Cleaning Walls, Cabinets, Other Vertical Surfaces??

My worst wall is the one that is beside the stairs. Everybody seems to be grabbing it. I use a mr clean eraser and it does great. If you ever get down to wiping and cleaning the bottom outside of the refridgerator and look around from that point of view....oh man, everything needs it! Don't go there!

lol, i read your title and thought, "DO people really do that ( meaning clean the walls)????

my mil has a schedule for it, oh vey the ocd.

Me, it has to actually be red marina for me to clean it.

Maybe it's the finish of your paint too.

I do not wash my walls frequently, but when I do I got a great tip from someone that works effortlessly. I use something called TSP. I get it at my hardware store and it comes in a powdered form and and you mix a little with some warm warm water.
I used to use magic eraser but it can cause skin irritation and the foam breaks down quickly, and the TSP mixture work much better.

To use it I first mix it well in a bucket of water. Then I take a rag and wipe it wherever I want to clean, white painted baseboards, walls, doors, around light switches. Just wipe it on fairly wet, no scrubbing or rubbing needed. Then I take another clean damp rag and wipe everything down. You will be amazed at how much dirt it takes off effortlessly and how clean it looks afterwards even on areas that didn't look dirty or smudgy. With little kids, their fingers touch everything and little smudges get everywhere, this really does the trick.

Once a year or so, or more often if I am in a spring cleaning mood, I use it on my kitchen floor and let it sit for 15 minutes and then wipe everything off. It gets dirt off that I never would get off with regular washing.

I only wipe down the walls when something has spilled on them. Which means it's mostly the kitchen and nook walls. When I see a mess I wipe it down. I doubt that I'd see something that only shows up when the sun shines at an angle on them. There is too much fun in life to spend much time on keeping walls pristine.

I used to wipe down cabinets several times per week as I washed dishes and wiped down counters. At 70, I no longer do that every week. At the most, perhaps once/month when something is spilled. Of course I don't have sticky little fingers anymore.

When I had children I focused much more on keeping a really clean house. At this age, I've finally realized that it's the people and the relationships that take priority. My house is clean enough to be healthy. That's good enough.

It depends upon what kind of heating fuel you use. We always had oil when I was growing up and I have oil now. Oil heat is more efficient and better for your furnance, according to my furnace guy. But it is also much dirtier and leaves a residue on your walls.
Back in the days when most homes were heated by wood or coal the soot got all over the walls, ceilings, woodwork and windows all winter long. So women did Spring cleaning, washing the walls, ceilngs woodwork, cabinets, windows, curtains ect. And Fall cleaning to prepare the home for the coming holidays. My Mom always washed her kitchen and bathroom walls, ceilings, woodwork, and inside cupboards twice a year. I remember her using Flax Soap it came in a bucket like a paint bucket and it cleaned very well and was not harsh for your hands.
She would also clean woodwork around all the doors and windows once a month. Windows were a once a week cleaning project.
Yes as kids we had to help.

I'm not that good. I do wash my kitchen walls about every other year and woodwork every few months. I use Murphy's Oil Soap on the walls and a basic all purpose cleaner mixed with water in a trigger spray bottle on woodwork. In much the same way as I would wash windows I spray and wipe. It doesn't take long and I am always amazed that they all look so nice and shiny.

One hint, if walls are very dirty wash from the bottom up. If you start at the top and work your way down the drips and runs will mix with the dirt on the wall and will become almost impossible to get off.

I have tried Magic Erasers and did not think they worked that well. I get better results with hot water, soap, rags and muscle.

It there is a conspicuous spill it gets wiped immediately. Apart from that-

Our walls and ceilings get washed twice a year. We use a microfiber flat mop, and a bucket of warm soapy water. More than that seems a bit excessive to me.

As for the kitchen surfaces, cabinet faces get done about once a week. The inside of the cabinets are an ongoing project. I promise myself that I will do 10 minutes of extra cleaning, or one job a night to make sure that these things get done. In that time, i remove everything from the cupboard, sort out anything that is old/ expired/ to be donated, give the items a wipe down, give the inside of the cupboard a wipe down, and the inside of the cupboard doors a thorough wipe.

We've all got skeletons in our cleaning closet. Don't feel like a failure.
Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

I wipe my entire kitchen down minus the ceiling and minus the shelf tops of the cupboards about every other day. When I am done doing dishes I wipe them off.

After reading about homemade laundry detergent, I put a sprinkle of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda in the sink and filled it with hot water. I started wiping and OMG! The water turned brown! But, I thought I had been cleaning them all along. Anyway, they are clean now.

Ugg my walls get the same way. Plus, the 3 year old writes on them. Good thing I have him and his 5 year old sister, because that's who cleans them. A rag for each and a spray bottle. They love it. LOL

Today I went around and wiped down the doors and the door trims all around the house. they looked grimy.. Not even sure why since I use the door handles. But I have not had to wipe down the walls except in the Kitchen.

try using mr.clean magic erasers. and no you haven't failed at all, even certain temperatures of air and humidity levels can leave marks on walls.

I wipe them down from time to time, or get out the magic eraser when I see a lot of grime. I wish I did it on a regular basis, but I don't.

I only clean the area that is dirty, though I do wipe down the full bathroom and kitchen a few times a year.

I do dust my baseboards frequently, though, and I am trying to wipe down door knobs and things on a more regular basis. But I have become a big believer in painting every 5 years. A fresh coat of paint makes everything look clean!

You're not bad. Just haven't built up a tolerance yet. :) Life's too short to be wiping all the time.

When you do wipe, don't use paper towels. So wasteful! After the baby, I started to go through 6 rolls of paper towels a week. Now, I haven't bought a roll of paper towels in 7 years. I keep a big bucket of rags under the sink. Whenever there's a spill, I spray my "everything" cleaner on it, then wipe it with a rag. Then I throw the rag in the washing machine. Done.

I keep a bottle of "everything" cleaner on the kitchen counter. It's one of those non-toxic homemade recipes consisting of water, vinegar, borax, and dish soap.

I love this cleaner because it's non-toxic. I let my kids use it! One day, my son and 2 buddies were over when I heard giggling in the bathroom (bad sign). I walk in and they are spraying pee all over the toilet. I handed each of them a rag and the 'everything' cleaner and told them to clean up everything. They moaned and groaned, but they did it! (I did return later with a little bleach, because ---yuck.)

Moral of the story: Keep the non-toxic cleaner, make your kids use it, and kids will be more conscious of preventing messes. They never pulled a stunt like that again!

It's my 8yo's job to clean the baseboards and the intake vents that are near the floor every other week.

I clean the cabinets and doors (around the handles), and around light switches once a month, or more often if they need it. I also do ceiling fans during that same time. Kitchen walls get cleaned constantly. :)

I don't clean the ceiling, but as long as we switch the air filters frequently the ceiling doesn't seem to get dirty.