Weekend Wipe Down: 6 Easy (& Some Weird) Ways to Clean Baseboards If ever there were a post to not inspire excitement, it'd probably this one. Because cleaning baseboards just isn't exciting. But, it's the sort of task that when completed makes your home feel and look better. No one will probably ever come in and compliment you on your clean baseboards. But they could be one clean cog in your lean, mean clean home machine. We've found 6 ways you could try cleaning your baseboards this weekend (or whenever it's convenient for you) — some of these tricks are weird, some easy, some very thorough and some you may never have thought of before — but one might be a fit for your cleaning style! Our best advice: Get the family involved to make this task go faster. So how often should you tackle this task? It really depends on your needs. Homes with lots of fur and hair should consider giving the baseboards a swipe once a week, but if you live solo and keep everything else pretty clean you might be able to get away with doing it once or twice a month.

Grab a stack of Magic Erasers (or whichever brand you prefer), a bucket of warm, soapy water (or vinegar and water) and simply swipe. Wring the sponge out well before you wipe so you don't leave too-damp boards to dry. If you don't have painted baseboards, substitute wood cleaner. 2. Easy but wasteful:Wedding Dress In Devon Grab a box of cleaning wipes, and, well, wipe. Foam BlindsThis is particularly good if you have a small home or not a lot of time.How To Change Headlight Bulb Mazda 5 3. Easy and weird: Grab a box of Fabric softener sheets plus your Swiffer and take a swipe of your baseboards. We've never actually tried this ourselves, but the theory goes that these sheets might actually coat your baseboards with some dust repelling properties.

Anyone who's tried this before must chime in the comments below to tell us if it works. 4. The dry method: If you actually don't have too terribly grimy baseboards, you might just need a dusting. Make it easier on yourself by using the right tools for the job. Use a mini handheld broom, or, if you don't have one of those, a clean paint brush (those for edging would work great). If you sweep your baseboards this way, you might want to do it before you vacuum your floors to pick up any hair and dust that gets swept off. And if you've got a small enough sweeper attachment with bristles for your vacuum, use that to de-dust your boards. 5. Weird but effective: Step 1: Grab an old sock. Step 2: Place a disposable toilet wand into sock. Step 3: Spray sock with your cleaning liquid of choice (gentle soap, vinegar and water or wood cleaner), and swipe. You'll probably look a little crazy doing it, but darn if it don't sound easy (and dare we say fun?) to do. We spotted this super thorough baseboard cleaning tutorial on Imperfect Homemaking (and even then it's still easy to do).

If you haven't cleaned your baseboards in awhile (or ever) you might want to start here, and graduate to some of the easier maintaining methods above in the future. Simply dry brush the dust off, follow up with a warm washcloth (or sponge, or sock) and soap, and then grab some cotton swabs to use in those hard-to-clean corners. A Thorough Spring Cleaning Checklist Before I tell you how I make my baseboards shine I want to tell you this: cleaning the baseboards is an entirely optional chore.  If you are stressed out and overwhelmed and barely have time to take a shower, please don't let this post add one more thing to your mental to do list. Just go browse pinterest for cake-in-a-mug recipes or polka dotted anything.  That said, cleaning baseboards is a quick and easy task that really makes a room sing.  Your walls and floors will look cleaner.  And, once done,  it stays done for a while...which for a mom with a house full of young kids and a never-ending barrage of laundry and dishes to clean, that sense of completion is a welcomed one!

To start, give the baseboards a quick sweep with a mini handheld broom.  If you don't have a little broom like this, a clean paintbrush will work too. This will remove the dust so that it doesn't just get pushed around with your cloth. Next, wipe the baseboard with a cloth dampened in a solution of warm water and dish soap.  If your trim is wood instead of painted you may prefer to use a wood cleaner for this step. Make sure that your cloth is well wrung out so that it doesn't leave a lot of moisture on the trim. Finally, take a cotton swab dipped in your cleaning solution and get into the corners. I also like to dust off the top edge of all of my electrical outlets as I go, the tops of those manage to collect a lot of dust. Then stand back and admire your job well done. See, I told you that was easy! Thanks so much for visiting The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking.  Please take a moment to "like" me on facebook !When it comes to cleaning, the bathroom is the room that can be overwhelming to clean.

It’s a small room, but it gets dirty fast, especially if you have kids or are active outside. It can be quick to get through if you keep up on the light cleaning like I describe in my episode, How to Keep Your Bathroom Clean Without Cleaning. Whether you’ve been keeping it up or have let it fall behind, today’s episode will give you the steps I use to train my Moxie Girl staff to follow when they are cleaning a client’s bathroom. Follow these 4 easy steps and your bathroom will be back to sparkly condition in no time!, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. /ceo.Of all the things that need to be cleaned in a bathroom, the shower and tub can be the most overwhelming and time consuming. That’s why I recommend cleaning them first to get it out of the way before you lose your steam.To clean your shower, you want to start with the walls. Spray one wall at a time with shower cleaner.

