7 Cleaning Mistakes to Avoid

While your dishwasher may be effective at cleaning most dishes, tossing those wooden cutting boards in there along with them could be doing more harm than good. The combination of heat and water in your dishwasher's closed environment can cause the wood to split, warp, or crack. I recommend washing wooden cutting boards with soap and water, and drying them thoroughly afterward, following up with a mineral oil rub.

If your dishwasher isn't completely full, you're better off not running it. In addition to using the same amount of energy and water as a full load would, washing partial loads of dishes increases the chances of damaging your dishwasher with higher usage.

A sponge is just a sponge, right? Well, not really. If you're using the wrong kind of scouring pad on your dishes, you could be shortening their lifespan. You should use the yellow regular sponges for your aluminum pots and nonstick pans and metal sponges for cast iron skillets and stainless steel. If you're using an overly abrasive sponge on a non-stick coating or on ceramic, you may cause it to flake off prematurely.

Scrubbing vigorously with an abrasive pad can actually remove the paint from your wall and potentially damage the drywall or plaster underneath, especially on flat paint, which tends to be less moisture-resistant. If the stain requires scrubbing, you're most likely better off repainting.

While those home fragrances may make your house smell lovely, spraying them after you've mopped will only leave you with another dirty job to tackle. The solution is simple: spray your favorite fragrance before you do the floors, otherwise you'll end up with sticky floors with small little blotches.

While bleach may be great at getting stains out of most things, using it on rust will only compound the problem. Bleach works via oxidation, which feeds the rust. As an alternative, use a powdered cleanser, which removes rust easily without the damage.

Sure, the metal hydroxide lye might clear your drains, but if you've got PVC pipes, you might be causing serious damage. The heat generated during the drain clearing process can cause PVC pipes to soften and melt. So, before you pour any drain cleaner down the drain, please make sure it's safe for your specific type of plumbing system first.