Moving in or out of a home can be a costly move, perhaps walls need knocking down or wood flooring needs to be replaced. Because of this, we understand that every penny counts when you’re in the real estate game, and whenever you get the opportunity to save a dollar or two (without sacrificing the quality of the end result) you should jump at the chance and use some house cleaning secrets!

Now, there are many house cleaning secrets professionals do not want you to know about, which allow them to cut costs and increase their profit margins for when they come to clean your home. It makes sense to hire Healthy Carpets for house cleaning Ann Arbor.

Today we are going to let you in on the cleaning industries dirty (I guess you could say clean) secret of how they create their homemade cleaning products and how you should use them when cleaning your home for your upcoming house viewing.

Pay close attention, as these tips will allow you to save a few extra dollars so that they can be used on more important things, such as real estate agent fees or towards a new kitchen for your latest or oldest property.

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner

Probably where most of your cleaning supply money would go, all purpose cleaning solutions can be used for many things in your home, whether you’re scrubbing away at bathroom tiles to get their shine back, or you’re cleaning the windows so you can finally see out of them again – removing dirty finger and hand prints left by your children.

Another of our house cleaning secrets will help in creating your own at home and will allow you to save a hefty amount of money since you’re most likely going to go through a lot of it if you keep up a regular cleaning schedule.

Just so you know how often you use this stuff, here is a list of what all purpose cleaner can be used for:

• Glass
• Laminate Flooring
• Steel (Tables and Chairs)
• Tiled Flooring
• Wood
• Wall Tiles

Now that you know just how often you use all purpose cleaner is, here are a few options you have to create your own at home…

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner With Vinegar

The most common way of creating the cleaner in question is with vinegar, although it should come as no surprise that once used, your whole home will smell of vinegar… but that’s fine! If you’re spring cleaning, then just be sure to open up a couple of windows to allow the smell to fade.

If your cleaning around the months of winter or when the weather isn’t as nice, opening windows may not be an option. In this case, covering up the smell with some of your favourite candles or adding essential oil to the mixture will allow you to combat this odor.

However, if you’re looking for a cleaner that can be created without the use of vinegar, then keep on reading.

But, if you’ve decided this is the All Purpose Cleaner for you, here is our recipe:

• 1 Cup of Distilled Water
• 1 Cup of white distilled Vinegar
• 15 drops of essential oil (to help take away that vinegar smell – optional)

Instructions:

1. Carefully put all of the ingredients listed into a spray bottle (using a funnel will help you to not make a mess).
2. For Use: Gently shake the spray bottle and spray on your desired surface, then wipe the area with a damp cloth.
3. Use this within 3 weeks, any longer and bacteria can form making the cleaning absolutely pointless for the thing you’re using it for, cleaning!

Pro Tip: Do not use this concoction on a marble or granite surface – keep reading for a better solution!

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner Without Vinegar

A great alternative to using vinegar is the homemade all purpose cleaner with lemon juice. Now it’s not just the same recipe as before with some lemon sense thrown in, because without vinegar there is no real cleaning product, you just have lemony water.

Instead, you’re going to have to use baking soda and liquid castile soap.

Here is a run down of what you’re going to need and how you’re going to make it:

• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp liquid castille soap
• 1 ½ cups of distilled water
• Spray bottle

Instructions:

1. Add the baking soda into the spray bottle along with the water and put the lid back on. Now, shake like mad until the baking soda dissolves.
2. Next, add castile soap, put the lid back on a gently swish around the mixture

Pro Tip: Be sure not to shake like mad when the castile soap has been added, since you’ll create a lot of bubbles which will slow down the mixing process of the two solutions.

DIY Carpet Cleaner Powder

So, we’ve let you in on a great all in one cleaners that work on a range of surfaces but how do you clean those carpets of yours? Sure hoovering alone does the trick and your house might look great in the photos online but once you get to the more personal home viewings, the bad smell from your carpet is going to be apparent and it’ll no doubt turn away potential investors and purchasers.

But don’t fret, we’ve got another great homemade cleaning product that will help to clean and also get that fresh smell back in your lounge, living room or bedroom area (or wherever it is you have carpet!)

You can trust that this works a treat because we learnt this handy carpet cleaning trick from Little Grimlin Carpet Care!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

• Clean mixing bowl
• Baking soda
• Dried Lavender or any other herbs
• Vacuum Cleaner (Regular or Handheld – we recommend both!)

Be sure to have a good vacuum at the ready, ones with poor suction will struggle to collect all of the baking soda, leaving an even greater mess than we started with.

Regular hoovers should do the trick but for hard to reach spots, such as on your stairs or in the corners of a room, we recommend a handheld vacuum cleaner.

If you’ve never had one and you don’t want to go over your budget, check out the great guide over on Clean Home Guide that compares the 5 best handheld vacuum cleaners for all cleaning purposes and the site has some other great house cleaning secrets.

Instructions:

1. Add baking soda to a mixing bowl (add as much as you’ll need)
2. Then, add your herbs of choice, we say lavender!
3. Mix the two ingredients together
4. Sprinkle the carpet with your new homemade cleaner.
5. Finally, vacuum your carpet!

Conclusion

Hopefully these tips have been helpful and will offer you a way of cutting the costs of cleaning in your current property, your next home or your next real estate investment. Visit Clean Home Lab's website for more simple appliance cleaning tips and quick guides.