5 Unexpected Cleaning Hacks

These five cleaning hacks are unconventional and unexpected, but they totally work. Sometimes thinking outside the box saves you time, money, and mess.

Raise your hand if you love a good cleaning hack. My hand is up high and I bet yours is too. There’s just something so fun about experimenting with cleaning hacks, and it almost feels like you aren’t cleaning at all. Today I want to round up five of my favorite cleaning hacks that are a little unexpected and a tad bit weird, but they 100% work.

Remove Stickers With Lemon Essential Oil

This all started as an experiment. I was mad that my containers from HomeGoods all had three to four stickers slapped on each bin and they were impossible to remove. So I asked my friends on Instagram for suggestions.

I ended up going full 7th Grade Science Fair and tried the top five suggestions. The lemon essential oil was the clear winner. Pulling off the sticker effortlessly was part satisfying and part magical. Get the full tutorial and see the experiments here.

Clean Greasy Eyeglasses With Dawn Dish Spray

This cleaning hack comes from my Mother In Law. I was struggling to get my glasses clean and no matter how much I cleaned them, they just kept getting streakier and streakier. She handed me the Dawn Dish Spray from beside my sink and told me to try that. Oh…My…Gosh. It’s like my glasses were brand spankin’ new.

This method isn’t something you should do every day because it can be hard on the finishes on your lenses, but it’s totally okay every once in a while when your glasses are greasier than a bodybuilder. Here’s the video tutorial.

Wash Your Trash Can In The Shower

Cleaning a trash can is usually messy and stinky, but I found a hack that makes it way faster and doesn’t involve having your head halfway inside the can. The shower. Just pop all your cans in one bathtub, fill them with dish soap and warm water, let them soak, dump them out, give them a quick swipe with a sponge, then rinse using the shower sprayer.

This process is ridiculously fast and allows you to knock out all the cans at one time. And the dish soap cleans and freshens up your shower drain while you’re at it. Yay for bonus cleaning! The full tutorial is here.

De-Fur Furniture With A Rubber Glove

As a proud fur mama, I’m no stranger to trying out every method I see on TikTok to remove pet hair from furniture. I’ve tried them all, from the good, the bad, and the downright weird. But hands-down, the best method I’ve found is a rubber glove.

Of course, a vacuum works fine for a little fur, but when we get to talking about cat trees, dog beds, and window seats, that rubber glove seems to get fur out of crevices like nobody’s business. Once you swipe it all into a pile, you can vacuum it right up. PS: Wetting the glove first makes all the fur roll up into a big hairy tootsie roll. Sounds gross, but it’s oddly satisfying.

Clean Siding And Porch Roofs With A Car Mop

Way back in my earlier blogging days when my photography wasn’t great and my website had a different name, I shared this hack for cleaning a front porch and it took the internet by storm. That funny looking mop I’m holding is actually for washing a car. But the soft shaggy texture and telescoping arm made it perfect for cleaning porch siding and the ceiling, too.

I didn’t even know what the term “cleaning hack” meant back then, but all these years later, it’s a tried and true method I use every spring and fall. Just hose down the vinyl siding and scrub it with the car washing mop. I usually don’t even need soap. It’s like driving my house through a car wash, minus the neon disco lights.

Want More Cleaning Hacks?

I share quick and easy organizing, storage, and cleaning hacks on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest a few times a week. The tutorials are always here on the blog, but the video versions can be found on my social media. Head over to your favorite platform and follow me @lelaburris. And check out my entire archive of Cleaning blog posts here.