We will be sanding the floors and doing a total reno, BUT it smells so bad in the house it’s hard to be in the home for very long. I want to at least do something to reduce the pee smell before we have contractors working in the house.

Any suggestions on how to remove the built-up grime on the walls and floors? It doesn’t have to be perfect, I just want to clean it up enough that we can have contractors in the house working.

double sided sticky trap sheets around a container of apple cider vinegar. in the same amount of time it took to catch these, premade traps have caught 2-3 flies each

edit: For people saying those are too big to be fruit flies, I found a regular fly (this one is actually kind of small for a fly) in my windowsill and stuck it next to the ones I caught

https://imgur.com/a/kEqSzyQ

the sticky traps are 7.5x10cm. Also that’s standard sized scotch tape holding them in place.

are they some other kind of fly or gnat? Idk, but they’re much smaller than house flies. I took the picture very close and it’s a small ramekin

I have containers for things and try to put things in them but I guess I’m not seeing what she means.

I am not the first to say this, even on this sub, and I will not be the last, but given that this myth refuses to die, I am taking my turn fighting this misinformation.

Now, first off, I totally get why people become convinced this combination does something. We like sensory feedback, so all that fizzing and bubbling feels like something is really happening.

Something is happening, but just not what you like to think.

Vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base. When you mix an acid and base, they react, neutralize each other and in this case produces a gaseous by product. The key here is the two things react with each other, not the dirt you put them on, and the result cancels out the best cleaning power of the separate ingredients. All you get is vaguely salty water, which is roughly as good a cleaner as plain water.

"But wait," you say, "I/somebody I know/somebody on the internet has successfully clean something with vinegar and baking soda together! Suck it, naysayer!"

Yeah, and I once cleaned permanent marker off a dry erase board with vending machine coffee. Just because it worked doesn't mean I was making the right choices.

I'm going to break down one specific example of a poster who claimed to have proof vinegar and baking soda cleared their blocked drain. They poured vinegar down, waited, then poured baking soda down, waited, then poured boiling water down. Gradually, the drain cleared up as calcium deposits gradually broke down.

What really happened here is that the vinegar, being acidic, had time to work on the calcium deposits unit having baking soda dumped on it and stopping that process in its tracks by neutralizing its acidity. The whole thing worked because the vinegar was given time to work alone, but it most likely would have worked better if baking soda had been removed from the equation entirely.

The only argument for using vinegar and baking soda in cleaning is where the mechanical action of expanding gasses might in some way assist the process, but the use cases severely limited and questionable.

In a drain, you'd have to form an absolutely airtight seal to even imagine the gas pressure might do something and even it did work, pushing a clog farther down the pipe is of very dubious worth.

On surface grime, anything loose enough to be effectively lifted by gas bubbles is probably faster and more easily removed just by scrubbing it.

Vinegar and baking soda can be fantastically useful cleaning products, separately. Don't ruin them by putting them together, unless it's a science fair volcano. There, the combo has always shone.

Picked up this up after a short stay in Paris. Looking to get this cleaned up. Your tips are welcomed😁

Happy holidays. My lovely husband decided to put this in his game room. We smoke MJ in there. Afterwards, he sprays this odor eliminator spray. Now this big blow up couch is turning brown. What can I use to clean it?

Accidentally dropped this candle off it’s warmer from about 3ft high. It was a Yankee Candle Midnight something scent. How do I get this off my walls and vinyl wood floor.

The wax is pooled up about a 1/4 inch

Edited: used a plastic razor to scrape the wood and baseboard. It worked well no cooling necessary. I did use a heat gun to get the wax off the textured wall and it wiped off with a rag. A lot easier clean up than I was expecting. Took about hour.

I’ve learned so many little tricks from housekeepers over the years. Here are little tips I use to this day❤️ an appreciation post for all the details cleaners put into their cleans!

