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…
The Lighter Side Of Spring Cleaning
When your business is cleaning, like ours, it helps to have a sense of humor. That’s why we love to find funny stories about cleaning on the Internet. Here’s one, slightly edited, from Tell Me a Story.
The cleaner of a house cleaning service shows up to clean a new client’s house. The cleaner lets themselves in with a key, and proceeds to open all the doors and windows, to let the fresh air in (it’s Spring, by the way).
There’s a beautiful garden just outside, and the spring breeze lets in the scent of jasmine and many other fragrant flowers. By the time the cleaner is finished, the house smells heavenly. Just then the client comes home, laden with shopping bags.
“Why are all the doors and windows open?”
“I wanted to give the house a good airing out,” says the cleaner.
“What’s that smell?” says the client.
The cleaner is stunned. Does the client not recognize the smell of her own garden?
“That’s the scent of all your lovely jasmine flowers,” she says. “Glorious, isn’t it?”
The client makes a face. “I don’t like that smell. Close the windows and use this instead.”
She reaches into a shopping bag and pulls out a house can of air freshener.
The scent of the air freshener?
Jasmine!
Cleaning is a basic human activity– and it probably dates back to a time millennia ago when our ancestors were living in caves and one of them looked around and said, “Gee, this place is a mess! Let’s pick up the saber-toothed tiger bones from the floor and make this cave presentable!”. The desire for clean surroundings has always been with us.
Our history shows us that there are sculptures from ancient societies like China and Egypt that show people using brooms, and it’s not surprising, because nobody likes a messy floor. By the 1800s the concept of Spring cleaning was invented, and what an undertaking that was!
Housewives (unfortunately, women ended up doing most of the cleaning in those days) would spend weeks cleaning every inch of their houses, airing them out by opening the windows and doors, dusting, polishing, washing heavy drapes, quilts, and bedspreads by hand, and a hundred other tasks.
The worst part is, there was no such thing as a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner or any other kind of labor-saving device back then — all that work was done with sheer muscle power. Women back then were tough!
Cleaning is serious business these days, because of the coronavirus. Like all viruses, COVID-19 or coronavirus, is spread through contact with infected areas, but unlike most other ones, COVID-19 can stay viable for hours or even days on certain surfaces, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States. That means it’s extremely important to disinfect surfaces that could have come in contact with the germs.
The CDC has strong recommendations about the surfaces we should all be cleaning on a regular basis. Among them are:
- High touch surfaces. High touch surfaces include counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables. These should be cleaned with a detergent or soap and water, then disinfected with an alcohol or bleach solution.
- Soft surfaces. This includes carpeted floors, rugs and drapes. They should be cleaned with appropriate cleaners, and even laundered if possible (e.g., bathroom rugs).
- Laundry items. If possible, wear gloves when handling dirty laundry. Use appropriate detergents in the laundry, and do not shake it (to avoid airborne infection). Clean and disinfect clothes hampers, and if possible, use a disposable liner bag in the clothes hamper.
- Don’t forget some of the highest touch areas. Have you considered cleaning your light switches? Most people forget items like this, but experts say that light switches can have as many germs as trash cans. Car keys are another high touch item — they can be passed back and forth from multiple people in a large familyn a daily basis.
The COVID-19 outbreak is a serious matter, and it won’t be the last time humanity is faced with the prospect of a viral pandemic. Increased global travel, international trade, and other factors are making it easier for germs to spread in our society. Good cleaning techniques are important weapons for battling the spread of these viruses. It is necessary to be prepared, and clean surfaces and clean objects is a big part of protection against different kind of viruses.
We don’t want to leave you with all gloom and doom, however, so let’s go through five funny facts about cleaning.
- Iceland is the cleanest country in the world. According to researchers at Columbia and Yale universities, the tiny country of Iceland is the world’s cleanest. We’re not sure, but maybe they do all their cleaning during the long winter nights! Not much else to do when the sun doesn’t come up for months, right?
- Sinks have more germs than toilet seats. Yep, that’s right, your kitchen sink has way more germs than your toilet seat. It’s mostly because you probably don’t think to disinfect the sink as much as you do the toilet seat. Think about all the stuff you rinse down the sink and you’ll probably run right out and buy some disinfectant!
- Dust particles are mostly dead skin. Yikes! It sounds gross, but it’s true. Indoor dust particles are at least 80 percent dead skin. Talk about shedding your skin!
- One square meter of carpet holds one kilogram of dirt. If you need to add some topsoil to your yard, just shake out your carpet! Just kidding.
- A typical office worker’s hands are exposed to 10 million bacteria every day. You didn’t know the office was so crowded, did you?
There are lots more funny facts funny facts about cleaning, but we’ll leave you with those. We happen to find the subject fascinating, but that’s probably why we’re in the cleaning business. Cleaning is our passion!
Contact us today to see how we can clean your home.
