Grandma’s Home Cleaning Methods I Swear By

homedude is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, We may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Did you ever wonder how grandma always kept her house so clean? No matter how many people ran through the house—kids with muddy shoes, relatives with sticky fingers, or that one uncle who always seemed to spill something—everything always sparkled and smelled fresh. And this was all before the era of fancy cleaning products that promise the moon and stars in a spray bottle.

Grandma learned to make her own soap during the Great Depression and used old newspapers to clean windows because it left them streak-free. (Though we nary can find a stack of newspapers these days.) Her methods were a testament to a time when resourcefulness wasn’t just a virtue, but a necessity. Needless to say, we can learn a few things from resourceful grandmothers who turned even the humblest of homes into their shining castles.

1. Repurpose Old T-shirts Into Rags

Grandma was an expert at repurposing, so take a page from her playbook, and don’t throw out old T-shirts. They make the perfect cleaning rags, leaving no streaks, scratches, or lint. Cut old shirts into large rectangles, fold or roll them, and store them in a rag bin to always have a clean cloth ready for use.

2. Fix Furniture Scuffs With Shoe Polish

Shoe polish doesn’t just make your shoes shine. Use it to wax furniture and take care of scuffs and scratches. Find a color similar to the piece you need to fix and give it a quick buff, wiping off excess polish with a soft, clean cloth.

3. Use Ice To Handle Spilled Wax

It’s frustrating when candle wax overflows onto your new sofa or the wax warmer topples onto the carpet. Trying to get that gooey, sticky wax off surfaces and out of fabrics seems hopeless. But Grandma knew to be patient and get a bag of ice ready. Let the wax cool and harden, freeze it, then scrape it away with a plastic knife or credit card (avoid sharp blades so you don’t scratch or damage the surface).

4. Use Toothpaste To Make Silver Shine

Skip the fancy silver polish and grab a tube of basic toothpaste (not gel) for your matte or silver serving ware and jewelry. Use a small amount of toothpaste to polish and make your silver shine like new. An old toothbrush does the trick. Wet the toothbrush, scrub away the tarnish, and rinse.

5. Make Air Fresheners Using Cotton Balls

Always greet guests with a pleasant-smelling home using your favorite essential oils and cotton balls. Or, copy Grandma and use 100% vanilla extract. Place a few drops of your preferred scent on a cotton ball and place them in inconspicuous places, like a potted plant, behind a picture frame, etc.

6. Soften Caked-On Food Using Steam

Grandma appreciated the value of hard work, but she also knew the importance of efficiency. Why make something harder than it has to be? When stubborn, caked-on food makes cleaning a dish or pan a hassle, hold the item over a steamy pot of boiling water. The steam softens food and makes the piece easier to clean.

7. Set A Weekly Wash Day

Unless you have a large household that generates copious amounts of laundry, set one day each week as laundry day instead of doing smaller loads throughout the week. When you spread the wash out over several days, you feel like you’re doing laundry constantly. Instead, tackle it all in one day, folding and putting away clothes as you wait for other loads to wash and dry.

8. Let The Sun Do The Work

Use a clothesline to dry sheets, towels, and clothing in the sun to give them a refresh. Drying items in the sun disinfects them, lightens stains, brightens whites, and saves energy. Your clothes will last longer, too, when they aren’t always bouncing around in a dryer. When line-drying pieces, try to hang them in the earlier part of the day to take full advantage of the sunshine.

9. Open All The Windows

Spend a few minutes each morning opening your windows to improve airflow in your home and help circulate stale, bad air out of your house. Letting in the fresh air helps get rid of odors, reduce germs, and boost your mood. It’s a great practice to maintain a fresher, healthier home.

10. Tackle Small Chores In Chunks

Break your routine into small chunks instead of cleaning everything in one day. For example, devote one day to dusting, another to cleaning the bathrooms, and another to vacuuming and mopping floors. For daily to-dos like washing dishes, rinse and load the dishwasher, or hand wash dishes after each meal. It’s a lot easier to wash a few dishes before food has time to set than wash a day’s worth after they’ve been sitting in the sink all day.

