With Covid-19 having caused so much disruption to all our lives of late, most of us are desperate to return to some semblance of normality. What this means to each of us, will naturally depend upon our individual circumstances; whether we return to work or continue working from home, for example. But either way, many of us will have endured much fuller households for an extended period, and no matter how hard we tried to keep the place clean and tidy, having so many more children and adults under one roof for so long, has inevitably meant that dust and grime have built up in different areas of the home.
From toasters and juicers, to waffle grills and coffee makers, the average person uses a variety of small kitchen appliances on a regular basis, but because they’re used so often, cleaning them sometimes gets forgotten about.
No matter how clean you think you keep your home, sometimes it just doesn’t smell fresh, and you’re left scratching your head wondering what to do about it. While having your home regularly cleaned by a cleaning service is a great way of ensuring that dirt and bad smells are kept to a minimum, there are a few simple things you can do yourself, to guarantee a sweeter-smelling home:
Aside from placing an open tub of baking soda in the fridge to absorb offensive odors, there are plenty of other ways to use this wonderful little product to your advantage around the home:
Streaky, dusty and grimy glass – whether it’s on your windows or any glass items in your home such as mirrors – will quickly make the place look unkempt and uncared for, so it’s important to clean glass regularly. While there are many commercial cleaning solutions available, many of us nowadays prefer to use non-chemical preparations, so here are a few cleaning solutions that you can make yourself and which won’t harm you or the environment, but will still give you sparkling and streak free glass:
Dust is a nuisance and can quickly build up on all surfaces in the home. While not exactly life threatening, it can aggravate allergies and when left undusted, it can make a home look unclean and most certainly unloved!
No matter how clean you try to keep your home, it’s inevitable that your carpets will retain a degree of dirt from spillages and general detritus, and a stained carpet can really make a room look grubby. However, there are several techniques and products that when used in the correct way, can help to eliminate dirt and grime and get your carpets back to brand new condition, quickly:
In many households, dishwashers are used virtually every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. While they’re a remarkable invention that have undoubtedly made our lives easier, it’s important not to take them for granted. Dishwashers need to be able to clean the dishes properly, and so you must ensure that the machine itself is also kept clean and maintained well.
Dusting. Yuk. Nobody enjoys dusting, right? However, without taking some steps to eliminate dust, it will always be there, and could even start to affect your health if left to accumulate over time.
There’s nothing like the relaxing sensation of immersing yourself in a hot, steamy, bubbly tub, especially after a hard day at work, or if the kids have driven you crazy! However, bathtubs are notorious for attracting dirt and grime, mold, and filth, along with lasting stains created by hard water and rust.
Some days even just the thought of cleaning can make us want to take to our beds, but let’s face it, cleaning is a part of life and a necessity for most, so what can you do to motivate yourself when cleaning couldn’t be further from your agenda?
Stains can easily ruin an item of furniture or a carpet, and if you share your home with kids, pets or even clumsy folk, you’ll understand the horrors of stains that you simply can’t get rid of.
Cleaning shouldn’t be something that you dread, and it shouldn’t take up a lot of your time, either, as let’s face it, there’s more to life than cleaning up spillages, mopping floors and vacuuming carpets. Follow these 5 tips to help make cleaning your home as easy as ABC, and as speedy as 123!
Pets make a home complete, but the smell they leave behind is not quite as welcome! Fortunately, by following these 9 tips, you can keep your home clean, even with pets:
A fresh, sweetly scented home is something that many of us women crave, often to the annoyance of the men in the household! Plug in air fresheners, scented candles and reed diffusers are flying off the shelves in stores, but how healthy are those chemicals for us? Not very, is the answer, and we should probably look to finding more natural methods of ensuring that our homes smell inviting all year round.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects many millions of people the world over, and can manifest itself in different ways. However, the one common theme of an OCD is that causes a pattern of thoughts and behaviours in a person, and for some, these can be utterly debilitating:
While you may be a fan of store-bought de-greasing solutions, there is little doubt that homemade ones can be just as effective (if not more so) and are generally far better for the environment and your pocket. A good cleaning solution that is brilliant for de-greasing need not contain harsh, harmful chemicals, and here is a perfect example of one mixture that is effective and affordable:
No matter how clean you try to keep your home, there will always be those hard to reach or forgotten about places where dirt and grime like to hide. And in fact, some of the dirtiest spots are the items we use the most, and it’s perhaps because we use them so often that we don’t always think about just how dirty they might be. Items such as video game and television controllers, and any other frequently used handheld devices can play host to thousands of germs per 100 square centimetres, which in many cases, amounts to more than five times the amount found on toilet seats, yuk!
