Quick Cleaning Tips

Do you have a messy eater in your home? Or maybe two? Or three? I find that the floor under our table is always messy, wet, sticky, or literally STUCK. Cheerios and Life cereal are the worst, aren't they!? Today, we had milk, water, blueberry shake, Cheerios, beans, and meat stuck on the floor. Okay, that's admitting that I didn't clean up after each meal, since that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but let's just say it was a busy day. Plus, I'm big and pregnant and getting on my hands and knees isn't something I like doing multiple times a day.

The mess is often on the table, too, especially around my 1-year-old's table seat. Oatmeal, eww...It gets pretty gross.

I used to battle against those nasty stuck on leftovers. I tried getting a towel wet and leaving it on top of the mess to loosen it from the grasps of the laminate flooring, but generally that ended up in me forgetting that I had put it there since it took so long for it to loosen the gunk. I've taken a knife to my floors, trying to scrape it all up, but I have some reservations about the scratch marks on my wood table and laminate floors. Finally, one day, I had a revelation. Sure, you probably had this revelation years ago, but it was an "ah-ha" moment for me. And now I share it with you.

A trusty spray bottle + water = less work and no mess!

As I was cleaning up the kitchen, I picked up the spray bottle I use to spray my daughters' hair on non-bath days to put it away when I suddenly thought of the gunk on the table and floor I'd have to tackle in a few minutes. Instead of putting it away, I quickly sprayed down my table and floor. Sure, the concept is the same if you're using household cleaner, which I'm sure would be better, but to be perfectly honest, I don't have any in spray bottles because they keep clogging my spray bottles. You could add a little soap to the water if you wanted to. Regardless, the result was awesome. Give it a couple minutes and wipe it all up. And it all comes up so nicely. No more scrubbing, scraping, or scratching.

(Yes, I feel a little foolish posting this. I do realize it is not a new concept. But maybe someone out there has been frustrated about stuck on messes and needed a quick, easy, on-hand, free solution. So I posted it.)

Now, for another quick and easy clean up solution, think about your microwave. Do you have stuck on (burned on) messes in there too? Just take a cotton dish rag, get it wet and ring it out. Pop it in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Open up the microwave and use that same dish rag to clean up all the mess. (Careful, the towel may be hot.) Everything will just wipe off.

If you're cleaning out your fridge, get your towel wet with hot water before wiping down your shelves and it will take the mess off quicker too!

Now, just find the motivation to get cleaning, and hopefully it'll go faster!!