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The lifestyle of most of the people is the cause of their over looking the not so pleasant task of cleaning the carpets. But, if they were aware of the harm caused by dirty carpets and rugs they wouldn’t be so negligent about this important aspect of housekeeping. It’s important to have clean looking rugs and carpets not from the point of view of aesthetics alone, but for your health too. It is too well known that dirt, dust particles and mites get deposited in the fibers of carpets and germinate there. But where do they come from? These are carried into your home very conveniently by your shoes and on getting into the fibers of your carpet they begin to get multiplied. They are too tiny to be seen by a naked eye. Yet, they are big enough to affect your general health, and breathing in particular to cause you allergies. That should leave no doubt why the carpets need to be kept clean.
Now that we know how important it is to have clean carpets and rugs let’s find ways of keeping them clean. Periodically you should clean them using a vacuum or broom to tidy up the whole thing. But that removes dust from the top layer of the carpet and pushes down a part of it. So, it has to be supplemented by steam cleaning. Once in a while it should be cleaned by a professional carpet cleaner who has access to industrial grades of antibacterial cleaning agents to thoroughly clean the rugs and carpets. Such cleaning agents used by a professional also sanitize your rug. Moreover, the equipment used by a professional cleaner is more powerful than you get in stores and use yourself. These cleaners employ steam for cleaning and that helps to kill germs and bacteria. Another reason for not using a machine for cleaning your own rug is the diversity of cleaning machines and cleaning agents available in the market to day. For a layman, not educated on the subject, it’s quite a task to make an accurate assessment of the machine needed for cleaning of rugs and carpets at home to get those professional results. There are foam cleaners reported to clean your rug all thru its fibers, but in essence all that is expected of you is to spray the foam on your rug, let it remain there for a while and then clean it using a clean damp sponge. You can imagine the kind of cleaning such products and procedure can do! Such cleaners merely clean the surface and the rug starts looking clean, but what about the germs and microorganisms that’s already gone down to the padding and fibers of the carpeting. It’s nice to have clean new looking rugs at home with the added feeling that they will not have detrimental effect on your health. Have them steam cleaned professionally a couple of times every year. Talk to your cleaner and persuade him to have some kind of an annual maintenance contract for the benefit of all concerned. If you really are devoted to gardening, you should be aware that cleaning of your garden during the fall has more to do with the aesthetics of gardening and sometimes for the reasons of sanitation of the garden. It’s not that plants wanted it that way. So, don’t worry if you had no time to cut off peony leaves, remove the tops off the mums after they got frozen or cut back the delphiniums. In the end, if they grow wild the tops would continue to stay and the plants would still live to grow. Unless they get diseased why not put them in the compost pit and let the germs work overtime and produce organic substances for being used in the garden in future. Else, destroy the diseased tops by all means. Some people sort of make a clean slate of their beds by taking out roots and ripping the plants away, not realizing that such a cleaning does more harm than good After you have cleaned your garden by a leaf blower and dumped all the leaves and trash that had been collected all this while into the compost pit, spray some insecticide or neem oil on the cleaned area. It helps in two ways. It does away with most of the sow bugs (pill bugs) and leaves your compost pit free from their attack. The other benefit is keeps away earthworms that wipe out a lot of organic materials. If you fall short of leaves, visit the nearest sawmill to get sawdust or wood shavings to mix them with your garden trash. That way it works out much cheaper than going to buy peat moss. One last tip for the lazy gardener who is in the habit of leaving wheelbarrow or garden cart in the rain! If you would simply drill a couple of quarter inch holes at its bottom, the drain water would drain out, leaving the contents of you vehicle washed and clean and the earth gets a bit richer thru the minerals that were washed down the vehicle. The method followed for cleaning of your gutters determines the right kind of gutter equipment to be used for the purpose of cleaning. Another contributory factor is the volume of built-up that you might have in your gutters. Nevertheless, the basic equipment for all gutters includes a foot ladder (10 to 32 foot), gloves and a bucket. Here are the four cleaning methods people resort to for cleaning of gutters: The first method makes use of a leaf blower to blow out the build up from the gutter. Unless your roof is too steep, this is conveniently done on top of the roof. This is ideal for dry gutters and is very fast too. But, the negative point of this method is you’ll take a long time in clearing the mess that gets created below. And, keep in mind that a gas blower delivers better results than an electric one and is slightly faster also.
The other option for cleaning the gutter is by using a wet vacuum. The most convenient part is that all the mess from the gutter is collected within the container and that makes cleaning easier. The difficult part is that vacuum is heavy and if there’s a lot of build up in the gutter, you have to empty the container a number of times. Many householders don’t consider this method to be heavy at all. It all depends how frequently you have been cleaning the gutter and what are the contents of the gutter. For example, pine needles are much heavier than leaves. So if there are lots of leaves in the gutter, this will be a very convenient way to clean the same.
