Cleaning

Clean your mattress at home: vacuum, treat sweat, blood and urine stains, deodorize with baking soda and dry it fully. Includes tips for memory foam mattresses.

A smelly washer means smelly clothes. Clean a front-load or top-load washer step by step: drum, gasket, detergent drawer and filter, plus how often to do it.

Bring dingy grout back to life with baking soda, oxygen bleach or steam. Learn which cleaners to avoid on natural stone, when to seal and how to stop stains.

Clean a greasy oven without harsh fumes. A step-by-step baking soda and vinegar method, plus how to clean racks and the glass door and when to use self-clean.

Cloudy shower doors, crusty faucets and toilet rings come from hard water. Here is how to remove them with vinegar, baking soda or lemon, and keep them away.

Keep your home clean in about 20 to 30 minutes a day. A simple weekly cleaning schedule with daily habits, one focus area per day and a monthly checklist.

Steam does the hard work. Clean a dirty microwave in about five minutes with water, vinegar or lemon and a cloth, plus fixes for burnt-on food and bad smells.