How to Keep Your Home Sparkling Clean for Less

If you’ve just bought your first home, the last thing you need now is spend extra dollars buying unnecessary cleaning products to keep your house looking nice. For about $15 every six months, you can stock your cabinets with just about everything you need to clean your floors, sinks, tubs, tiles and mirrors.

Visit your local janitorial supply center or your warehouse shopping center and pick up a gallon or so of an all-purpose neutral cleaning solution, such as Now. These products contain solvents that, when mixed to the instructed ratios with water, will handle anything from that grease stain on the garage floor to fingerprints on the walls.

A damp , soft cloth will dust your furniture, unless it is bare wood. Don’t be so fast to spray on waxes or oils. They build up and change the color of your pretty furniture over time. If you do decide to use a wood cleaning product, pick one you like, whether a wax or oil, and stay with it. Mixing the products causes a dull finish.

Keep a disinfectant and deodorizing cleaner, such as Lysol Basin, Tub & Tile Cleaner II, handy to disinfect the toilet and shower stall.

For a light-duty glass cleaner, mix 4 tablespoons of strained lemon juice with one gallon of distilled water and a few drops of dish soap.

A little chlorine bleach will whiten your porcelain sinks and take away the mildew stain.

Finally, for the soap scum and lime buildup in your basins, use a phosphoric-acid based cleaner such as Shower Power and a white-backed cellulose sponge.