Cleaning your home with natural products isn’t merely a trend that has hit homemakers, but a lifestyle choice that is better for the environment and easier on your pocket, too.
Clean tools really are the key to a clean home, and if you don’t clean your tools regularly, you could be making your home dirtier, not cleaner! To help you clean your home more effectively and hygienically, here are some simple tips for keeping your tools clean:
If you’re going to put time and effort into cleaning your home, you want to know that you’re doing it effectively, right? And if there were things that you were doing wrong, or ineffectively, you’d want to be told?
It can be all too easy to overlook the lighting fixtures in our homes during cleaning, but if you haven’t taken a good look at the lights in your home lately, you can bet they’re in need of a good clean.
Fortunately, getting your grubby oven spotlessly clean doesn’t have to involve the use of harsh chemicals that are both bad for our health, and that of the environment, and are inexpensive, too.
The period after the holidays can be a depressing time for many, and not least because of all the decorations that have to be taken down, the tree that has to be gotten rid of or dismantled, and the cleaning of the entire home that needs to be done after visitors and excited kids have taken their toll!
Keeping your glass shower door clean and sparkling can be tough, but nothing can make a bathroom look grubby and neglected, more than dirty glass. Naturally, the glass door of the shower is exposed to moisture on a regular basis, and when not cleaned every day, grime and mineral deposits can quickly begin to build upon the surface.
We all have different methods, techniques and schedules for keeping our homes clean, but one of the most effective and efficient methods, is to keep a structured cleaning plan, whether your home has single or multiple occupancy.
When we think of cleaning, it’s not often that the word effortless comes to mind, but with a little forward thinking, there are some simple ways to keep your home clean with minimum effort, and keep it that way:
When we talk about stress, we’re typically referring to the mental, emotional or physical tension that we experience when we deal with the strains of everyday life. This tension can often cause us to worry uncontrollably, or to feel sad and anxious, and while there are many ideas about how best to eliminate these feelings, research has shown that the simple act of cleaning may help us more than we may think.
Dust can be a nuisance; unsightly and even bad for health, but so difficult to eliminate. Here are a few ways, however, that you might be able to prevent dust from ruling your home:
Arguments in the average household often center around cleaning: who hasn’t taken out the trash, which child hasn’t cleaned their room or whose turn is it to do the dishes, and it can cause a lot of stress! However, there are ways to stress less about cleaning, and to not have your entire household argue about it hour after hour, day after day.
Research has long shown us that the way in which we live our lives, and the conditions in which we live, can have a huge impact upon not only our physical health, but our mental wellbeing. Many of those interviewed in recent studies, stated that they felt happier and less stressed when their homes were clean and tidy, and that their ability to think more clearly and make rational decisions, was compromised when conditions in their homes deteriorated.
If you’re lucky enough to have a furry best friend or two sharing your home, then you’ll know all about the doggy aroma your canine companion can leave behind. Masking the smell is not the solution, although it may be the quickest in the short-term, so here are some tips for banishing the doggy aroma from your home for good:
Some types of mold, such as Stachybotrys chartarum, better known as black mold, is toxic and can pose a serious health threat when found in the home. Here are some of the dangers that mold can present and how you can avoid them:
The toilet. We can’t live without one, and we use it a lot, but keeping it clean is a task few of us relish. That said, it’s a task that we really must force ourselves to accomplish at least once a week, and more often depending on what has been going on inside it!
Teenagers can be wayward, we all know that, but with some patience and commitment, they can be made to help with cleaning around the home, even if it is rather begrudgingly!
Cats are wonderful creatures, and many of us love them and have them as pets, however, they can make your home smelly and cause issues with their pet dander. Just because you love your pet cats, doesn’t mean that you have to let them inadvertently spoil your home, so follow the below tips for keeping a clean home that is welcoming to both your pets, and visitors:
As silly as it may sound, many of us beat ourselves up over not being able to keep our homes as clean as our friends and neighbours, even when we have a perfectly valid reason for not doing so. Human nature is often competitive, and when we see others doing things that we think we should be doing but are unable to do so – for whatever reason – we reprimand ourselves and look for reasons to excuse our behaviour.