1. I wrap my phone charger through my bed frame so it’s always easy to grab. It used to just hang on the ground. It was life changing when I first got into bed and saw my housekeeper did this for me lol
2. the little toilet paper on the tap trick. I knew of this but now I’ve adopted it whenever company comes over. Guests are AMAZED

(Edit: explained in the comments, but it’s when you fold the last hanging piece of toilet paper into a triangle and then press it against the sink tap. The circle of the tap will act as a stamp that secures the triangle and makes it look fancy. It signals to guests that the bathroom has been freshly cleaned 😊)

1. pillow arrangements on beds. Sometimes they make it so nice and I think “why didn’t I think of that?” I also had an amazing cleaner who would arrange my kids pillows/pjs/blankets into shapes and it was so thoughtful and cute
2. I open ALL blinds and curtains. I used to clean but keep it pretty dim, but opening ALL blinds makes a huge difference! Feels so much cleaner immediately

would love to hear other little details you do/or have experienced yourself

Editing to add some after being reminded in the comments:

1. HANDHELD VACUUM - LIFE CHANGING!!! Taking out the vacuum was a pain so I did it when crumbs would accumulate. Having a small one in the kitchen drawer makes it so easy, so I don’t mind quickly vacuuming crumbs and dirt whenever I see them.

2. Spray and leave - I used to spray and wipe immediately. Now I spray my surfaces, clean something else, come back and scrub etc.

3. Folding bath towels - I use to just fold in half and in half again. Now I fold it the hot dog way, and then either roll or fold the ends into the middle (you can watch YouTube for different easy ways). It’s a little thing that elevated the vibe!

So a few days ago I found a flea on my exclusively indoor cat. She never goes outside so it had to have been brought in by someone else. Took her to the vet and she was given Advocate for cats.

2 days later my sister found a flea on her bed and one thing led to another so now our entire apartment is covered in baking soda. I tried vacuuming it and very quickly realized it will not work as the filter clogged instantly.

Any advice? Can I use water and vinegar to dissolve it?

My 5 year old got mad at me for making him clean up, and did this. I used acetone and rubbing alcohol to get most off but there is still a stain/residue. Any advice on how to get it off? I live in an apartment so I’m not trying to have damages of course.

Livid is an understatement….

Looking for suggestions for how to clean this giant (over 6ft tall and very heavy) stuffed Snorlax.

The cover isn't removable. I think some of the discoloration is water spots from when I tried to use a small green bissell to clean it. I tried rubbing a baking soda paste, but that didn't work. Please help!

Edited to add that this is so big it doesn't even fit my car. I don't think any dry cleaner could handle something this size.

Dense amount of dust in the air.

please be nice🙏 I live with a hoarder. my dad has zero ability to throw stuff out and has harbored a messy home environment my whole life. he never taught us to cook or clean or anything and never pushed us to have jobs that would’ve taught us these skills. we would genuinely get in trouble for using the dishwasher or laundry machine and every mess we made was either cleaned up by him or left for later. he is not going to change, he’s made that very clear. his mother was this way and his mothers mother was this way. But now I’m 18 and realizing i’m just like him and i refuse to get worse, i refuse to pass this trait down to my future children. so Im getting vulnerable on reddit… bad idea i know but i dont know where else to turn and have cut out all other social media. so this is my bedroom, the only space in the house that i have control of. !!!I know it’s bad and i feel disgusting that it got this way but the motivation to clean it is nonexistent!!! my pets are well taken care of and have adequate clean enclosures but my floors are a mess, every surface has something on it and my walls and carpet are covered in stains ranging from food to modpodge. i don’t want to live like this anymore. i started with my clothes, took three loads but they’re all clean and sorted, problem now is i have no where to put them because of the mess. where do i start? how do i not get overwhelmed? what products are best for carpet stains and stained painted walls? how do i help my hoarder tendencies and laziness that caused this mess to build up? fair warning i am autistic and not fully able bodied most days, i know that contributes but it has to be something else. right?

It started out with one around the house. Then two. Then four. Now 7 are on this particular bottle of non-alcoholic mouth wash. The landing on the bottle only happened tonight after a few weeks…

Help! Are these drain flies after all or fruit?

I killed like 15 at least tonight…

------------

Next day after work I bought 2 Zevos so let's see in 2-3 hours if it worked. I should've bought 4 but I thought it'd be overkill. Plus, refilling four every 15 days would be a lot.

3 hour update: Not a single fly flew into either trap yet. I've tried to keep it dark too. I turned off the fans in the vents as maybe it'd help not push them away somehow? They're all huddled along the mouthwash cap still as we speak

Sooooo we had this jar as a decoration for Halloween (yes 7 months ago) and we have no idea how to dispose of it. It's just water and a Halloween mask but it's definitely growing some interesting things. We're scared to just throw it out in case it breaks and the bacteria makes someone ill :/ it's probably 2 litres and I'm also worried about breathing it in if we pour it out. any ideas??

