Here’s a question I received from a reader after writing my post, The Many Benefits of Vacuuming.

“HOW do you vacuum to make those PERFECT vacuum lines?  Probably seems like a no-brainer to you, but I can never make LONG vacuum lines as I always end up messing it up. Thanks!!”

It has taken me awhile to put this post together because I really had to think about how I do it.  For me it’s second nature to vacuum this way, because perfect vacuum lines are important to me.  I’ve never really thought about how I do it, I just know that when others vacuum my house it doesn’t look as good {I know that sounds terrible but it’s true}.

So after thinking long and hard about it (and letting a couple years go by), I decided to do a video tutorial because I thought that would be easier for you to understand.  First let me note that it’s important is to have a good vacuum.  I love my Oreck Magnesium but I’ve also had a Dyson in the past and loved it, both make great lines! Watch the video and then read on, hopefully the video will help answer your questions, not confuse you more!

Obviously that is not our house in the video, our current home has mostly wood floors and the little carpet we do have doesn’t show good vacuum lines, so my mother-in-law was gracious enough to let me film this tutorial at her house.

Here’s the one thing I still have that shows good vacuum lines, I just LOVE this rug!

Here are a few additional tips –

• Plug the vacuum in, where you plan to end up.

• The best way to get perfect lines is to face what you are vacuuming.  For example, the fireplace in our old house (pictured above) was at an angle in the corner of the room, so when I vacuumed it I would face it and run the front of the vacuum right up to the stone. (Similar to what I showed in the video with the couches).
• Vacuum yourself out of a room. Make long lines in rows until you get to the doorway then vacuum in a fan shape out of the doorway.

• Split up large rooms into sections. In my MIL’s house I vacuumed her living room in 3 sections because it’s so large.
• When you push the vacuum forward you will make a straight line, then bring it back and a slight angle, repeat over and over for each row/section that I mentioned in the video.
• Move any furniture you can, don’t just vacuum around it. I always move the coffee table, chairs, etc.

With a little practice you’ll be making perfect vacuum lines in your house and get lots of “oooo’s” and “ahhh’s” from your friends and family members!

I know this is kind of a hard thing to explain so please feel free to leave any additional questions in a comment below. Also I’d love to have you share pictures of YOUR perfect vacuum lines with me, on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, just make sure to tag me so I can see them!

The post How to make Perfect Vacuum Lines appeared first on Ask Anna.

It’s Friday again (woo-hoo!) which means it’s time for another great cleaning tip. Today I’m going to show you how to clean something it took me 20+ years to finally do.

In the house I grew up in we had Silhouette blinds and I always wondered why people would buy them because they seemed impossible to clean. Fast forward 20+ years later and we moved into our current home, which, of course, has Silhouette blinds on some of the windows. My first thought was to just take them out back and burn them but then I decided that wasn’t a good option because with all our other projects going on, replacing the blinds isn’t in the budget.

I tried to just ignore them but after 18 months (yes, it took me THAT long to do something about it) I couldn’t handle how dirty they were any longer. The only problem was now that meant I had to come up with a way to clean them. So today I’m sharing my simple solution for how to clean Silhouette blinds that will have them looking new all over again.

Step #1

Remove them from the window. Yep, you have to take them completely down if you want to give them the best clean possible. Once they are out of the window unroll them so they look like this.

Step #2

If you have any dead bugs in your blinds then we want to get those out first. You can open the blind and turn them on their side which should drop most of the bugs out (I did this over the bathtub). If there are some stubborn ones use a hair dryer to blow them out.

Step #3

Now it’s time to wash them. Pour a small amount of mild cleanser in the bathtub, I used Basic H to wash mine but if you don’t have any you can use a mild detergent or dish soap. Fill the bathtub up a few inches, just enough to cover the blinds.

Use your hands to “swish” the blinds around in the water to release the dirt.

I was right, my blinds were dirrr-ty because the water turned dark brown! Gross!

Once the water gets really dirty drain the tub. Repeat this process as many time as you need to until the water is no longer really dirty. I also used my daughter’s bath scoop to rinse the blinds with clean water in between filling up the tub.

The water from the second rinse, not as brown.

Step #4

Once the water is pretty clear, drain the tub. Fill the tub up one more time but this time don’t add any soap. “Swish” the blinds around in the clean water to get all the soap out of them. There shouldn’t be a lot because you shouldn’t be using that much soap, but it’s always good to rinse, just to make sure.

Step #5 (Optional)

Even after washing my blinds they were still a slight shade of brown, probably because they hadn’t been washed in 20+ years! To get them as clean as I possibly could I filled the tub back up with warm water and added a cup of bleach.

I “swished” the blinds around in the bleach, then let them sit in it for about 10 minutes. Then I drained the water and rinsed them really well (see step #6).

Step #6

Drain the tub for the last time and then rinse the blinds one last time with a bath scoop or the shower head.

Once you’ve rinsed them for the last time leave them in the tub to dry. Because the material is so thin it doesn’t take them very long to dry, mine only took about a day.

