Courtney Jacobs
Cleaning Specialist
Courtney Jacobs is a cleaning expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She specializes in mastering easily forgotten and challenging "how to" cleaning projects. Through her Instagram page, @courtjacobs.home, she instructs over 116K followers on how to tackle challenging yet rewarding cleaning projects. Courtney makes cleaning tutorials accessible, effective, and fun. She also has a passion for finding the best tools and products on the market to make cleaning effective. She also is an expert at formulating DIY cleaners that anyone can make at home. She designs cleaning challenges, and provides step-by-step guides for her audience with themes like the “30 Day Declutter Challenge”, or “30 Days of Deep Cleans”. She shares her guides, hacks, cleaning tips, and more on her Substack as well.
Education
- BS, Finance and Economics, Utah State University
Favorite Piece of Advice
Don't overcomplicate cleaning! Create a schedule, focus on one task at a time, set a timer, listen to a good book or throw on some music, make it fun! Incorporate daily habits: make your bed every day, "close" up your kitchen for 10 minutes a night, and focus on high traffic areas. Stay consistent and don't stress about getting everything done at once. You've got this and you're doing great!
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Forum Comments (3)
What's the best way to clean a flat screen tv?
I learned this the hard way– I tried using chemicals once, and we still have a spot on our TV. Do not use any chemicals at all, nothing harsh. I just use a little bit of water to dampen a microfiber cloth because you don't want any water dripping on electronics. Sometimes I'll use a damp duster and just run it along the surface of the TV. The biggest tip I have is to use distilled water, because it doesn't streak as much and you don't have any mineral deposits. Lots of people have hard water where they live, so using distilled water will be most effective. If there are still tough spots that still need to be cleaned after wiping the TV with your damp cloth, I would use a little mixture with vinegar and water.
What's the best way to clean walls?
There are a few things you can do to clean your walls. Firstly, you can just make a mixture of vinegar and water. For example, I'd mix about two cups of water with a half cup of vinegar and put it in a spray bottle. And then you just spray that on and rub it on your walls. The solution can smell strongly of vinegar, so I like to put a couple drops of essential oil in there to create a nicer smell. You can also try using a dedicated wall cleaner. I've used a few different official wall cleaning products, and the Zepp wall cleaner is my favorite and works really well.
However, you should check the type of paint used in your house. If you have flat paint, that can be the hardest paint to clean and it requires a different approach. For flat paint, I do a one-to-two-to-three ratio of one part vinegar, two parts laundry detergent, and three parts water. So, you would mix one tablespoon vinegar, two tablespoons laundry detergent, three tablespoons water. You're just going off that ratio. That works really well on flat paint and won't be too harsh or make it come off.
However, you should check the type of paint used in your house. If you have flat paint, that can be the hardest paint to clean and it requires a different approach. For flat paint, I do a one-to-two-to-three ratio of one part vinegar, two parts laundry detergent, and three parts water. So, you would mix one tablespoon vinegar, two tablespoons laundry detergent, three tablespoons water. You're just going off that ratio. That works really well on flat paint and won't be too harsh or make it come off.
How do I get blood out of my carpet?
So glad you mentioned blotting instead of rubbing! I have a lot of experience with kids getting bloody noses all the time from living in the desert in dry conditions. I can't even tell you how many times they've woken up in the middle of the night and they have gotten a bloody nose in the night, it's ridiculous! So, my biggest tip with cleaning blood stains is to make sure you always blot it. Never rub the blood or else it will just spread all over, and it's way harder to get out. For a piece of carpet, I'm just blotting the area over and over, which is repetitive and annoying, but it will be better for your carpet. I don't feel you need anything fancy to deal with it. You can just use hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and then just blot it, blot it, blot it until it comes up. I also have the Folex Carpet Cleaner, and that works really well. You can just spray some of that on, but really any type of carpet cleaner could work. You can also use a little bit of dish soap and water, but when you do use water with blood, you need to make sure it's cold water, not warm or hot. That makes it worse. If you put some cleaning solution of water and soap to get it off, it needs to be cold. Ultimately, the biggest thing with blood is to try to catch it fast. The faster you do it, the sooner or the easier it is to get off. If it's dried on there, like in the case of this post, it's harder but you can still clean it. Just make sure you always blot it!
