Sporting goods as cleaning tools – a winning idea.

This week, Life on Crypton is hosting an expert we think you’ll love to hear from. His name is Tom McNulty, the author of CLEAN LIKE A MAN – Housekeeping for Men (and the Women Who Love Them), the first housekeeping “how-to” manual written for, and by, the AverageJoe. Welcome, Tom!

Finally, there’s a way to help men embrace housekeeping: make it seem like a game! Start by taking a couple pieces of common sports equipment and repurposing them as cleaning tools.

• A stopwatch – Racing the clock while cleaning a room brings out a guy’s competitive spirit. If he allots 10 or 15 minutes for a room, he’ll push himself to finish as much as possible in that timeframe. He’ll focus better and finish faster.

• A tennis ball – Spray a little all-purpose cleaning solution on one side and the ball’s tough, nubby surface to remove crayon marks from walls, scuffs from floors, and winter grime from patio furniture.

• A golf ball retriever – Put an old sweat sock over the top. It telescopes out to reach high spots: clearing cobwebs in corners, dusting cupboard tops, cleaning ceiling fan blades and the like.

• A bowling ball – Avoid endless blotting of carpet stains – it’s hard on the arms and the spirit. Instead, apply a cleaning solution to the stain, place a clean cloth over it, and roll a bowling ball around on it for effortless blotting! Repeat as needed.

• Sneakers – To protect wood floors from ladder and stepstool legs. Just put the shoes onto the legs. In this case, size doesn’t matter – any shoe fits!

Tom McNulty’s mission is to deliver ingenious, guy-friendly advice on cleaning, organizing and other domestic arts that often intimidate or confuse men. Tom lives in Minneapolis with his dog, Coco, who has an irrational fear of vacuums. For more manly cleaning advice, visit cleanlikeaman.com.