OS Cleaning Tips and Quick Questions...

lilian1977

One tip that I love is MSE and time saving at the same time. If you use face wipes in the evening to take your makeup off, save it until the morning to dry out a little. Then when you get out of the shower, use a corner of it to dry out your ears. Then when you go through to the bathroom to brush your teeth, take it with you and use half to wipe down the sink and taps afterwards. Use the other half to wipe around the shower/bath. This only works if you use a full wipe in the evening, I know some people use half so if you do that, alternate the sink and shower wipe.

Keeps your face, your ears, the sink, the taps and the shower clean daily!

larmy16

lolly1981 wrote: »

great idea for a thread and i should definatly think about taking stuff upstairs when i go.

its not an idea to keep it constantly tidy but it helps with limescale and gunk round your taps lol
use toilet cleaner (the limescale stuff) round your taps and plughole, leave for about 10 minutes stuff will be much easier to shift. just remember to rinse thoroughly afterwards

This is a great idea with some toilet cleaners, but for some reason Harpic removed the chrome from my taps and not only that, I ruined my kitchen worktop leaving the bottle on it. It has left a mark that won't go away.

So it was not very MSE for me. I think Limelight gel is the best and most cost effective limescale remover.

valk_scot

I sort the clean damp laundry out into piles...each bedroom has a radiator rack and I dry the socks and undies of each person on their own radiator. They can pit it away when dry themselves. They also have a clean laundry basket each where I place ctheir other clean, dry, folded laundry. I expect these baskets to be dealt with on the same day the laundry appears. Putting their own clothes away means less wails of "I can't find it, mum!!"

Changing beds: I strip beds on laundry days but new duvet cover, sheet and pilllow case will be left on the bed for the owner to deal with themselves.

I clean the loo and sink when I'm in the shower...I spray on the cleaning whatever, have my shower and wipe down/brush/flush when I get out.

I wash the bathroom and kitchen floors before I'm about to go out for the shopping so they can dry before I get home.

I spray the cooker with cleaner when I'm loading the dishwasher last thing at night, then wipe it down, wipe down the work surfaces, rinse both cloths while wiping down the sink too and pop them in the diswasher. Can't stand a mucky kitchen firsat thing in the am.

I have a routine...very rough, but it helps. Monday & Thursday are laundry days, also Proper Cleaning day for either kitchen or bathroom, one for each day. Wednesday is Big Shop and Cooking in Advance day, Tuesday afternoon is mending and sorting clutter, Monday & Friday are Hoovering & Dusting days. Works for me and saves procrastination about what I'm supposed to be doing that day. I do a fast pick up, tidy and swab every day of course, including the rubbish bins. 30 minutes total and I try to do it before I go out. Loathe coming back and having to face a sweaty sticky guddle. Also I have Room of the Week which gets special attention if I have free time or there's a specific job needing done, like changing curtains or cleaning cornices.

mookybargirl

A great thread with some great tips. I also feel that cleaning is never ending. I'm quite pleased to read a few things that I do already, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought it was, lol.

strawberrypud

If you start off with a clean kitchen in the morning fill the sink/basin with hot soapy water then as cups/bowls etc get used they can be very quickly cleaned by the user rather than having them left on the side and a big pile building up!

Do this again when you start to cook dinner and clean cooking utensils as they get used too.

sb44

ailuro2 wrote: »

We got rid of the coffee table as (excuse the language) it was a $h!t3 magnet.... any horizontal space with nothing on it will automatically become cluttered.

:rotfl:

I'll second that, I think I will use your tip about the nest of tables or at least use the smallest table I can buy.

exlibris

Winky,_The_House_Elf wrote: »

I never leave the room empty handed! i.e pick up the plate/glass/cup/rubbish as you go the loo and drop off en-route.

Hide the evidence...put away stuff as you go. I like to cook and thought that a messy kitchen was just one of those chores that you had to put up with. Now if I've made something, as soon as it's in the oven/microwave/slow cooker I clear away rubbish & wipe the tops down getting rid of any "Evidence" so when I take out the finished goodies I feel like a domestic goddess...plus now I see it as part of cooking rather than a seperate task. It probably takes about a minute to do it this way rather than letting it accumulate.
QUOTE]

If you fill the sink with soapy water when you first finish with a utensil, any other washing up can be added as it is used. If you have to wait for the oven to finish cooking, this washing up can be done and drained. It doesn't take as much drying at another waiting period.

