Lola Clean Freaks

Upholstery can take more abuse than you might think, and in many cases, it will need more help than just vacuuming to look its best. Upholstery fabrics can be made of several different materials, so you need to do some research to determine which cleaning solution will work best for your upholstery and its fabric type. With that said, there are some general rules of thumb when it comes to deep cleaning upholstery that you should always follow when tackling this household chore. If you follow these fabulous tips, your upholstery will look fantastic!

Make your own carpet cleaner

There are a few simple ingredients you can use to make your own carpet cleaner to remove stains and freshen up your space. You’ll only need 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon liquid soap, and 2 cups warm water. Mix together in a spray bottle and clean away! 

Deep clean your sofa

The easiest way to clean your upholstery is to remove it from where it is, carry it outside, and hose it down. If you have a clean-looking plastic slipcover on your sofa, put that on before you spray. Water plus a slipcover keeps cleanup easier, as does choosing an outdoor setting with a concrete surface that can be hosed down. Preferably a shady spot out of direct sunlight. Work from back to front so as not to let water-heavy spots dry while you move forward—this will get your piece cleaner faster and with less effort on your part!

Clean fabric chairs

Before cleaning your upholstery chairs, use the Lola® Rola Sticky Mop™ with 4-Piece Handle to dust, remove hair or any other dirt particles. Doing this will ensure these particles are not accidentally stirred up during the deep cleaning process. 

Make time for hardwood floors

If you have hardwood floors, grab a Lola® Eco-Friendly All Natural Corn Broom that can get into corners, under dressers, and other areas where dust mops have a difficult time reaching. Plus, they give your floors that fresh-swept look. 

Don't forget your area rugs

Area rugs are pretty easy to clean: just brush them out regularly. If you want to give them a deeper cleaning, put one in your washing machine using mild detergent. If a stain persists, try applying some rubbing alcohol after giving it a good wash and dry first.

Get rid of mildew smell

Did you know that all you need to do to remove that musty, mildew smell on your upholstery is to mix 1 part of water to 1 part of lemon juice? You only need to rub the surface of your upholstery with a clean and damp cloth soaked in lemon and water solution. Lemon has components that can neutralize the nasty odors and leave a fresh scent. And that’s it! Let your furniture air dry before putting back in place. This technique works on curtains as well—just make sure they don’t touch carpeting or wood floors, where dampness could be dangerous or cause mold growth. 

Think of it this way—when you deep clean your upholstery, you are not just 'cleaning' it but also preserving it. The fabrics used in creating sofas and chairs are vulnerable to damage from everyday use. When we think of preserving items, a lot of us jump to how we can seal them off or protect them from their surroundings—but there’s another way. By regularly deep cleaning your upholstered furniture items, you are keeping bacteria and dust mites at bay—the biggest enemies to your upholstered furniture.

Many people prefer glass top stoves to traditional stoves. They’re sleek, they look nice and they’re often more energy-efficient than standard stoves. However, they can be quite fragile and expensive to replace if they break or chip. With that in mind, it’s important to maintain your glass top stove so you don’t have to worry about any accidental scratches or cracked glass. Check out this guide on how to clean a glass top stove fast so you can get your stove clean in no time!

What You'll Need

This type of stove is known for its durable and reflective surface, but it is not nearly as sturdy as ceramic cooktops. Glass top stoves have a coating that must be protected from acidic spills, like orange juice or tomato sauce. Start by placing several Wowables® Paper Towels on your kitchen countertop. Collect all necessary cleaning supplies and set them out in front of you, alongside your spray bottle filled with water mixed with mild dishwashing liquid. Remove any rings from your fingers so you don’t accidentally scratch your glass stove top while cleaning it.

Cautions

Always wear rubber gloves when cleaning your glass stove. Use mild soap and water if you have food stains on your stove top, and then rinse with clean water. Never use any harsh abrasives or cleaning products that are not specifically for glass stove tops, like ammonia and bleach. If your oven is particularly dirty, take apart all of its parts (the burners, drawer and racks) and wash them in warm soapy water.

Wipe and Scrub

To clean your glass stove top, wipe down with warm water and soapy water (again, use these sparingly). Once you’ve cleaned it well, mix together 2 cups of baking soda and 1 cup of distilled white vinegar in a small bowl. Use an old toothbrush or a Lola® Wonder Scourer™ Non-Scratch Scouring Pad dipped in vinegar to scrub away any residue. Wipe with warm water afterwards.

