Every six months or so, you should make sure that you undergo an extensive home clean up. In addition to a really deep clean of your floors and walls, pay particular attention to areas where mildew or mold has built up. Also of concern — those nasty oil or grease spills.
Review your cleaning methods during a home clean up. You might find that your mop and variety of cleaning liquids are just not cutting it. Consider replacing your cleaning agents with technologically advanced products, such as an absorbent mat. These absorbent products eliminate cleanups, because they absorb spills.
Many people have to do an extensive home clean up after a bad rainstorm or heavy snowstorm because they have a leaky basement or water seeps in from gaps in windows or doors. Rather than mop up the water, use absorbent mats to prevent damage from occurring in the first place. In addition, a well-built absorbent door snake can prevent leaks from gaps at the bottom of doors or around windows.
Simple tasks, such as pet feeding,, or watering the plants, often lead to leaks and spills. If you are spending a lot of your time cleaning up in this way, you need to be more efficient. You should invest in absorbent mats, which although they are in industrial strength solutions, are readily available for home use and cut down on cleaning time.
During an extensive home cleanup, you will find yourself in the garage. This is a major area for leaks and spills so make sure that you place an absorbent mat underneath your problem areas. These will include your car, grill, lawnmower, paint cans, and a variety of other equipment and chemicals. If you allow nasty stains to accrue, you will devalue your home.
With a home clean up, its time to address water leaks in the basement. If there are water problems, instead of allowing the wetness to occur, use absorbent mats to soak up the water so it doesnt wet your floors or walls. You can buy the mats in rolls and cut them to fit any size area in your basement or buy an absorbent sock to fit into crevices and around washing machines and hot water tanks.
Preventative measures are key when it comes to planning during a home clean up. Identify areas where spills and leaks frequently occur and lay down absorbent mats. These products are inexpensive and will prevent damage to your flooring, are friendly to the environment and can be adjusted to fit anywhere.
Absorbent mats are easy to clean, as you will find during your regular home clean up. Absorbent socks which fit around pipes and sinks, can be refreshed by washing and airing. In dusty areas, simply hand wash or shake out the door snakes to refresh.
Congratulations! You’re a new mom. This is a very exciting time. It can also be pretty frustrating when it comes to house cleaning. There is so much to be done, and there seems so little time for you to be able to do it now! The great thing is that there are simple things you can do throughout the day to help you keep your home clean. Here are some great home cleaning tips for the new mom:
o One of the best things you can do as a new mom is take a nap when your baby takes a nap. Don’t make the common mistake that most new moms do and clean up while your baby is napping – unless you feel that you simply don’t need rest. Instead of doing this, clean up when your baby is awake and satisfied! You can place him or her in the swing, playpen, bouncer, etc., and get some home cleaning accomplished!
o When you’re a new mom, things can start to clutter your home quite easily. One way to avoid this is to designate a spot for everything. Invest in some baskets that you can use to keep clutter to a minimum. In the nursery, these come in handy to put the baby’s essentials in and keep things off of the counters, dressers, and table tops. A small pail or Diaper Genie works well in the nursery for instantaneous disposal of soiled diapers. As it fills, you can take it out with the rest of the garbage.
o You should try to avoid harsh chemicals in your home cleaning supplies at this time for obvious reasons, but there are some great alternative cleaners you can utilize. Vinegar is a wonderful all-purpose cleaner. Use half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle to wipe down counters, tables, changing tables, and any other surface that needs regular cleaning. It also removes odors quite well. Another great odor remover is citrus fruit. If you find that your surfaces hold odors, cut an orange or lemon in half and rub it all over the entire surface. Allow it to sit for a few minutes, and then wipe it off with a wet cloth to get rid of stickiness.
o As you are going throughout your day, take a few minutes to clean several times can be a lot easier than trying to take a few hours each day to clean. Since you have limited time, this works out well. For example, when you’re waiting for a bottle to heat, gather all dirty dishes from the rooms and place them in the dishwasher to start. As you’re cooking dinner, throw a load of clothes in the washer and fold any that need to be put away. When you get out of the shower, make sure that all dirty clothes are in the hamper, the clutter in the bathroom is minimal and the surfaces are clean. You can even give the toilet a quick scrub and wipe down and spray the shower with self-cleaning spray.
Being a new mom can bring you some unique time challenges, but using the tips and ideas above can help you overcome them. Perhaps the most important tip you can ever get is to remember that everyone needs help once in a while! Don’t underestimate the joy of letting Dad take the baby for a while, or a doting aunt, grandma, or friend! This way, you’ll get a bit of a break and be refreshed for when your bundle of joy gets back.