Most of my cooking washing up is done as it occurs so there is no big clean at the end when I am tired!

sofababe

You've all inspired me to get off my !!!!! and do some cleaning :rotfl:

I am a cleaner 5 days a week and am seriously thinking of getting in someone to do my own. I considered dropping one of my jobs to come home and do mine but I know I won't, I'll do something more interesting like reading or watch a film!!
I just need someone to do the big things like hoover all through including the stairs and washing all the floors, not many carpets in my house.

Right I'm off to clean my kitchen before my DD arrives in an hour

larmy16

Sofababe my son and I each pay £10 per week for our cleaner for 2 hours.

Like you I am a cleaner and I just hated doing my own house and was too tired anyway.

I told him that I thought we would both be a lot happier and therefore squander less money on things to cheer us up, if you see what I mean.

I could easily blow £10 a week on my charity shop addiction, sweets or impulse shopping so I would far rather spend it on getting the house vacumed, bath and sink and toilet done + kitchen floor.

We are also decluttering to make it easier for her.

missbargain

Here are my tips:

* Before you start cleaning, take a small plastic basket or a tub, and put all the cleaning materials in it: dusting spray, cloths, Windex, perhaps paper roll, an old toothbrush, etc. and carry it around with you. That way everything is handy and saves time running up and down the stairs to fetch the cleaning stuff.

* Along the same lines, always have an empty plastic bag handy, as nothing worse than, while cleaning, coming across the piece of paper or some other rubbish that you have nowhere to put and have to carry in your hands or go back to the garbage bing to dispose of. Just put everything in the plastic bag as you go (perhaps two plastic bags, one for recyclable materials,eg. newspapers etc.)

* I have discovered THE BEST way to remove the heavy limescale deposits from bathtubs or sinks. In shops like Leyland and similar (builders' merchants) they sell these small wire brushes with wooden handles. They look like toothbrushes, but have wire head instead of nylon. Then I get the HG professional limescale remover, apply a bit of it on the heavy limescale deposit (perhaps with an old tootbrush or the piece of cottonwool). I leave it for some time to work its magic (depending how thick the limescale is) and than reach for my wire brush and gently rub the limescale until it is completely gone.

I have managed to very easily and damage free remove limescale deposits that nothing else would shift, and I tried everything. Just be gentle with the wire brush, mine worked without any damage whatsoever on porcelain and ceramic. Be cautious on any other materials, though.

* The stuff called The Bar Keepers friend is fantastic for sinks, but also for cleaning stainless steel smear free. Only a small amount of powder is needed on the wet cloth. It needs to be rinsed with another cloth and polished dry, but this is the best I managed to find for these areas. It's cheap and is sold in Robert Dyas and larger supermarkets.

* I always protect my hands with rubber gloves, but I find that they steam up and leave my hands with an ugly smell.
So I got a couple of pairs of cheap cotton gloves (TK Maxx sells them cheaply) and wear these gloves underneath the rubber ones. I make sure I slather my hands with some good hand moisturizer, or almond or coconut/olive oil before putting the gloves on, so I have a kind of the mini hand treatment while cleaning.

* Put yourself in the positive state of mind before you start and decide that you are going to enjoy the tidying and cleaning. I convince myself that it is not a bad excercise and even try to do some excercise moves while tyding up. The last two tips are kind of "value added" steps.

* While I don't cook much as my husband is the cook of the house, when I do, I always have the sheet of old newspaper on my worktop to put all the peels, unrecyclable packaging, can tops etc in while cooking. This way when the food preparation is finished I just fold the newspaper and put it in garbage. This saves having to pick up all the peels and rubbish from the worktop with the sponge.

*Some useful "implements":
an old pair of blunt tweezers for pulling out hair out of plugholes (YUK!!); an old toothbrush - many cleaning uses; BBQ skewer - I wrap the cleaning cloth around the pointy part and use it for getting out the accumulated dirt out of small crevices such door mouldings and similar; Ikea's dish brush - fabulous for many uses, especially cleaning any siliconed areas in the house (along tile edges in the bathroom, kitchen, etc. Obviously, a separate brush for each of these rooms!).

I am not a professional cleaner but simply have some kind of mental block about employing someone else to clean my house, as I am the type of person who would clean the house before the cleaner arrives. So, as I can't avoid the cleaning, I try to make it as enjoyable as possible!

I will add more tips as I remember them. Happy cleaning!