But I prefer to use the third method here that involves using a combination of a gutter-cleaning rake with a bucket and ladder. I find it safer to work from a ladder than from the roof. Plus, you get an extension of extra five feet on either side of the ladder on using a rake. You can work two times faster with this arrangement. Here’s one more tip for making a gutter tool: cut a milk carton to get a scoop with handle and use it for removing debris from the gutter. You may use any of the three methods whichever suits most. You must be aware of a number of cleaning agents available in the market for cleaning of your hardwood floor, but are you aware that one such cleaning agent may already be there in your kitchen and that is economical while being effective. And, it’s vinegar and water! Apart from convenience of availability, using vinegar and water has other advantages like: - It evaporates quickly without leaving any spots. Before applying this mixture of water and vinegar clean the floor thoroughly by sweeping, preferably vacuum it. Add a cup of vinegar to two gallons of water and mop the entire floor with this mixture. Let it dry. If you are keen to have a shining floor, you have to use one of the commercial products formulated for polishing floors. But, mind you, they tend to build up layers that you’ll have to remove ultimately. Another way of achieving similar results is to bluff your floor with olive oil, which again is readily available at home. No doubt it is cumbersome. Pour a drop or two of the oil on a rag and rub it on the wood by hand. Just that much of oil generally suffices for about ten square feet of floor area. Olive oil, being stronger, moisturizes hardwood and leaves a shine on that. That way it’s better than a mixture of vinegar and water. However, make sure to rub the oil so that wood absorbs it, else it may leave a slick coating on wood. Like vinegar, it is equally safe, as it has no chemicals that could harm anybody in the family nor it is injurious to your hands. Once you have a clean floor, measures should be taken to keep it that way. Make use of area rugs and don’t forget to keep large mats near the main entrance to the house to prevent entry of dust and dirt. Using adhesive felt pads at the bottom of furniture helps preventing the scratching of floors as you shift any piece of furniture. Sterling silver is an alloy with a minimum of 92.5% content of silver. Sterling jewelry is necessarily stamped with number.925 at its back or at some other inconspicuous point. Care should be taken at the time of buying to check that the piece bears that stamp as a sign of authentication. That having said, let’s see how to keep the metal free from getting tarnished. Prevention, they say, is better than cure and that hold true for this metal also. You should understand what causes tarnishing of jewelry. Silver, on coming in contact with air reacts with sulfur present in air and gets deposited in the form of sulfi - While storing jewelry in a plastic zip bag, squeeze out as much of air as possible before zipping the bag. - Keeping the item wrapped up in silver cloth also helps. The fabric is sold by the yard by certain stores. You’ll need to use this fabric for storing large items like candle stands and bowls. - Jewelry designer Charles Albert suggests that you should be wearing silver jewelry more frequently, as body oils that get deposited on it, help prevent its tarnishing. Despite your best efforts and the precautions taken, the jewelry may get blackened. That means you have to find ways to remove the sulfites deposited on the metal. Once the sulfites are removed, the metal regains its original shine. There are quite a few ways for removing the deposits and depending upon the size of the piece or the intricacy of its design you may have to try one of the following methods. - You get cleaning and polishing products in grocery stores or a jewelry store. However, repeated rubbing and cleaning may affect the engraving or shape of the item. -Museums that are expected to conserve the originality of old pieces make use of certain chemical solutions that clears the tarnish even from the nooks and crannies of the design. Use of such chemicals doesn’t require any rubbing, thus maintaining the original shape and intricate design. These chemicals are also available in the market. -Here is a simple and convenient way of cleaning your personal items at home. Place your piece of jewelry in an aluminum pan and sprinkle baking soda over it. In the absence of aluminum pan, you may use a glass pan and keep a piece of aluminum below your item. Heat water to its boiling point and steadily pour it over the item already covered with baking soda. Be careful while handling boiling water. Water reacts with baking soda and produces a fizz, which you should be able to see. Formation of fizz confirms that chemical reaction is taking place. Keep turning the jewelry with a fork or spoon and remove the item after water has gone cold. Pat it dry with a soft cloth. Depending on the severity of the deposit, you may have to repeat the process a couple of times till you get satisfactory results. Keeping window blinds clean not only helps to have a better-looking room, but also prolongs their life. Yet, it’s an activity that most householders keep postponing for no specific reason. Some may not be aware of a few of the fast and easy ways of getting rid of all the dust and dirt that continues to gather there, till one day they can’t escape this cleaning anymore. You can prevent accumulation of dust by periodically cleaning the blinds with the aid of your vacuum that generally comes with a soft brush attachment. In the absence of the above said attachment, you can clean them manually. Wear an old pair of socks or cotton gloves on your hand and wipe the slats. You will find an old paintbrush very handy or removing the dust on the blind slats.
