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Welcome to one of my first articles on the subject of keeping house!
Many people know what works for them in the home, but could you be saving money if you didn’t buy all the brands or even the shops own brand? The answer is yes, of course you can! This could mean it’s at least 50% cheaper and a whole lot healthier for your family.
The well known secrets that the trade and many establishments use on a regular basis are of the age old traditions of vinegar, lemon and soda of bicarbonate (used separately or together).
I have worked for many cleaning companies before I set up my own business and the experience I gained from different workplaces has enabled me to find the best of the bunch that are the quickest and cheapest available.
When I survey a house and look around, I have to take into consideration the different rooms and materials I use to know what suits the home. If you have marble, natural stone, slate or any other specialist materials on any of your surfaces, it’s important to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and not necessarily what I state in this article.
The MOD used vinegar and water on all their surfaces apart from the kitchen. We used the mix of normal brown vinegar and water for polished wood, mirrors, pictures, dusting, cleaning tables and bars. For the kitchen we had to use specialist catering standard chemicals to stop bacteria and abide by industrial regulations.
When I worked for a domestic cleaning company, they had customers that did not require any chemicals due to allergies in the family or their beliefs on chemicals in the home. In these homes we would either use damp cloths or a specialist Australian product called Enjo. Enjo is total green cleaning and environmentally friendly microfibre cleaning – no chemicals at all, using revolutionary Enjo fibre technology. Both these options worked just as well as using products.
So why do we continue to listen to the advertising telling us to use this or that when you don’t need any chemicals at all?
I think its because we are used to using products and haven’t tried cleaning without them.
If you want to go back to the natural way of cleaning, I would suggest you find the book that accompanied the TV series ‘How clean is your House?’ called ‘The Cleaning Bible: Kim and Aggie’s Complete Guide to Modern Household Management’ as there is so much information and tips on every cleaning and mending duty that I can’t possibly fit here.
As for the main products i use to cut through the worst mucky house, here’s my ‘choice’ products. I either buy these at Booker (for trade in bulk) or from places like Savers, Wilkinsons and Robert Dyas as they always have pretty good deals.
For Kitchen and bathroom use, you can get separate Mr Musle products and they work so fast and last well. You can use them on toasters to toilets. Any polish works well if you like the smell. We use Mr Muscle glass and window cleaner. We love microfibre cloths to dust, polish and clean windows, glass and mirrors that we dry off with a tea towel or microfibre cloth. The trick to everything looking like a show home is using the window spray on everything or shower shine that you buff with a dry towel.
For floors, we buy general multi-purpose cleaner that can be a basic non-brand at 35p!
Now oven cleaning is the worst job for some. If you have left it a long time, that’s fine, we all do it. The best product in the world for ease and results is ‘Oven Pride’ and at £3.51 at Sainsburys at present, its great value! You can use this product on BBQ’s too. You put the gloves on, get the racks out, put them in a bag and pop half the gel in. Leave it over night, wash off and voila! Like new! Inside the oven you pour the rest of the gel in and with a cloth/sponge spread it on all the surfaces from glass to all metals apart from Aluminum. Leave 2 hours and everything comes off.
For carpets we use professional spot cleaners you can’t buy unless you’re lucky on eBay! Carpets are something you have to be careful with because the colour can run and sometimes even shrink! But if you know what made the mark, you’re lucky! It means you can find the right product to take it out.
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Source by Louisa Goldstone Smith