This week my friend Laura asked me to partner with some other bloggers to share simple 10 minute cleaning tips.
Now I love a cleaning tip as much as the next person.
Truly.
And I wanted to share one that was amazing and earth-shattering, but yet so simple my cat could do it.
So I did a little research on Pinterest. I found this seemingly amazing tip. But would it work? Has anyone actually used a glove to pick up pet hair? Or how about this tip? Will a dryer sheet really work? Has it met my soap scum before?
I needed help. And guidance. And assistance.
So I did the only thing a girl can do at a time like this.
I phoned my cleaning-tip-phone-a-friend.
My mother-in-law.
My mother-in-law is wonderful and clever and funny and her house is so clean you could serve dinner to the governor off the floors.
I remember when I started dating my husband and I walked into his house for the first time….
….and stared at the carpet.
It was fancy.
With perfect lines in it from the vacuum cleaner.
And if you could have seen that carpet and knew I needed a cleaning-tip-phone-a-friend….
….you would have dialed her number for me.
And the tip she gave me was so simple, I totally should have thought of it years ago.
It would have saved me hours of cleaning time.
And anyone can do it.
To illustrate what I’m talking about….let’s look at exhibit A.
A spilled Gatorade.
This happens all the time in my refrigerator, except most of the time I don’t know it’s been spilled. Someone (usually named Nobody or I don’t know or Not Me) spills the Gatorade on the refrigerator shelf. And Nobody and Not Me think it’s funny and that no one will notice and leave it on the shelf.
And it drips.
From shelf to shelf.
Until the next time I open up the refrigerator door and see the kind-of-half-dried gooey mess. And I take out all the shelves and wipe them down and sigh and yell and ask who did it and where are they and why in the world did they leave spilled Gatorade everywhere and could they help me clean it up.
But Not Me never shows up.
Enter my mother-in-law’s cleaning tip.
She calls it preventative.
I call it brilliant. And time-saving. And easy.
She uses plastic shoe bins from the dollar store to hold all her spillable items.
Like salad dressings.
And syrup.
And soy sauce.
She groups them together in the see-through plastic container and places them on the shelf in the refrigerator.
The shoe boxes come in different sizes and the store I went to even had decorative containers if you want to get fancy.
Then….if anything spills….all you have to do is pull out the container and wipe it down.
Nothing drips to the next shelf.
All the spills simply stay put.
Oh…and if that idea wasn’t brilliant enough….
….she gave me one more tip for the road.
She lays down a sheet of plastic wrap in the bottom of the vegetable drawers.
Just in case your cucumbers or broccoli or tomatoes get a little crazy.
PS I’ll share her tips, but I won’t share that wonderful mother-in-law of mine.
I adore her.
And she’s already taken. 🙂
And here’s a few more cleaning tips from some of my friends:
Cleaning Your Grill at Finding Home
Quick Painted Furniture Touch-Up at Inspired by Charm
How to Clean Your Hairbrushes at TidyMom
The Best Way to Clean Windows at Four Generations One Roof
10 Minute Cleaning Tips at Julie Blanner
FABULOUS tip Kari!! I love it!
Eureka!!!! I'm taking your Mother-In-Law and you with sharing this post, into my day! Dollar Store here I come! Wishing you both a Super Great Day! :)
I bought cheap plastic liners and placed them on my fridge shelves. This has saved so much time and cleaning for me. I only wonder where this tip was when my boys were younger. I could have saved many, many, many hours of cleaning. I put paper towels in my vegetable drawers but I think I will change that to the plastic wrap. Please than your Mother-in-law for me!
Hahahaha! I used to say to my kids, as they looked at me with shrugging shoulders, and raised eyebrows..."OK, then a ghost did it?" Have a great day rock star!! : )
My mother is visiting this weekend. She will be so impressed by my organized refrigerator. Sadly, she reads your blog also, so your mother in law will get full credit. ;)
Heh,mid my refrigerator looked like the one pictured, I'd be happy. Mine is stuffed. Um, maybe I need to do some serious purging? Lol. Great tips. Wonder if my family would cooperate and put stuff in the bins?
