Last month I had a serious fruit fly infestation at home so I set up basic DIY traps I found on the internet:

• Fill a glass or another container with vinger with a drop of dish soap, cover it with a plastic wrap and puncture small holes into it. The fruit flies will get inside but not out and drown in the liquid

Then I decided to use various baits instead of common white vinegar recommended in tutorials. I tried distilled vinegar, wine vinegar, white wine, beer and citrus fruit syrup. I set up the traps and let them be for about 3 weeks.

Beer proved to be the most efficient, with white wine slowly behind. Vinegar seemed to work fine on its own but in presence of alternatives, it wasn't very popular among the fruit flies, with wine vinegar being slightly more efficient than distilled vinegar. I added citrus fruit syrup as well just as an idea (they're called fruit flies after all) but only two flies wandered there.

So in conclusion, this DIY trap works well with beer being the most efficient bait.

Hello. This may not be the typical question, but it's serious.

I am not joking when saying this, but cleaning makes me absolutely miserable. I meticulously just try to never get anything dirty and thus barely live which is also its own misery, but inevitably .. you must clean.

I have to do everything manually for multiple people. The dishes, filling the washer, hanging things to dry, the carpet, the beds, cleaning after visitors, maintenance, food. It feels like it is my entire life.

So my question is this...

How do you, personally, make this at all bearable or fun?

Is there a ritual you do? Is there anything? This isn't personal advice question, I am just asking, what makes you personally enjoy it - if there is anyone that does.

I am trying to view it differently, so I would really like to know what stuff makes people happy about it.

Are there any tools you especially like?
A ritual you do?

Anything about your experiences would be great.

I’ve tried everything on this shower door:

Water, vinegar, dawn
Bar keepers friend
CLR
Bio clean

Tried using scrub daddy, #0000 steel wool, magic eraser (which may actually have scratched a little, oops)

Nothing has touched it, and actually seemed to maybe make it worse?

Do I need to give in and just replace it?

Here is the update from this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/CleaningTips/comments/1wsli84/brother_lived_in_this_room_for_10_years_then/

This is roughly an entire week, 40 plus hours of sanitizing and cleaning. I sanitized everything there was to sanitize, scrubbed all there was to scrub and used wood bleach on the floor to (unsuccessfully) remove the stains.

Its not perfect but I'm damn proud of the results.

**Update: **

A lot of you have asked if he's going to move back in (or attempt to) and the answer is no.

I've also changed the lock on the door to a key only I have, on the slim possibility he did try and get back in, he's not!

I woke up at 1am cuz my stomach was rumbling so i decided to heat up some frozen food but my brain forgot it's an oven not the microwave and now theres melted plastic everywhere 😭

This is my bedroom. So lost on what to do. Or how to deal with it.

Hi everyone, I really need some advice.

I rent a small 1-bedroom apartment. Today, a technician came to service my gas boiler. He used an air compressor to clean it out, and it turned out to be insanely dirty. It honestly looks like it hadn't been cleaned in over a decade. It's a miracle it was still working and that I hadn't died of CO2 poisoning, yet.

The issue is that the air compressor sent a fine layer of soot and dust all over my apartment. Everything is covered, white painted walls, wooden surfaces and furniture, plastic surfaces, and fabrics like my couch and the courtains.

I tried wiping a small area on the wall with a dry cloth, but it’s already leaving dark smudges/stains.

What is the best way (and sequence) to clean this off different surfaces without embedding the soot deeper into the paint or fabrics?

Any specific products, techniques, or "do NOT do this" warnings would be greatly appreciated!

Help!!

Is this realistic? Would you accept this list of expectations and the length of time that he expects tasks to take?

For context, it is a massive house with 4 individuals. (3 bathrooms, two living rooms, huge kitchen, 5 bedrooms, one laundry room, two main entrances including one main closet at the front that is never organized and one back door).

Two adults and two small children live there. Nobody cleans up after themselves, general tidy is never a “tidy” bc it is always insane, including toys everywhere, clothes all over the floor. Etc.

$20 CAD an hour. 4 hours a day. 4 days a week.

Please help. I am extremely overwhelmed by this.

Hi guys, I am handwashing my stainless steel stuff (I don’t have a dishwasher) and a fishy smell along with these rainbow spots appear once they dry (overnight).

Do you guys know if this is normal and, if not, what I could do?

Thanks!

So far I’ve personally tried:

- scrubbing bubbles extra strength
- dawn dish soap
- baking soda and vinegar
- a steam gun
- vigorous scrubbing in all of the above

I’ve barely made a dent in it. I think the dawn dish soap is the closest I’ve come to getting it clean but it’s still awful.

I windexed tf out of the door but it’s still basically opaque.

It is a 10-15 year old shower is there a chance it’s just time for my landlord to replace the pan? Idk if it’s fiberglass or plastic but either way its own of those and Google said those should be replaced about every 15 years

I’m got a brand new linen upholstered coffee table and treated the surface with nanoman car interior/textile spray. My son put a banana on it and I tried to spot clean the resulting stain with a damp paper towel. What is going on here? Is it just transfer from the paper towel? Or did I ruin the dye/fabric? Is there any way to fix this?

Not a home cleaning questions but thought I would ask. We use nice quality 100% Cork Yoga Blocks at the studio I run. They get these grubby smudge marks that I cannot get off.

After use the blocks are sanitized with a mild rubbing alcohol solution, sprayed on and wiped off.

I have taken a bristled brush and dawn dish soap and water to clean the black smudges with no luck.

Any thoughts?

