Lifestyle

If You'd Rather Clean Something Than Replace It, Follow These 28 Tips


1.

Revive all sorts of wood surfaces and furniture in your home with wood polish and conditioner. Reviewers have used it to zhuzh up front doors, kitchen cabinets, wood floors, wood furniture, and just about any other wood surface. FYI, replacing kitchen cabinets can get up into the TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars. So this bb is def worth a go.


2.

Do wonders with a watermark-removing cloth that’ll even get the nail polish remover you dribbled down your nightstand two years ago and has made it a curbside contender. Let it stay awhile with this magic-working wipe.


3.

Degunk your most used appliance you thought was too far gone with a fume-free oven cleaner reviewers swear by. Sometimes you can’t replace an oven because you’re renting! (Or because budget!) Clean it with this, and then use that oven!!


4.

Spiff up just about anything you have around your house like car headlights, pots and pans, porcelain sinks, stove tops…with Bar Keepers Friend powdered cleanser. Really, the limit does not exist.


5.

Erase sticky messes you’ve resigned to living with thanks to a bit of Goo Gone — including that old magnet that fused with your rental apartment’s fridge (me) or stickers fused with garage-door windows (my friend who just bought a house). Seriously though, this stuff is MAGIC for anything you’ve considered tossing thanks to a sticky mess.

pic of like new subwoofer speaker cleaned with Goo Gone and then a lint-covered speaker before cleaned with Goo Gone

6.

Skip buying a new shower surround by using a rust-removing spray that’ll work wonders, minus the elbow grease. Spray it on a rusted surround, leave the room, and come back to diminished stains you can easily wipe away instead of shopping around for a new surround.


7.

Turn back time with the help of water bottle-cleaning tablets to clean the inside of your reusable water bottle that currently looks like it’s caked in mud, thanks to your beloved coffee. These tablets fizz up and renew the look of your container, so you keep on using that tumbler and enjoy that positive impact on the environment (and your pocketbook).

reviewer pic of brown tinted inside of thermos then completely clear thermos inside thanks to the cleaning tablets

8.

Scrub away hard-water marks and all kinds of nastiness with a toilet-dedicated pumice stone. Nope, you do NOT have to replace the old toilet in your new place.

before pic of nasty looking stained toilet bowl then the same toilet bowl looking completely clean and new thanks to the pumice stone cleaning

9.

Wash your makeup brushes (you’ve gotta!) with a reviewer-loved makeup brush cleanser, because you and I both know you’re not washing your beauty tools as frequently as you should. (Same.) Turns out that they aren’t prime for a replacement — they just need a thorough wash.

reviewer pic of blush and bronzer stained makeup brushes, then them looking new and clean thanks to the brush shampoo

10.

Sit for a spell with some family heirlooms and this silver polish to bring thm back to life and prevent future tarnishing.


17.

Clear out your dryer’s lint trap of debris with a special brush to make drying cycles/the appliance more effective longer. If your stuff is coming out wet, you may need one of these. It’s so much cheaper than a pro repair!!

person using long brush to clean out the lint trap in a front-load clothes dryer

18.

De-funk those favorite flats of yours that you can’t throw in the wash with some charcoal inserts that’ll be worth a try so they’ll stop stinking up the mudroom.

row of three pairs of shoes with the charcoal inserts in them

19.

Add a hard-water booster to your dishwasher to finally get your Pyrex bowls that you thought were donezo looking normal again. You and I both know those bowls are the best, despite your home’s hard water.

reviewer pic of cloudy pyrex bowl then completely clear, clean looking bowl

20.

And toss some cleaning tablets in your dishwasher to help make that $$$ appliance work so much better than as of late.


22.

Revive most anything around your home with Magic Erasers. (UGH, they’re so good.) Use it on a grungy tub, marks on walls, sneaker soles, wooden outdoor furniture you thought was trash — so. Many. Things.

reviewer pic of dirty Airpod case and then the same one clean and looking brand new

23.

Save an area rug or basically anything you’ve spilled vino on with a red-wine stain remover because, well, accidents happen! But you can be prepared for (at least some of) them!


24.

PSSST….give Grandma’s Secret, an under-the-radar solution with serious stain-removing prowess, a chance on messes and stains that make you say all kinds of four-letter words — like, cleaning pen from a white leather couch.


25.

Save yourself some dollars and trouble with a headlight restoration kit that includes a UV-blocking clear coat to make your transformation last so much longer.


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