Bubby and Bean ::: Living Creatively: 7 Summertime Cleaning Tips for a Fresh Smelling Home

This post has been sponsored by PINALEN. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm going to start off by reminding you guys that I am not an innately neat person. Keeping things tidy does not come naturally to me. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't like a clean house. In fact, there is little I enjoy more than a clean, bright, fresh smelling space. It just means that I don't like doing the actual cleaning. And when summertime arrives and my kids are home from school, keeping things clean and fresh becomes even more challenging. Thankfully, I've discovered that when the house cleaning process is simplified, it's actually kind of cathartic and I start to (gasp!) even enjoy it. If you're like me, here are seven tips and tricks to help you get a clean, fresh scented summertime home the easy way!

1. Start with the kitchen.

I think if we were asked which room in our home is usually the dirtiest, most of us would say the kitchen. It's where a lot of the action takes place, and well, preparing food is messy. My biggest way to simplify tackling the kitchen is to use just one cleaner for everything: PINALEN® Multipurpose Cleaner. I dilute 1⁄4 cup of it in a half gallon of water, and use it to clean and degrease my stove top, range hoods, kitchen cabinets, and refrigerator doors. It's non-abrasive, which means I can also use it everyday on my Formica® countertops to keep them fresh and clean by diluting1⁄2 cup in a half gallon of water, cleaning with a sponge, and rinsing. The whole kitchen is left sparkling clean and smelling summertime fresh.

2. Get the dishes over with.

Since we're already in the kitchen, let's get those dishes over with. I love PINALEN Dishwashing Liquid because it's super tough on grease (even removes stuck on food), but it's safe for my sensitive skin. It also cleans up to 1200 dishes per bottle! The light, clean scent of Cucumber Crush makes the whole dish washing experience more enjoyable and motivates me to get the dishes done.

3. Tackle the odors.

Anyone else get excited to finish cleaning and then realize there are still lingering odors? This happens to me a lot, thanks to my kids constantly throwing gross things in the kitchen trash can, especially in the summer when they're bringing all kinds of interesting finds in from outside. To deodorize my trash cans, I add 1⁄4 cup of PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner to a half gallon of water and wipe down the interior.

4. Simplify the bathroom cleaning.

I discovered a few months ago that I had seven different cleaners for the bathroom. Seven. Pulling them all out and using a separate product for each part of the bathroom just intensified my disdain for cleaning it. Now I just use 1/4 cup PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner in a half gallon of water for the entire room. I use it to clean and deodorize the toilet, remove dirt, soap scum, and toothpaste from the tile and surfaces, and even to clean the floors (safe for linoleum, laminated hardwood, or tile floors). I love the summer fresh scent the Floral Delight leaves behind.

5. Don't ignore the stains.

We're going to beat all the cleaning procrastination this summer, friends! Dealing with stains is the worst and honestly something I often ignored when cleaning. Now that I know I can use PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner on stains from those my little ones have made (so many permanent marker scribbles) to wine or coffee spills on my carpet, it seems a lot less daunting. For stains on carpet, I dilute 1⁄4 cup of PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner in one gallon of water, and use a cloth to blot it out. (Make sure to test for color fastness first.) For kids' messed like marker or handprints, I dilute a cup of it in 1/4 gallon of water and wipe them away. The bonus is the fresh, clean scent that fills the room afterward.

6. Easily wipe away summer dust.

Our windows are open on any summertime day below 80 degrees, which means lots of extra dust and dirt on surfaces. 1/4 cup of PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner in a half gallon of water makes the best solution for dusting. I soak a cloth in it, wring it out, and quickly wipe surfaces, leaving behind a fresh summertime scent.

7. Freshen summer laundry.

I wish I felt like my house was clean when I ignore the laundry, but alas, it doesn't work that way. Summertime laundry can be brutal too because there's just so much of it - wet swim uits and towels, sweaty t-shirts, dirty-stained shorts, smelly socks. I tackle all of the summer laundry challenges at once by adding a cup of PINALEN Multipurpose Cleaner Fresh Pine with my regular detergent. Clothes and towels come out clean and smelling fresh. I also apply it full strength to remove stains.

Bonus tip: Keep a PINALEN Max Power To Go Pack in your car and one in your pool bag or summer purse. These wipes eliminate dirt and bad odors and remove grease, and their long lasting scent (I love Summer Fresh and Lavender Dreams) is summertime perfection.

I hope these summertime cleaning tips help you create a clean, bright, fresh smelling summer oasis in your home. (Or, if you're a parent like me, at least until your kids get to it.) As you can probably tell, PINALEN cleaners are my summer cleaning BFFs. They simplify the entire cleaning experience by being truly multipurpose, cleaning well, and leaving behind a scent that makes everything summertime fresh. And I really appreciate that PINALEN is a family-owned company that cares about the earth - their pine oil extraction process doesn't harm a single tree, and they work with non-profit organizations to promote tree planting. Learn more at https://PINALEN.com, and use their store locator to find PINALEN products near you!