I have that exact chandelier. How do I clean it?

Windows..inside and out. By the time I squeegie my shower doors after taking a shower, I need another shower.

It's definitely my BBQ grill and fire place. What a mess. I use EZ off on the grill, but burnt food and grease smudges get everywhere. Even though I live in a warm climate (Costa Rica) I still love to build a fire at night when the sun goes down. Keeping my house clean is a full time job.

In response to sstarr, I personally think you, as a designer are missing a large but soft spoken market. Perhaps an aviary room for companion parrots is not your thing there in Vermont, but here in my home, and in many others, rooms totally dedicated to parrots and other avian species is quite common. I worked with a private builder for many months (and $25,000.00 later) creating a room with special lighting, a separate heating/cooling system, glass doors for viewing by people I don't trust to interact with my parrots, a specialized sink for bathing, walls covered in plexi glass behind cages to make wall cleaning a snap, shelves for sleep/travel/evacuation cages, an area for the hospital cage, multiple hidden trash cabinets, space for a TV, drawers and cabinets to store toys, perches, food, bedding, scales, etc., room for a microwave and space for 7 large cages along with a floor to ceiling play tree. I know I am not alone, I've seen many other similar rooms. So yes, maybe HOUZZ does need to know about bird rooms or perhaps you'd like them better if I referred to them as indoor aviaries. All I know is it makes a world of difference for me and my parrots (all free flighted so they can come out when I'm home for exercise) Dogs aren't the only pets that people do remodeling for! Your response is part of why I think many people don't even mention they have parrots. You make it sound like it's something shameful. My dear, you're missing out on a LOT! ....now stepping down from my soap box. Thank you.

The chandelier in our two-story foyer.

n247080: can you post a picture of your parrot room? would love to see it! My aunt has two parrots that she keeps in a big enclosure in her yard. Beautiful birds.

The tiny corners of the floors the mop doesn't quite reach. Ugh!

Another dream room of mine is a conservatory (patio with lots and lots of plants/trees with no roof) in where birds can enter/exit freely

I haven't read all the prior answers, but the thing I really have to work up my courage to attack is clearing the hair out of the bathtub drain. I lift out the stopper and then use a long pair of forceps (work at a hospital so got them for free) to grab and pull it out....NASTY. In the past I've tried those mesh things to prevent it from going down the drain to begin with but didn't really notice a difference in the frequency of how often I had to do the 'big cleaning' but found I was grossed out at having to scoop a nasty handful of wet hair out of the tub after every shower. Trying to find a good solution that doesn't involve shaving my head. LOL!

The vent-a-hood over my 60" stove. Very greasy and lots of parts that are hard to reach.

Jessica, try the "Oxo Good Grips" bathtub drain cover. I have the shower version, and it works really well. Hair stays on the top and is easy to pick up.

Ditto on the Oxo Good Grips drain covers. We have them in two showers...great job.

Clean stove hoods ( and everything else greasy ) with
Enjo cleaning cloths. Dampen with cold water and the grease wipes straight off. Brilliant!

I have 14' and 20' ceilings in my home with a very open plan. While remodeling our kitchen, some genius decided it would be a good idea to use a jack hammer to remove our tile floor. Now being that there was no way to block any doorways, I have this wonderful dust mist that I have been living with for several months. We have removed drawers and cleaned them out completely only to fiend them looking the dusty way within a week. We have 2 air cleaners on our heating/A/C unit with 12" thick filters. We have replaced filters several times with no help. My wonderful husband thought he would try to help by vacuuming the top of our kitchen cabinets. He was doing I such a wonderful job until I walked into the kitchen and told him there was a hole in the vacuum bag and all the dust was being placed in new areas of our home. He gave up. I need to find someone who can place a giant plastic bag over our house and suck all the dust out. I am tired of washing cooking before and after I use them - over and over again. Any ideas? I do have a Roomba that runs constantly. Luckily it can find it's home to recharge.

I would have an air duct cleaning service come in since that dust settles in there and no matter how often you clean the exposed area, the ducts will continue to spew the stuff out. We had the same problem with an addition to our home and even though the doors and stairs were blocked, the dry wall sanding and other construction dust continued to layer dust through vents they did not block. Your vents and ducts need the extra power of a professional duct cleaning company. Just get someone reliable and respected in your community as there a lots of scam companies out there!

gypsyrose17, we've had fluoride as long as I can remember so I can't compare before and after. I have heard various good and bad things about it but I didn't realise it could cause cleaning issues?

