Cleaning Tips & Tricks

For their February issue, Reader's Digest interviewed housecleaners and collected their best ideas for getting houses spic and span.

Here are a couple that may be particularly useful:

- The best way to clean blinds: Close them, then wipe up and down with an old dryer sheet. It'll create an antistatic barrier that helps prevent dust from building up again. 

- To clean glass and mirrors: Use coffee filters, not paper towels. They leave no streaks or lint -- and they're cheap. 

- A great nontoxic all-purpose cleanser: Just put two squirts of Seventh Generation dish liquid in a spray bottle and fill it with water. 

- To clean your microwave oven: microwave a cup of water with some baking soda in it until it boils. That eliminates odors and makes it super easy to wipe away all of the stuck-on stuff. 

- To clean cobwebs: Use a yardstick covered by a tube sock. That also works for cleaning under stoves and refrigerators. 

- Shine your bathroom tiles: Use lemon oil. It also helps prevent mold and mildew. 

- To eliminate that ring in your toilet: Drop in a bubbling denture tablet, and leave it for at least 30 minutes. The stain will come off with just a few swishes of the brush.

Also, the housecleaners said that their "biggest secret weapon" is a product called Bar Keeper's Friend. It apparently can be used on almost anything (glass-top stoves, counters, toilets, sinks) and leaves a great shine after easily cutting through grime.

Hope it helps!