Follow some of the suggestions here to clean the blinds easily and quickly: Vinyl or Metal Blinds –Here’s the easiest way to do it. Fill your bathtub with water and add mild soap to it. Transfer your blinds to the bathtub and wipe them off with a soft cloth. Observe the precaution of keeping a towel at the bottom of the bathtub lest the metallic blinds should spoil its surface. Another quick way is to use a water hose for spraying them with water, rinse clean and leave them out in the open for drying. Wood Blinds – Periodic maintenance of hardwood blinds will make them look beautiful for years. You can vacuum them with a soft brush attachment, or wipe them clean with a soft cloth or lamb’s wool mitt. You may clean the blinds while they are still hanging or take them down for the purpose. An easy way to clean the surface of each blind is by tilting the slats down, leaving them slightly open and then clean the each slat. Use furniture polish for unpainted wooden blinds, shades and shutters. These blinds should never be cleaned with water, solvents or abrasives.
Fabric Blinds –Make use of your vacuum and its soft brush attachment for getting rid of the dirt, dust and cobwebs from such blinds. For further cleaning, refer the manufacturer’s instructions. First, clean the window blinds with a solution of water and mild dishwashing detergent. Then, rinse them thoroughly and hang for drying up. You may remove excess of water by rolling them in a towel before hanging them out to dry. Window blinds on one hand add to the décor of your room, allow you to control the amount of light entering your place, and yet maintain your privacy. Periodic cleaning of window blinds prevents building up of dirt and helps them to retain their beautiful looks for many years. Follow some of the suggestions above to maintain their looks for a long time. Homeowners generally consider cleaning the outside of the windows during springtime or the approaching fall season. But now, modern design of windows allows their convenient and easy cleaning. Some of the windows are so designed that their exteriors can be cleaned from within the house. Manufacturers employ fold down method for such windows and it was introduced in early 90”s. Windex or some other similar kind of a cleaning agent is used by most of the people for this purpose. But all cleaning agents necessarily have to have either ammonia solution or vinegar that performs the cleaning action.
For cleaning traditional type of a window that slides down from the top, you should start from its top followed by its top back. Having finished that, you push the window back in its right position and then work on its lower half. You should start cleaning the outer side of the bottom half of the window and then come to finish its internal side. These windows often have window screens and don’t forget to remove those before you start working. You may come across vertical roll out windows like Anderson. Here again, you need to remove the screens before getting started with window cleaning. Making use of the handle, roll the window to open it the most. An easier way of cleaning such windows is to start from its outer side by sticking your hand thru the gap between the window and its wall. Then, roll the window to its closed position and wash the inner side of the glass. You may have big windows that can’t be opened. You will be required to clean them from the outside by spraying a cleaning solution and wiping it off with a sponge.
A ladder will necessarily be required for cleaning of big windows located at higher levels. Cleaning the windows of high-rise buildings or apartments poses problems and call for the services of professionals. Such jobs are usually executed by window cleaning companies, which have skilled manpower for doing the needful. While hiring professional services for cleaning of windows, you should always insist on getting references and recommendations of others. Cleaning of kitchen needs extra effort and extra attention too, for the simple reason that you store your edibles there and cook and eat food in the same place. Another factor that calls for this extra effort is the traffic it bears, day after day. I give below my plan of action for maintaining a clean kitchen. However, before getting started, I may share some of the housecleaning tips with you. Put together all the cleaning materials that you might need for cleaning of the kitchen. It’ll be smart idea to invest in a basket or container of appropriate size that can hold all cleaning materials in one place. Keep this basket in a protected place, out of the reach of kids. Finding a place within the kitchen or close to it is very helpful. For handling all those chemicals in the cleaning agents, use of rubber gloves is necessary to provide protection to your hands. These chemicals could harm your skin. You should also be looking for natural cleaning agents for cleaning of kitchen.
