mention no one likes to clean after eating.”
4. Don’t use vinegar on granite countertops.
When one user gave the old advice that vinegar will clean almost anything and baking soda will take care of the rest, a useful fellow burst in to warn everyone not to use vinegar on granite, because it takes the finish right off.
5. Rub faucets with waxed paper to prevent water spots.
“Rub waxed paper on the faucets,” advised SuzQP. “It prevents water spots.”
Waxed paper on the shower curtain rod also apparently helps the curtain slide more smoothly.
6. Don’t use the sink disposal as a trash can.
“Corollary: don’t use the sink disposal as a substitute trash can, that’s not what it’s for,” said one self-proclaimed former slob. “It will break, and your kitchen will smell like rotting food.”
7. Do something, no matter how small it may seem.
“Half-assing it is better than not doing it at all.” This advice from ephemeral-person is a must for any chronic procrastinators.
8. Melt your old toothbrushes into tiny scrubbing hooks.
When it comes to old toothbruses, a user called bingwhip explained “Don’t just throw it away, use a lighter to heat the handle right behind the bristles (careful not to melt too many bristles) and bend the head back. Small disposable scrubbers, indispensable for cleaning things like seals around plumbing fixtures, grout, small stuff. I have like three prepped like this around the house.”
9. Clean stainless steel appliances with WD-40.
“Use WD-40 to clean your stainless steel appliances. Wipe on, wipe off,” wrote a user called Ravensavage who is getting a lot of applause for this tip. “I had a professional house cleaner (in flusher times) that wanted to know how I got my appliances so clean, and said none of her professional products did as good a job. I told her I used WD-40 one day when I ran out of everything else. It logically made sense to me as it’s made to clean and protect metal parts. She switched to it from then on.”
10. Just start with five minutes.
“If you’re bad at cleaning, and it feels like the task is damn near impossible, start with five minutes,” a gentle user suggested. “Seriously. Pick a room. Set a timer. And clean like hell for five minutes. Then stop. Wait an hour, a half day, or a day, and then do it again. Change happens slowly, incrementally, and then it happens quickly. If you keep it up, you’ll find yourself in a much cleaner place a month down the road.”
11. Use dryer sheets to get baked-on food off pans.
“When soaking a pan that’s got baked on food stuck to it, put a fabric softener sheet in it. After 5 min or so, everything will wipe right off.”
Have you ever used Reddit for cleaning tips?