Look on Pinterest. They have fabulous ideas for cleaning ideas!
I've used a vinegar baking soda and dawn to clean greasy areas like the oven. Just wipes clean!

richanddynamic: Where do you get Enjo cloths? Looks like they are Avon-style direct marketing...

richanddynamic: PS: Is Enjo the same as any other microfiber cloth? Thanks in advance.

For Stainless Steel fridge, etc. Go to the hardware store. Ask for stainless steel cleaner. Works like a charm with light buffing. Its a light white paste. Not expensive.

the dishes

Getting my husband tooooo do the housework
With his clothes ON. .......
Told him he's getting tooooo old for that sort of thing
And I need toooo give my eyes a rest

Ka-Boom cleaner was mentioned. It is strong and works well, BUT it also got on faucets, hold bar in shower, drain closer in sinks and tub - took finish right off. An expensive lesson... The bottle does warn against this, but pretty hard to avoid. I stopped using it.

What about cleaning the rubber part of the garbage disposal? Awful...

I think the latest trends of small tiles in bathrooms and kitchens are really bad. It's just more grout to clean and repair.

I also really dislike cleaning the inside of the refrigerator.

Roomba is fantastic, esp. under king size beds! New dog's shed fur makes it hard to clean Roomba, though. Had to buy a Dyson animal vac - amazing the amount of fur, etc., that it picks up. Got a very good price through an Amazon special. Lots of good tools for various types of cleaning jobs.

Avaandersonnotoxic.com has non toxic products that would work well too

To keep showers and glass shower doors clean...three things: Rain-X every 6 months on the inside of the door, a squeegee used after every shower - I just do the door most of the time - and absolutely no bar soap.

Since we switched to body wash on the advice of our shower door installer we have had no soap scum, and I mean NONE. Took my husband a little while to get used to using it but he loves it now.

It's the wax in bar soap that causes skin cells (ick) and dirt to stick to the tile. No wax, no sticking. The door is now 4 years old and looks brand new. Living in Central Florida with very hard water I thought it would be impossible.

None of these things really bother me. I'm kind of a neat freak so I keep up with all of the things mentioned above on a regular basis. And when I say neat freak I mean it--I actually had my bed in our master bedroom custom made to my specifications and made sure I designed it so it was high enough off the ground that I could vacuum underneath without having to rearrange the entire room. My tips: for grout--get a firm bristled scrub brush. They work. I actually clean my bathroom floor with Dawn liquid foam soap and a scrub brush and it honestly works as well as using bleach to keep grout lines clean (for bleach, I like Soft Scrub--that's what I use on my shower floor, which has extremely small square tiles aka a ton of grout). Ceiling fans I use a Swiffer duster that extends. I also have attached damp/product covered cloths to them if I think they need to be sanitized. This is pretty easy to do weekly so it really isn't that messy.

The thing I hate doing most is cleaning my sectional. Two dogs (and one is a very drooly bulldog) and a boyfriend and the dirt and hair are disgusting on that thing in a few days. I was smart and bought a slipcovered sectional and the covers are machine washable, but there are just SO many of them. It takes three loads in the washing machine to get all of the covers and pulling them off and putting them on takes forever. Zipping and unzipping and all that Velcro. I hate it!

You need a cover for your slipcover :)

Think all this time I've been covering the wrong thing. Instead of a plastic cover for the couch, I think it would be better to just wrap up the bf and dogs in Saran Wrap and call it a day!

Fiberglass tubs.

Love this thread, laughing with all you fellow cleaners, and now planning to go look at Roombas!

I do have one hint for all the shower-cleaner-haters: I grew up in the panhandle of Texas where the water is famously hard. But my mother, rest her wonderful soul, was an excellent housekeeper in the old tradition. She taught us to use the "shower towel" to wipe down the shower every time we used it. By completely drying the shower, it eliminates all hard-water deposits and also stops mold from growing! If you teach your kids early, they think it's just part of the shower routine. Keep the towel within arms length of the shower, and everyone has to wipe it down before they even step out of the shower. It works a miracle!