Sometimes it’s the simplest and least thought about cleaning tricks that can be the most useful, and often we discover them completely at random. Many of us, when we’re looking to clean something that typically doesn’t cleaned so often, such as our rubber soled shoes, we turn to good old Google for the answers we need, and sometimes find a whole bunch of valuable tips that if successful, we quickly set about sharing with others.
Nowadays, many of us take on much more in our lives than ever before. With social and family pressures, it can often be hard to separate our working world, from our home life. This causes many individuals to try and juggle different aspects of their lives, while trying desperately hard to find some time to themselves, too.
The more cleaning and tidying tasks you can complete each day, the easier your house will be to clean in the long run, and the better you and the other inhabitants of your home will feel. These tasks don’t have to take long or even involve much effort, but you’ll be surprised what a difference they can make:
We often jokingly refer to professional cleaners as being ‘fairies’, as if in some way they secretly enter our homes while we’re sleeping and make all our cleaning catastrophes and dirt disasters look as if they never happened. This is not the reality, of course, but since they so often help us with tasks we are not keen to carry out ourselves, and do such a great job of it, we are inclined to view them as mythical creatures!
Are you planning a bathroom renovation or remodel and want the space to be as easy to clean as possible? Well, with the following tips, you could achieve exactly that:
For many, cleaning services are viewed as anything but essential; something only the very wealthy, famous or lazy would spend their money on. But the reality is really quite different.
Water is a primary feature of bathrooms, and to that end, they can quickly become damp environments, and perfect breeding grounds for mildew and black mold. If surfaces aren’t cleaned regularly, mildew forms and if left, soon becomes mold.
Did you know that indoor pollutants can be far higher than those found outside, sometimes up to 100 times higher! Much of the pollutants come from home decorating and cleaning products, so finding a way to make your home clean and green, really is the best way to achieve a healthy life, healthy home and happy environment.
You may think you do a good job of keeping your home hygienically clean, but could there be any areas that don’t get the attention they deserve? Or any spots you simply forget to clean during your usual routine?
There may be no way to avoid cleaning your home (unless you employ a cleaner, of course), but there is certainly more than one way to avoid having to spend hours and sometimes days, spring cleaning every year.
When we teach our kids to clean up after themselves, we’re helping to instill some important values in them, such as how to contribute to the family unit, how to keep a clean home ready for when they move out (eventually!) and understanding the importance of having responsibilities.
The kitchen is the last place you want germs to be present, but unfortunately, it’s the one room in the home in which they’re most likely to be found. Even if you keep your kitchen clean and tidy, micro-organisms may still be present, especially as they’re invisible to the naked eye.
While it might seem impossible to get to the stage where your fridge isn’t full, leaving it with as few items in as possible makes deep cleaning it far easier. With so many opportunities to make us sick – from poorly stored food products to bacteria growing in nooks and crannies – a hygienically clean refrigerator is essential, and by following these 5 simple steps, you could help keep your entire household healthy:
Stay-at-home moms are well respected these days, and most accept that theirs is a worthwhile job that can greatly benefit the entire family. They take care of the children (or child) and engage them in fun and interesting activities, prepare healthy meals for them, and generally try to raise them in a loving environment. It may be that the partner goes out to work full time, or the mom may be raising her kids alone.
As most of us already know, bathrooms can play host to a veritable bevy of bacteria and germs, but you might be surprised to learn just how many might be breeding in your bathroom as you read this!
There can be no disputing the fact that bleach is a fantastic disinfectant and cleaning agent, but it is a harsh product and highly toxic, and when there are alternatives to using it for cleaning your bathroom, health experts advise that it’s use be kept to a minimum.
Food poisoning is a very real risk if spillages, mold and bacteria aren’t quickly cleaned away when found in your refrigerator. It can be tempting to minimize cleaning of the fridge, especially when it’s chock full of food and getting to all the nooks and crannies, means taking everything out and having to put it all back in again. Minimal fridge cleaning is perfectly fine, provided it’s clean enough and food is stored hygienically inside, but if you see spillages or food items that have fallen from the shelves or are smeared over the sides, then they should be cleaned up as soon as possible.