Lola Clean Freaks

Admit it, one of the many appliances we all forget (or intentionally ignore) to clean is the toaster. Although it is something that we use every single day for our morning bagels and whatnot, we only realize how important to give it some tender loving care only when a trail of crumbs has already started to build up underneath.

For this reason, it is necessary to learn the right way of cleaning a toaster so it's free from crumb build-up. It can even be done in just 5 minutes and will only require supplies that are already in the comfort of your home, like mild dish soap and lemon juice. So, when you're ready to get scrubbing, here's our step-by-step guide on how to clean your toaster, and how often you should do it.

Up first, make sure to unplug your toaster and if you've just used it, let it cool down. To prepare for cleaning, place some newspaper or used easel sheets underneath. This also goes without saying, but you should never put your toaster in the dishwasher to clean it under any circumstances.

If you have a crumb tray (i.e., a small panel at the base of your toaster), remove it carefully. Wash it in warm soapy water then let it completely dry out. If your toaster has no crumb tray, you may skip this step.

Bring your toaster to your trash can or sink and gently invert and shake it to remove any other crumbs caught inside.

Next, tip your toaster on its side and inspect its insides. Use a pastry brush or a Lola® "The Original" Tampico Vegetable & Dish Brush™to gently give the elements inside a scrub to dislodge any remaining crumbs. Even when it's already unplugged, never ever put your fingers inside the toaster for safety purposes.

In case stubborn residue is still left inside, dampen the brush with water or white vinegar to add more cleaning power. But be careful not to overwet the brush to avoid damaging the toaster. To be safe, better check your toaster’s manual first to see if this is okay for the toaster.

Repeat Step 3 and invert the toaster again to shake off any crumbs you’ve just dislodged with the brush.

Once done with cleaning the inside, proceed into making the outside sparkling clean. Start by using a damp Lola® Cellulose Sponge Clothwith some dish soap to give the outside a gentle scrub. This will remove any unsightly splatters and fingerprints. Rinse away the soap with a damp Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloth and buff. If your toaster's externals are made of stainless steel, you can also use a microfiber cloth dampened with white distilled vinegar to give it some polished look.

Before re-assembling your toaster and plugging it back in, make sure that all of its parts are completely dry.

The above guide is meant for deep cleaning your toaster, which you may need to do at least once a week, or at the onset of seeing hard-on crumbs inside. But after each use, it's also better if you'd take on some simple tasks like shaking off the crumbs inside and wiping visible stains. In doing so, you're already on the right path to extending your toaster's life span.

Oftentimes, deep cleaning your oven is something that you don't look forward to doing. It's like going to the dentist — you don't like doing it because you feel like you've been taking good care of your oral health enough but at some point, you have to accept that a deep clean is needed.

Most of the time, you don't really look inside your oven, as such, you don't really see if there's a need to clean it — not until you finally noticed that your cakes are starting to taste smokey or a bit charred. And yes, it's because your oven is already too dirty and it's time to clean it! Luckily, you just have to follow our step-by-step guide below, and you'll have a sparkling oven once more, ready for action.

Prepare your own homemade cleaning solution. A great oven cleaning hack is to use a simple homemade solution made from baking soda and water. In a small bowl, mix together a half cup of baking soda with a few tablespoons of water until you get a paste-like texture. Then, set it aside.

Remove the oven racks. Start scrubbing off visible dirt and excess food away from inside the oven with a Lola® Pot Brite™ Jumbo Heavy Duty Scouring Pad. Of course, make sure it is switched off and cooled down before doing this.

Using a pair of rubber gloves, especially if your oven is particularly grimy, spread your homemade cleaning paste all over the interior of your oven. Make sure to cover every part of the oven, including the glass door. If the paste turns into a brownish color, don't panic! That's just the grime and dirt reacting with your cleaning solution.

Next, let the baking soda solution rest in the oven for about 12 hours (or overnight). While the solution soaking inside the oven, proceed with cleaning the oven racks using a Lola® Pot Brite™ Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge.

After the 12-hour (or overnight) soak in the baking soda solution, take a damp Reusable & Biodegradable Wowables® Paper Toweland wipe down the interior as much as you can.

Then, put some white vinegar in a spray bottle and spritz it all over the interior of the oven for a thorough, sparkling clean.

With a damp Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloth, wipe down the oven interior, cleaning every nook and cranny to make sure any remaining bits of baking soda residue are gone.

Once the interior of your oven is fully cleaned and dry, wipe down the oven racks and put them back inside. Your oven is now sparkling clean and ready for some action!

