10 Cleaning Tips for Your Home (or living area).
We are constantly asked about easier ways of cleaning various things, time efficiency when it comes to cleaning, how to make cleaning easier, when's the best time to clean, and so forth. So Cleaning With Style has thrown a little pizzazz at ya by showing you 10 highly effective tips when it comes to cleaning your home safely, quickly, efficiently and (somewhat) happy.
The 10 Tips I Use Regularly In My Own Home:
1. Here's a trick I learned as a child working in my Mom's kitchen: Whenever you are in the process of pulling out various pots, pans, silverware, etc., (while in the middle of preparing a meal), why not have a nice, sanitized, hot water-filled sink waiting for you as you finish one piece of cookware after another. Think about it, you're going to have to clean it anyway, and by the time most people finish cooking, sit down to eat, and then start the water to wash the dishes, a lot of the food on the pots, pans, and silverware has already became hardened. Why put yourself through all of that extra work when you don't have to? Simply place each item after you are finished in the sink and voila, 75% of your dish-washing misery is alleviated in one thoughtful act of turning on and filling the sink with warm, soapy water. Those dish-pan hands won't be so bad if you follow this tip!
2. This one I am constantly telling my kids: Rinse each and every plate, fork spoon, (you-name-it) after you are done with it. Not only do you save Mom unnecessary work, but this saves Mom from getting angry with you and making you do the dishes instead. (Trust me, it works!) Just as my tip #1, this will eliminate a lot of 'dishes time' if and only if you can get all the unwilling members of the family to participate.
3. Whenever cleaning an area in your home, as a general rule of thumb, you will find cleaning to be a lot easier if you start cleaning from the upper-most cracks and crevices first, and then slowly descend to the floor. Think about it, if you vacuum you carpet first, and then decide to dust the furniture afterwards, where do you think all of that dust travels to? Plus you'll be walking on the carpet after you have vacuumed it (to clean the other things in your room that need to be cleaned). My old boss taught me about this time consuming (and cleaner) approach to knocking out every room that needs to be cleaned.
The 10 Tips I Use Regularly In My Own Home:
1. Here's a trick I learned as a child working in my Mom's kitchen: Whenever you are in the process of pulling out various pots, pans, silverware, etc., (while in the middle of preparing a meal), why not have a nice, sanitized, hot water-filled sink waiting for you as you finish one piece of cookware after another. Think about it, you're going to have to clean it anyway, and by the time most people finish cooking, sit down to eat, and then start the water to wash the dishes, a lot of the food on the pots, pans, and silverware has already became hardened. Why put yourself through all of that extra work when you don't have to? Simply place each item after you are finished in the sink and voila, 75% of your dish-washing misery is alleviated in one thoughtful act of turning on and filling the sink with warm, soapy water. Those dish-pan hands won't be so bad if you follow this tip!
2. This one I am constantly telling my kids: Rinse each and every plate, fork spoon, (you-name-it) after you are done with it. Not only do you save Mom unnecessary work, but this saves Mom from getting angry with you and making you do the dishes instead. (Trust me, it works!) Just as my tip #1, this will eliminate a lot of 'dishes time' if and only if you can get all the unwilling members of the family to participate.
3. Whenever cleaning an area in your home, as a general rule of thumb, you will find cleaning to be a lot easier if you start cleaning from the upper-most cracks and crevices first, and then slowly descend to the floor. Think about it, if you vacuum you carpet first, and then decide to dust the furniture afterwards, where do you think all of that dust travels to? Plus you'll be walking on the carpet after you have vacuumed it (to clean the other things in your room that need to be cleaned). My old boss taught me about this time consuming (and cleaner) approach to knocking out every room that needs to be cleaned.
4. On the days where Dominoe's Pizza is the only option you are offering the rest of your hungered family, take 5 minutes out of your time and quickly spray your oven with one of the various cleansing agents available. Let the spray stay in your oven for a period of 24 hours, allowing sufficient time for the grimy, burnt food remains to soften. This makes it a lot easier when you go to clean it 24 hours after you have sprayed the insides of your grimy oven. Make sure your family knows that there is a cleansing agent in the oven in case one of them get the crazy idea to actually use it (for once!). I will usually leave a little sticky note right where the handle is stating if you want to use it, you have to clean it. Somehow the oven never seems to be used on those sticky-note days....
5. A dishwasher tip: If you have members of the family that use the dishwasher too, take a magnet and place a hand written sign on each side of the magnet. One side will say 'Clean' and the other side will say 'Dirty'. It drives me crazy when my daughter will place one of her dirty dishes in the midst of a fully-loaded (and already washed) dishwasher. It really gets me going when I drink out of that cup she placed in there thinking it is clean!
