25 Professional Cleaners Reveal All The Things People Forget To Wash In Their Homes

Chores are the worst. There's never not been a time that they didn't suck. Even if you lived in a household where your parents had some extra cash that they would give to you in the form of an allowance (I wasn't that lucky) and would pay you to get your chores done, it doesn't change the fact that chores absolutely suck.

And when you grow up and go out into the world and have your own place, the chores just keep mounting up. You're doing all the laundry for your place. All the vacuuming. All the bathroom sanitizing. All the sponge replacing. All the dish washing and drying. Everything.

And because chores suck and you're not exactly going out of your way to discover new ways to create more work for yourself in your home, you're inevitably going to miss a few spots. Some key cleaning practices that require a bit more thinking to address. Otherwise, certain smells might accumulate in your home and grime starts to build up in places you would've never expected.

Thankfully, these people who clean homes for a living spilled the beans on the most common "spots" people miss washing in their homes on Reddit. Learn from their mistakes so you can add even more chores to your never-ending list of responsibilities. But hey, at least when you do sit down on your couch to binge watch The Office for the zillionth time, you'll be doing it in a squeaky clean house.

When I did housekeeping during college, I noticed that many people neglect to take down their shower curtains periodically for washing.

That's the accumulation of body oils, fluids, etc that has splashed off your body. You can disinfect and make a bathroom sparkle, however, the stench off the ripe curtain...ick.

- peacemarx 

The dish drying rack. I've never seen anyone with one that wasn't fucking horrific looking.

- tenmob 

I cleaned houses in college...clean your microwaves people.
Baseboards and windows are less disgusting, but more often neglected.

- savywoods92 

Clean the things you use to clean other things.

Replace your kitchen sponge at least twice a month. Wash your towels weekly. Leave the door to your washing machine open after each cycle so it doesn’t mildew. You get the idea. If these things aren’t clean, it can manifest in big ways. Ever met one of those people who has a faint musty/sour smell even after showering? Chances are they’ve been using the same nasty bath towel for weeks/months and don’t notice the smell from it anymore.

- freudian_nipslip 

FYI, on a lot of washing machines there is a drain trap that needs to be cleaned....not as much as the lint trap in your dryer but when you drain your water in a spin cycle, there is a place where it traps big gunk.

I found my friends and he never understood why his spin cycle didn't seem to pull the water out of his clothes for like 5 years. Thing was rock solid crammed with crap and hair.

- typhoidtimmy 

I learned about this when I was being trained to clean professionally...

You really need to take the toilet seat completely off every now and again - every 6 months minimum to clean the sludge that accumulates around the screws and fittings.

It's really gross. Wear gloves.

- __ideal_ 

Here's one people NEVER do but really should: vacuum your mattress. No, I'm not kidding. When you change your sheets you should vacuum that bitch so you can suck out whatever dead skin and crap have made their way down there. Also, we all know to wash the fitted sheet. But below that, mattresses sometimes have another removable cover, please wash that too.

- Mermaidfishbitch 

Coming from someone who is taller than average I’d like to mention that many people only clean to their eye level.

- NeverPostAThing 

Clean your light switch’s and door knobs they are always gross and people rarely clean them 

-  tdrex 

The blade of their can opener. 

- CorporealLifeForm 

Honestly? Even in the wealthiest of homes the bathrooms were an absolute nightmare. Grime so thick on the walls you could make an entire bar of soap out of it. Hard water stains were even harder. We had this fancy pumice stone that we’d use to scrub majority of it away. A lot of us would use toilet bowl cleaner on the entire bathroom. It had some really strong compounds that would just cut right through that stuff.

- Bjorna_Gloom 

Not a pro but the one that always gets neglected is the extractor fan hood over your cooker. There are filters on there that need replacing (or just cleaning depending on the type) and if you don’t after about 6-12 months they turn into a fire hazard because they get saturated with grease. If you put your hand onto the flat underside of your extractor hood and it feels greasy and gross, that’s because it is. Clean that shit once in a while folks.

- devlifedotnet 

People who are busy but wonder how it looks different when I do it, the finishing touches they miss are polishing or wiping down their kitchen bin, kettles and other shiny things on their counters. One job I struggle with is removing hair from a plug hole and as I rule, I don’t do it because i’ll spend the day heaving. People forget to clean their taps, door handles and light switches, yet they are probably the most used item.

- Hmscaliostro 

Baby wipes are magic.

-  crookedmasterpiece 

If you have toddlers/short children - the entire inside perimeter of your house at the 2.5ft mark has a layer of snot encrusted dirt that’s built up over the years that you are most likely blind to by now. 

- Spagettifeet

I have a house cleaner and she says the most neglected spots are doors and window frames. Both get pretty gross (especially white doors around the handle) but people don't notice it until it's pointed out 

-  LilithImmaculate 

Toilet brush and toilet brush holder. These just become a stew of poop particles if ignored. 

-  normicall 

Garbage disposal flaps, black mold under there. Dishwasher filters, grossest things ever. 

please clean your fridge, the amount of spilt food and crumbs that can build up in these is pretty disgusting!

- satansmum 

change your bed sheets more than once every few months.

- satansmum 

-inside of the kitchen bin, bleach it, scrub it - it’s vile but a necessary evil.

- satansmum 

give your cutlery drawer a clean today cause I guarantee none of you will have for years.

- satansmum 

BATHROOMS NEED MORE THAN A SMALL WIPE ONCE EVERY FEW MONTHS YOU SHIT IN HERE AND THE BACTERIA GETS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!! I’m talking full bleach every month and a proper wipe with flash with bleach and/or other cleaning sprays. Limescale builds up easily and fast and it’s a fucking pain to clean off when it gets bad so keep on top of it.

-  satansmum 

Wash your towels and bed linen at high temperatures to kill bacteria. They won’t shrink like clothes will. 

- satansmum 

bleach your sink regularly too as it keeps it smelling fresh.

- satansmum 

OK, well now you have no excuse to wallow in filth. Go forth and thrive in cleanliness!