We all know we have to clean the house and most of us dread the chores we have to do when they have to be done. When it does come time to clean we want to be as efficient and speedy as possible so we can move on to enjoying living in our freshly cleaned homes. Here is a rundown of three home cleaning solutions you can use to help clean your house in as little time as possible.
Home Cleaning Solutions – Dusting
Dust builds up fast in the house and if you have allergies, you know just how painful dust can be if it is allowed to settle for too long. It would be wise to carry your dusting weapons around with you when you are cleaning each room. By weapons I mean feather duster, lambs wool duster, and cloths.
The cloths can be folded in quarters so you don’t spread the dust. Once you use one side, fold it over and use the other side. The lambs wool duster is for the harder to clean surfaces so you can really dig down deep.
And the feather duster can be used for the hard to reach places where the dust can just be wiped away. Always use downward strokes when dusting so as not to spread the dust around.
Home Cleaning Solutions – Carpet Care
It’s always best to buy stain resistant carpet. But we all know that no matter what, nothing is going to be 100% stain proof. When accidents do happen, the key to keeping your carpet stain free is to get to the spill as soon as you can. You do not want to give the stain time to settle into the fabric.
When you have a spill, it is best to blot the spill and not scrub! Use a clean and white material and blot it until there is no more stain.
Home Cleaning Solutions – Wood
Cleaning wood is a highly debatable subject where some say that waxing and finishing are required and others say it is not. According to Consumer Reports, most wood furniture is already sealed and waxing is quite unnecessary. If you were to ever spill on the wood furniture, it should already be protected from stains.
So to keep wood clean, use household products like Pledge or Endust or a host of other “green” products. Some wood finishes just need a normal cloth wipe down. The best way to keep wood furniture looking good is just to prevent any type of accidents from happening on or around it.
A while ago a guest speaker was invited to talk for a morning radio program. The speaker, a married woman, referred to herself as “just an ordinary housewife”. Why the “just”? The commentator was quick to point this out, too. Being a housewife is more than being ordinary. It’s an incredible job, one you should be proud of, especially if you’re doing a good job with it.
House cleaning requires its fair share of tools and supplies. You can’t just make do with what you have around the house; responsible housekeepers prepare their cleaning materials beforehand, at least a day before the scheduled general home cleaning.
Home Cleaning Supplies
Here are some examples of home cleaning supplies and their uses:
* Dusting supplies – Dusting is an essential part of house grooming, and should be done even in between general house cleaning schedules. Dust your home as often as you can. If possible, dust every day. Dust regularly, especially if a family member has dust allergies or asthma. Tools for effective dust cleaning include furniture polish, dusting sprays, vacuum cleaners, microfiber dust mops, and microfiber cloths.
* General surface cleaning – General surface cleaning includes doing the floors, cleaning the bathroom tiles, the furniture surfaces, or any other surface in your house that is prone to dust and mold buildup. Tiles are susceptible to grime, tabletops to stains and smudges and counters to discoloration. You’re going to have to make do with a lot of scrubbing to keep these areas looking new and fresh. General surface cleaning products include gloves, scrubbers, sponges, bathroom wipes, kitchen wipes, and all-purpose cleaners.
* Trash – The human body discharges waste, and so do houses. Go to the supermarket for a couple of trash cans and some garbage bags.
Squeaky Clean
Maintaining a house is just as tough as the next corporate job, and those who put a lot of time making sure their houses are squeaky clean shouldn’t be looked down on. If anything, they deserve recognition for their efforts, patience, and their guts for proving that a housewife isn’t “just” a housewife.
Natural home cleaning products are an excellent way to put your “stamp” on a more healthy environment. If you don’t know what natural home cleaning products are they are lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, soap, hydrogen peroxide, and Borax are the most common ones. I had a problem with bathroom mold so I use hydrogen peroxide with water in a spray bottle and after a couple hours I washed away with the shower head. See simple mixtures like that can be used for all sorts of things.
If you want to clean your wood floors you can try a thin coat of vegetable oil and vinegar which is what I use now. Many of us already have vegetable oil and vinegar in the house so that shouldn’t be a problem and they work well on the my wooden floor. These also work on stainless steel products gold, silver, copper, brass, copper, and bronze. If you are unsure these natural l home cleaning products will work give them a try and if you are not satisfied go back to what you were using before, I sound like an infomercial.
If you feel they don’t do as good as job as your commercial products then no harm done but I would suggest you give them a try. We all should attempt to do something to help the environment is some way. Natural home cleaning products were used a lot longer then commercial products and people in the past seemed to have clean floors, glass, and metals.