Cleaning used to be more straightforward. Each area didn’t need its own spray bottle. Mopping a floor didn’t require a PhD. My grandma cleaned most of her house with just hot water and vinegar!
Cleaning tips from the past are more effective than modern-day cleaning hacks. These tips are more affordable, easier to do, and are less likely to cause your home to smell like Mountain Thunderstorm Breeze Explosion. I particularly appreciate budget-friendly cleaning tips because my husband can’t seem to see the crumbs that are in front of him, I have two teenagers, and Gigi the Goldendoodle always leaves fluff tumbleweed trails.
1. Use Vinegar to Cut Grease
What you’ll need: A spray bottle, warm water, and white vinegar.
Last time I checked, the great-grandmothers of today’s homemakers didn’t spend their money on expensive degreasers. They used white vinegar instead. White vinegar is great for cutting through any residue stickier than grease. It leaves you with a clean surface instead of a sticky surface. It’s great for kitchen messes where grease is constantly floating through the air.
Vinegar is a very good cleaner but never use it on natural stones such as granite or marble, since the acid can eat away at those surfaces. To use vinegar to clean, combine it with warm water in a spray bottle. As for quick cleanings, use the vinegar solution.
2. Sprinkle Baking Soda on Carpets Before Vacuuming
Here’s what you need: a vacuum cleaner and baking soda.
Before carpet powders were invented, the original carpet deodorizer was baking soda. Sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and let it sit for a while. Then vacuum your carpet. Your carpet will smell clean after the baking soda does its work. This trick works great for homes with pets, children, or for those odd odors that come from teenager’s bedrooms.
Before vacuuming, let the baking soda sit for about 15 minutes. It’s easy, affordable, and it doesn’t leave a strong, perfumey odor. I prefer my home to smell fresh, not like a candle store exploded all over my furniture.
3. Clean Windows With Newspaper
Supplies needed: Some crumpled-up black and white newspaper pages and either white vinegar or a glass cleaner.
Long before the days when paper towels dominated the cleaning aisle in stores, window cleaning used to be done using crumpled newspaper along with a glass cleaning solution or a vinegar and water solution. Newspapers leave less streaks and lint behind compared to paper towels. And yes, it does seem odd, but you feel like a fabulous 1950s woman when doing it.
Newspapers have changed, but maybe the old trick could still work if you try it. Use a black and white newspaper and avoid glossy inserts. Unless you wear white sleeves, you might end up with a couple of ink stains.
4. Salt Removes Fresh Stains
Here is what you need: table salt, a clean cloth.
Salt is a classic, old-school cleaning trick for fabric stains, including red wine. Sprinkling salt on a fresh spill helps absorb some of the moisture that would cause the stain to settle deeper into the fabric’s fibers. This trick gives you a bit more time to do a full wash.
This works amazing on fresh spills, but anything that’s an ancient stain from last soccer season isn’t getting fixed. Also, put the salt away during dinner or the holidays. It always seems like someone spills something right when everyone sits down.
5. Air Out the House Daily
What you need: Open windows — no supplies required.
In the past, homemakers would often open windows to their homes, even when it was cold outside. New, fresh air helps to remove odors from the home, including odors caused from cooking, as well as helps to relieve stuffiness in the home. Today’s homes are sealed up more to save energy costs, but this can lead to trapped odors building up in the air.
It’s easy to make the house feel cleaner; just open the windows for ten minutes! Gigi loves it when the windows are open. She thinks the outside world turns into her own little nature documentary! It’s great dog entertainment!
6. Use Lemon to Freshen Garbage Disposals
Ingredients: lemon peel, cold water, ice cubes (optional)
For years, people have thought of using lemon peels to combat odors in garbage disposals. The citrus oils instead of covering odor problems, actually neutralize the smells, freshening the environment. Quite a bit nicer than whatever unpleasant mystery science experiment was down there before.
As you grind up small lemon peels, keep the cold water running on your disposal. Some even go as far as to toss in a few ice cubes to help the disposal dislodge potential build-up. It is oddly satisfying and helps alleviate the smell of rotting food in your kitchen.
7. Boil Water and Lemon to Freshen the Kitchen
You will need: slices of lemon or the peels of an orange, some water, and a small pot or saucepan.
People used to warm lemons, cloves, or orange peels on the stovetop as natural air fresheners and to create a cozy feeling in the house. It’s a homey trick and feels genuine.
