5 household items you might not be cleaning enough. There are two times a year I get the itch to do a deep clean.
One of course is spring, when everyone is airing out their musty houses from all that time spent inside during winter.
But the other is fall. When school is approaching, and the air starts to get that crisp breeze, I find myself looking around and seeing all the grime and dirt from summer lingering in our home.
It’s this time of year where I no longer am satisfied by a quick vacuum and a spot clean of our floors and countertops. I am looking to clean up those household items that I know have been neglected for far too long.
In todays post I thought it would be fun to share 5 household items you might not be cleaning enough, because I know in the past these have been items I never thought to clean or at least clean until the grime really became obvious.
5 Household Items You Might Not Be Cleaning Enough
I know that I am not the only one who has neglected cleaning some of these frequently used items from around the home.
Sometimes we can get so focused on just the regular maintenance of the house that we totally miss these items, and it really makes a huge difference when they are cleaned. In today’s post we will be focusing on cleaning
- Pillows
- Drains
- Washing Machine
- Shower Curtain
- Wooden Cutting Boards
And I will share all the tips and tricks I use for cleaning these household items as well as strategies for cleaning them if things have gone a little too long and you have some nasty build up or eeek even mold.
Pillows
Lets start with one of the most frequently used items in our homes, our pillows. We sleep with them every night and smush our faces into them yet the pillow itself is not usually being cleaned.
Though most of us remember to wash our bedding, which includes our pillow cases, the actual pillow insert can be a source of a ton of grim and germs and should be cleaned often.
I am embarrassed to say how old I was when I finally had a light bulb go off in my head one day. I was staring at our pillows as I removed the covers to wash and thought man alive these things are nasty, am I gonna have to buy all new pillows.
We love our pillows. They form perfectly to our heads. We can’t sleep without them and my husband and I are never without them even when we travel. We are sensitive sleepers that way hah.
But they were looking shabby and I was super close to tossing them in the trash. Then I realized, hey I bet I can wash these.
Now you should always check the label on your pillow to make sure you can toss it in the wash, however if you’ve removed it it should be washable as long as its not feathers or wool.
If its feathers or wool you should be able to wash on cold but lay flat to dry and never put in the dryer for fear of shrinking or changing the shape of your pillow.
If your pillows are heavily stained you are going to want to wash them with something a little stronger than your regular laundry detergent.
I like to wash mine at least every three weeks and I usually use oxy clean to help remove any stains and keep them fresh, white and bright!
How to clean your pillows – Wash every 2-3 weeks with Oxy clean to keep them fresh, bright and white.
Drains
This is probably the most likely household item most people are not cleaning often if at all! We never cleaned are drains until we had our farmhouse sink installed in this home a couple years ago.
Our plumber (who is a friend of ours) and Jade were swapping out our old sink and you guys. I can’t even describe to you how utterly nasty the build up was in the drains and tubes connected to the old sink. I thought Jade might lose his lunch.
Our plumber friend said people should always always always be cleaning out their drains, once a month. After what Jade saw he hasn’t forgotten to clean those drains once! Never again he said, never again.
Drains are super easy to clean all you need is hot water which you have conveniently located right there.
Plug your drain and fill your sink up with hot water and once they are completely full release the plug and let all that hot water flush down your drains. Easy peezy.
Washing Machine
Just like our dishwasher, we rarely think to clean out our washing machine because … well isn’t it getting cleaned every time we use it to clean our clothes?!
But the truth is, especially if you have a front loading washing machine, that rubber lip area surrounding the machine has a nice little grove all the way around.
Nice little grooves have their way of filling up with all kinds of gross things and on top of that if it doesn’t get aired out properly that little plastic liner can easily become a breeding ground for mold.
I am sad to say when we purchased this home our washing machine that came with the home hadn’t been properly cleaned and water had pooled in that plastic liner and we already had mold growing inside it.
If this has happened to you you will want to clean the liner with vinegar.
Spray the entire liner with vinegar and let sit for at least an hour to help break down the mold. You can then go along and scrub the mold and remove what you are able. If it has sunk into the plastic you may need to replace that part of the washer if possible.
Even without mold that liner fills up with all kinds of things. Hair, Kleenex, lint and if you use the plastic laundry tabs, those little suckers can find their way inside that lip and hang out there for a while too. It’s so fun.
I regularly take a paper towel and wipe inside that plastic liner to clean out anything that has gotten stuck. Always leave the door to your washing machine open when not in use to prevent mold from growing and properly air out your machine.
Wooden Cutting Boards
A household item that often doesn’t get cleaned, or cleaned properly is your wooden cutting boards. My husband makes wooden kitchen decor products and so we have learned a lot over the years on how to properly maintain and keep your wooden cutting boards clean.
How to clean your wooden cutting board
Though you never want to run your cutting board through the dishwasher, you should make sure it gets cleaned often. I clean mine by washing with a very gentle cleaner ( I use thieves cleaner) and drying well at least once a day.
Once you have cleaned and dried your cutting board you want to maintain it by using an oil to moisturize the wood. We typically recommend using a mineral oil.
I have also heard if you need to sterilize the wood on your cutting board you can rub the board with half a lemon and sprinkle with corse sea salt.
Once the salt has been liberally sprinkled on the surface take the lemon half and massage the salt around the wood to help get into any cracks or grooves.
Wash with water and then moisturize with mineral oil.
Shower curtains and liners
Last but not least, shower curtains and liners. Go have a look at your shower curtain.
If you do not frequently wash yours and have children you will probably find all manner of things stuck to that curtain. And the poor liner. We never think of our liners but they can get a build up of soap scum, dirt and sometimes even mold.
Both your shower curtain and liner should be washed every month. I just toss both the fabric curtain and plastic liner into the wash. If mold has accumulated on your liner its easiest to toss it and start over.
The hardest part about washing your shower curtain and liner is removing it from the shower curtain rings. Man alive is that ever an arm workout, am I right! But the reward is great and your bathroom will feel so fresh and smell so clean!
I do not have any photos of our bathroom as it has zero natural lighting and is quite ugly haha so here is a photo of one of our soap stands from our shop Revival Goods on my moms bathroom counter, and my sisters beautiful bath tub in their new home.
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