Complicated cleaning hacks can be fun projects, but I love a simple one even moreand this one is really simple: You can use the lid of a pot or pan to clean your carpets and fabrics. It works like a charm, which is why its been all over TikTok for the past few years.To freshen up your upholstery or carpet, youll need:The lid from a pot or pan, with a handle in the centerA large microfiber ragA bowl of waterDish soapDepending on what youre cleaning and how you like to do it, you may want to add a few drops of vinegar or vodka, but otherwise, stick to the cleaning recipes youd normally use for whatever upholstery or carpet youre working on. Cleaning the upholsteryFill a bowl with your cleaning solution, whether its a mixture of liquid dish detergent and baking soda, water and vinegar, or a store-bought upholstery cleaner. (I used what I had on hand, which was laundry detergent.) Drop your cloth in the bowl, saturate it with the mixture, then squeeze out the excess, and lay the fabric down flat.Set your lid in the center of your damp cloth and pull the edges up around it, securing them over the handle with a rubber band. If they dont quite reach that far, just secure them tightly over the handle with your hand as you work. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson Now you have a fabric-covered disk that you can push around on your couches, chairs, carpets, rugs, or pillows. It will pick up lint and freshen the fabrics without making anything too damp. I recommend pushing the soapy rag around on the upholstery until it's decently damp and clean, then going back in with a plain wet rag on the lid instead of the soapy one and then either drying the area with a hair dryer or fan (or opening a window and letting the outside air take care of it).Why I like this cleaning methodThe goal here isnt to make your carpets and cushions wet, but to give them a damp refreshthe lid provides stability and works the solution in gently and evenly. It's easy to push the lid along the surface of a couch or chair cushion, and the heft of the lid gives you some extra power. When you're just using a rag, it's hard to push down enough to really clean the area, since both the rag and the upholstery are so soft. Inevitably, you end up pushing down too much and making the spot too wet, which is no goodif the cushion doesn't dry out fully, that can lead to mold or bad smells. I recently spilled coffee all over my couch; despite dabbing it up that day, I was left with hideous stains. This couch is old and cost me like $200 on Amazon years ago, so it's not really worth pulling out a bunch of stops or getting a professional machine to deal with. I decided to give the pan lid a try. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson To my horror, just one round of pot-lid scrubbing pulled up a lot of residual coffee. To my pleasure, it required very little elbow grease on my part and did not soak my poor, cheap couch in too much cleaning solution. The entire couch looks much better and was fine to sit on again in under an hour, after just a little bit of air drying. Not every TikTok hack works, but this one sure does.