Smart Chicago Cleaning Hacks for Busy People

Between work, family, and enjoying everything Chicago has to offer, keeping your space clean can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re maintaining a high-rise apartment or a cozy home, we’ve got authentic cleaning tips that actually work for real life.

Start With a Strategic Cleaning Plan

Just like creating a holiday gift strategy, effective cleaning begins with a plan. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the entire space, break it down into manageable sections. This approach makes any deep cleaning help project feel much more achievable.

Focus on High-Impact Areas First

When time is limited, concentrate on spaces that make the biggest visual impact:

• Kitchen counters and sinks
• Bathroom surfaces
• Living room floors
• Entryways and hallways

Dollar Store Cleaning Solutions That Actually Work

You don’t need expensive products to get professional-level results. Many Dollar Tree finds can help you maintain a clean home between professional home cleaning appointments.

Essential Budget Cleaning Supplies

• Microfiber cloths (excellent for dusting)
• All-purpose cleaners
• Baking soda for tough stains
• Vinegar for natural cleaning
• Small organizing bins

Maintain Your Clean Space Efficiently

Once you’ve achieved that fresh, clean feeling, maintaining it becomes much easier. Many Chicago residents find that combining their own efforts with occasional fast cleaning services creates the perfect balance.

Daily Habits That Make a Difference

Incorporate these quick routines to keep your home looking great:

• Make your bed each morning
• Wipe down kitchen surfaces after use
• Do a 10-minute nightly tidy-up
• Handle mail and paperwork daily

When to Call in the Professionals

Sometimes life gets too busy, or you need that extra-deep clean. That’s when it makes sense to schedule a cleaning with experts who know Chicago homes inside and out.

Signs You Need Professional Help

• You’re hosting guests or events
• Seasonal changes require deep cleaning
• You’re short on time but want a spotless space
• You need specialized cleaning for floors or windows

As a leading Chicago cleaning company, we understand that every home has different needs. Whether you’re looking for regular maintenance or one-time cleaning services in Chicago, having a reliable team makes all the difference.

Many residents find that when they need someone to clean my apartment thoroughly, professional services provide the consistency and quality that’s hard to maintain alone. The right home cleaning service can transform your space and give you back precious time.