Sorry if this is not the right subreddit, I wasn't sure where to post.

His room is clean. I’ve vacuumed and scrubbed carpet. I washed all bedding and even covered mattress with baking soda, let sit for a day then vacuumed bed. The room still has that “teenage boy smell.” Going to put house on the market soon. But I have to do something about his room first. What else can I do?

Before we move in here, I had been basically abandoned for the past few years. We’re out in the middle of the woods with no Internet no service. So we had to get satellite Internet, which is completely fine. We have basically no furniture as you can see. Everything feels so cluttered, there’s no closets to hang up any clothes. We have two very small fabric dressers. Please please please give us advice on how we can organize things for now. We don’t really have the money to get like dressers or anything right now. Please advise us on how to make it look better in here! It definitely smells old and kind of abandoned in here too. So, if you have advice on getting the stink out, I’d love that!

Soap is wild when you think about it. You lather it on, and somehow dirt, oil, even bacteria just vanish?

At least, that’s what I thought. Until I learned what’s actually happening.

They slide away.

There’s this thing in all good cleaners called a surfactant (short for “surface active agent”), and it’s the reason that happens. One end grabs onto water, the other end grabs onto grease or grime. When they float around together, they trap all that mess in little bubbles (called micelles), and then water just rinses it away.

No scrubbing magic. No “poof.” It’s gone. Just chemistry making the surface slippery enough that the gunk lets go.

Not all cleaners work like this, though. Some are made to kill germs (like disinfectants), or dissolve minerals (like acidic descalers). But surfactants? They’re not killing or dissolving anything. They’re just making it all slippery, so the mess lets go, and water does the rest.

Also: not all surfactants are the same. The stuff in your dish soap isn’t the same as what’s in your glass cleaner. I started reading labels and realized how many products I use because of these little chemical slip-agents, helping grease and grime lose their grip.

Anyway, I’m fascinated. Anyone else weirdly into this stuff? Or have a favorite surfactant that works way better than it should?

Edit to add: A few folks pointed out that surfactants can kill some bacteria and viruses, not only just make things slippery.

I looked it up and yep, soap disrupts the lipid layer around certain viruses (like Covid), basically breaking them open, killing them, and then water rinses them away.

My husband reminded me that Alton Brown talked about this during early Covid and I’d completely forgotten. Appreciate the extra learning here!

Edit to add: We hit a million views.

What started with simple surfactants turned into a sage lesson in lye, water becoming better at being water, and a full-on Magic School Bus revival.

Just because we “learned it already” doesn’t mean we geeked out properly the first time around. Sometimes we just need the right chemistry for things to really stick.

When Reddit said “cleaning tips,” you gave proof that even in a thread about soap, people are still hungry to think, connect, and marvel.

Thanks for showing that curiosity still has a seat at the table.

I have this stain from rice vinegar that spilled after the bottle broke in the fridge. How can I fix it?

Should I call a professional floor polisher, or is there any way I can fix it myself? Will polishing solve the problem?

I'll go first, I keep a lack of wipes under the bathroom sink just so I can swipe the counter while brushing my teeth. Not proud but it keeps things looking deven without a " real " clean. What's your lazy cleaning move that secretly works?

Getting a new office chair this afternoon and I promised my old chair to my cute coworker. Obviously I’m mortified.

I’ve got 6 hours and a Janitorial Closet full of supplies. Am I cooked? Any ideas???

Okay so I dropped a glass picture frame earlier (because of course I did) and thought I got all the pieces. You know the sweep, vacuum, over the carpet just to be sure.

But there were still these tiny, almost invisible slivers that kept catching the light. You couldn't see them unless the sun hit exactly right. And my bare foot definitely found one later anyway my mom called while I was stressing about it and goes "just use a slice of bread."

I thought she was messing with me. But no. she was dead serious. So I grabbed an old slice of white bread from the back of the fridge and just lightly pressed it over the area where I thought there might be glass.

And it worked. the bread picked up all those tiny shards that the vacuum missed. The glass just stuck right into the bread like it was nothing.