My great-grandmother shared this tip with my grandmother. She shared it with my mother. My mother passed it on to me.
It has been top secret – until today.
I use this cleaning tip almost every single day. Now you can use it too.
Minutes before company walks in the door.
Just as you see your husband’s car turn down your street on his way home from work.
Any time you need to feel like you accomplished SOMETHING today…
Grab your can of Pledge, and spray it near the front door.
Works every single time.
Company: Wow – it smells so clean in here. I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.
Nope. And don’t mind the trash pile in the living room.
Even Steven: Wow honey – you’ve been working hard today.
Yup – barely even had time to blog.
Try it – you’re going to love it!
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I remember you telling me this years ago and I have used this trick several times. I’ve expanded the bag of cleaning tricks, er I mean tips, to include Carpet Fresh. I regularly sprinkle it around and pretend I’ve just spent hours cleaning. Occasionally I DO actually break out the vacuum and sweep it up. Sometimes some of the powder hits the dogs and that takes care of their monthly bath.
LMAO! I do pinesol in hot water in the sink!!!, my girlfriend hides bounce sheets in inconspicuous spots so it smell fresh! lol, we all have our tricks! (hope the hubby doesn’t read this!)
wow!!! that is brilliant!!!!
Oooooh! I might have to try that one out!
Erma Bombeck said if she got word people were stopping by, she would drag out the vacuum and when her company arrived, she would apologize because they had caught her in the middle of cleaning. She said the vacuum had been sitting out so long she was starting to use it for a coffee table.
Always loved Erma!
THANK GOODNESS! I thought I was the ONLY one who used some of those lil’ tricks! I’ve used MOST of those (remember – I’m 61 – been around awhile!) and here’s another one I used when ironing was done on a regular basis back in the dark ages of MY young mommy days: Set the ironing board up, hang a number of things (straight from the closet) on a rack in clear view, and lay a half-ironed ANYTHING on the board. Just before your hubby gets home, heat the iron & let a few strands of your hair be TOTALLY out of place as though you’ve been slaving. When he walks in, look up from ‘ironing’ & say, “Oh, no! I can’t BELIEVE it’s so late! I need to get dinner started!” He will be so sorry for you because you’ve done so much he MAY take you OUT to dinner or at LEAST order a pizza! Either that or you’ll have to put all that crap back in the closet after you dragged it all out. Works sometimes, tho’! I KNOW ’cause I did that!
Kai recently posted..BECOMING A BUM AND EXCITED ABOUT IT!
Ha! Women are so smart.
Trish recently posted..We’re All The Same Color When The Lights Are Out
ERMA BOMBECK!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s who I was trying to think of!!!! You write like she did!! Now, go out and read one of her books so you’ll see what I’m talking about!
Back to the post…great tips! I have another if you happen to have a husband who likes dinner ready, or nearly ready, when he gets home and you haven’t even started. Fry up some bacon and onions. Makes the house smell like you’ve been cooking for hours while you quickly throw something together. I realize my age is against me here…..you probably don’t have a husband who expects dinner on time…..but back in MY day…………………….
You my friend…and your grandmother…are geniuses! I am going to do that this afternoon. Maybe it’ll cover up all the putty dust? A girl can hope.
Brandy Miller recently posted..Harpers Ferry
LOL! I WILL try it!! Awesome! You have changed my life in so many ways Anna!
Leanne
Leanne recently posted..Ugly 70′s Brown
Well great! Hope your Dad doesn’t see this post….he may wonder what ELSE we’ve (I’ve) been fooling him about all these years.
On the other hand, what great tips from your readers!! Women are so smart! It’s a good thing too since we ARE in charge of the world.
He he, great tip, my Mom used Lysol.
Are you kidding? I do the same thing! Well, pledge and windex. Sometimes I will even wet a little towel with cleaner and put it in the garbage can. The smell lasts longer and my hubs really thinks I did something all day.
But I also use pledge to clean. It is amazing. I use it on my granite, on my appliances (watch out for overspray on the hardwood floors though, I slipped and about broke my neck once after a bad cleaning job!), and I use it on my shower. It takes the grime right off of my glass doors.
Rachel recently posted..Going Skiing
hahah, Awesome!
Stevie M recently posted..Late Night Date Night ::. Wine Tasting
Love this post and the comments (tips), too.
Patricia recently posted..Look what I won!
I never have to fake clean. I am a stay at home mom with three young kids and my house is always perfect. Isn’t yours? Perfect, I tell you! (but IF I did have to fake clean, might quickly remove pee from toilet brush holders and refill Sentsy warmers in bathrooms…IF…)
Molly recently posted..I Did What I Said!
All the tips are just too funny!! We women are genius and pass our tricks on to other women so they can be smart too. That is where men mess up. They like to be superior so it ends with them and their BIG heads. Each generation has to figure it out for themselves and we just keep adding to our bag a tricks.