Although I can think of a similar situation, I imagine this could be useful for the aftermath of frying food, cooking fish, or even slight overcooking of dinner while multitasking with seventeen other things.
8. Use Toothpaste to Polish Small Scratches
Materials required: A soft cloth and plain white toothpaste without color, gel, or crystals.
White, non-gel toothpaste can work for scratch removal on items such as shoes, silver, watches, and even some types of glass. The mild abrasives in plain white toothpaste can help remove light scratches without resorting to any chemicals that would be harsh. As you might expect, you need to avoid toothpaste that is colored or has “cool mint crystals” or anything of the sort.
Before you try anything, do a test on a small area first as some finishes can be sensitive. Speaking of small scuffs and dull areas, this old school trick blows my mind every time. Toothpaste really said, “I clean teeth and now I apparently clean everything else too.”
9. Clean Cast Iron With Salt
You will need: coarse salt, paper or cloth towels, and cooking oil.
A traditional way to clean cast iron pans without soap is using coarse salt. A gentle abrasive, salt scrubs food off without ruining the seasoning. Many cast iron fans still recommend this method.
Using a warm cast iron pan, take a paper towel or cloth and sprinkle some salt onto the towel/cloth, then rub the bottom of the pan with the towel/cloth. After that, rinse it off lightly, dry it completely, then apply some oil to it. Caring for a cast iron pan may sound intimidating, but the truth is, it’s just like taking care of a very needy house plant.
10. Dry Laundry Outside When Possible
What you need: clothesline or drying rack, clothespins
The reason clothes that are line dried smell better is because of the outdoor air which helps to eliminate odors. The sunlight also makes whites brighter and helps lessen odors. Vintage homemakers used clotheslines because dryers were not practical, or available.
While it’s a little risky to grab sheets fresh from the line during pollen season, and even though they may have a little bit of the outside world clinging to them, there is almost nothing more satisfying than wrapping yourself in the comfort of towels and sheets dried outside.
11. Use Baking Soda to Scrub Sinks
What you require: Baking soda, a wet sponge or cloth
Most surfaces can handle baking soda since it is a mild abrasive. It used to be a favorite of old-fashioned homemakers for use on porcelain and stainless steel to remove dirt, stains, and dull buildup. It did a great job cleaning without strong, unpleasant chemical fumes.
Make sure the sink is damp, then sprinkle some baking soda. Grab a sponge or a cloth and scrub away. After cleaning, rinse the sink. Seeing the sink shine will make you feel like your life is sorted.
12. Polish Wood Furniture With Simple Ingredients
Materials required: A cloth, white vinegar, and either mineral or olive oil.
Even before the market sold specialized polishing sprays, homemakers would simply mix oil and vinegar to polish their furniture. The oil would add a nice shine to the wood and the vinegar would clean off fingerprints and grime. It was cheap and simple.
Different wood finishes can respond in various ways. It’s good practice to test out homemade remedies first. A little polishing can work wonders on tired looking furniture to make it look like new again. You can even pretend to be in an old film and do dramatic dusting to your heart’s desire.
13. Keep Cleaning Rags Instead of Wasting Paper Towels
Materials needed: old shirts, worn towels, and/or cloth scraps cut into squares.
Instead of buying single-use cleaning products, vintage households repurposed old shirts, towels, and cloth scraps as cleaning rags. Cleaning rags won’t have to be repurchased, leading to less cleaning product waste, and are sturdier and more absorbent than disposables.
I like to keep things organized, so I use different rags for kitchen messes, dusting, and for bathrooms. I will admit, my ‘organized cleaning basket’ can become a pile of random mystery rags, but I really do try.
14. Use Hot Water for Greasy Dishes
What you require: Very hot water and dish soap
It may sound simple, but older homemakers understood the benefits of really hot water. Hot water breaks down grease much more quickly than water that is lukewarm. That makes dish cleaning with soap much easier. Sometimes the old tricks seem old because they make sense.
Most people ignore this simple trick for soaking greasy pans. Pans are easier to clean after soaking in hot soapy water.
15. Dust From Top to Bottom
What you need: Duster or microfiber cloth, vacuum
Reasoning was put into the cleaning practices of older homemakers. For instance, cleaning elevated surfaces first would mean that dust and dirt would not need to be picked up twice when cleaning the floors. This way, redundancy is minimized.
It seems obvious, but when you vacuum first, you notice dust from the ceiling fans as if they’re betraying you. When working on a lot, cleaning smarter is key.
