Frustrated with cleaning your house from top to bottom and feeling like it still isn't sparkling? You may have fallen victim to some cleaning myths.

We asked home cleaning expert Jan M. Dougherty, author of "The Lost Art of Housecleaning," to bust five common cleaning myths, so you can stop wasting time and start cleaning right.

Myth #1: Something will smell "clean" when it is clean.

Reality: What does "clean" smell like exactly? Nothing, Daugherty says.

"The simple truth of the matter is, when something is clean, it doesn't smell, period," she says. "It doesn't have an odor because when most things smell, you're smelling dirt, you're smelling grease or you're smelling cleaning products with perfumes and other fragrance."

Myth #2: Bleach is the ultimate cleaner.

Reality: Not only has home use of bleach been linked to an increased risk of infection in kids, but bleach isn't great for cleaning everything in your house.

"A lot of people think they should use bleach to disinfect, to clean the germs," Dougherty says, but she recommends using 100-percent white vinegar instead. "It's not caustic and it will not damage anything — not your clothes, your hands or anything it gets near."

One of the biggest myths about bleach is that it is the best way to clean grout between tiles. Not so, Daugherty says. "It is the worst thing you can do because bleach will eat the grout," she warns. Instead, she recommends spraying your grout with Krud Kutter and scrubbing it with a toothbrush or small detail brush. "It will come up absolutely clean," she says.

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