Lisa~The SweetTalk Shop recently posted..{SweetTalk Shop Cooks} From Pioneer Woman
omg! Pledge always makes the house smell clean – I use that trick before company arrives. Although I can’t skip the vacuuming – because we have a big hairy dog, too – and he sheds enough to make a new dog about every other day.
Kate (Knits in Class) recently posted..Hey girl.
Ha! It’s so funny to know how crafty we all really are, and your mom is too funny!
design fluff recently posted.."D" is for….. How To Know You’ve Been Homeschooling Too Long
funny! I have laminate wood floors so spraying Pledge near the front door is an accident waiting to happen. I do use Method glass cleaner (mint!) in the same way tho!
SAHMmy Says recently posted..Review: 28 Days to Hope for Your Home — Buy This Book!
This is really a help…Thank you for the information shared here…
Xzania recently posted..second hand cars stroud
hahahaha!
Perfect tip for me!
BLessings
http://bit.ly/xabvOm
Liberty recently posted..A dozen
I love it. I will have to remember that one. Saw your link at Whatever Wednesday.
So I got up to check my closet to see if I have any Pledge, and sadly no I don’t. But that is a great tip! I wonder if my hubby would even notice it, one his sense of smell isn’t so good (but I bet he would even smell Pledge) and two he would see the same exact mess, maybe if I just put the dishes from the dishwasher away and loaded it, he would think I did something productive. I found you via the Somewhat Simple Link Party.
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This is hilarious! Love it! LOL! No, really – I actually laughed out loud at your post and reading all the comments…the guys here in the office probably think I’m crazy
I’m so impressed with your craftiness and thanks for sharing. I, like another one of the ladies, have laminate floors next to my entryway and I don’t need anyone breaking a leg so I’d better keep the Pledge on furniture only. I will, however, make use of the Windex/Method Glass Cleaner/Lysol suggestions! And yes, as someone else mentioned, Scentsy is a lifesaver too. I use it so much that I had to start selling it to keep up my obsession.
Thanks a million, saw your post on Someday Crafts, which was linked from Momma Go Round – a couple of awesome blogs that are totally addicting:
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.mommagoround.com/link-up
Love it!
You are my hero. Period.
Love this tip and I can guarantee you I’m gonna use it. I’ve been an SAHM for 18 years – why has it taken me this long to break out the Pledge?
Visiting from Home Stories. Following you now.
Carole @ Blue Chateau Interiors recently posted..How to Stretch a Tight Renovation Budget
I used to work as a professional cleaner and one woman whose office I cleaned decided that her varnished desk needed spray wax polish every day because she was a housewife of over 25 years standing, and she KNEW that WOOD NEEDS POLISH and wouldn’t listen to the professional cleaner who said that polyurethane varnish will not pallow polish to penetrate the wood and when she left the blinds open the sun would turn the layers of wax sitting on top of the varnish to glue. (Hang on, that’s one whole sentence….sorry, ranting!) So, I polished her desk once, so I could truthfully say I had, thereafter, I spayed polish in the air before I shut the door. Smug grin from both of us.
This is seriously one of the coolest tips I’ve heard in the history of blogging. You’re awesome!
Saw a study somewhere a while back that showed that just the *scent* of citrus (natural lemon or orange extracts were used in the study, I think) actually does make people believe that the area they’re in is cleaner than it really is. Also tends to improve their mood and optimism generally. I probably need a whole bucket of orange oil to counteract the mess around here, though.
Its so funny that I found this – because JUST today about 10 min before my husband was gonna get home, I wanted to do this (I figured the spraying thing out myself) and I couldn’t find my pledge! Haha
Going to have to use this one for upcoming cleaning checks! There will be no chance that we can’t pass after doing this
Mitchell Wright recently posted..mitchellbwright: @bronzini @emilam Trouble in paradise?
My little trick is putting “Fabuloso” (the purple kind) in the sink with hot water and pour a bit in the toilet brush ‘holder’….
This is a great tip! I will definitely be trying it next time someone decides to drop by. Some of the other tricks I use are spraying Lysol in the trash can when i don’t feel like taking it out and turning on the Scentsy (especially with one of the clean scents) so that the house smells fresh. Fools them every time!
Andi S recently posted..Budget DIY: Cleaning Foggy Headlights
LOVE it! I have a whole “Company’s Coming” ritual, based around a Football analogy! You can check it out if you want under “Football and Housekeeping” on my blog! It’s too lengthy to go into here!!! I can’t wait to read your other tips! Found you through “My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia”! Come visit anytime!!
~joy!
Vicky
sleeping in an unmade bed
Vicky recently posted..nobody will notice it on a galloping horse!!
Do you think I used enough exclamation points in my above comment? Or could it have used just a few more?!? ~joy!
Vicky recently posted..nobody will notice it on a galloping horse!!
I put some water in a pot with a little bit of my favorite liquid fabric softener or a little bit of a liquid cleaner that I get at the dollar store, called Fabuloso (the one in the purple bottle) and I let it simmer on low for a few minutes. Everybody who walks into the house says; omg, it smells so clean in here. Where do you find the time?
Ps. I have a small pot that i use just for this.