Once the Silhouette blinds are dry, screw them back up into the window frame. You’ll be surprised at how clean they are and that they look new all over again!

Don’t believe me? Here are a couple close ups!

No more dirt, no more dead bugs, no more food splatters, no more greasy fingerprints, they are super dooper clean! To see more tips in the Love to Clean Series, click HERE.

The post How to Clean Silhouette Blinds appeared first on Ask Anna.

This February I’m back with the “Love to Clean” series. I’ve got lots of good tips for you this month but first I’m going to start by sharing my favorite cleaning products. It’s been a long time since we talked cleaning supplies. Throughout the year my cleaning toolbox changes, as I learn about new products, discover new cleaning tricks, etc. My current cleaning toolbox has been pretty much the same, for awhile now, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to share what I’m using to clean our house.

Sinks and Hard Surfaces

This is a fairly new product to my toolbox but one I fell in love with right away. I’m the biggest skeptic when it comes to new, all-natural cleaning products but the Ava Anderson Bathroom & Hard Surface Cleaner has not disappointed (unfortunately it’s no longer available).

In fact I was more than impressed with how well it cleans my sinks, faucets, countertops, showers and every other surface in our bathrooms! The best part is, it smells amazing and leaves the bathrooms smelling fresh and clean without a chemical smell.

Faucets

I clean our faucets with the Ava Anderson Bathroom & Hard Surface Cleaner but then I go back over them with Rain-X Glass Treatment to keep them clean and spot-free, longer. You can see how I do that trick over on this post.

Windows and Mirrors

I’ve been using the Norwex Window Cloth for over a year now,  I’ve written about it before, and it’s still one of my favorites. I still can’t get over how well it cleans windows and mirrors with only water, which saves me tons of money by not having to buy window cleaner! And I love that it’s chemical-free, which makes my house even that much cleaner!

Toilets

I’ve been using the same product to clean my toilet for years.

I’ve tried other products but always come back to this one because it’s my favorite. I’m all about green cleaning but not when it comes to the toilet. I want to know that my toilet has been bleached, sanitized and scrubbed clean. The Lysol Power & Free Toilet Bowl Cleaner works great, smells good and leaves my toilets looking sparkly clean!

Floors

To clean the floors in our house I’m currently using (and have been for the last 6 months+) the HomeRight SteamMachine Plus. It’s light weight, easy to maneuver, gets into hard to reach places because of it’s triangle-shaped head and it cleans and sanitizes the floors without having to use any chemicals! I’ve used lots of steam mops but I can’t explain how much I love this one. We have wood floors in our house but you can see how well it cleans tile on this post.

Sponges

I’ve been using the Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty sponges (the yellow and green ones) for as long as I can remember.

They always do a great job and they clean up everything I’ve ever tried to clean with them. I like to buy them in bulk so I’m never without one when I need it!

Dusting and Stainless Steel Appliances

My all-time favorite thing for dusting is the Norwex EnviroCloth. You get it wet, wring it out and then you can wipe down every surface of your home with it. It’s all-natural, chemical-free so you can use it to dust everything from your wood furniture to your TV! I also use it to clean all our stainless steel appliances.

It’s does a better job than everything else I’ve tried, and it cleans everything from sticky fingerprints to grease splatters, all with only water! I have 2 of them and I use them constantly to wipe things down in our home.

That’s what I’m carrying around in my cleaning toolbox, how about you? What are some of your favorite cleaning products? If you haven’t tried some of the ones I’ve listed, I highly recommend you do, I promise, you will not be disappointed!

This post contains some affiliate links, for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

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The post What’s in my Cleaning Toolbox & a Few Cleaning Tips appeared first on Ask Anna.

Continuing with my Love to Clean series, today I’m going to be sharing a no-fuss way for how to wash a hat.

This is a trick I learned many many moons ago from my mom. My dad has always loved to wear hats, and even as a little girl, I remember him wearing lots of baseball caps. The only problem with always wearing a hat is that you end up with a lot of dirty hats, or a really dirty favorite hat!

You would think, “hats are fabric”, so just toss them in the washing machine, but you don’t want to do that because all the tumbling inside the washing machine will make the hat lose its shape.

Luckily there’s an easy trick for how to wash a hat, without ruining their shape, and without having to hand wash it.

How to wash hats, here’s what you need:

• Dishwasher
• Dishwasher detergent (this is the one I use)
• White Vinegar (optional)
• Baking Soda (or Oxiclean)

Washing Instructions:

Before doing anything else, make sure to remove any crusty dirt from the hat, by rinsing with warm water and a wash cloth.

If the hat(s) are really dirty, and stinky, pre-treat the dirty areas by spraying them with white vinegar. Let the vinegar soak for about 10 minutes.

If there are really bad sweat stains on the brim, you can spot-clean them by sprinkling the stains with baking soda. Baking soda is a great stain remover, I use it to get stains out of all sorts of things! If you don’t have baking soda on hand, you can also use Oxiclean.

