What are you waiting for, get cleaning! (Hints and Tips for Household Cleaning)

Member Name: Autarkis

Product:	Hints and Tips for Household Cleaning
Date:	20/10/08 (381 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper, safer, non toxic, eco - friendly

Disadvantages: Unfortunately you have to clean.

Cleaning tips.

As consumers we spend a lot of money each year on cleaning products, hoping to make household chores easier.

Most of us hate cleaning, but it has to be done.

Here are some cheap and easy ways to clean, without using chemicals.

I find cleaning products have a strong smell that can take your breath away when you clean, making it unpleasant. These products can be damaging to the skin, and damage the environment.

You don't need to spend any extra to clean your home, there are many products in your food cupboard that do a good job, which are non toxic, safe, and a lot cheaper!

It is always best to keep on top of cleaning, as it will all build up, and you won't know where to start.

A weekly routine can be made up assigning different household chores to certain days to suit your routine.

Find 30 min a day where you can do daily chores. A quick clean from top to bottom everyday is a good idea to keep on top of things, then once a week or once a month depending on which best suits you have a good top to bottom clean.

If you have other people living with you, share the chores between you, and rotate who does what. Children love to help do chores find easy and safe tasks they can do to help.

Always start cleaning at the top of a room and work your way down.

Put on some up beat music to clean to, to put you in the mood and clean to the beat of the music.

Open all the windows to let fresh air circulate.

Vacuuming - This is a great way to burn calories also a clean floor makes a room look better, as this is the biggest area to clean in a room. Vacuuming doesn't necessarily need to be done daily unless you have pets or children.

Tip - To deodorize carpets sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on to the carpets prior to vacuuming.

De clutter! Have a good clear out, it will make you feel a lot better and your home will be a lot more tidier for it. Get rid of things that you never use, donate them to charity, or sell them(You can sell many unwanted items on places such as Ebay or Amazon). Once you have had a good clear out, don't let the junk accumulate, keep on top of it.

Light switches and door handles get used daily sometimes by many people, dirt and germs collect here without you noticing, use hot water, a spot of washing up liquid (basic washing up liquid works perfectly) and a drop of tea tree oil - far better for your health and the environment, dampen your cloth with this solution to wipe and use another cloth to dry.

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't need cleaning.

Don't forget about all the areas in your home that never get cleaned, like under furniture, it is good once in a while to move furniture out and vacuum and clean underneath, you will be surprised what you find.

The tops of doors, dust collects here use a damp cloth to wipe across to collect all the dust that has gathered.

I also use a steam cleaner every couple of months for a good steam clean of all the house. Steam cleaners are great at lifting dirt from kitchens and bathrooms, making it easy to just wipe off all the dirt and debris. Powerful jets of steam dissolve grease and dirt quickly and effortlessly, this can be used on glass, they also tackle tiles, taps, stove tops, ovens, carpets, upholstery and even mattresses. Steam cleaning is a good way to clean, as it sanitizes, lifts dirt and removes odours without using any chemicals.

Always remember to be careful when using a steam cleaner, as you can burn yourself, make sure children and pets are in a different room whilst you use a steamer. Always follow safety instruction provided in the user manual.

If you prefer to buy cleaning products, you don't need to buy the most expensive; a lot of the cheaper ones are just as effective. Also there are a lot of natural cleaning products that you can find in the cleaning aisle which are much better for the environment. They are made from natural sources and they are biodegradable and they are no more expensive than leading brands. Or you can make your own. Once you start using natural products, or making your own from natural ingredients, you will never want to go back to harsh toxic chemicals.

Personally I prefer to use natural cleaning products, when I do buy cleaning products I use the range by Ecover. They have a good range of products that can be found in the cleaning aisle, I feel much better knowing that I am using a product that is not going to harm the environment, and is safe to use and I am not ingesting nasty chemicals.

Although we want our homes to be clean, you don't need to remove all the germs from your home, as some germs are good for us, as they help to strengthen are immune system.

Some useful tips:

Alternative ways to clean using natural ingredients.

Basic washing up liquid is a great all round cleaner.

Vinegar - disinfects. Use 4 parts water to one part vinegar to clean most areas in your home.

Lemon - Cuts through grease and disinfects. Lemon juice can be used in place of bleach.

Bicarbonate of soda - deodorizes and cleans.

Pure Tea tree oil - Disinfects. This can be added to water only a few drops are needed to clean areas that need to be disinfected. Can be stored in a spray bottle, it has many uses.

Here is some of the ways that I use these natural ingredients:

Windows - Make a solution, using equal parts of hot water and vinegar, basic malt vinegar costs under, 30 pence in most supermarkets. You can put this into a spray bottle. Firstly remove dust with dry cloth. Use a soft cloth to wash on the solution, then use a screwed up piece of newspaper to buff the windows clean, rubbing in a circular motion works best.
In minutes you will have shiny streak free clean windows.

Glass - Tables, Clean by rubbing with a little lemon juice, dry with paper towels and polish with newspaper to get a sparkling table.

Toilets - To remove that nasty build up of lime scale drop a couple of denture tablets into the bowl and leave over night and simply flush in the morning. Alternatively you can pour vinegar down and leave over night.

Taps - Use vinegar to clean them, after use a soft dry cloth to make them shine.
If you have a lot of lime scale or hard water around the tap spout, soak a cloth in vinegar and wrap it around the tap and put a plastic bag over and tie it on. Leave for as long as possible and then rinse of any remaining lime scale can be cleaned off using a toothbrush this is also good to get to all the hard to reach areas.

Shower curtains - If you have a good quality shower curtain it can be washed in the machine with vinegar put an old towel in with it, this helps to rub of any dirt.

Bathroom tiles - Cut a lemon is half, and sprinkle bicarbonate of soda onto the lemon then scrub your tiles, you can rinse this off using the shower head, or a clean cloth and water. Buff dry for sparking tiles. If necessary you can use an old toothbrush to clean in between the grouting.

Kettles - To remove all the lime scale build up and hard water, pour 2 cups of vinegar and boil, leave for about 10 minutes then rinse thoroughly, then boil with water before use.

Dusting all rooms - Try not to have too many things out on show as it takes a lot longer to dust. A damp cloth is all you need to wipe around, this gathers the dust instead of moving it around. Vacuum around your computer where all the dust collects in the vents.

Cobwebs - In hard to reach areas, wrap a dampened cloth over the end of a broom handle, or anything that will reach and wipe away all those cobwebs. Or you can vacuum them down if you can reach.

Stickers that have been stuck to furniture - Put a cloth into a bowl of white vinegar and soak onto the sticker, then scrape of. (Only tried this on wood)

Removing crayon from walls - I use an eraser - gently rub over the area, or try rubbing with toothpaste. Always be gentle as you don't want to remove the wallpaper.

To keep your computer keyboard clean - vacuum carefully using a small attachment, then wipe with a solution of warm water and a drop of tea tree. Make sure you wring out the cloth to make it as dry as possible.

To remove candle wax from a candle holder - soak in warm water, this will loosen it.

Plants - get dusty, put under a cold shower leave in bath to dry.
Larger leafed plants - Use a banana skin to clean leaves.

Always be careful when using these products/cleaning solutions, test in an inconspicuous area first to make sure it won't cause any damage.


I highly recommend using natural methods for cleaning, as it is better for you and the environment.

Summary: Greener cleaning.