It’s spring, and that means it’s time to give your house a Spring Clean! Follow these simple tips to have your home looking brand new.
Spring Cleaning Tips to Make Your Home Brand New
Clean Your Doormats
Make your doormats look more *appealing*. Depending on the type and style of doormats you have, give them a really good shake or sweep with a broom. Give them the biggest and hardest clean they can take, after all, they are your first line of defence against tracked in dirt. Keep them clean, to keep them working efficiently.
Clean Carpets and Upholstery
Furniture fabrics that have already absorbed a winter’s worth of body oils, dirt and germs will need a good deep clean to get them ready for another year of wear and tear. If you are cleaning or shampooing carpets and upholstery with a hired carpet cleaner, take a few minutes to practice in an area that won’t be noticed to make sure you know how to use the machine and to know that the treatment won’t discolour fabrics. If in doubt call in a professional cleaning service to complete these tasks for you. You don’t have to move furniture out of the room, just move it slightly and use small squares of wax paper under the legs of furniture after shampooing. The wax paper will protect your carpet and prevent your furniture from absorbing moisture as the carpet dries out. Open the windows to help with the drying process.
Waxing Floors
If you have hardwood floors protect them for another year by waxing or applying a sealer, but be sure to follow all directions. The fastest method is to use a combination wax and wash floor cleaner.
Walls, skirting boards, cabinets and wood
Your walls might not look like they need a bath, but dust and soot will always fall to the floor. Most dust will fall to the floor, but some will cling to walls, skirting boards, cupboards, cabinets etc. so give all these surfaces a light bath. Use a sponge and dishwashing detergent to wash all surfaces – in sections – a sponge mop will help you reach those higher surfaces. Use two buckets – one for clean water and one for the detergent and water mix, dry your walls, skirting boards etc. with a clean cloth.
Vacuum Smartly
There is no need to move all the furniture out so you can clean every inch of carpet, instead just move large items a little to one side, vacuum that area and move the furniture back into place.
Clean Ceiling fixtures
Remove dust and dirt from ceiling fans and air-conditioning vents with a cloth and then vacuum carefully with a soft nozzle attachment.
Light Fixtures
All it takes is a few minutes using an all-purpose cleaner, a sponge, a polish cloth and a step ladder to bring new life to your light fittings – and home. If your home has skylights or tall ceilings, call in professional house cleaners to get those hard to reach places for you.
Refrigerator
If you can it’s a good idea to clean your fridge’s condenser coil, which is usually found behind the toe grille, use a long-handled bottle brush and a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment to remove dust and lint. Built up dust can cause your fridge to overheat and shut down. To remove dust from the hard to reach coil at the back of the fridge pull the fridge out and vacuum thoroughly, finish by vacuuming or sweeping the floor area you have just revealed. You will be surprised by what you find!
Do One Room At A Time
Even one area of a room at a time, this is to prevent any unfinished jobs. That satisfaction of seeing your room sparkle will make all that hard work worth it.
Reduce Trips Around The House
When tidying up, put a bin or box in the room for rubbish, this avoids countless trips to the bin and you can easily toss everything in at ONE time, when you are finished.
Do Two Things At Once
While you have a load of washing on, why not scrub the shower recess.
Use Rubber Gloves
Rubber gloves will help protect your hands and nails from dirt and damage.
Small Repairs
If anything needs fixing or mending – hem of a curtain for example, if you can’t fix it yourself, call in someone who can.
Dust First
Always dust before vacuuming or cleaning your floors. Try using feather or lamb’s wool dusters, especially dusters with extendable handles for reaching above doorways and windows. You can buy household rags with are great for any jobs when you need a damp cloth.
Squeeze Mops
Buy mops with a squeeze mechanism – they are great for use on ceramic floor tiles, lino or vinyl floors.
