Having a clean floor makes your house ‘feel’ cleaner? Not only does it make a great first impression but it sets the stage for having a clean home. Keeping your carpets vacuumed or your hardwoods shiny is critical to your home appearing clean. Even if you haven’t had time to do the dishes or dust or put away all the kids toys, having a clean floor goes a long way to making your home feel comfortable and clean. And keeping the floors clean is important because your home is an investment. You’ll also want to ensure the floors are kept free from stains (carpet) and buildup (hard floors).
Ever walk into someone’s home and the aroma kicks you right in the nose? It’s from all the dust! Even without seeing a buildup of dust, the air in a dusty home will feel ‘thick’ and usually doesn’t smell very nice. Cooking odors, pet odors and the like will attach themselves to the accumulation of dust in the home so if you’re home isn’t smelling the way you’d like, get out your microfiber cloth and remove the dust. Furniture polish will make your wood surfaces look clean and shiny, but the residue left behind can also cause dust to stick to those surfaces. Dust and dirt settle, so when dusting, always start high and work down. Eliminating dust build up on ceiling fans, window sills, bookcases, etc is the first place to start to get your home smelling the way you want it to.
Got carpet stains? If you do, run to your laundry room and get some laundry pre-wash spray like Shout. Lightly spray each stain, allow the pre wash to sit for two minutes then use a damp microfiber cloth to remove. Try to avoid using a scrub brush as the bristles can damage the carpet. They may remove the stains but once it’s all said and done, you’ll be left with a different texture where you once had a stain. The only exception is very low pile carpet, like berber. Just be sure to scrub firmly enough to remove the stain but gently enough not to fray your carpet.
Hard water stains on your shower walls and door? Depending on your geographic location, certain areas have a much higher mineral content in their water system than others. Those minerals, like calcium leave behind little white spots after the water dries. The best way to combat those stains is with a squeegee. The rubber blade on the squeegee displaces the water and the remaining surface dries clear. See our previous blog on how to remove hard water buildup in the shower, if you have them. Squeegee those walls and door after each shower and you’ll eliminate that problem.
Tile floors taking too long to dry after you mop? Add a few drop of a dish drying agent like Jet Dry to your mop water and those floors will dry much faster. The Jet Dry will also make your tile shiner than water alone. Using room temperature water will also help the floors dry faster. Hot water is only necessary for killing germs.
Burnt on food all over the stove top? A steel wool pad (no soap pad) will clean it off easily but most stove tops are made of glass so the steel wool can scratch a glass surface. Instead, trying spraying the burnt stains with your favorite degreaser, allowing time to penetrate then use a magic eraser to safely remove the burnt food stains.
Permanent marker stains can be removed with hand sanitizer. The alcohol in the sanitizer dissolves the ink and removes the stains with ease. If you’re low on window cleaner, you can use hand sanitizer to clean glass and mirrors as well as your hands.
Stay tuned for more cleaning tips and tricks……………