- After moving to the UK, I changed how I cleaned when items such as white vinegar were hard to find.
- Instead, I use lemons to clean my kitchen and swap baking soda for tea bags as an odor eliminator.
Over 20 years ago, I made the big move from the US to the UK, where I have lived off-and-on ever since. Armed with dreams of sipping tea with the Queen, little did I know that navigating the world of home cleaning would be my biggest adventure yet.
From the elusive tumble dryer to the wild-goose chase for distilled white vinegar and baking soda, here are some distinctly British home-cleaning tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.
Replace vinegar with citrus to clean kitchens and bathrooms
In the US, distilled white vinegar is a cleaning superhero sold by the gallon, tackling everything from windows and clogged drains to bathroom limescale. But in the UK, trying to find it will only end in a wild scavenger hunt through many grocery stores as you question your life choices. After going through this many times myself, I've learned that here, all you'll usually find at the end of such a hunt is the beloved malt vinegar for fish and chips.
As a substitute, I now use lemons or grapefruit — both of which are widely available. I use them to clean everything in the kitchen — including the sink, cutting boards, microwave, and oven — and in the bathroom — including the shower doors, sink, and tub. Sometimes, I use half of the fruit to actually scrub whatever I'm cleaning, while other times I use diluted juice as a spray cleaner.
I also use a quarter cup of the juice as a fabric softener and whitener in my laundry and add a few slices to the water I use to descale appliances such as my kettle. For hard-to-shift grime, I sprinkle half a lemon or grapefruit with salt to act as an abrasive agent or follow up a citrus spray with a little scrub of a cleaning pad, such as a Magic Eraser. Bonus: your house comes out smelling like a warm Mediterranean day.
Clean your pots, pans, and silverware with aluminum foil
My English partner's mother taught me this trick when I complained of pans caked in burned food or melted cheese. She repurposes aluminum foil — called "kitchen foil" in the UK — as a scouring pad in the kitchen to easily remove gunk on pots and pans.
She also taught me to throw a wad in the top silverware drawer of the dishwasher when my forks and knives start to look a bit dull. At the end of a normal wash cycle, they look all shiny and new.
Remove tea and coffee stains with a cleaning pad or toothpaste
Tea breaks are an essential part of daily life in the UK, which inevitably results in stained cups and teeth over time. A little scrub with a cleaning pad or a fingertip of white toothpaste will have the cups looking brand new.
Swap baking soda for tea bags to eliminate smells
If you have extra tea bags lying around, repurpose them as odor eliminators. In the US, we would simply throw boxes of baking soda in the fridge, freezer, or cupboard to eliminate smells, but those boxes are impossible to find here, and I've found you can do the same with a few tea bags. They work well in smelly shoes, too.
Steam bad smells out of clothes
For a country that is rainy, damp, and cold for a large portion of the year, I still find it hard to understand why almost no one owns a tumble dryer. Not only do they dry clothing more quickly, but they can also keep your clothes smelling nice.
Recently, I ordered a winter coat that arrived smelling like cigarette smoke. In the US, I would simply throw it on the air-fluff setting in the dryer with a dryer sheet to remove the smell, but here, I had to get creative and use the iron as a steamer. Professional dry cleaners use steam to remove smells, so it works at home, too, but takes a bit longer.
Ditch paper towels for microfiber cloths
The British swear by microfiber cloths for everything from dusting to stove and window cleaning. Since moving here, I've ditched paper towels and embraced these reusable wonders for dusting my entire house with ease and leaving a streak-free finish on glass and mirrors. Can't find a microfiber cloth? Newspaper or coffee filters serve the same lint-free purpose.
With a few tweaks to my strategy and some distinctly British cleaning hacks, I now navigate the world of sparkling-clean surfaces and tea-stain-free cups with finesse. Who knew cleaning could be so brilliant? Cheers to a spotless home with a touch of British flair. Time for a cuppa.