5 Minute Cleaning Jobs: Cleaning Hacks (Part 2)

Happy January, Clean My Space community! I hope you all had a restful holiday. We at the CMS headquarters had a holiday break, and now we’re back at it, bringing you all the cleaning content you could ever need! 

Before our holiday break, I wrote the article 5 Minute Cleaning Jobs: Cleaning Hacks for Cleaning Fast, where I shared my favorite house cleaning tips for how to clean fast if you only have five minutes. However, I have so many more quick cleaning tips and home organization tips to share with you that I decided to write a part two! 

You can complete all of these cleaning jobs in just five minutes, so they’re great if you have a few minutes to kill before a Zoom meeting or while you wait for your tea to steep. Even though it can be tempting to scroll through your phone in those spare minutes throughout the day, getting a few quick cleaning tasks out of the way can make a massive difference in the long run. 

How to Clean A Hairbrush

A great thing about five minute cleaning jobs is that you can tackle those little areas you overlook in larger cleaning. And one of those areas is hairbrushes. Our hairbrushes do a lot of work and collect a lot of gunk. Skin cells, dead hair, oil, etc.; it’s pretty gross when you think about it. 

To clean your hairbrush, grab a pen or similar tool and run it down the center of your hairbrush to loosen and pull hair stuck in the bristles. Then use your hands to pull it all out. Then fill your sink with warm water and a little bit of shampoo, and soak your hairbrush for a few minutes. Finally, scrub your hairbrush with a cleaning toothbrush. Check out Quickly & Easily Clean Your Hairbrush for a more thorough guide. 

Clean Dirty Boot Trays

In the first 5 Minute Cleaning Jobs article, we talked about organizing front hall shoes. But once you’ve done that, it’s a good idea to tackle dirty boot trays. Boot trays get full of dirt, dust, and debris we track in from outside.

If you have a few minutes before the kids get home from school, grab those boot trays and knock them out outside to get as much debris out as possible. If you have an outdoor hose, this is a good cleaning job to use it for. If not, fill your sink or a bucket with warm water and a bit of dish soap and get to work!

Clean the Dishwasher Filter

Believe it or not, we all need to clean our dishwasher filters. I know what you’re thinking, shouldn’t it clean itself? It’s a dishwasher! And while I would love it if my dishwasher filter cleaned itself, it doesn’t. And neither does yours.

If you have five minutes while you wait for the kettle to boil, remove your dishwasher filter (mine unscrews). Pick out any clumps of build-up, then leave to soak in some warm water and dish soap. You can leave this for as little as an hour or as long as a day, so come back to it when you have another few minutes to spare. Then, use a cleaning toothbrush to scrub the filter, rinse, and put it back in your dishwasher. And be sure to check out my article Getting Stuck-On Food on Clean Dishes? Maybe You Need to Clean Your Dishwasher Filter.

Deodorize Your Garbage Bins

This is another, what the heck you have to clean that?! But yes, you do have to clean everything in your home once in a while, even the garbage cans. Garbage, compost, and recycling bins get smelly when they aren’t cleaned, and no one wants their kitchen smelling like garbage. 

You can clean the interior and exterior of your garbage can with an all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber cloth. And don’t forget, baking soda makes an excellent deodorizer. I get into all the dirty details in my article How to Clean Your Garbage Can (Inside and Out). 

Replace Felt Furniture Sliders

Another often overlooked cleaning task is checking on and replacing the felt sliders under furniture. We often forget about these because we can’t see them; they are literally underneath our furniture legs. But when felt sliders get worn or come off, we risk scratching and damaging our floors. 

How you remove your sliders will depend on how they’re attached to your furniture. I recommend turning the piece of furniture you’re working with upside down. Often, you can take them off with your hands. If not, you may need to use a tool. I recommend replacing old felt gliders with Felt Furniture Pads by X-Protector because they’re easy to put on and take off. 

Polish Your Cutlery

Does your cutlery get spotty or streaked, even when it comes straight from the dishwasher? Mine does too! While this isn’t a big deal, it’s nice to have sparkling clean cutlery, especially if you’re having guests over. 

The secret is polishing your cutlery with vinegar. If you have five minutes before your Zoom yoga class, fill a bowl with warm water and add a teaspoon of vinegar (or a tablespoon if it’s a big bowl). Then, dip your microfiber cloth in your cleaning solution and get polishing. 

Clean Your Cutlery Insert

While you’re in your cutlery drawer, take a look at your cutlery insert. That holder that you organize your cutlery in. Even though you’re putting clean cutlery into your drawer, that insert still gets dirty and dusty, and then that cutlery goes into your mouth and your family’s mouths (gross!)

While you wait for your popcorn to pop, dump out your cutlery insert. Wipe off dust and debris that’s built up in the drawer. If your insert is plastic, wash it in the sink. You can use dish soap for this. Then let dry before you replace all your cutlery again. And if you’re working with a plastic insert, consider switching to my favorite adjustable, eco-friendly bamboo drawer organizer!

Cleaning Tips for 5 Minute Cleaning Jobs 

You can accomplish so much in just five minutes. And when you use your scraps of time wisely, you’ll notice your home getting neater and cleaner with very little effort. These are some of my favorite things to do when I have five minutes during the day. What are yours?

Leave a comment below and let me know if you do any of these cleaning tasks or how you like to get organized fast!