General Cleaning Tips
Tips from the experts at Maidcor LLC.
Help, the guests are coming!
Here are some tips to get through your home quickly for those unexpected guests.
First of all- let’s start out with the right tools:
- A big basket, like a laundry basket. This can be used to move items to their proper place in your home. If you are in a really big rush you can place the clutter into the basket and put it into a closet until you are able to place the clutter into its proper place.
- A bucketless mop – such as a swifter with the cleaning solution attached. You can quickly shine up the floors without having to fill up and lug around a big bucket of water.
- A carry caddy for cleaning supplies. Supply this with an all purpose cleaner, a window cleaner, cleaning clothes, toilet cleaner, disinfecting cleaner, rubber gloves and a black ostrich-feather duster or a swifter duster. You may also want to add a furniture polish.
- A lint roller. The kind that is made with the peel off sticky sheets. These are great for quickly rolling pet hair off the upholstery and also at getting cobwebs off textured ceilings and wood beams.
- A cordless mini-vac or a vacuum with easy to use attachments for picking up small messes.
Guests are coming and you don’t have time to clean. You just want the place to look presentable!! Don’t worry you have enough time to make your home clean enough for a visit from even the fussiest guests.
- Get it together. Get your cleaning caddy or basket of cleaning products. Barely dampen a soft cloth and throw it over one shoulder, and throw a dry cloth offer the other shoulder. Have a large garbage bag with you so you can quickly empty trash cans or pick up trash as you go through the house.
- Hide it. Toss everything that’s not where it belongs (toys, plates, old newspapers) into the laundry basket to put away later. Put the basket into a closet or a place out of the way.
- In the kitchen, put away dirty dishes in the dishwasher and wipe down the counters with all-purpose cleaner (unless they’re marble, granite, or tile). Wipe away any fingerprints from appliances and around light switches and cabinet pulls. A sparkling sink makes any kitchen look cleaner, so clean yours. Quickly tidy up the floor by either vacuuming or mopping with your bucketless mop.
- Do a quick wipe down of the bathroom. Spray down the sink and toilet; then wipe them down. Close the shower curtain so you don’t have to bother cleaning the tub or shower stall. Empty garbage’s and quickly wipe up the floor.
- Blast through the living room (and family room). Using the feather duster or swifter duster to dust the TV, knickknacks, lampshades and picture frames. Wipe wood furniture with a barely damp cloth and dry. Use window cleaner on glass tables etc. Use lint roller, rubber glove, or upholstery attachment on your vacuum to clean the furniture. Vacuum the carpet or floor.
- Run through the rest of the house. Close the doors to the bedrooms, toy rooms, etc. Finally, dim the lights!!
- If you think your home still smells like last night’s fish dinner. Throw open a couple of windows and put a pot of water with a couple of cinnamon sticks on the stove and simmer. No cinnamon sticks?? Use a bit of ground cinnamon or even other spices such as nutmeg or cloves. Your home will smell like you just baked a fresh pie.
Prevention
- Place large or good sized mats inside and outside each door to absorb moisture, trap dirt, and minimize the tracking of dirt. Then clean the mats regularly.
- Institute the “no shoe” rule in your home. Be sure that you still wear slippers or socks, because of the oils on the bottom of your feet may still make your carpet dirty. Have some extra slippers by the door for guests.
- In the bathrooms or other areas of the home that are moist environments, use a paint with a mold inhibitor added when you refinish your walls. This will reduce the growth of mildew, leaving cleaner walls and minimize allergy symptoms at the same time.
- Change the filters in your furnace and air conditioners once a month during the heating and cooling seasons for better air cleaning. Consider using better quality filters to trap more allergens.
- In areas such as kitchens, children’s rooms or high traffic areas such as family or rec. rooms, refinish the walls with semi gloss paint rather than a flat paint. This will make it easier to clean up fingerprints, stains, grease, crayon marks etc.
- Choose carpet with built in stain resistance for high traffic areas
- Ban food from bedrooms.
- Use liquid or glycerin soap in the shower to reduce soap scum buildup.
General Cleaning: Your home is unique and the cleaning tips here may not fit your home and your needs. We suggest that you research the materials that have been installed in our home and follow the manufactures or the builder’s recommendations for cleaning. Also, new materials are developed all the time and we may not be aware of special cleaning requirements – always research the recommendations and make your cleaning company aware of any special needs.
If there are special requirements in your home, be sure to let your cleaning company know ahead of time to prevent possible damage. Most cleaners or cleaning companies will cater to the special needs in your home and clean the way you would like to see it cleaned.
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