All across Perth, Spring Cleaning sneaks up on us. It's a daunting task for anyone, but with multiple children in the house, it becomes especially challenging. So, how can you…
How To Clean Your House Effectively
To the average person cleaning your home may seem like a task with no set guide or right answer, however there are some guidelines one can follow to avoid wasting their time.
5 Simple Rules of House Cleaning
There are five rules to cleaning your house effectively. Abiding by them means you will not have to backtrack and repeatedly clean the same areas, as well as freeing up time by cleaning faster.
- Start from the back of the room to the door. Take the furthest wall from the door and start there. Move along that back wall and gradually make your way to the door.
- Start from top to bottom. First dust and tidy all the surfaces and remove any marks on the walls, then move on to removing unnecessary items such as laundry or dishes. Finally, clean the floors.
- Never clean your bathroom first because you will carry the bacteria to other rooms in the house.
- Clean as you go. Cleaning never ends; you should consistently wipe down counters, sweep your floors, and sterilize the surfaces of your bathroom between proper cleans.
- Always clean your colour-coded cloths and mops in separate buckets. Never wash a cloth for the toilet with cloths you clean your kitchen with.
A Colour Code to Save Your Life
There are four colour codes used in the cleaning industry that can be applied to the average household. These colours apply to cloths, the buckets you clean the cloths or mops in, and the buckets you use to mop the floors. Different colours indicate what those items are used to clean and which chemicals were used with them. Chemicals should also have a coloured square indicating their best use.
Red: The toilet and other sanitary appliances in the bathroom, as well as for the bathroom floor.
Yellow: Sinks and their surrounding surfaces. Usually, you’ll have one for your bathroom sink and one for the kitchen sink.
Blue: General surface areas besides the ones in the kitchen. Cloths with this colour code are used to clean furniture, walls, light switches, or windows.
Green: The surfaces in food preparation areas.
Commonly Used Cleaning Instruments: Why You Shouldn’t Use Them and What You Should Use Instead
Some tools that are commonly used to clean the house are ineffective or should be replaced with more efficient tools.
Feather dusters
They have been around for a long time and are popularized on television but they just send dirt flying in all directions. You should allocate a damp blue cloth for this instead. The cloth will pick up the dust and hold it until you rinse the cloth out.
Wet wipes
These seem like a great way to clean surfaces in the bathroom like the toilet or your appliances, but wet wipes are expensive and they are not made for cleaning your house. Instead make use of the coded cloths and the appropriate chemicals, using the correct cleaning method as indicated on the containers. Wet wipes are fine for emergency cleans like public restroom toilet seats, but regular use in the home simply isn’t feasible.
Spaghetti mops
Spaghetti mops come with a fatal flaw: you usually wring them out by hand which transfers bacteria. It’s a good idea to invest in mops that have separate purposes, one for bathrooms and one for the rest of the house to avoid cross-contamination. Mops that have mechanisms to wring the water out are also a great idea.
Common Cleaning Chemicals: How You Are Using Them Incorrectly and How You Should Use Them
Bleach
You might often mix bleach with other cleaning materials, but this can be dangerous.
Mixing bleach and ammonia creates a gas which can kill you or give you chemical burns. Bleach should also not be used in high concentration or come into contact with bare skin. Always dilute bleach with water to a ratio of 1:10 and bleach should never be combined with any other cleaning product.
Furniture Polish
The gloss created by applying furniture polish can be very slippery and lead to injury if you use it on your floors. Floors must always be cleaned with the appropriate cleaner for the type of flooring; however, furniture polish can be used in very small quantities to buff out scratches on wooden flooring.
Drain Cleaner
Drain cleaner is a corrosive chemical which is often used in too high a concentration or combined with other chemicals that create acidic substances. Dilute drain cleaner with a 1:10 ratio, never let it come in contact with skin, and never mix it with other substances. Also ensure that all corrosive and otherwise dangerous materials are stored correctly.
Three Rules to Storing Cleaning Chemicals
- Never store chemicals where children can access them, such as under your kitchen sink. Chemicals should be kept in a locked cabinet or in an elevated storage area.
- Keep chemicals in their original packaging. It was designed to hold that chemical and you risk chemical leaks and damage by pouring it into unsuitable containers.
- Don’t mix similar chemicals to optimize space. Just because they are both tile cleaners does not mean they won’t have some kind of chemical reaction. Chemicals can combine to form corrosive, flammable, explosive, or toxic substances.
How the Dirtiest Room in Your House Should be Cleaned and Kept Clean
The bathroom is the smallest and dirtiest room in your house, and this makes it dangerous when you are cleaning. Besides the exposure to bacteria and possibly mould, your chemicals could become your worst enemy. Chemicals like bleach or ammonia put you at risk of being enclosed in a small space with toxic fumes; always make sure you have windows or the door open when you clean.
Mould can cause respiratory complications and is difficult to remove; prevention is smarter than treatment. Keep an eye open for excessively damp spots on the ceiling or tight spots like the shower rail and contact professionals at the first sign of mould.
The bathroom is the most important room to clean as you go. Every day, you should wipe down all the surfaces with chemicals to remove germs before they get to build up. Remember the red cloths? This is where they need to be used. Have one for your toilet, one for the shower or bath, and one for the floors unless you have a mop dedicated to your bathroom.
Finally, always flush your toilet with the lid down to prevent the water spraying a mist of bacteria all over the room.
Contact Us
Perth Home Cleaners employ efficent, professional cleaners that can get your home cleaned for you. Please feel free to contact us to book in a clean.