11. Create A Cleaning Caddy

Grandma went about her cleaning routine efficiently, toting a trusty bucket full of essential cleaning tools. She didn’t waste time going back and forth between one room and the next retrieving sponges or the forgotten furniture polish. Get a large bucket that doubles as your mop bucket or a basic plastic tote to make a convenient cleaning caddy.

12. Use A Toilet Brush To Clean The Tub

Ever wonder how Grandma’s tub always seemed to sparkle? Use a toilet brush or similar long-handled scrub brush to make cleaning the tub a breeze. (Make sure it’s not the same one you use for the toilet.) Hang it on a hook in the tub to quickly scrub things down after a bath. When you don’t have to get down on your hands and knees to scrub the tub, you’re likely to handle the task more often.

13. Brighten Whites With Lemon Juice

Another thing Grandma knew was how to use everyday items to improve her clean routine. Instead of using harsh chemicals or bleach to brighten whites, all you need is lemon juice. Squeeze juice from one lemon into a gallon of hot water, soak faded whites for a couple of hours, then run through the washer on the rinse cycle. Hang them in the sunshine to dry.

14. Cut Sponges In Half

One thing we all have in common with Grandma is we like to save money. Make sponges last twice as long by cutting them in half. You rarely need the whole sponge to do the job. Disinfect sponges between uses. Put them in the microwave for one to two minutes or clean them in the dishwasher.

15. Use A Damp Cloth To Dust

Using a dry rag to dust is a wasted effort, and Grandma knew it. All you do is move the dust around instead of getting rid of it. Spritz plain water on a microfiber cloth before you start to dust. The wet cloth pulls dust off the surface instead of just pushing it around or kicking it into the air.

16. Keep White Vinegar And Baking Soda On Hand

Two things you were sure to always find in Grandma’s cabinets were baking soda and white vinegar. You can accomplish so many different cleaning tasks with these two basic household items, including descaling the shower head and plumbing fixtures, neutralizing odors, and washing windows. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to counteract the intense vinegar smell.

17. Absorb Oil Stains With Flour

Oil splatters and spills are no fun, but Grandma knew a trick to make clean-up go smoothly. Grab the flour and sprinkle some onto the oil. The flour absorbs the oil, making it much easier to clean. After gently scrubbing the area, rinse with water and allow to dry.

18. Snip The Shower Curtain Liner To Reduce Mildew

If your shower curtain liner is too long for your tub and bunches up or sticks to the bottom, it creates a perfect breeding ground for mildew and mold. Grandma’s cleaning solution was simple — a pair of scissors. Snip an inch or two from the bottom of the liner so it barely skims the bottom of the tub.

19. Polish Wood Furniture With Olive Oil

Fancy furniture polish is another product you can leave on the store shelves. Instead, use olive oil to protect wooden furniture from dust and dirt and encourage its natural beauty to shine through. The oil also helps smooth out wooden surfaces, limiting the appearance of dents and scratches. Mix two parts of olive oil and one part lemon juice in a bowl to make a quick, natural furniture polish.

20. Scrub Stubborn Grout Stains With A Toothbrush

A cleaning tool you were sure to find in Grandma’s cleaning caddy was a toothbrush. It’s the perfect size to tackle pesky grout stains without being too abrasive and damaging the grout or surrounding tile. And since you’re using a toothbrush, grab a tube of regular toothpaste (not the gel kind) to use as your grout cleaner.

21. Tea-Stain Aging Linens

Remember, Grandma is all about resourcefulness, so when your linen napkins, doilies, and tablecloths start to age or show stains, don’t toss them. Instead, tea-stain them using basic black tea bags to get a creamy color. For darker shades, use more tea and let pieces soak longer. After you achieve the desired shade, let the items dry and rinse them in cold water to set the stain.

22. Make “An Ounce Of Prevention” Your Cleaning Mantra

A famous idiom states, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Put simply, it’s easier to stop or limit things from happening in the first place than fixing or cleaning up a bigger mess. Some examples include using door mats to limit the amount of dirt and muck that ends up in your home, wiping the stove after each use, and cleaning spills and stains as soon as they happen.