15 Easy Cleaning Hacks to Help You This Diwali

Diwali, a much celebrated festival in Jaipur and all of India is coming closer. Each one of you in Jaipur must be busy preparing for the festival and making plans to invite friends and family, wear that saree you saved for Diwali, select patterns of mehandi you want to have on your palms, prepare gifts and not-to-forget finish with the cleaning for Diwali before it gets too late.

We understand its quantum of work to prepare for a festival like Diwali so we thought of helping you out with the task of cleaning your houses and shops for this Diwali. Whether you maintain a clean house all year round or clean up just before guests arrive, we have a list of easy cleaning hacks that will transform your Diwali cleaning routine for the better and will also help you save a few bucks that you spend on those expensive cleaning products.

1. One Room at a Time

The first and foremost tip to ease your Diwali cleaning task is to pick up one room at a time. Start with one room, clean everything from the walls to the furniture, from carpets to the window glasses and everything else. Then move on to the next one.

2. Cleaning the Walls Thoroughly

Start cleaning the walls using a broom, sweeping from top to bottom. Clear all the webs and dust on the walls. If you have little kids who love to scribble leading to crayon marks on the walls, firstly use a pencil eraser to wipe off the colour. Then remove the remaining stain with the help of a non-gel toothpaste or a baking powder paste. Only try this if you have washable wall paint.

3. Making the Blinds Shine Again

Blinds often lose their shine being wrapped in layers of dirt they aren’t cleaned in a while. This Diwali we have an easy solution for this too. Just mix vinegar in equal parts of water in a bowl and dip a sock in the solution. Run it over each slat of the blinds to free them from all collected dirt and dust.

4. Getting rid of marks on cabinets

Simply use hair sprays or alcohol to wipe off stubborn stains of nail paint or crayons from laminated surfaces like shelves, cupboard, cabinets, etc.

5. Clean the marble or tiled flooring

The shine of marble and tiles wears off with time. But you can keep them shining brightly. Just add some vinegar and baking soda to the water you use for mopping the floor. The floor would start looking new again. Also make sure that you frequently clean the rag and use clean water so as not to add more dirt to the floor. Even a tooth brush works great on tough stains.

6. Dealing with Hard Water Spots on Faucets

Vinegar is the best ingredient for dealing with hard water spots on steel handles and faucets. You do not need to spend hours scrubbing the faucet till your hands hurt. Another good tool to make the dull steel faucets shine again is by cutting a lemon into half and rubbing it over the faucet. The citric acid present in lemon dissolves all salt deposits on the faucets and brings back their shine.

7. Don’t miss out the window sills

Often the window sills get missed out from your cleaning routine. Create a solution with 2 parts water and one part of vinegar. Mix well and fill it in a hair spray. Sprinkle the solution on window sills and wipe them off with a piece of cloth. It is an easy and inexpensive way to clean those dirty window sills.

8. Window glasses and other glass surfaces

Clean the glasses using a solution of water and vinegar. Dip a newspaper ball in the solution and wipe off all glass stains gently. This can be used for all types of glasses including window glasses, door glass, shower glass or mirrors. Use a soft cotton cloth to dust these as a hard sponge can often lead to scratches.

9. Carpet cleaner

The carpet is one of those areas that get noticed the most when guests arrive. It is necessary to ensure that your carpets look clean and even more important that your carpet is disinfected of any germs as kids often spend their time rolling on the carpets in your living room.

But you don’t need to spend on dry cleaning services every time. Also, there’s no need to elevate your electricity bill with overuse of a vacuum cleaner. This Diwali grab a squeegee and run it closely over the surface of your living room carpet. It will throw away all hair and dirt.

Fill up a spray bottle with isopropyl alcohol and spray it over the carpet to disinfect it. You can get isopropyl alcohol easily on any medical shop at minimal cost.

For any stains, make a solution of 1 tsp of dishwasher liquid, 3 tsp of white vinegar, ½ glass of water, adding all of these into a spray bottle. Mix well and spray the solution on stains, wipe off with sponge and then gently with a clean cloth to get rid of all stains.

10. Finishing of the Wooden Furniture

Wooden furniture gives a nice touch to your house but with time their shine wears off and they look dull. Though maintaining wooden furniture can seem to be a tedious job but it’s not that hard. You can prepare your own wood polish at home by adding 2 parts of linseed oil with 1 part of turpentine. Scrub the surface of your wood furniture with iron wool and then apply the solution you just prepared using a soft cloth. Wipe gently to see the shine back of the wooden furniture at you home.

11. De-clutter your Wardrobe

There are things in every wardrobe which never really get used. Especially girls have wardrobes full of clothes but still nothing apt to wear. There is one rule that rules the internet, which says, ‘If you haven’t used it in a year get rid of it’.

Follow that rule this Diwali. Empty all the contents of your wardrobe, wipe off the dust. Organise the contents in 3 different piles – Keep, Throw and Repair. After sorting, arrange your closet and ensure to give away the clothes you don’t wear to enlighten someone else’s Diwali and discard the stuff that isn’t worth giving.

12. Air conditioner vents

Narrow vents of the air conditioner are tough to reach and clean. Make use of a butter knife wrapped in a thin cotton cloth to clean those vents and get rid of the dust collected there.

13. Shower Heads

Cleaning up the soap scum and grime that has been building up inside the shower seems to be very tedious but well, it has to be done. To clean the shower heads, just fill a plastic bag with white vinegar solution and tie it around the shower head. Leave it for an hour like that. Post 1 hour, wipe the shower head with a towel or a soft cloth.

14. Leather sofas

Use show polish to replenish the shine and luster of you leather sofas and remove any scratches.

15. Kitchen Cabinets

Make a paste of vegetable oil and baking soda and use it to clean the cabinets in your kitchen. Baking soda easily removes the dirt while vegetable oil helps in retaining the gloss of the surface.

Hope these simple cleaning hacks with ease most of the cleaning routine for your this Diwali. This is to ensure that the people of Jaipur can spend more time planning for the real fun activities this Diwali and enjoy more and more quality time with their friends and family. Happy Diwali everyone!