Speed Cleaning Tips

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No one likes cleaning the house, but we can make the chore take a lot less time. We asked cleaning pros for their favorite cleaning tips and cleaning products to keep your house sparkling and save you several hours of cleaning per week. You won't have to spend a lot of money either—some of these products that help you work smarter cost less than $5.

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Use a doormat
Use a multipurpose cleaner
Use Tide with Dawn StainScrubbers
Use a Swiffer Duster
Use a stain remover
Use a Magic Eraser
Use Dishwasher Magic
Use a HEPA vacuum filter
Use a Swiffer Sweeper Vac
Use a disposer cleaner

Article

Use a doormat

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Leave dirt at the door

Eighty-five percent of the dirt that comes into the home is from shoes! So nag your family members to take them off. Place shoes on doormats to contain the dirt. A 20 x 30-in. mat costs about $20 at discount stores.

Use a multipurpose cleaner

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Use one cleaner that cleans everything

Stop using four to six products to clean your bathroom. The pros use one multipurpose cleaner that does it all. Our pros recommend Mr. Clean Multi- Surfaces Cleaner with Febreze ($3 for 28 ozs.). With a multipurpose cleaner, bathroom cleaning takes five minutes.

Use Tide with Dawn StainScrubbers

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Treat stains during the wash cycle

Don't worry about tough stains like makeup or chocolate ruining your clothes. Our pros are fans of Tide with Dawn Stain- Scrubbers ($6.50 for 50 ozs.), a new detergent that can handle stains in the wash cycle, saving you valuable time.

Use a Swiffer Duster

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Trap dust, don't move it around

Lose the feather duster. Our pros use a Swiffer Duster with Febreze ($23), which traps and locks dust in the duster's fibers. It doesn't just move the dust elsewhere like traditional feather dusters—it removes the dust.

Use a stain remover

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Use cleaners that target problem stains

Stain removers like Super Iron Out ($10 for 5 lbs.) make quick work of rust stains in sinks, tubs and toilets. Pour it onto a sponge or add it to the water in the toilet bowl, then scrub with the sponge or a nylon-bristle brush. You can get rid of most stains in less than five minutes.

Use a Magic Eraser

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Erase scuff and grease marks

Our cleaning pros use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser ($3 for a two-pack) to easily rub scuff and grease marks off the wall.

Use Dishwasher Magic

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Clean the inside of your dishwasher

Dishwasher cleaning takes about five seconds with this method. Just put a bottle of Dishwasher Magic ($5) in the silverware basket and run an empty cycle.

Use a HEPA vacuum filter

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Keep dirt and dust out of the air

Stop blowing dust all over with an old vacuum. A HEPA vacuum filter (starting at $8) captures microscopic airborne particulates. Old-fashioned paper or conventional vacuum bags pick up only about 30 percent of dust and allergens, and blow the rest back into the air.

Use a Swiffer Sweeper Vac

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Ditch the broom and dust pan

Sweeping the floor with a broom takes too long. The Swiffer Sweeper Vac ($29) does a better job than a broom and dustpan. Clean up the kids' crumbs and other messes without even bending over. You can clean a floor in four minutes or less!

Use a disposer cleaner

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Keep your disposer smelling fresh

Forget lemons—clean and deodorize your garbage disposer with a disposer cleaner in about 15 seconds. One brand is called Disposer Care ($4). Turn on the hot water, pour a packet of Disposer Care into the disposer and turn it on. Do it once a week.

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joeannaanthony

April 09, 12:45 PM [GMT -5]

These house hold tips for cleaning the house is going to be very helpful to me. I liked The Swiffer Sweeper Vac and feel it will do a better job than a broom and dustpan. I also like the Swiffer Duster which traps and lock the dust.

Calgary7

April 15, 12:37 AM [GMT -5]

Change your furnace filter -- I really like the 3M Allergan series and find that Costco carries them quite reasonably priced. The filter acts like the lungs to your house and can trap a lot of particulates which dramatically reduces the dust and surface dirt. I change my filter every other month in the summer and have my furnace properly cleaned every 3 years.

Makes such a huge difference to the amount of dust in the house. I live in Calgary which is quite dry and windy so lots of dust.

Check out Flylady.net - rubba scrubba makes short work of household grime, I love the rags in a bag -- yes, they do clean mirrors using the soft side and the rough side can clean everything else, FlyLady's Rubba Swisha toilet bowl brush is fantastic.

(Just a happy customer -- not a paid endorsement and have no affiliation with the company).

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