With the right knowledge and basic tools, oven cleaning need not be a household chore you are afraid of doing. The above tips will help you maintain your oven in a clean state, and most of these tips are based on easy home hacks using daily products to make it easy and affordable for everyone. And as a gentle reminder, don't clean your oven until it's already too late.

The new year always offers an opportunity for us to start over, including our commitment to having a decluttered and organized home. But for most people, devoting oneself to decluttering is easier said than done. The thought of living a simple life with less stuff sounds attractive, but more often than not, it becomes overwhelming that we feel defeated around the idea of owning fewer than what we've gotten used to. 

That’s just sad. Learning how to declutter our homes doesn’t need to be as painful as it appears to be. Remember, too much clutter in our home can lead to chaos that can cost us more money, time and even limit our productivity and concentration. So when we've been offered the chance, grab that opportunity to declutter our homes, and in turn, have a more organized life!

If you need guidance on how to get organized, here are some tips to get you started on decluttering your home:

Make a Plan and Pick a Decluttering Method. If you don't have a clear goal, you’ll start enthusiastically sorting through a few items but eventually, lose interest. Start with the right mindset, assess your space and understand how you want to organize a particular area in your home. Once you have a vision, pick a decluttering method that will work for you. The popular KonMari Method™ lets you pick up every item in your home and evaluate how it makes you feel. If it no longer gives you joy, better put it in the donation pile. Another method is the simple 90/90 test. If a regular household item has not been used in the past 90 days and will unlikely be used in the next 90 days, place it in the donation pile as well.

Tackle One Room at a Time. There is nothing worse than having your whole house turned upside down because you're on a decluttering spree. Take your time moving through your house room by room. Start in the room you feel most excited to organize. That way, you’ll create momentum to keep decluttering until your entire house is done! Bring with you the Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloth or the microfiber duster from the Lola® 4-in-One Snap-in Cleaning Kit and Storage System so you can efficiently dust off household stuff while decluttering.

Give Everything a Home. For the lucky items which passed your selection process, give them proper storage space. Getting organized is essential for decluttering. Also, designate specific areas for things such as children's toys, paperwork, cleaning equipment. By doing this, everyone in the house will always know where things need to be. 

Make Decluttering a Habit. After a fruitful day of organizing your home, there’s a deceptive misconception that you’re now done decluttering. You’re never and will never be done! Make decluttering a part of your life. You may run a weekly check for items to throw or give away, do a 10-minute pick-up at the end of each day, or conduct a last-minute check-up on whether things are in their right places before going to bed.

Decluttering is a process so give yourself time to really get into it. The goal is to take your first step in decluttering with some excitement behind it. After taking that first step, be realistic about your goals and how much time you’ll need for your home organizing efforts. Just remember, a decluttered house will let you be productive, healthier and ultimately, happier -- hence, live a decluttered life!

Even for those with a great passion for cooking, spending hours and hours over a hot stove to create sumptuous meals from scratch for family and friends, albeit rewarding, can still become very tedious and quite inconvenient. But special thanks to the one who invented multi-use cookers - not only do they help speed up cooking time, but they also offer a multitude of cooking methods that can make our kitchen tasks a little bit easier to deal with.

These multi-use cookers help us create everything from slow-cooked stews to pressure-cooking meat on the bone and vegetables, with half the usual time of making them.  

While using multi-use cookers reduce our effort in preparing meals, cleaning them would require our utmost attention. With so many different components, where do we even start? We did some research and we're sharing with you this handy guide on cleaning our multi-use cookers, with just a few easy steps. Depending on the brand of your multi-use cookers, special care may be needed so you may refer to your equipment manual. What we're sharing below are just some of the general cleaning steps. 

Step 1. Ensure that you have unplugged the appliance. Wipe the exterior surface of your multi-use cooker with a damp Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloth, making sure that you avoid any electrical parts or the panel area. Use the Wowables® Reusable & Biodegradable Paper Towels to keep these areas free from any liquid while also removing dirt.

Step 2. For the inner pot, remove the stainless steel insert and trivet. Use soapy water on these areas to get rid of any burnt-on food. For stubborn spots that won’t come off easily with just soapy water, use some white vinegar or baking soda on a sponge. The Lola® Natural Cellulose Scrub Sponge might just be what you need for this since it has the strength to scrub off dirt but is gentle enough not to cause any damage to the typical non-stick coating of multi-use cookers in the market. 

Step 3. Detach the silicone sealing ring from the lid, then wash them separately with soapy water. At times, sealing rings hold on to stubborn smells, and the best way of dealing with this is to simply use water and white vinegar. Once you're done rinsing the parts, fill your multi-use cooker with equal parts of water and white vinegar. Place the silicone ring inside, then seal with the lid. Let it steam for around 3 minutes, then do a final wash and rinse.