A thorough cleaning of the kitchen is quite tiresome. I spend two days for this job. This is how I go about it: I take up more difficult part on the first day. This includes cleaning of the oven, stove and the refrigerator. The second day I would devote to cleaning of walls, ceiling and the kitchen cabinets. Simultaneously, I also separate the items that I need from the ones that can be discarded. And, at the end I take up the floor. Refrigerator Cleaning: The cleaning effort here is not demanded by its size alone, it’s also the means of storing food safely. Oven Cleaning: Cleaning of ovens is no more a tough job, thanks to the improvements carried to cleaning agents and their containers. Scrubbing is not required so frequently. Now, we come to the ceiling. You just can’t help to avoid having cobwebs in the ceiling and the top corners of your walls. The most effective tool for the purpose is your broom. Get rid of the cobwebs on the walls and the ceiling with the help of a broom. But, how do you get rid of the cobwebs that get attached to the broom? Simply surround the end of the broom with a sufficiently long piece of cloth, which may be thrown away at the end or could be washed. You may be relieved to know that better substitutes are available for the broom. They named these as: cobweb eliminator and the telescoping duster. One of these days, go online to check these out. They help cleaning of the areas at higher levels. Let’s come to the cleaning of walls. You’ll need to use an all-purpose cleaner dissolved in a bucket of water and a rag or a sponge. Wet the sponge with the solution in the bucket and wipe the whole wall. Start from the bottom and move upwards. Finally, rinse the wall with another sponge dipped in water. Proceed the same way to clean all the walls of the kitchen.
Cleaning Kitchen Cabinets: Empty all you kitchen cabinets and execute dusting of the whole area with a duster. After a satisfactory cleaning of the cabinets, neatly arrange all the stuff back in the cabinets. Cleaning the surface of kitchen cabinets is made easy by using a kitchen cabinet crème, a cleaner and polisher that clears all the grime deposited on the surface of the cabinets. Cleaning the floor: At the end you have to clean the kitchen floor. Generally, sweeping followed by mopping gives the desired results. Cleaning a Kitchen: Maintenance Having spent so much of you time and effort for cleaning the kitchen, you should consider its maintenance. Sit down on the kitchen table with a pen and paper and make a schedule for cleaning the kitchen. Certain things need to be cleaned daily. For instance you will be required to remove trash and wash dishes on a daily basis. Similarly, you may plan to broom the floor on alternate days while mopping may be scheduled for once or twice a week, depending on the circumstances and periodic cleaning of kitchen equipments and accessories like refrigerator and oven. The tendency of most of the homeowners to use garage for storing of all the unwanted or infrequently used household items, prompted designers and manufacturers to develop special organizing systems for the garage. Having a garage organizer facilitates convenient storage of tools and other items. You get racks to hold mops and brooms, whereas specifically designed closets can have shovels and garden tools. Then you have bike holders that may be installed on the wall or fixed to the ceiling, keeping floor free for other uses. However, before you start organizing your garage, its cleaning is a must.
First remove the car from the garage and then the rest of the items hanging around there. Mere sweeping of the garage is not sufficient. Use a pressure washer on the floor and walls and see them coming back to their natural color. Painting of the concrete gives a neater look to the floor and may act as a sealant too. Now, take an inventory of all the items and discard all the unwanted items as this leads to a better-organized garage. Now install all the organizing systems. Once every item has been assigned a place, it becomes so convenient to locate things. That helps to keep unnecessary irritation and stress at bay. You will soon begin to appreciate how it helps you save time in locating a tool for a petty job, which otherwise might be left undone for the inconvenience of locating a particular tool. A clean and well-organized garage makes a man feel good. Men feel as if this part of the home is their personal domain. An organized garage with neatly kept and labeled tools prompts them to further their hobbies and execute small DIY projects in a pleasing manner. Let there be no doubts that the man of the house likes to take refuge in a neat and organized garage where he often loses track of time. But, somebody has to strive and put in little effort to bring a garage to that level! The best places of choice for mildew to grow are the bathtub and the shower. Yet, you can adopt measure to keep these areas clean. 1. Clean your bathtub and shower at regular intervals. An easy way of keeping the bathtub and shower clean is to spray the tiled walls of the bathroom with mildew remove and leave it there for nearly fifteen minutes. In the meanwhile you may go ahead with the cleaning of the toilet. By the time you come back to the bathtub and shower, the mildew remover has already done its job. Yet, there could be some soap scum, dirt and residual mildew that needs to be wiped or scrubbed off.
It will be helpful to have these tools and material at hand before starting the process of scrubbing. * In a bucket make a solution of water by adding tub and tile cleaner to it. Now, we are ready to get started.
You start by spraying water on the tiled shower walls and the bathtub by using a rinse ace sprayer. You start scrubbing only after water has been sprayed well all over the area. With the help of the tile and tub scrubber softly scrub away the dirt and scum that might have remained unaffected by the mildew remover. Once you are satisfied that the shower walls and the bathtub have been scrubbed, take a rag, dip the same in the bucket and wipe the exterior of the bathtub. Now, rinse with a clean rag soaked in clean water and wipe the exterior of the bathtub once again. You are almost there, just spray down the shower walls and the tub to ensure that the residue caused by cleaning and scrubbing is removed. Once you are finished with that, remove the bathtub stopper for cleaning it in the sink. Using a dry rag, wipe off the remaining moisture from the shower and bathtub to let it dry completely. Finally, put a Sani-Clean Stick into the tub drain to keep it clear. |
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