\nIf you\u00a0wash your sheets just for the clean smell, go ahead and wash them every week or two, says Maeve Richmond, founder and coach of organizing company Maeve\u2019s Method. But if you don\u2019t mind a more lived-in bed, throwing linens in the wash just once a month should do the trick.\u00a0Washing too much\u00a0can wear out the fabric and fade the colors, Richmond says.\n
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If you haven\u2019t been sweating much, you might not need to rush your sheets into the laundry. \u201cWinter months are a time when we can swap bed linens out less frequently, mostly because our bodies are cooler, so our linens aren\u2019t absorbing as much sweat,\u201d Richmond says.\n
Spraying cleaner straight onto your couch will leave you with a soaked area to clean up. Instead, spray cleaning product onto a clean rag to wipe furniture, which gives you more control. \u201cWhen you\u2019re over-spraying, you\u2019re spending more time trying to wipe off the chemical,\u201d says Wallace Reid, regional vice president of Merchant Building Maintenance of Los Angeles.\n
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If you have\u00a0kids who play on the floor, you have reason to make sure your floors aren\u2019t dirty. But families without young children can hold off longer, Richmond says. Rugs with little foot traffic, like under a coffee table, can be vacuumed as little as once a month. \u201cSave time and do yourself a favor by holding off on vacuuming so it doesn\u2019t become a chore,\u201d she says. However, when there\u2019s a stain, you need to act fast.\n
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You might think using a higher concentration of detergent will\u00a0get glass even cleaner, but chemicals that aren\u2019t diluted enough will make the surfaces look foggy, Reid says. \u201cThe glass looks clean, but against sunlight it shows a dull film,\u201d he says. \u201cTo get rid of that, wash glass with water and a little bit of mild detergent to wash off.\u201d\n
Don\u2019t spray the cleaner straight onto the glass, though. Spritz it on a clean rag, then wipe the area, Reid recommends.\n
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You might not necessarily need to add your\u00a0kitchen towels\u00a0to your load every time you do the wash, Richmond says.\n
\u201cTo cut down the amount of washing you\u2019re doing, I suggest taking a look at the condition of dish towels before automatically throwing them in the wash, because they might have some life left in them,\u201d Richmond says. Her rule of thumb: Wait until you notice a stain or odor, which indicates bacteria from food, before you toss your towel in the laundry.\n
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\u201cTowels in the bathroom\u00a0tend to be used after you\u2019ve washed your body or hands, so they don\u2019t get as dirty feeling as kitchen towels, which are used for food products,\u201d Richmond says. While families with kids who use towels to wipe off dirt before a bath might need to wash regularly, other adults could wash their towels less frequently, she says.\n
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Mopping hardwood floors with water could warp the surface and take off the finish, Reid says. Use chemicals designed for wood floors and don\u2019t mop with too much water\n
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Even if your detergent says you need a full cup for your load, you might be able to get away with as little as half a cup.\n
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\u201cBig companies have scientific test facilities and come up with what they think is the appropriate amount of detergent, but that also has a dose of marketing and sales,\u201d Richmond says. She recommends going with your gut when deciding how much detergent to use. If half a cup can do the trick, you\u2019ll save yourself some money.\n
Washing leather couches\u00a0with water will soften the fabric, which means the sofa will wear out faster. An overly harsh sponge will do even more damage. \u201cIf you\u2019re using an abrasive sponge to wipe off a stain on a leather couch, what it does is it takes the stains out but ruins leather by scratching it,\u201d Reid says. \u201cYou need to use a leather cleaner, which not only will take the stains out but will protect the leather as well.\u201d\n
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Heavy-duty formulas like Ajax work well for marble counters, but they\u2019re too harsh for wooden ones. \u201cIf you\u2019re using Ajax because you think the staining is too deep, you\u2019re not just ruining the wood or the finish, but also\u00a0scratching the top,\u201d Reid says.\n
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Bed Sheets If you\u00a0wash your sheets just for the clean smell, go ahead and wash them every week or two, says Maeve Richmond, founder and coach of organizing company Maeve\u2019s Method. But if you don\u2019t mind a more lived-in bed, throwing linens in the wash just once a month should do the trick.\u00a0Washing too much\u00a0can\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[54,44,43,85,61,30,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-10969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tie-life-style","8":"tag-clean-hack","9":"tag-cleaners","10":"tag-cleaning-house","11":"tag-cleaning-mistake","12":"tag-cleaning-tips","13":"tag-household-hacks","14":"tag-tips"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Greyscale-Bordered-Jazz-Music-YouTube-Thumbnail-1-2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorevista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}