Here are the best ways to clean common household messes
A clean home is a healthy home — and fall is a great time to get your house back in shape after a hectic summer. From tips on improving your indoor air quality to the best ways to clean up household messes, Canadian Tire has everything you need to Prepare for Fall.
As the colder months approach, we’re all about to spend more time indoors enjoying the comfort of home. If you’ve been too busy out enjoying the summer to get your house sparkling and spotless, there’s no better time to fix that than right now—and it all starts by staying on top of everyday messes.
While a good all-purpose cleaner and elbow grease may be enough to handle most daily household cleaning tasks, sometimes you need a little extra help to tackle the tougher jobs. From removing stains from your couch to cleaning baked-on grease off your stove, here are the best ways to handle even the peskiest common household messes, so you can spend less time cleaning your home this fall and more time enjoying it.
Stains on carpets and upholstery
Next time your dog has an accident on the carpet or you spill coffee on the couch (because there’s always a next time), don’t panic. As long as you act swiftly, and have the right tools, you can treat stains and spills before they have a chance to sink into your carpets or upholstery and leave a lasting mark.
Bissell’s Little Green ProHeat® Pet Portable Carpet & Upholstery Deep Cleaner is a compact yet mighty machine that can remove spots and stains from almost any surface in your home (or your car). Paired with the Bissell 2X Spot Clean Pet Formula, it’s never been easier to clean up pet messes, whether they’re minutes, hours or even days old.
For tough carpet stains, try Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover, a multi-purpose stain remover that’s effective on everything from grease to coffee and wine spills. It’s also safe for use on upholstery as well. Simply spray and blot with a cloth or paper towel to lift the stain away.
Dust and dirt buildup
In a perfect world, we’d be dusting and vacuuming regularly. Sometimes though, life gets busy, and it doesn’t leave much time to stay on top of keeping our floors clean.
With the help of a cordless stick vacuum like the Dyson V11 however, managing dirt and dust in high-traffic areas of your home becomes quick, easy and painless. Or, if you’re looking for a more hands-off solution, the iRobot Roomba 691 will take the task off your hands entirely by cleaning your floors either on demand or on a preset schedule. It’ll even learn your habits and preferences to create a personalized cleaning routine, and suggest an extra clean when pollen count is high in your area.
Kitchen messes and grease splatters
Cozy comfort food is a must for fall, but leaving baked-on spills and grease stains on your stovetop is a must-not. Luckily, Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser is one of the best-kept secrets for cleaning kitchens; it works well on everything from stainless steel appliances to ceramic and glass cooktops, and cleans tough stains without scratching or damaging surfaces. Bar Keepers Friend also makes a Spray & Foam version that does double-duty on bathtubs in addition to cooktops.
For the rest of the kitchen, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Variety Pack can help you tackle just about any mess you could imagine, from food splatter on the walls to scuff marks on the cupboards. The variety pack even comes with a special Kitchen eraser that uses Dawn’s grease-fighting power to scrub away more difficult messes. As for cleaning those hard-to-reach areas, Mr. Clean Clean Freak Deep Cleaning Mist activates on contact to power through grime—and it’s available in a variety of fresh scents.
Hard water buildup and soap scum
Mineral buildup, hard water stains, and soap scum in the bathtub and shower can feel impossible to tackle, especially if you try using a regular all-purpose cleaner. But you’ll be surprised how much of a breeze those same messes can be to clean when you’re armed with the right products. CLR Bathroom & Kitchen Cleaner was formulated to cut through the toughest bathroom filth to get your shower doors, tiles, sinks, and bathtubs sparkling clean. Then move on to using Clorox’s clinging gel toilet bowl cleaner, which delivers better coverage and a cleaner toilet bowl, all thanks to its special thick coating formula.
And, while most tough bathroom messes require strong chemicals to clean, FRANK Ammonia-Free Glass Cleaner is a biodegradable solution for bringing a streak-free shine to your windows and mirrors.
Bacteria and germs on household surfaces
One of the most common household messes involves a culprit we can’t even see: germs and bacteria, which we bring inside with us every time we return home from the outside world. That’s why it is so important to regularly disinfect your home’s surfaces to keep you and your family safe from potentially-harmful bacteria.
Incorporating a daily, or even weekly, wipe of counters, doorknobs and light switches with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes will kill 99.9 percent of viruses and bacteria. Another great way to keep your house free and clear of bacteria and allergens? NOMA’s iQ True HEPA Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier automatically monitors and filters your indoor air quality, giving you added peace of mind, and one less thing to worry about this fall.