This won't only tackle the pungent smell of your sealing ring, but this will also remove white layers of any mineral deposits that may have been stuck inside the inner pot walls. If your lid also has an anti-block float valve, remove it and wash it as well to remove any clogs. Lastly, it is important to make sure that all these parts are completely dried-off before you re-attach them.

Cleaning your multi-use cooker is this simple and, as promised, is just as easy as 1, 2, 3! Make it a part of your usual kitchen cleaning routine, and you're assured of the benefits of having a multi-use cooker for many years to come.

The so-called month of love is finally here, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! By this time, you may have a few things already lined up. Whether you’re flying solo, going out for a romantic dinner, enjoying some quality time with friends and family, or cozying up indoors for a low-key movie night, you have the opportunity to bring a little light and warmth into one of the coldest and darkest months of the year, and you’re all set for a full day of love — all kinds of it. 

On this day, you should be able to enjoy your celebration, whatever that may be, with a clear mind and a clean house. Here are a few simple, effective ways to ensure your Valentine’s Day is not only filled with lots of love but also becomes a day free from a cluttered and messy home. What could be even more romantic than that?

Dust Off and Tidy Up

The best way to kill the mood on Valentine's Day? A pile of mess and dusty clutter everywhere. Use the Lola® Swiffer® 360° Comparable Extender Duster to dust off visible dust and dirt around the house. Take some time to unload things you no longer need and declutter wherever you can. Not only will you feel relief, but it will take a major weight off your loved one’s shoulders, too. Also, going over your house together, room by room, can be a fun-filled bonding activity. You'd realize that getting rid of items that no longer spark joy would actually result in finding more joy in your relationship.

Clean Your Stove-top and Kitchen Counters

Skipping dinner reservations and cooking a meal for your loved one screams romance — but sharing a lovely cooking experience together takes the top spot in a list of the most romantic Valentine's Day activities. Your stove-top and kitchen counters are the most commonly used kitchen surfaces so odds are they could use a good scrubbing, and the Lola® Rubaway™ Eraser Pads may just be what you need. Of course, to make cooking together a truly delightful experience, your kitchen has to be ready. After that pleasant cooking session and sumptuous dinner together, you’d be glad you did some cleaning beforehand.

Sweep Your Floors

Not only in preparation for Valentine's Day but sweeping the floors is an absolute must, especially with kids and pets around the house! With the Lola® 4-in-One Snap-in Cleaning Kit and Storage System, you can accomplish this task in no time, in turn, more quality time to spend with your loved one.

Spiff Up the Bathroom

If your partner has always been in-charge of cleaning the bathroom at home, why not surprise them by cleaning it for once? It's probably the most thoughtful gesture you could give! Treat your loved one like royalty by cleaning your bathroom throne. Wipe those shower walls with the Lola® All Purpose Scrubber and freshen up the mirror and bathroom counters. Get ready to receive a big hug for this surprise — especially if you successfully clean the hard-to-reach areas, which is not impossible with the Lola® Any Which Way™ Flexible Scrub Brush.

The bottom line is we all love love. And having a truly clean and functional home is just one of the simplest ways of showing our special someone how much we care about and love them.

They say, the only thing constant in this world is change. Yes, change may be constant; but it's not the only one. No matter how much we clean them, our homes always find some way to get messy at some point. So I guess, a messy house is also constant in this world.

It being constant actually means some good news for you -- a messy house isn't entirely your fault! However, the bad news is that the mess is not gonna clean itself so you might as well put that pair of gloves on, gather those cleaning supplies, stop kidding yourself and start cleaning. If you're simply unsure where to start, this step-by-step guide might just be what you need.

Set aside a schedule for house cleaning and make a routine out of it. House cleaning requires commitment and setting aside a day when you can be free for a few hours to tackle your messy home is the first step. Make sure that you have no other plans on your committed schedule and that you have all of the cleaning suppliesready and available. Make a routine out of this so you can move from one task to the next without wasting time thinking about what you have to do next.

Start with tasks that can be left on their own while you do other cleaning chores. You can start a load of laundry, spray your cleaner on the counters and appliances before wiping them with the Reusable & Biodegradable Wowables® Paper Towels, run the dishwasher, or pour bleach into your toilet. You can just leave these tasks by themselves while you deal with the other messy parts of your home. Just don't forget to finish them up, of course!

