Have you ever wondered how your grandma’s place is always perfect? Keep scrolling and go through this article to learn the housekeeping tips from grandma that you’ll regret not knowing!
1. All Hail Helios!
My Grandma was never fond of professional cleaning. I still remember her referring to them as “useless fancy trends.” She had her own cleaning techniques for all the pillows, rugs, and comforters. I often saw her hanging all these things in the sun and sprinkling them with some vinegar-water solution.
Sunlight is the best sterilizer, according to her!
2. Your Whites Don’t Mind A Lemonade
It’s always hard to see your favorite whites fade. But, my Grandma’s collection of white sheets still look as good as new! How does she maintain them like that? She surely had superpowers.
Or maybe, she knows how to effectively use the raw kitchen ingredients.
Squeeze the juice of a lemon into hot water and soak your whites in it for about two hours. Then, rinse them and dry them in the sun. Easy!
3. Coz Everyone Likes Vanilla!
That pleasant fragrance I mentioned in the beginning of the article was vanilla’s! There is always a sense of nostalgia associated to the scent of vanilla essence.
Relive your childhood again by dipping cotton balls in vanilla essence and placing them in different parts of your home. You can even wipe cold bulbs with vanilla essence—when they heat up, your home is going to smell as if someone is baking a delicious cake!
4. Waste Is A Big No
I always had to follow a ‘No Waste Policy’ when living at Grandma’s. She never entertained the idea of using paper towels. Homemade rags of microfiber took the place of paper towels in almost every cleaning domain.
Microfiber rags are also easier to launder and they dry fast too. So go ahead and ditch those paper towels.
5. Flour To The Rescue
Spilled oil on the floor or counter? Take a deep breath and don’t panic—it will be okay. Just sprinkle some flour immediately on the oil stain and wipe it off with a sponge after some time.
The floor will absorb all the oil and prevent any staining.
6. Mint Sprig Deodorizer
Grandma’s aromatic solution for a stinking garbage bin is a mint sprig. Just place a fresh mint sprig in your garbage bin every day and you’ll never have to worry about the foul odor it creates under the sink.
7. Did You Know Leather Was Lactose Tolerant?
Have your imported leather handbags faded a bit over time? Then you just need some milk and a soft cloth. Dip the cloth in milk and polish your leather with it. It’s going to look glossy and beautiful again!
8. Borax For Clean Spaces!
Introducing the newest member to the list of cleaning supplies- borax. It can single-handedly clean tiles, sinks, etc. when sprinkled on the surface and scrubbed with a damp sponge. You can also use borax to get rid of laundry odor and tough stains.
9. Improve Your Soups With Vegetable Broth
Never throw away the leftover water you get after boiling veggies. Store it in the freezer and reuse it to boil veggies the next time. When this is done a number of times, you’ll get yourself a vegetable broth! This can be added to sauces and soups to improve their taste.
10. Citrus For The Win
Citrus is beneficial in all forms—both lemon and grapefruit are equally efficient when it comes to cleaning.
Combine salt with these and it can do wonders. For example, your greasy sink can become smooth if you scrub it with a half-cut grapefruit or lemon with salt sprinkled on it.
11. Coz No One Likes To Iron
Want to skip the ironing routine? This hack is just for you!
Just hang freshly washed clothes on hangers and let them air dry. All the twists and wrinkles on your clothes will disappear.
12. Shoe Polish As A Varnish
Do you ever wonder how did grandma managed to keep her wooden furniture looking new all the time? It was shoe polish that she used for this hack.
With the help of a cloth, wax your wooden furniture with shoe polish to keep it looking classy always. This can also mask any scuffs on scratches on the furniture.
13. Cold Candle Wax Breaks Faster
Removing hardened candle wax can be messy and tiring. But there’s a hack from grandma that’s going to make this process easier.
Put some ice cubes in a zip lock bag and keep it over the wax. Chilled wax is much easier to get rid of.
14. Steaming- An Alternative To Scrubbing
Got burnt food stuck to the pan? Boil some water in a pot or saucepan and then hold your dirty utensils over the steam. This will loosen the food particles and make them easy to clean. No more soaking and scrubbing and toiling away!
15. Crisp Is Love- Be It Toast Or Sheets
Yeah, everyone loves crisp and fresh sheets. But ironing the whole sheet seems like a nightmare.
But what if you didn’t have to iron the whole thing? Just fold the sheet in a small square and iron its top (don’t iron the folds!). You ironed a huge sheet in just a stroke!
16. Double Your Sponge’s Life
The ‘No Waste Policy’ I talked about earlier can be applied to many things, one of them being cleaning sponges. Cut your sponges in half to double their lives. This way, they’ll also be able to reach the nooks and crannies of diry dishes as they are smaller in size.
17. Cinnamon Fresh
Did those Asian noodles just fill up your kitchen with strong smells? In a saucepan, add some water and cinnamon sticks and bring this to a boil. It will fill the kitchen with a sweet fragrance and eradicate all the strong ones.
18. Scratches On Wood? Not A problem!
Grandma was never upset with me banging the forks or spoons on her nicely polished dining table (my mother never let me hear the end of it though). Grandma had a trick up her sleeve for dealing with such mishaps—pecan nuts!
Rubbing a pecan nut over the scratches will fix all the problems—its oil has the power to re-stain the wooden surface.
No wonder I didn’t hear an earful from grandma.
19. Dustbins Like Roleplay Too!
How often do you feel like cleaning the garbage bins in your bathroom? Never! So, instead of making everything a separate task, why don’t we start multitasking?
When cleaning your bathroom, empty your garbage bin and use it as bucket. That’s how you hit multiple targets in one go!
20. Soda Water Can Do Much More Than Just Fizz
Have your pots become dull and shineless? Then it’s time to make things fizzy!
Place your steel utensils in carbonated water and let them sit there until the fizz settles. Congrats, you now have utensils that shine like brand new!
21. Let Your Walls Go Tipsy
Drawing is a hobby loved by almost every kid—and the canvas ranges from floors to walls to doors and wherever your tiny tots can reach. And the crayon and ink stains can give the parents a hard time while cleaning.
But you can’t let your kids stop having all this fun! So, here’s grandma’s secret tip—use rubbing alcohol to get rid of crayon and ink marks from walls and clothes.
22. Decide A Laundry Day
Laundry can be draining if you try to do it along with the rest of your everyday chores.
Instead of doing laundry every day, select a day for it, and aim to finish everything that very day. The rest of the chores can be taken care of by other family members for a day.
23. Reuse Old Clothes As Rags
I’m pretty sure all of you have clothes that you’ve outgrown. Time to repurpose them! Convert them into rags by cutting them into squares and using them for various cleaning purposes.
We still follow this ‘No Waste Policy’ at our place.
24. Formulate A Window Cleaner
I’m going to share a special window cleaner recipe with you (this is confidential information, do not share it with your envious guests!).
Take rubbing alcohol, vinegar, and water in equal parts and add a few drops of essential oils. You just made the best window cleaner! Your windows are going to be streak-free and spotless after using this solution.
25. Clean The Kitchen As You Cook
“Never pile things up for later”—another pro tip from grandma. Just like us, she too wasn’t fond of doing a lot of dishes in one go. So, to make this chore less dreadful, she used to clean the dirty dishes while cooking.
This is something you should adopt too. While waiting for the potatoes to boil or the chicken to cook, wash the dirty dishes. This is going to make your life a lot easier!