Wipe Again

Once you’ve cleaned your stove top and gotten rid of most grease and grime, wipe it down again with a Lola® Anti-microbial Clean N' Wipe™ Cloth for a final disinfecting finish. Allow your stove top to dry. Even though it’s made of glass, leaving water droplets on your stove could damage its finish over time.

Finish

No matter how tempting it is, don’t use your oven as storage space. Not only will it likely ruin your glass top stove, but bacteria will start growing and multiplying quickly. Before using your oven for food again, you should clean and disinfect it thoroughly. To avoid spills that could permanently damage your stovetop, place a hot pad or folded towel on top of a surface just below where you plan to put hot dishes before they cool down. The extra layer of protection could be just enough to save you from disaster. Also, remember not to leave very hot items unattended or keep them out on counters and tables for long periods of time. 

Let’s be honest, some of us just don’t have time for cleaning. If your glass top stove is an eyesore and you have a dinner party coming up in an hour, it’s important to know how to clean a glass top stove fast. This can be especially helpful if you have multiple people coming over for dinner and don’t want them thinking about all of your dirty dishes sitting in the sink.

When you think about cleaning the bathroom, you're immediately bound to feel disgusted and grossed out. Cleaning the bathroom tops everyone's list of most hated chores. Yes, cleaning the toilet is disgusting, but even other parts of the bathroom that need to get cleaned can pose a real challenge. From slippery and slimy bathroom floors and walls to grungy glass doors and dirty grout, cleaning the bathroom requires a lot of hard work.

But having a clean bathroom is worth the work — because everything from your shower curtain to your toothbrush handle can be, and likely is, rife with bacteria. As such, it’s important to know how to deep clean a bathroom so it doesn’t just look clean but is also rid of all that potentially harmful bacteria.  

The good news? Your bathroom cleaning situation at home doesn’t have to be the distasteful task we often make it out to be. Having a plan, and following our deep cleaning guide below will transform your bathroom from gross to spotless in no time.

Remove all clutter

First of all, remove all clutter and anything else that’s standing in the way of a deep clean. Start off with your bath mat and follow the directions on the tag to clean it. Using a Lola® Anti-microbial Clean N' Wipe™ Cloth, gently wipe down bathroom items that you often handle, such as your shampoo and conditioner bottles and toothbrush handle. As you clean them, move them out of the room and set them down somewhere else that they can dry. 

Wipe down surfaces

Scrub down all bathroom surfaces. Scrub and sanitize your vanity cabinets, as well as sinks, faucet handles, door knobs, and even the pull on your window. The main rule of deep cleaning a bathroom, of course, is that if you touch it, step on it, or sit on it, you’re going to want to sanitize it. 

Clean the shower

Apply a cleaning solution to the mildewed areas of your shower walls and floor, and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then use a Lola® Large Scrub Brush and a bit of elbow grease to scrub the mildew off. Up next, clean the shower curtains. Together with your bath towels, most shower curtains and liners can be tossed in the washing machine. If you notice some mold or mildew, boost your laundry detergent with some baking soda or vinegar. For shower doors and walls, the Lola® All Purpose Scrubber is equipped to remove lingering water from when you rinsed them. 

Clean the toilet

Now, it's time to clean the so-called bathroom throne! Start with the bowl itself and use toilet cleaner and the Lola® Toilet Bowl Brush with Curved Head to thoroughly clean the toilet surfaces. Do not flush the toilet for at least 10 minutes after doing this so that the solution has time to really settle in. Next, sanitize the exterior of your toilet, most especially the flusher and the spot where you grab the seat to lift it, with a disinfectant spray. Then, wipe them off with the Wowables® Reusable & Biodegradable Paper Towels. Lastly, use Lola® Anti-microbial Clean N' Wipe™ Cloth to wipe down the lid, seat, and hinges at the back of the toilet seat.

Deep clean the floors

To truly deep clean your bathroom floors, you’ll need to mop. Together with your favorite floor or multi-purpose cleaner, use The Revolution™ Microfiber Spin Mop to polish your bathroom floor. Keep the door open when you’re done to allow the room to air dry.

A good deep clean is valuable for peace of mind and a healthy body. Just follow the steps above, and you'll be free to really really enjoy your space knowing that it’s as germ-free as it can be.

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.