We’re about to dupe a $90 product for just a few dollars. Stay tuned. Today’s video is brought to you in part by HelloFresh. William Sonoma charges $45 for these mini gingerbread houses. Almost the exact same dupe is at Dollar Tree for $1.25. These are adorable. They also have mini gingerbread men. This video is jam-packed full with William Sonoma dupes all from Dollar Tree. And yes, they are all this good. I’ll share with you the best of the best in this video. When I say these are adorable. They’re so cute to set out. They’re great to add as little gift toppers. And they are so similar to the William Sonoma version. All holiday candy is still 125. Scoop them up. I could not believe this next one. This feels like a conspiracy theory. It’s so good. Okay, and help the new people in the comments who might not know how excited I tend to get over these things. But these mitten tongs are at the Dollar Tree. This is the William Sonoma version on the left and the Dollar Tree on the right. Y’all tell me these are not the exact same product. I don’t get Keith anything. I do it on a dime. I’m also going to share how to get a name brand less. It’s not a dupe, it’s the real thing. These are hundreds of dollars in Williams Sonoma and it’s kind of what the store is known for. And the way I get these super cheap is by thrifting them. The one that I thrifted was brand new. It had never been used before. The lady inherited it from her grandma and she didn’t want it. My three favorite places to get these secondhand, many of them brand new, are Etsy, the thrift store, and Facebook Marketplace. I have recently seen so many listings like these. This makes a beautiful gift idea, especially in the red. I love thrifting really high quality products just like this. They stand the test of time and I never ever pay retail. Okay, so for fun, I took those three items I just showed you at William Sonoma, added them to my cart, and the grand total was $325. I spent just $37 on all of this. And if you can believe it, this is the least of the savings in this video. These are brand new silicone baking supplies that Dollar Tree dropped in the last couple weeks. The similar William Sonoma spatula with the wooden handle is $12.95 at Dollar Tree. 125. >> I think this customizable measuring spoon was my favorite. You slide it down for the different sizes. It’s perfect for baking and makes a great gift idea. They are awesome. And the William Sonoma version is $17.95. And these bags are so William Sonoma coated. I made this entire gift for literally $5. These bags don’t just have to be for wine. These plates from William Sonoma are four for $119. My store finally got these in stock. This is the Dollar Tree dupe. I love the tartan outside, but my favorite is to combine this with the gorgeous bright cherry chargers and the Christmas tree plates. You can have an entire play setting for about $6. Is this not so beautiful? And we are just getting started. Maybe you’re doing a traditional Christmas this year. I also think this would work really well with the Ralph Lauren style but done on a dime. This Christmas tree plate also from Dollar Tree. And stay tuned because some of my favorite $1 tricks are coming up. They are genuinely quality and one will save you 80 bucks. I’ve got recipes, too. And when it comes to the easiest way to cook, HelloFresh is hands down my favorite meal kit delivery service. I want quality ingredients and I’m all about staying on track with my health goals by cooking more at home and avoiding takeout. I don’t want to overpay on that, but I also don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. HelloFresh meals arrive perfectly portioned so there’s absolutely no waste. The food comes at peak freshness. It’s ready to cook and they recently doubled their menu size and their portion size. It generously feeds our family of four often with leftovers. It saves me so much time and I get to try something new but it avoids the mental load of me having to think about what to prepare. This dill cream salmon dish was amazing and right now get up to 10 free meals on your first box at hellofresh.com with the code dimefm. Free meals applied is discount on the first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That’s up to 10 free HelloFresh meals and free shipping. Just go to hellofresh.com with the code dime FM. I’m so grateful to HelloFresh. It’s one of my favorite brands to work with. Do not discount these super fun Christmas trees. Now, maybe this is the vibe. And if this is your vibe, you get it, girl. But I’m going to do a William Sonoma dupe. These Christmas trees are about $70 with little gold bells on them. Now, as soon as I saw this Christmas tree, I was like, Dollar Tree has these exact same bells. Come here. These little bells. They come in a red, they come in a silver, a green, and they come in a gold. And what’s super cool about these are the size and shape mimics the William Sonoma look. Take off that tinsel. And you need some floral wire. Now, when I first started this project, honestly, it wasn’t working. And I was like, I’m never going to be able to show my audience this. But then, as I started working, I realized the secret. So, the first is you want to wrap the floral wire around the tree form. And then you want to do a loop stitch around each of the bells to hold them in place. And that way they won’t slide down the wire. See how they sit well together? Then once you’ve strung your first ring, you can put it around the base of your tree. And then do the same thing but with one less bell for the next row. Wrap the wire around and give it a twist a couple of times. If you do this project, you need nine six packs of bells. That means this entire thing can be done for less than $15. I added the extra tinsel to the bottom and I loved how this turned out. I think it looks way better than the $80 version. But wait, there’s more. This one is awesome. William Soma has a $59 ornament candle. You can get something so similar at Dollar Tree that’s also made of glass. And how much is this one? $5. But here’s the thing. I’m going