After sprinkling it on, spraying it with vinegar, or use warm water, if you don’t have white vinegar. Then lightly scrub the hat with a toothbrush, or other soft bristle cleaning brush.

After the hat has been pre-treated for stains (and stink), place the hat on the top rack of the dishwasher. I usually run the hats through a full cycle with a load of pre-rinsed dishes. However if you aren’t comfortable having dishes in the dishwasher too, then fill up the top rack with all your hats and run them all at once.

Use regular dishwasher detergent in the load, it works great for washing your hats! Or if you’re not comfortable with that, you can use vinegar.

After the dishwasher has finished it’s cycle remove the hats, lay them out on a towel to air-dry.

It’s as simple as that!

By pre-treating your hats and running them through the dishwasher your hats will be clean and smell fresh all over again!

If you have a wool baseball cap, older hats you love, or vintage hats, I do not recommend placing it in the dishwasher because the hot water could cause the hat to shrink or lose it’s hat form. I recommend using warm water and some dish soap, or other mild detergent to spot-clean the hats in the sink.

Also, never use bleach on a baseball hats, because if the bleach isn’t properly washed out, it could irritate your skin when you wear it next.

Did you know this is one of my most popular posts!? To see more cleaning hacks that people love, click on the titles below:

• How to Clean Between the Oven Glass
• How to Get rid of HE Washing Machine Smell
• How to Wash Pillows in a Front Loading Washing Machine
• How to Clean Baked on Grease off Pots and Pans
• How to Clean Oven Glass so it looks Brand New
• How to get Nail Polish off Wood Floors
• How to Clean your Dyson
• How to Clean Cloudy Glass
• How to Wash a Baseball Cap
• DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent and WHY it works so well

To read other easy cleaning tips in the Love to Clean Series, click the links below.

• Tips for Washing Windows and Mirrors
• The Benefits of Vacuuming and More
• How to Clean the Kitchen Sink
• How to Clean Retainers
• How to clean cloudy glass

For your convenience this post contains some affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

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The post How to Wash a Hat ~ Baseball Caps & more appeared first on Ask Anna.

Have you ever purchased a glass vase, or pitcher, from the store and it had a cloudy residue inside? I recently purchased these pretty vases from Target and they were cloudy. But since the opening at the top is so small, I couldn’t rinse them or soak them the way I would normally wash a vase.

So today I want to teach you a very simple way to clean cloudy glass, without soap, glass cleaner, white vinegar, or water. All you need for this trick is rubbing alcohol. Yep, that’s right, rubbing alcohol; it works great to get that milky film off the inside of the glass!

How to clean cloudy glass, here’s what you need:

• Rubbing alcohol (if you don’t have rubbing alcohol on hand, you could also try acetone)
• Dish soap (this is my favorite)
• Paper towel (optional)

To clean the cloudy glassware all you have to do is pour a few Tablespoons of rubbing alcohol into the glass container you would like to clean. If the opening is too small to pour the rubbing alcohol into, use a spray bottle to spray it into the opening.

If the container isn’t big enough to get your hand into, cover the top of it and swirl the rubbing alcohol around in a circular motion. You will instantly see the cloudiness disappear. Once the cloudiness is completely gone, pour the rubbing alcohol out into the sink, and set your container out to dry. You can also wash the outside with rubbing alcohol but I usually just wash the outside with soap and water or .

If the container is large enough to stick your hand into, pour a little rubbing alcohol into the glass container and use a paper towel, or microfiber cloth, and wipe the entire inside of the container with the rubbing alcohol.

The results are amazing! Just look at the difference between these two glass vases!

This is a great trick for all kinds of glass, including mirrors, glass shower doors, crystal dishes that haven’t been used in awhile, picture frames, etc. It can also be used on dishes that have a build-up from dishwasher detergents, calcium build-up, hard water stains, or soap scum build-up.

And the best part about cleaning with rubbing alcohol, is that the main ingredient–isopropyl alcohol–is also a powerful disinfectant, so not only are you getting rid of the dirt, dust, and cloudiness, you’re also killing any lingering germs! Yay!

To read other easy cleaning tips in the Love to Clean Series, click the links below.
•    Tips for Washing Windows and Mirrors
•    The Benefits of Vacuuming and More
•    How to Clean the Kitchen Sink
•    How to Clean Retainers

Did you know this is one of my most popular posts!? To see more cleaning hacks people love, click on the titles below:

• How to Clean Between the Oven Glass
• How to Get rid of HE Washing Machine Smell
• How to Wash Pillows in a Front Loading Washing Machine
• How to Clean Baked on Grease off Pots and Pans
• How to Clean Oven Glass so it looks Brand New
• How to get Nail Polish off Wood Floors
• How to Clean your Dyson
• How to Wash a Baseball Cap
• DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent and WHY it works so well

For your convenience this post contains some affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

The post How to Clean Cloudy Glass appeared first on Ask Anna.