6. Place paper towels inside your fridge. (I know that sounds a little strange, but let me explain.) Line the paper towels neatly on all of the many shelves inside your fridge. You now have your own spill prevention team assembled and ready inside your fridge waiting for the slightest hint of a tipped over jar of mayonaise or a soda which is fizzing erratically. Once you discover the mess, it is as easy as taking the old paper towel out and putting a replacement back inside. Your fridge cleaning time will be cut almost 90% if you follow this handy piece of advice.
7. Hairspray - the cure all of polyester (or polyester blends)? It depends. The agent in hairspray that makes it such a valuable cleanser is alcohol. If you are looking for a hairspray to remove those tough mustard or ink stains* , look at the ingredients on the side of the can the next time you are at your local supermarket. You are looking for a brand of hairspray that has a high alcohol content.
The reason why this quasi-myth remains is because a few decades ago, hair spray used to come with a high concentration of alcohol as one of it's main ingredients. Nowadays, that just is not the case. (Well...maybe that is the case?) There are a few manufacturers of hair spray that have changed their original ingredients since the time of their initial product inception. These are the hairsprays that you want to look for whenever you are shopping for a 'hairspray cleaner' - the products that have been around since your mother was a teenager. These are the hairsprays that more than likely will have the higher concentrations of alcohol in them.
When aplying hairspray to clean an article of clothing, simply spray the hairspray on the stained article and let it sit there for a few hours (2, maybe 3 hours). Afterwards, place the piece of stained clothing in the washing machine by itself. Run a full cycle and immediately check to see if the hairspray did the trick. Remember, hairspray doesn't work on all stains. Simple stains like stains from baby food carrots are totally exempt from the tough stain fighting agent hairspray contains inside it's bottles. The harder (and sometimes weirder) stains like ink or blood will dissipate quickly under the blanket of a thick helping of hair spray. (The magic resides in the chemical reaction(s) behind the contact of the two substances.) So do not be discouraged if your polyester blend blouse remains stain-filled with the aid of hairspray. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The bottom line is that it will never hurt to try it out on stains that you are having a tough time removing. Good luck, and remember...polyester/polyester blended material only!
*These are 2 examples of many possible examples I could have given you in regards to possible stains hairspray can remove.
5. A dishwasher tip: If you have members of the family that use the dishwasher too, take a magnet and place a hand written sign on each side of the magnet. One side will say 'Clean' and the other side will say 'Dirty'. It drives me crazy when my daughter will place one of her dirty dishes in the midst of a fully-loaded (and already washed) dishwasher. It really gets me going when I drink out of that cup she placed in there thinking it is clean!
6. Place paper towels inside your fridge. (I know that sounds a little strange, but let me explain.) Line the paper towels neatly on all of the many shelves inside your fridge. You now have your own spill prevention team assembled and ready inside your fridge waiting for the slightest hint of a tipped over jar of mayonaise or a soda which is fizzing erratically. Once you discover the mess, it is as easy as taking the old paper towel out and putting a replacement back inside. Your fridge cleaning time will be cut almost 90% if you follow this handy piece of advice.
7. Hairspray - the cure all of polyester (or polyester blends)? It depends. The agent in hairspray that makes it such a valuable cleanser is alcohol. If you are looking for a hairspray to remove those tough mustard or ink stains* , look at the ingredients on the side of the can the next time you are at your local supermarket. You are looking for a brand of hairspray that has a high alcohol content.
The reason why this quasi-myth remains is because a few decades ago, hair spray used to come with a high concentration of alcohol as one of it's main ingredients. Nowadays, that just is not the case. (Well...maybe that is the case?) There are a few manufacturers of hair spray that have changed their original ingredients since the time of their initial product inception. These are the hairsprays that you want to look for whenever you are shopping for a 'hairspray cleaner' - the products that have been around since your mother was a teenager. These are the hairsprays that more than likely will have the higher concentrations of alcohol in them.
When aplying hairspray to clean an article of clothing, simply spray the hairspray on the stained article and let it sit there for a few hours (2, maybe 3 hours). Afterwards, place the piece of stained clothing in the washing machine by itself. Run a full cycle and immediately check to see if the hairspray did the trick. Remember, hairspray doesn't work on all stains. Simple stains like stains from baby food carrots are totally exempt from the tough stain fighting agent hairspray contains inside it's bottles. The harder (and sometimes weirder) stains like ink or blood will dissipate quickly under the blanket of a thick helping of hair spray. (The magic resides in the chemical reaction(s) behind the contact of the two substances.) So do not be discouraged if your polyester blend blouse remains stain-filled with the aid of hairspray. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The bottom line is that it will never hurt to try it out on stains that you are having a tough time removing. Good luck, and remember...polyester/polyester blended material only!
*These are 2 examples of many possible examples I could have given you in regards to possible stains hairspray can remove.