16. Use Ice Cubes to Lift Carpet Dents
What you need: ice cubes, stiff bristle brush, or a spoon.
For many years, dents on carpets caused by furniture have annoyed people. An old school method is to use ice on the dents. The carpet fibers absorb the moisture and, if brushed lightly, the fibers will fluff back up.
Because the situation may change, works or not, it’s oddly and magically fun to have a solution to a problem that isn’t fun.
17. Clean as You Cook
Things you will need: Some dish soap, a sponge, and a damp cloth.
Cleaning dishes, counters, and utensils while cooking helped traditional homemakers avoid big kitchen disasters. It also made the kitchen feel less cluttered.
On some days the dinner madness gets to me, but it is still worth doing. Washing bowls and wiping the counters while the pasta is boiling is really helpful.
18. Use Vinegar to Remove Hard Water Spots
What you need: white vinegar, washcloth or paper towel
If you’ve dealt with hard water, you’ve seen the buildup around faucets and shower heads. A mixture of water and vinegar can cut through that buildup and shine those fixtures. No scrubbing is necessary. Instead, you can just spray this mixture and wipe it to get all that hard water gone. This tip is used by old-time housewives long before they had to use expensive specialty sprays.
Soak a washcloth or paper towel in vinegar. Wrap the towel around the parts and wait a bit, then scrub the area gently. I can’t even begin to describe how rewarding it is to watch hard water stains vanish.
19. Sweep the Kitchen Every Night
What you need: Broom, dustpan
At the end of the day, vintage homemakers would usually end the day with a quick sweep of the kitchen. Leaving jobs in the middle of the kitchen invites pests, and it is nice to wake up to a clean kitchen. It’s these simple habits that give the whole house a more tidy appearance.
Kids, pets, and snacks seem to create a mess every single day, so sweeping is not just a chore, but an absolute necessity. Gigi is responsible for about 17 lbs of fluff and pet debris every week. You can imagine how close my broom and I have become.
20. Wash Walls Occasionally
What you need: warm water, mild dish soap, and a soft sponge or cloth.
In the past, older generations washed down their walls and cleaned off smoke and cooking residues and fingerprints, and general dust from the wall. Nowadays, some people forget that their walls exist, that is until the sunlight pours through the window and they see how bad the walls are. Gentle cleaning of the walls will brighten up a room and will probably make you feel more comfortable.
A damp cloth and some mild soap will work for most painted surfaces, but because of the different paint finishes, it is recommended to first test an inconspicuous area. It is a humbling experience to scrub a wall and discover that the paint is not washable.
21. Use Cornstarch for Greasy Spots
Required materials: A soft brush or vacuum and cornstarch
Cornstarch is a great option to absorb grease stains from fabrics and upholstery. Simply sprinkle cornstarch over the stain and let it sit for a while. Once that is done, either brush it off or, if you can, vacuum it. After that, wash the fabric like you always do. This will help pull the oil out so it doesn’t worsen the stain by settling deeper into the fabric.
This strategy gets fresh grease stains out the fastest. Older homemakers knew the importance of acting quickly when it came to stains. Me? I sometimes spend 20 minutes pretending I didn’t see the stain.
22. Keep Shoes Off Inside
What you’ll need: Shoe rack or mat by the door
Many vintage households regarded outdoor shoes as dirt-delivery systems. And rightly so. If a household wishes to cut back on the sweeping and mopping, removing shoes at the door will do the trick.
This behavior can help keep the floors cleaner for longer. To be fair, even when shoes are off, teens have a knack for creating trails around the house. So, the chances are a little better, at least.
23. Shine Stainless Steel With a Tiny Bit of Oil
You’ll need: a soft cloth and a few drops of cooking oil or mineral oil.
Just a small amount of oil wiped across stainless steel appliances with a soft cloth will leave a nice shine, and will also help reduce the appearance of fingerprints. Staff in restaurants, as well as old fashioned homemakers, have always used oil on stainless steel as a way to avoid having to buy specialty products. Less is definitely more in this example.
Only use oil in small amounts, and be careful when using it. If too much is used, it might get your refrigerator all oiled up and turn it into a slippery museum of fingerprints. Trust me on that.
24. Use Club Soda on Some Fresh Fabric Stains
What you need: club soda and a clean cloth for blotting.
Many people suggest using club soda for stain removal because the carbonation can help break down some stains. Although it is not a miracle solution, it can provide you with extra time to treat the stain more thoroughly.
