Cleaning Hacks Every Parent Should Know
Life with children can get hectic. With cooking dinner, navigating their school life, and taking them to and from extracurricular, things can get overwhelming. With so many responsibilities, cleaning shouldn’t be another stress on your list. If you find yourself struggling to cope with the spills and stains of everyday messes, you’ll love these cleaning hacks every parent should know. Tune in for some helpful advice that will prepare you for all future accidents.
For Your Furniture
When it comes to stains and spills on your furniture, you have to be careful about your methods of cleaning. Different fabrics and materials have specific care instructions. Using a cleaning method that isn’t safe can permanently damage or ruin your furniture. Before utilizing these suggestions, take a look at your furniture’s care instructions.
Always Test Stain-Removal Products
You wouldn’t want to ruin an entire section of your couch by applying the wrong product. Instead, test a small section of your couch that isn’t directly visible to guests.
Never Rub Spills In
Sippy cup leaks and coffee stains are inevitable. But how you choose to act on them can either make or break your furniture—literally. When spills occur, your first reaction should be to blot, not rub, with a cloth or paper towel. Rubbing a liquid in can weaken the fabrics of your furniture and create permanent stains.
Stock Up on Vinegar for the Softer Cleanups
Vinegar is one of your most versatile cleanup tools. Its acidic nature gives you a safer option for killing bacteria. For furniture spills, vinegar can also help destroy any odors related to food or drink spills. It’s a great multipurpose cleaning solution.
For the Creative Trails and Marks of Crayon
Children say and do the most precious things. But when you find them standing near your walls with crayons in their hands, you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. You can save your tears, though, because crayons won’t stand a chance against these useful methods:
- For crayon marks in your wood furniture: Try applying pressure to the area with a damp cloth soaked in a solution of warm water and dish soap.
- For crayon marks in your upholstery: You’ll want to treat it the same, with a water and soap solution; however, you’ll want to scrape off the excess crayon bits with a dull-edge knife or metal spoon.
For Dirty Clothes
Clothing is the last thing your children are worried about, but for you, stains can be incredibly annoying. For the next inevitable stain, any of these methods will be effective in saving your child’s clothing:
- Use oxygenized non-chlorine bleach for dye stains.
- Treat every stain immediately with water or the proper solvent.
- Invest in different solvents for the most common stains.
These cleaning hacks every parent should know will make your life much less stressful. They’ll ensure that you have everything you need for all future stains and spills.