Tidy first, then clean afterward. It will be much easier to clean if you don’t have a bunch of junk in your way. Take some time to organize and put away everything where they belong. The best order for your home mess cleaning is still removing clutter and tidying before you get your hands dirty. As needed, throw away any of your stuff that may have already run its course. In other words, don't hoard!

Clean top to bottom, then left to right. Whatever's up there must come down first. Use Lola® Swiffer® 360° Comparable Extender Dusterto remove cobwebs from your ceilings and upper moldings before mopping your floors with the SqueezeMatic™ Butterfly Sponge Mop. Doing this the other way around is the easiest way to tire yourself. So, best to befriend gravity and don't go against it. Then, cleaning left to right ensures that you cover the entire room instead of darting from place to place.

Cleaning a messy home is never gonna be anyone's favorite. It's a task too daunting that we often neglect until we can no longer ignore the eyesore. Good for you, there are ways to cut down your cleaning time, like by taking on the various cleaning tasks one step at a time, and doing them more often. And when you’re done cleaning all the mess, you can finally get that well-deserved rest.

It's no secret that pets are great companions and we love having them around, just like family. But like kids, they sometimes can't help but make a mess around the house. The amount of hair they shed on the bed, clothes, sofa, carpets, and floor can be frustrating, and cleaning them is never an easy task.

Trying to keep your home clean and fur-free with pets around the house is something we all struggle with, but luckily there are a few tricks that make it a little easier. When you get rid of pet hair mess, you improve the environmental quality inside your home. Thus, it is essential to clean up pet hair around the house, and here are some helpful tips and tricks.

Use Lint Rollers on Your Pet

Surprisingly, lint rollers aren't just for your clothes. They also make removing pet hair a lot easier. The Lola® Rola Sticky Mop™ is like a giant adhesive lint roller that can be used on any surface to remove pet hair mess.

Sweep with Dampened Floor Mops

A damp mop acts like a magnet when it comes to picking up pet hair. If you have hardwood floors be sure to use a wood cleaning product (many will need to be diluted per the label), and avoid leaving any standing pools of water on your floor. The Lola® Microfiber Spritz n' Mop is purr-fect for the job.

Remove Pet Hair Using Your Washing Machine

Washing pet blankets and rugs in the washing machine using hot water will not only remove pet hair, but also household germs, bacteria and dust mites. Adding around half a cup of liquid water softener or white vinegar to your wash cycle can further loosen the hair in the machine. Make sure to pick all the visible pet hair at the end of the wash cycle. 

Wipe Surfaces with Rubber Gloves or Sponges

Pet hair clings really well to rubber gloves and damp sponges, and they’ll help get rid of the majority of hair that sticks to your furniture and fixtures. When you wear the gloves and rub your hands all over your belongings, friction between the fabric and glove creates static energy. And this forces the debris such as pet hair to stick to the gloves. You can also use a moist Lola® Pro Amazin™ Sponge & Scrubber Roller Mop to coax pet hair off of the floor. The moisture will help the hair to clump together, making it easier clean.

Use Squeegees to Remove Hair

You can use a window squeegee to also deal with your pet hair problems. Not only does this device remove wet nose prints from windows and mirrors, but you can also use it to rake pet hair off of any surface. Keep one in your car, also!

The holiday season has always been the time when you've gotten used to making lists and checking them twice, so why not extend that to making a house cleaning list of resolutions for the New Year?

But unless you're Marie Kondo, you're probably not a fan of decluttering your entire home, especially when you're just starting the year. Relax! A cleaning routine need not consume a big chunk of your 2022. There are simple yet effective ways to clean your home at lightning speed, and we’re sharing a fool-proof list of no-nonsense New Year’s resolutions for your home that will keep your place clean all year.

Make Cleaning a Daily Habit. Fit into your daily schedule the habit of cleaning up as you go.

• Pick up nightly. Resolve to put everything back in its place before calling it a night. Waking up to a clean home is always a great start!
• Stay ahead of the mess. Using Lola® Microfiber and Nylon Cleaning Pad, wash dishes after each meal.
• Prevent dirt build-up. Sweep floors with Lola® Angle Broom to minimize dust build-up.
• Leave the shower door open. After showering, open the shower curtain or leave the shower door ajar to allow fresh air in and keep mold and mildew from building up.

Establish a Weekly Cleaning Routine. You can make the weekly routine more pleasant and shave precious moments off your overall cleaning time in the process.

