Having pets in your home is wonderful, but it also means you need to clean often. Pet hair can find its way into nooks and crannies you didn’t know your house even had. That’s not to mention the smell that can develop if you don’t clean well! Here are ten pet owner cleaning hacks to help you keep things under control.
Pet-Safe Dry Shampoo
Sometimes, you might not have time for a fully involved bath for your cat or dog. You can invest in pet-safe dry shampoo that helps you clean up their fur without having to get them into the bathtub. This can keep their coats clean and help fight that pet smell!
UV Black Light
It can be tough to spot where a pet had an accident indoors. Trying to identify the mess with your nose can be both tiresome and gross. Instead of hunting everywhere and finding it by accidentally shoving your nose in it, invest in a UV black light. You’ll spot those accident spots very easily!
Wipe Down Their Paws
When your cat or dog comes in from outside, you should wipe their little paws down. Even if you have a mat by the door for their paws, it’s better for you to just take a moment to use pet-safe wipes to clean them up. That way they won’t track mud or dirt all over your clean floors!
Rubber Gloves
You can get a lot of pet hair up very quickly with classic rubber dishwashing gloves. Just put them on, run your hands over your couch or bedspread, and watch all the pet hair stick right to them. That’s one way to use static electricity for yourself!
Pet Washer
If bathtime is a chore in your house, consider investing in a full-scale pet washer. That’s what the dog groomer uses to clean your pup up when you visit, so why wouldn’t it work for you? It might be expensive up front but think about how much you’ll save on visits to the groomer.
Don’t Steam Clean Immediately
You might want to hit that pet mess with your steam cleaner right away when you see it, but you should avoid doing that. Counterintuitively, using steam and heat on a fresh mess can have the opposite effect of what you’d expect, locking the stain into the carpet or furniture.
Baking Soda and Vinegar
Instead of reaching for the steam cleaner right away for those tough stains, try making a combination of baking soda and vinegar. This low-cost cleaning hack has been around forever, and it still works better than most store-bought cleaning solutions. Try it the next time you have a tough pet mess to clean up.
Send Clothes through the Dryer First
Here’s another counterintuitive hack: if you have pets, send your clothes through the dryer before you wash them. About ten minutes in the dryer should knock all the pet hair off them, which means they’ll come out of the wash even cleaner!
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Drain Catchers
Invest in drain cleaners. This is especially helpful if you often give your animals baths in the tub. If you don’t, the amount of fur they shed in the bath can quickly clog up and cause your drain to slow down. There are specialized drain catchers just for pet hair, too!
Read More: How to Keep Your Pup Flea and Tick Free This Summer
Ask the Pros
Sometimes, the best cleaning hack is to get out of the way and let professionals do their thing. If you’re at your wit’s end with a particularly tricky mess, just call in a professional cleaning service and ask for help. It’s better to get it done and move on than agonize over finding the perfect solution yourself.
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