(Pictures are of black marks on blocks. I also find hand print smudges that don’t come off as well.)

Thank you!

I just moved into this house about 4 months ago , I been having a hard time removing this film or I don’t even know what it is but it looks hazy throughout the house. I been using Zep ph neutral cleaner and a Cuban mop , I have two separate buckets one with clean water and one with dirty. What can I do to help this film come off and bring back the shine to these floors ? Plus I done the scrubbing also and it hasn’t helped. I know these floors are old since the house was build in 1993, I think the floors are porcelain. It’s just driving me insane that I can see the difference of build up or whatever it is 🙃🙃🙃😣

I just moved into a new apartment and you can tell the previous tenants did not clean regularly. It smells like cigarettes and cats (which I’m allergic to) and there’s is a disgusting film covering the entire apartment’s floors. I have tried quite a few different cleaning products as well as a scraper to try and clean these floors and nothing will work. The scraper is pulling up good chunks of the nastiness but it’s leaving a scraped up - still not clean look and it’s driving me insane. I also can’t hands and knees scrape this entire apartments floors before I move my stuff in. Does anyone have any advice?

It’s a medium size and we only put trash bags, no exposed liquids or messy things.

this month it started smelling fowl. Idk if it was rotten potatoes (they were bagged) but since it’s been horrible. The entire garage smells a faint horrid smell and when we open the lid, yoh cannot walk out for an hour or two until it disappears

I’ve soaked the full can to the brim with water + 2 gallons of 10% sodium hypochlorite (pool chlorine) and it helped slightly

My flatmate is quite bad for vaping indoors. There's been many a time that I've gone into a room and they've absolutely hotboxed it. I have no problems (abilities wise) cleaning the bathroom as the walls, floors and surfaces are easy to clean. I can handle the sticky residue on the windows with soap, vinegar or cleaner. But I can't get the smell to leave the spare bedroom or even really their own room!

I was steam cleaning the downstairs sofa, because I spilled something, and I noticed the smell of the vape fluid almost immediately!

It's the bane of my existence. Any ideas on how to get the smell out of soft furnishings and carpet would be greatly appreciated! Also, any tips for cleaning walls, without potentially damaging paint/wallpaper would be appreciated.

I'm aware the problem won't go away until they stop, but until they can at least open the windows, I need to find some way to sort it...

How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of, especially when it's something you might need again?

For example, I'm involved in dog rescue but am slowly stepping away from it. I have several dog crates sitting around that I'm not currently using, but I could need one at any time. How many should I keep? One? None?

Another example is those little clear plastic zippered bags that sheet sets come in. I had saved a bunch, finally threw them away, and then, of course, needed one! So do I keep one or two just in case? And if so, where do you store random "might need someday" things?

I can afford to replace these things if I need them, but they're sold in multipacks, which means I'd end up with extras that need to be stored anyway.

These are just two examples, but the list is endless. Different clothing sizes. Dog leashes. Shipping envelopes. Blankets. Appliance boxes. Etc.

Hi everyone,
Moved into a pre war apartment in NYC. I received the apartment in disgusting conditions. Not clean, stove sparking (separate issue), not painted. I’m pretty pissed lol but anyway! I really want to focus on this bathroom floor. The previous tenants were there for 10 years and I don’t think they cleaned once with how disgusting and stained the floor is among other things found in the apartment.
Does anyone have any tips to clean this floor? I’m tempted to do peel and stick tile to cover but I know that may cause mold.

So far I have tried

- Peroxide Baking soda paste
-bar keepers friend powder
- bar keepers liquid solution
-bleach

Thank you so much

Does anyone have a secret weapon for cleaning pen off of a textured wall?

Things I’ve tried:
🧼Warm soapy water
🫧 Rubbing alcohol
🧽Magic eraser
🧹Warm soapy water,rubbing alcohol and magic eraser at the same time

I found I was able to clean it with that combination if I really worked at it but it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of time. I’m probably going to end up just painting over it but I would love to know if anyone has a hack or a product that they swear by.

TIA! Sincerely, a parent of a toddler who has a spouse that leaves pens everywhere.

Hey everyone,

I had a large amount of really foul-smelling, rotten potato juice leak onto my hardwood floor. It spread along a line of about 10 meters (around 33 feet).
I wiped it up immediately, so the liquid was only on the floor for a short time. However, it’s been almost 48 hours and the smell is still pretty strong. I can even smell it from several meters away.

The floor is natural, oiled hardwood, so unfortunately I can’t just try all the usual suggestions I’ve seen here, like vinegar, harsh cleaners, or other products that might damage the finish or soak into the wood.

Has anyone dealt with rotten potato juice or a similar kind of organic rot smell on an oiled hardwood floor?
Did the smell eventually go away on its own? If you managed to get rid of it, what worked without damaging the wood?

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from anyone who’s dealt with this on real hardwood rather than tile or laminate. Thanks!

I love walking around barefoot at home. I recently got a robot vacuum and have been letting it run daily, which has been nice.

What's your usual floor-cleaning routine if you walk barefoot at home? Do you have any tricks for keeping the floors feeling clean? Do you just clean more often, or eventually give up and start wearing slippers?

Lovely and genius people please help me

Im moving out in a room rental/ house sharing with the landlord we’ve lived in for 2 years. Room includes a bed and mattress when we moved in. Not new but good condition. I need help with freshening up the mattress as a whole and removing the “looks bleached” parts for when I used vanish spray to try remove the yellow stains on it a few months after we moved in. My mistake.

Thank you my dears ❤️