• Clean your carpets or rugs. To suck up all the dirt and dust hidden between the fibers, use Lola® Rola Sticky Mop™.
• Resolve to dust the right way. Don't just move dust from one place to another - capture and remove it. The Microfiber Duster from the Lola® 4-in-One Snap-in Cleaning Kit and Storage System is perfect for the job. 
• Clean the toilet. With your favorite toilet bowl cleaner, use Lola® Eurostyle Toilet Bowl Brush to swish the cleaner around the bowl, under the edge, and as far into the trap as possible. Let it sit for several minutes before flushing.
• Tame soap scum. The soapy buildup makes for unsightly bathrooms. Mop your shower walls and floors with Lola® Natural Cellulose Squeeze Sponge Mop.
• Change bed linens. Wash your bed linens on a weekly basis.

Devise a Monthly Cleaning Pattern. Set aside an hour or so on a weekend each month to tackle more cleaning tasks for a cleaner year.

• Disinfect germ collectors. Disinfect trash cans, especially those in the kitchen and bathroom. Rinse thoroughly, and wipe dry with Wowables® Reusable & Biodegradable Paper Towels. 
• Maintain the refrigerator. Those foggy shelves need a bath every month to keep your refrigerator looking and smelling fresh. Remove the shelves and allow them to adjust to room temperature before putting them in a sink with warm water. Add a drop of dishwashing liquid, and gently scrub with Lola® Scruffy Scourer™ Non Scratch Jumbo Scouring Pad.

Resolve to Do Seasonal Cleaning. Spring into some cleaning action at the start of each season.

• Wash windows thoroughly. Let the sun shine in through the seasons by keeping your home panes sparkling.
• Clean the refrigerator. Accumulated dust and lint can reduce cooling performance. Clean fridge door gaskets by washing the surfaces with a baking soda cleaning solution, rinsing and drying with a Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloth. A light film of petroleum jelly can also keep the gaskets pliable.

Build an Annual Cleaning Plan. Allot at least a day out of your 365 to do a deep clean of all areas in your home. Remember to make a schedule of your cleaning tasks, stick to them, and you're all set for a new year. Happy 2022!

Whether you’re moving into a new home, getting ready for your first apartment, or just taking inventory of your household supplies, buying the right cleaning tools will be essential to your quality of life. Besides, a good deep clean is a lot easier (or even a bit more fun) when you have the right tools and supplies on hand. With that in mind, here's a list of home cleaning must-haves that will surely make your regular cleaning routine efficient:

Sponge

There's a variety of sponges out there, depending on what you'll use them for. But it'll be nice to have a classic sponge with two sides — an abrasive and cellulose side like the Lola® Natural Cellulose Scrub Sponge that is versatile in terms of cleaning. The scrub side is excellent for gentle and all-purpose cleaning, while the cellulose side wipes and washes clean.

Microfiber Cloth

Microfiber cleaning cloths, like the Lola® Jumbo Microfiber Cleaning Cloths, are ideal for picking up dust and are gentle on almost any surface. They’re perfect for tidying up furniture, especially items that you would never want to have cleaning scratches.

Scrub Brush

Cleaning your home with a sponge or cloth is good for simple stains, but you'll need to invest in getting a good scrub brush that can handle tough stains. The Lola® Any Which Way™ Flexible Scrub Brush is a great choice because it is easy to hold and can be used to clean the walls, and even the hard-to-reach corners of your shower, tub, grout on the floors, and sink.

Toilet Brush

A dedicated toilet brush for the bathroom is important because, of course, you would not want to use that brush anywhere but the toilet bowl. The Lola® Toilet Bowl Brush & Caddy would be a perfect choice since it comes with a stand so you can conveniently store it next to your toilet. 

Multi-purpose Duster

Once you notice cobwebs are building up in hard-to-reach areas of your home, you'd wish you have an extendable duster that can easily knock them out. With the Swiffer® 360° Extender Duster Comparable Starter Kit, you’ll never have to worry about how to dust those tough-to-reach nooks and crannies.

Broom and Dustpan

The broom and dustpan tandem is an integral part of home cleaning. It is essential for cleaning up debris inside the house or sweeping up clippings on your porch. To neatly sweep all of the dust and debris, indoor or outdoor, the Lola® Angle Broom with Dustpan would be great for the job. Then, the Lola® Rola Sticky Mop™ can bring in the finishing touch for any hard-to-pickup debris that your sweep may have missed.

Mop

A mop is your go-to tool for cleaning floor surfaces. No matter what kind of hard floor you have, the Lola® Microfiber Spritz n' Mop would be the efficient choice as it can be used wet for cleaning and dry for dusting.

You have to keep in mind that the tools you will need for cleaning would still prefer on your preference. But if you make sure that you at least have the above-mentioned tools at home, you can be assured that you're ready for any cleaning endeavor.