Now, if I could only figure out how to clean the icky caulk, which gets stained from orange shampoo and blue shower gel. I am resigned to digging the stuff out and replacing it every year. "Mold free" silicone doesn't quite do it. Toothbrush and bleach keeps it at least a little less horrifying until I can no longer tolerate it, and grab the utility knife in a slasher-movie fit of anger directed at silicone caulk. We can create rockets to the moon, drones to deliver pizza, and the friggin' internet - can't we invent something better than caulk?

I actually use a straight edge razor, the type with only one sharp side, to scale off the scum from my fiberglass tub...hate the tub...its a cheap spa tub where the jets are plastic and they get black with mildew in a day constantly have to spray beach and vinegar into them to clean them. Inherited the tub with the house...one of these days we are going to have it ripped out and replace with a walk-in shower, only have the one bathroom, so keep putting it off.

I hate our jetted tub too. We never use the jets. I hate that I can't clean inside wherever it is that the water goes. The bathfitter guy told me they can cover them, but ours is freakishly deep, like shoulder high, and I still wouldn't be happy with it.

Yes, I inherited a "spa bath" with jets too… same issue, of course.

We have limestone floor tiles throughout the main floor. Any suggestions on the best cleaner for them? Would love a no-rinse solution.

Makaloco, try the Swiffer with extended handle for ceiling fans. It reaches high enough and does a good job maintaining at least the blades.

Thanks diannagreggmorrow. Not sure if there are swiffers here (I'm in Mexico), but I'll look.

Built a custom house with these gorgeous beams but they collect so much dust and they are so high up. Had to eventually hire someone to come every week it's so dusty up there! lol, ugh!

Thanks to all it was fun to read everyones hated tasks!

Bathroom. 1950's yellow tile whole bathroom about 4ft up the walls and then a bathtub that isn't smooth anymore. I think it needs resurfacing or just a new tub. I clean in sections :-/ very frusterating...but that said, if I had a perfect bathroom, I think it would still be my most dreaded cleaning space

I live in the red clay belt and have found Whink works well on porcelain, as well as socks. Try Greased Lightning for any place that has oil or grease deposits. Now, does anybody have a way to get burned on chili of the top of a stainless steel stove. It's REALLY on there!

I've done a mixture of Dawn dish soap, vinegar and baking soda. That's worked wonders to get off baked goodness over the year! Amazed how well it works!

Chookchook 2 try Avaandersonnontoxic.com. Best non toxic on the market!!! I have a lot of allergies too. So I can relate

wow! this has been popular! The most difficult things for me to clean are the windows inside the house that are very high and also, I am not sure how to take down slatted blinds for cleaning

roserustler...you are right, I have some custom wood slatted blinds that came with the house and I cannot figure out how to take them down without potentially wrecking however they are mounted (and the windows behind them are about 14 feet from floor to top...so far have only cleaned the bottom where the dog and cat have left nose prints all over them and as high as I can reach on a 4 ft ladder).

karinesa- toss it in the dishwasher on the long cycle. drez preston - use a bit of olive (or other edible) oil to wipe down the water dispenser area. It shines it up, takes off some of the deposits and seems to keep it looker nicer longer.

Ok, years later (!!), I have a new thing to add. I have found super cool cleaning products that are totally enviro-friendly (thus also non-toxic for yourself, kids, pets...). Most work with only water. It's a company called Norwex. No, I don't sell for them, but my acquaintance Kristl Ferguson does, which is how I found out about it.

www.kferguson.norwex.biz

The Envirocloth cleans sinks, countertops, appliances, whatever, with just water. The EnviroWand is the star for ceiling fan blades & window blind slats! Wipe them with this, and there is **no dust** floating around afterwards to make you sneeze. It is really impressive b/c the microfiber cloths pick up dirt and contain it rather than just moving it to a new spot. Kristl put a splotch of butter on a window, then wiped it with just the damp Envirocloth, and it was sparkling clean. I hope it's ok to share this info here, b/c I just learned about Norwex and have the enthusiasm of the new convert. If you order, tell her I sent you! - Karin A

bmeghost: I found that very hard to clean until I got the solution, its hot water, detergent and vinegar or lime juice to remove grease faster

Our customers usually complain that they hate cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom. You would be surprised how many people hate cleaning bathtub, tiles, and grout. But I guess that's why we are here. :)

The hardest thing to clean in our house is the grout in between our tiles. That comes off by using baking soda and vinegar.