Your dishwasher is a life-saver, sparing you having to do the dishes every day. However, this handy little kitchen appliance can do a lot more than just wash pots and pans. As professional cleaners at Maid4Condos, we love sharing our best home-cleaning hacks with our clients to help make your life easier. Here, we look at 16 items that you didn’t know you could clean in a dishwasher.
1. Plastic footwear
If you wear your trusty plastic flip-flops around the house only, you can keep them clean and remove germs and odour-causing bacteria by running them through the dishwasher. The same goes for those Crocs of yours.
2. Hairbrushes and combs
If you use many hair care products, your brush can become a sticky, gummy mess. You can toss plastic combs and hairbrushes in the dishwasher to get rid of the gunk. You’ll find your brush doesn’t pull or tug as much when you brush your hair because all that sticky build-up is gone. This saves your hair because it causes less breakage.
3. Hubcaps
Take out the top rack to make room for your hubcaps. If you like to have shiny hubcaps, this is the easy way to do it without the back-breaking bending and squatting.
4. Microwave plate
This makes sense, but you likely never think to do it. If you aren’t the best at mopping up microwave spills (especially when it starts to look gross), then this is the best place to clean it.
As an added tip, you can make short work of those sticky, gross microwave walls by placing a bowl of water and sliced lemons in the microwave for a minute or two. The steam will break down that caked-on mess, so you can wipe it down easily. Then, pop the plate back in and you’re ready for the next boil over.
5. Shower caddies
Shower caddies build up soap scum and mildew over time. This can also lead to mould growth. To keep your shower caddies nice and clean, they can be run in the dishwasher. Both plastic and metal products are fine, but you’ll have to hand-dry metal to make sure it doesn’t rust.
6. Soap dishes
It might seem odd that a soap dish would get “dirty”. After all, it’s just soap collecting in the dish, and what could be cleaner than soap, right? Wrong. Soap actually carries bacteria, which can build up in the soap scum that collects in the dish. Many soap dishes are made from porcelain or plastic, thus making them dishwasher-safe.
7. Pet toys
Dog slobber and kitty claws are packed with germs and bacteria. You want to keep your pet toys clean to remove germs that can make people sick. This works for plastic toys that aren’t hollow. Never put anything in the dishwasher that can collect water, as the water can make your dog sick due to mould.
8. Smaller fridge shelves
Depending on the size of your fridge shelves, you can remove the upper rack of the dishwasher and give the shelves a good cleaning. Things like drippy sauce bottles, leaky milk cartons, and spills leave a sticky mess in the fridge that you really don’t want near your food.
Do this when your fridge is a little emptier, so you can slide out the shelves without having to take everything out of the fridge and then put them back again.
9. Gardening tools
Plastic and metal gardening tools can be washed in the dishwasher. Just avoid putting anything in there that is made of wood. You also have to dry metal items so they won’t rust.
10. Children’s toys
If your kids are sick, then tossing their plastic toys in the dishwasher using the sanitizing setting is an excellent way to avoid spreading germs.
11. Sports equipment
From stinky baseball caps to shin guards and from mouthguards to knee pads, most sports equipment can be deodorized and washed in the dishwasher.
12. Kitchen sponges and scrubbers
If anything is a germ carrier in your home, it’s your kitchen sponges and scrubbers. As long as your scrubbers don’t have a wooden handle, these trusty cleaning items can be tossed in the dishwasher for a good rinse every now and then.
13. Vent covers
Vent covers attract dust like crazy, which then gets blown back into your home. As long as they aren’t the fancy wooden kind, they can be washed in the dishwasher and wiped dry.
14. Glass light covers
Glass light covers from your light fixtures can also be washed. They are really no different than washing a bowl, as long as they aren’t too big to fit inside.
15. Vacuum attachments
Plastic vacuum attachments, including the ones with brushes, can be cleaned in the dishwasher. This way, you aren’t spreading germs and pollutants like pet dander as you vacuum.
16. Switchplates
After your family survives a bout of cold or flu, pop the most-used switch plates in the dishwasher to remove the germs and viruses so you don’t reinfect yourself.
If you need help keeping your home clean, our team is ready to help. Not only do we know tons of home-cleaning hacks, but we can also help you avoid needing to use them often. For more information, speak to Maid4Condos today by contacting us online. You can also reach us by phone at 647-822-0601.
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