to help you out, okay? When you buy this, I want you to buy the one fine pine. This one smells the best. It is so good. The throw is great. Some of the other ones are just okay, but this one is a definite yes. And I love this green color. Now, are these items exact? No. But if you can match the lines and shape of the product, the color, or the texture, you can find very similar items. So, taking all of the items so far, since the beginning of the video, I added them to my cart, and that adds a table setting for four. You would spend $854. Since the beginning of this video, I’ve spent about $82 on everything. That is an over 90% saving. But wait, there’s more. Do you know how much William Sonoma charges for candles? Like red paper candles. Do not pay $17, $18. You can get these from Dollar Tree. This red is really pretty. And up here, these are reading so William Sonoma to me, especially the packaging. You can’t tell me this wouldn’t make a great gift idea. And I think these are some of my favorite tricks yet. So, I found this holiday gift tower. Look at all the items in it. We’ve got oranges, we’ve got popcorn, we’ve got fruit, we’ve got pretty boxes. And William Sonoma is charging $75 for this set. To me, this is just a challenge. And so, you know, when I make these videos, I don’t want to sacrifice quality. Like, if I’m sharing it with you in a video, I want you to know that you can buy it, use it, and it’s going to work great. These tins sell out really quickly. They’re fantastic. I love the tartan sides. Now, these are a good deal. They have s’mores bark. They have almonds bark. And typically I’m seeing something like this around $5.99 at HomeGoods, which is kind of like discounted higherend candies. But this, if you remove from the packaging, would go really well to kind of put together like a little gift basket or a little gift tin. Nobody has to know you made it yourself. In fact, I think it looks better if you did. Dollar Tree also has these gift boxes, which I really like. I love the red color on this. If you want something to look classic, very William Sonoma, opt for this kind of more burgundy red rather than a bright red. And that’s going to give it a lot of high-end elegance. This one is really pretty, too. Making candied oranges you can do so affordably. It’s 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Then you’re going to slice oranges thinly. Make sure they’re washed and simmer them for about 40 minutes. Remove from the sugary water. And you’re going to let dry. You can speed this process up in the oven at about 200°, slow and low, for 20 minutes or so. I dipped mine in chocolate and added a bit of sea salt. Put this in a Dollar Tree tin. Y’all, this will wow. And you did it for less than $3. These treat prices are crazy, I’m telling you. And the Dollar Tree’s peanut brittle, I buy this every year. It’s so good. All peanut brittle is is peanuts and like caramelized sugar. So, it’s very easy to put in these tins. And I will also have you know that the popcorn, the sweet chaos drizzled popcorn in the peppermint is so awesome. Take it out of the mini bags. You can buy this at Dollar Tree. It’s a buck 25. Put in this tin. No one will ever know this stuff is 10 out of 10. Now, when it comes to the cardboard boxes, you get three boxes for a $1.50 for three of them, which is a really great price. And adding in this paper shred is really great for boxes. You can see here I duped the William Sonoma look with pears. I added the candy in. And I think this is even better than the box sets they have on their website. And they’re made with love, which I think is even more special. This is really mimicking the Williams Sonoma Peppermint line. These lines are very similar to things that I’m seeing on the website. and I think would look really great with a thrifted gift. Do you know how much William Sonoma is charging for crushed peppermint? You don’t want to know. You actually, you might want to know. It’s right here. We’re going to make ours by ourselves using this jar from the Dollar Tree. This is one of my favorites. And again, when I’m trying to dupe high-end style, I’m looking for the lines to be similar, the colors to be similar, and the texture to be similar. If I can mimic some of those things, it’s actually going to look more expensive than it really is. I spent about $4 on candy canes. I put them in a Ziploc bag and I crunched them down. This only took a couple minutes and then I decanted them into jars. I was so excited to see the mini jars at Dollar Tree. They brought these back and honestly, this is so cute. And then I added a label to the front to mimic the Williams Sonoma look. And if you’re thinking to yourself, Katherine, I don’t know how to make this label. I’m not that crafty. My beautiful sweet friend, I did this for you. You can get it for totally free at my website. The link is down below. Print these out to be able to gift to your friends and family. This is my gift to you for sticking around to the end of this video and being such an amazing viewer. I loved how these turned out. I think they turned out even better than the William Sonoma version. I am obsessed. These gingerbread houses went viral last year and they sell out extremely quickly. But these are kind of hidden at my store, which is lucky for me. These are 125 each and adorable. Totally reads William Sonoma. If your kids are going to be making these, you can use the crushed up peppermint flakes. And this is the William Sonoma version. It’s about 5 in wide. This is the Dollar Tree version. It’s perfect for little hands and literally $1.25. So, if you took everything from this video and added it up in the Williams Sonoma cart, you would spend over $1,000. How much did I spend? Just $108 at Dollar Tree for everything you see in this video. And I checked off gifts for over eight people on my list. I’m all about savings. Be sure to check out HelloFresh and save big and claim your free meals. The link is below. My beautiful friend, if nobody has told you today, guess what? You have and you are more than enough. I’ll see you soon.