Trying to be more careful than aggressive with the rubbing is a good approach as aggressive rubbing may just spread the mess. Staying calm is the hardest part of stain removal, and you just look for clean towels.
25. Rotate Mattresses Regularly
Required: assistance from another person — no materials needed
In the past, homemakers used to rotate their mattresses because they would get worn down over time. This will help extend the comfort and the life of your mattress. It even gives you the chance to vacuum under your mattress and maybe find some things you haven’t seen since 2022.
For some mattress types, regular rotation can help maintain support for a longer period. However, some modern mattresses should not be flipped, so check the manufacturer’s recommendations.
26. Use Curtains to Control Dust and Heat
What you need: current curtains or shades
Intelligent homemakers utilized curtains and window coverings in order to keep homes more comfortable and cleaner by minimizing dust, sunlight damage, heat, and drafts.
Shutting curtains during peak sun hours is a valid tactic to maintain lower temperatures in a room and is also one of those tips that is pretty boring, that is until the energy bill arrives.
27. Keep Cleaning Supplies Simple
What you need: white vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, and diluted bleach — that’s it.
In the past, cleaning products were less specialized and vintage homemakers used to use the same products over and over again. Household problems could be solved with soap, vinegar, baking soda, and bleach all mixed with hot water and some elbow grease. Routines were much easier back then than they are now.
I think many cleaning products overwhelm us because we think we need to have every spray available. However, grandma could clean an entire house with three products and a determined look.
28. Clean the Fridge Before Grocery Day
What you will need: a cloth, a mild cleaner or water mixed with vinegar.
Before grocery shopping, old-school homemakers organized their refrigerators. They did this to figure out what items they already had and to make space for new groceries. This practice helped reduce waste and stopped forgotten leftovers from becoming science fair projects.
Wiping down your fridge before going grocery shopping can make it look a lot cleaner! You won’t have to put grocery bags on top of old barbecue sauce bottles you can’t even remember buying.
29. Use Pillowcases to Clean Ceiling Fans
What you need: Old pillowcase
This easy trick works so well, it’s been used for years! To use this trick, take an old pillowcase and slide it over the blade of a ceiling fan, and then slowly pull the pillowcase off so that all the dust gets trapped in the case and won’t spread all over the place.
Trying to dust these is an exercise in futility, and you won’t wind up with your own indoor weather system. Ceiling fans, despite being one of the most high-up features of our homes, have the oddest tendency to accumulate dust.
30. Let Cleaning Products Sit Before Scrubbing
What you need: your usual cleaner (vinegar, baking soda paste, or spray), some patience
Vintage housewives understood that certain cleaning products required some time to work. For instance, soap, vinegar, and various cleaners loosen dirt and grime better if they’re given time to sit before you begin scrubbing. You don’t have to start scrubbing firmly straight away.
This trick saves you energy and saves you a headache, particularly in bathrooms and kitchens. Sometimes it feels like you’re cleaning just to let the cleaning agent take a break while you wander off and daydream.
31. Use Sunshine to Help Freshen Fabrics
What you need: A sunny day and outdoor space
The sun is refreshing and helps remove old odors that may be trapped in your fabrics. Previous generations often aired out their rugs, linens, and pillows when outdoor conditions were favorable. They got some of the work done by the sun and fresh air.
I love the feel of bringing in warm sheets from the sun. If only I could ignore the fact that there are dishes in the bedroom.
32. Tackle Small Messes Immediately
What you’ll need: Paper towels or a cloth, and a cleaner that suits the mess.
It’s a good idea to take care of minor messes before they become a major problem. Clean up little spills, rinse the dishes, and do the laundry before Mt. Laundrymore starts to grow. These actions make cleaning easier.
Your home doesn’t have to be spotless all the time. Smaller messes are way less stressful. You don’t have to do large clean-up marathons fueled by rage and chilled coffee.
33. Stick to a Simple Cleaning Routine
What you need: Basic weekly schedule — daily clean, weekly deep clean, seasonal projects
Before things get out of control, vintage homemakers put certain basic systems in place. Small daily tasks, one deeper clean weekly, and some bigger seasonal projects helped keep overwhelm at bay and homes more manageable.
A good habit is better than perfection. Making your bed, wiping the counters and sweeping, plus picking up the clutter will bring a sense of calm to the home. When it is a house of teenagers, pets, snacks, and that one person who misses the laundry basket every time, a calm home is the goal.