Okay, now I want to immediately go into my kitchen and get the fridge clean. Great ideas Karianne! xo Michael
I miss my mother in law. I used to call her for all kinds of domestic things. Not to say that I don't call my own mom for things but my mother in law knew different things. They were the perfect complement to one another. Now she's gone and I miss her even more. Thank you for your tips, from your wonderful mother in law. They are truly worth their weight in gold!!
These are great hints...can't wait to try them...your mother-in-law has some smart ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Love the tips! And yes the rubber glove does remove pet hair!
I love this tip, KariAnne. Now... let's come up with a fabulous craft to do with all the lids from those containers, that we won't be using...! Any thoughts?
Beautiful words concerning mil...
Great idea to use see through tubs! Love housekeeping tips! Sheila
Miz karianne....so you must have two refrigerators? One for the drinks and another for actual food and leftovers, etc? I do the one in the crisper drawers, either with plastic wrap or just paper towels. either way they save a bunch of cleaning time.
HEY, can you come clean mine now!!! ;)
I line the fridge drawers with cute plastic placemats. Way easier to pull out a placemat to clean than those dang shelves. Love the shoebox idea- my thanks to your MIL.
Most excellent tip! Now, I know what to do with a couple of empty containers that have been sitting around with nothing to do.
You refrigerate soy sauce?? I see now that I need a few more containers for my fridge. This was my dad's way too. Happy Cleaning!
Too funny! My three culprits have moved out...now if there's a spill it's either him or me! But, great tips none the less! Enjoy your day! ;)
Oh! My! Word!!! I have been opening my fridge EVER DAY wondering if this will be the day I FINALLY finish my Kitchen Organization 101 series (but this would include my fridge....) hahaha. Here I go. You motivated me! Jillynn
Gee I wish I would have thought of all those tips -- and I'm a mother-in-law!! You know we are a nice breed -- we've been given a bad rap and most of us are always ready to help!! I am going out and getting some plastic bins. No more spills!!! Thank you and thank you're mother-in-law!
Wonderful tips...no children at home any longer but I will do.....!
I think you just changed my life... Thank you!
love the idea of the separate bins for drip-able stuff! I liked the idea of the plastic wrap in the veggie drawer until I let my brain wander and came up with this gem: how about keeping your eyes open for a perfect sized styrofoam tray like meats or produce is packed in? If any veggies hide (like mine often do) and get gooey you can just lift out the whole tray and salvage what is left and clean the whole mess up, wash the tray and reuse. I am soooo brilliant.
Looks great and great idea but... if I take all the condiments from the door and place them in a container and place that on the shelf I won't have room for the actual food and then I have empty doors. What does mother-in-law do with her doors and where does the food go?
I use those and also plastic dishpan tubs on the wire shelves in my pantry to keep things organized and clean. Why did I never think of using them in the fridge? Brilliant! Thanks to your mil, and you, for a great idea.
Interesting my daughter could do with giving this a try
Another easy way to accomplish the clean shelves is to use Glad Wrap's Press-n-Seal on the shelves when they're clean. Once they get dirty, remove and replace the Press-n-Seal.
I bought placemats from the Dollar store and cut them to fit my shelves and the door shelves. The wipe up nicely and look pretty (black & white filigree pattern) Bonus...it's a nice surprise every time I open the door!
Love you, love your blog... But the new amount of advertising is making it unpleasant, and completely interrupting the possibility of enjoyment. Just sayin'. Thx. Nadine
I desperately need to do the same. Great idea!
Great tips, I do some of them too, your Mother in law sounds like a clever and lovely inspiration. I'm hopping over from The scoop today Hugs!
Your mother in law has inspired me to follow your blog on Google. :) Great tips and I envy all those white dishes too. Such a beautiful kitchen. Pinned! Stopping by from Whimsy Wednesday.
Haha great tip. Does the bins get hard to move around at all with different size objects? Seems like it could go over well and then people would get lazy and start leaving objects outside of the buckets. Then again if people are constantly spilling stuff I imagine anything helps! Cheers!