Clever Summer Hacks & Sanity Savers

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Spot Shot ® Instant Carpet Stain Remover.

Muddy paws, drippy popsicles, and kids home all day, oh my! Summer definitely comes with seasonal cleaning challenges, and I’m here to help you nip them in the bud. Because bud-nipping is better than stain wrangling any day. Check out these favorite tips for keeping your home clean and kids happy, and share your personal favorites in the comments!

Popsicle drip catchers

My poor son spent years with colorful splotches on the front of all his short-sleeved shirts thanks to not being able to eat dripping popsicles before they wreaked havoc on our laundry. That’s when I investigated and found the idea to use halved paper cups or cupcake liners to catch the drips. Cut a slit on the bottom and slide the popsicle stick through it and NO MORE DRIPS. Brilliant!

Prevent Sparkler Burns

While this isn’t a cleaning tip, it is a hack I use a lot in the summer. We love to have a few packs of sparklers on hand for festivities with friends, but getting zapped by a spark isn’t fun. Instead, cut a hole in the end of a Solo cup and stick a sparkler through from the bottom. Have the child place their hand inside the cup and grab the non-lit end of the sparkler. Their hand is now covered and protected!

Drying Tip for Bathing Suits

We used to have a drying rack for our summer towels and bathing suits, but hauling it out onto the deck every day became cumbersome. Instead, install a retractable clothesline inside a bathtub area and pull it out as needed. Bathing suits will drip right into the tub which helps keep laundry under control.

Shoe Catchers

I’ve mentioned this before, but we don’t allow shoes in the house because of all the dirt and chemicals they can track inside. Instead, I’ve set up baskets and boot trays as drop spots for shoes, which in turn catches the dirt and also provides a cue to leave ’em at the door.

Wipe paws

We don’t have a dog right now, but when we did I found it was super helpful to have a container of pet wipes next to the back door so I could wipe our dog’s paws right when she came in the door. It’s the same concept of the ‘shoe drop’ but for our four-legged friends… stop the stains before they start!

Baby Powder Sand Releaser

Do you know the baby powder trick? We take along a bottle of talc-free baby powder every time we hit the beach. When you have sandy hands (and legs, and everything else) simply shake on some powder and then wipe off the sand. It’s impressive how fast that sticky sand falls off with this trick.

Food Consumption Areas

Snacks become a bit lazy in the summer, as do the rules. However, one rule we stick to strongly is that food only belongs in the kitchen or dining room. Because look what happens when you let it slide and someone takes food upstairs to the playroom… EEK! That stain happened during my son’s Minecraft party and I didn’t notice until two weeks later. Needless to say, that rule is set in STONE now. See how we got it out below!

Chocolate stains

Chocolate and heat don’t mix, which we recently discovered on our stairs and as mentioned above, in our playroom. We have a special trick we use to make stubborn stains disappear. Both of these stains were treated weeks after the fact (ooops!) Now you see them…

…a quick application of Spot Shot ® Instant Carpet Stain Remover and some blotting with a clean towel…

… and now you don’t! Less than a minute later the spot was history.

It really does blow me away each time how easy it is to get rid of carpet stains I thought were impossible.

I always have a can of Spot Shot on hand for such emergencies, and you can too with a $1 off coupon, click here to find a local retailer. Also, join the S tain Fighting Community on Facebook for more tips on ideas on fighting stains like a boss.

Magic Scrap

Speaking of magic, I have a trick from my teaching days that gets kids to clean up quickly and happily. It’s called ‘Magic Scrap’, and the perfect way to encourage kids to pick up all those summer toys laying around the yard or after a day of playing in the living room. Simply look around the space and in your head decide on a certain toy or ‘scrap’ that’s the magic one. Have the kids start picking up while you watch to see whom picks up what. When they are finished, reveal which toy was the magic one and the person who picked it up is the winner! Winner of what, I don’t know, but they literally don’t care and the room is now spotless which is what makes it brilliant. 😉