Three Common Cleaning Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

House cleaning seems fairly straightforward, but there are a few mistakes people make when cleaning that make them end up working harder or not getting the results they want. Whether it's a stain on the carpet or the sticky residue on the counter, it's a lesson most often learned by experience.

Hopefully, some of these tips will keep you from making these three common mistakes!

Ack! Someone's spilled wine at your party or your kids dropped a chunk of popsicle on the floor. Sometimes the first reaction is to grab a rag and start scrubbing the stain. Unfortunately, that makes it worse, and not just for the reasons you may have heard before.

Yes, it has a good chance of spreading out the stain, making the end result either more difficult to clean, or just a much bigger faded stain. However, it also damages carpet fibers, and that could leave that spot on your carpet looking out of place for the life of it, stain or no stain!

Avoid this by using this tried-and-true stain-lifting technique:

• With a damp cloth, blot the stain from the outside in.
• Continue to do this, switching to a clean portion of the cloth, until the cloth comes up clean.
• If the stain is still there, use your favorite spot remover.
• If it isn't, dry the carpet in the same way you cleaned it.

This will get rid of the stain while protecting your carpet from damage.

You're more likely to think of cleaning your windows on a sunny day: the sun is streaming in...and lighting up the fingerprints and greasy smears on the window. Write yourself a note and wait until evening or a cloudy day to clean it—avoid the temptation to clean it as soon as you notice it.

When you wash the windows on a sunny day, your window cleaner starts to dry before you can finish cleaning the window, and that will leave streaks, smears, and spots all over your window. It's worth it to wait!

More is better, right? Not exactly. Cleaners have their limits. There's a certain point where more cleaner is going to be ineffective. In fact, manufacturers want you to use the most possible cleaner: use it faster, you'll buy more, so you can bet that their instructions push the limit of the amount of cleaner to its cap. 

Stick to the directions for cleaners and you'll be fine. If you're using at home cleaners, make sure you keep the coating light and easy to wipe up. Too much of any cleaner—manufactured or homemade—can leave behind a sticky residue that will make your surfaces feel less clean.