Let it set for a few minutes according to the shower cleaner’s instructions, then use a scrubby sponge to scrub down the wall. Scrape any dried shampoo or conditioner clumps from the wall with the sponge. If you use bar soap, use a plastic scraper to chisel the dried soap out of the dish and the wall surrounding the soap dish. Use a plastic cup to rinse the walls, and finally wipe them dry with a dry rag. Repeat this process on all the walls until they are all clean.By this point, the basin of the shower should be damp. That’s helpful for your next step. Sprinkle it with a non-abrasive cleaner like Comet. Use a scrubby sponge or scrub brush to wash the floor of the shower until the dirt, grime, and soap scum disappear. Rinse the cleaning agent down the drain and wipe with a dry towel. Remember to wipe the top of all the shower walls as well as the outside of the tub and shower doors as well. Those spaces collect a lot of dust and water spots, but a quick wipe with a damp rag is usually sufficient to make those disappear.

If your tub is separate from your shower, repeat all these steps in the shower too. In both showers and tubs, pay special attention to the corners and any small ledges. Soap scum and mold like to gather in those crevices. If you aren’t able to wipe or scrub it away, fill a small spray bottle with bleach and spray it on the mold. As it dries, it will kill the mold and bleach away the soap scum staining.Finally, it’s time for the finishing touches. Grab a paper towel to gather all the hair and gunk from the drain. It can be slimy, so unless you have a strong stomach, trust me on the use of a paper towel instead of your bare hands. The last step is to use glass cleaner to shine the fixtures and clean any glass doors in your shower. Take a step back and admire your sparkling shower and tub.Now that the shower is clean, it’s time to move on to the toilet. As soon as you walk over to your toilet, flush it to make sure you are starting with clean water and pour in your toilet bowl cleaner.

If you use cleaners like bleach or Comet, use the brush to swish the cleaner up around the bowl. You are going to let it set for a few minutes, so no need to scrub yet, just get the cleaner all around the bowl.Then, grab your rag and spray it with a little disinfectant. Starting at the top of the toilet, wipe down the outside of the bowl. Remember to get the top and the bottom side of the lid, the top and bottom of the seat, the front and sides of the bowl, as well as the base where it attaches to the floor. Check the hinges where the seat and lid attach to the base. If there is gunk around the hinges, spray them with disinfectant and use an old toothbrush to scrub that gunk out before wiping it again with the rag.Now it’s time to the worst part: the bowl. Since the cleaner has had a little time to work, hopefully it was able to release some of the stains and spots. Use a toilet brush to scrub up under the rim of the bowl, all around the bowl, and down into the hole where the water flushes.

If you’ve been doing this on a regular basis, you probably have a nice, clean bowl. If you have hard water stains and a ring in your toilet, it’s time to get out some gloves and a pumice stone. Use the pumice stone just like an eraser to make the stains and ring go away. It takes a little time and elbow grease, so it will probably motivate you to clean your toilet more often moving forward!See also: How to Get Rid of Hard Water StainsWhen doing a Spring Clean on a sink, I like to remove everything from the sink and the counter. That way I can spray it down with a disinfectant before scrubbing it with a non-scratch scrubby sponge. After you wipe down all the obvious dirt and grime, pay special attention to the ring around the sink drain, and anywhere you have soap sitting as there is usually a little extra effort required for those spots. After all the dust and gunk is loosened, rinse it with a wet sponge and knock all the hair and stuff on the floor (you’ll vacuum it up at the end).

Finally, wipe the counter with a dray rag to give it a smooth appearance.Before putting everything back on the counter, spray your mirror with glass cleaner and wipe it with a paper towel. Use that paper towel to shine up the fixtures and your sink area is done.Once your sink, toilet, and shower are clean, it’s time to move to the baseboards, particularly the baseboards that get wet. Baseboards that stay dry are relatively easy to dust clean. A dry rag will knock the dust on the floor. Baseboards that get wet, like the ones below your hand towels, next to your shower, and around the toilet, will need extra attention. The easiest way to get the dried-on dust and grunge off is to spray the baseboard with your sanitizing spray and wipe with a sponge or rag. Work in 12” sections until all the baseboards are clean.Finally, it’s time to move to the floors. Use your vacuum to suck up all the hair, dust, and junk that you’ve knocked off all the other surfaces. If you have bath mats, you can vacuum them or toss them in the washer and dryer if they are looking grungy (just check the tags to make sure they are safe for the dryer).