Cleaning

Citygirl1

I am just wondering what everyone here uses to clean their homes with. I am about to embark on an early spring clean (thanks to fleas getting into my flat) but would like everyone's ideas on cleaning anyway.

Do you use cleaning wipes for everything or sprays?

Do you use a mop and bucket?

Do you use furniture polish spray?

I ditched the mop and bucket a while ago and now just use wipes. I have a Flash spray for the surfaces but tend to use wipes inbetween, I also use wipes on the windows and the furniture, my sofa is leather though so I am a bit unsure as to what to use on that. I tend to go through a lot of wipes but they seem more hygienic than having cloths everywhere.

For the loo I now use those Duck fresh discs, oh and I have the disposable dusters with the handle (I think its Pledge).

Valli

Wipes are IMO very wasteful. I use yellow dusters (for dusting/polishing) and old towels, torn into cloth sized pieces, for wiping. I keep a dedicated one by the loo just for the loo. I also have a bathroom sponge for wiping the basin and bath out - there's a scourer side so it clears everything. Wipe over daily; clean once a week. I use a mop and bucket for bathroom floor and kitchen floor. Favourite cleaning product is cif cream (but I use own brand) it cuts through grease brilliantly, use it in the loo and handbasin and in the kitchen. Kids clean their trainers with it. Cleans paintwork (eg windowsills) too.

Dusters and cloths go in the WM with the towels. (Once yellow dusters have been washed a couple of time they stop leaching dye) I also have a duster on a stick which is microfibre and the cover's washable - brilliant for doing high places, behind mirrors and pictures etc Bit like these

savemoney

I use microfibre cloths and very little all purpose polish like Pledge. I sometime dust with a attachment on Dyson meant for the job it has a fine brush head

I tend to use wipes for floors just small jobs and also for leather suite proper leather wipes.

Aarons_mummy

I use wipes for my floors, they dry quicker and any missed crumbs on the floor I find can be swept up straight away, the sofa I give a quick wipe with wipes, tables and tv and things are done with a cloth and glass cleaner (all glass atm). Kitchen units I use a spray with a cloth. Bathroom I use cheap baby wipes and a spray, I have fabric freshener atm but when it runs out I'm going to try the essential oil/fabric conditioner and water a go.

Apart from that I have bleach, disinfectant and cream cleaner along with the bottled spray but that's about it I think!

rachbc

kitchen - I use a toweling cloth (about the size of a flannel) for general wiping and the few bits o hand washing up I do, This and the tea towel get changed daily. I have a micro fibre cloth that I use to clean the hob and polish the chrome tap, kettle, toaster etc. I use method kitchen spray. For the kitchen floor I use a mf flat mop and method floor spray.

Bathroom I use a mf cloth an method bathroom spray, black harpic in the loo and a separate cloth to clean the outside of the loo. Method floor cleaner and mf mop on the floor.

Wooden floors I use method wood floor cleaner and mf mop.

All the cloths, tea towels and mop head get washed on 60 each week.

notjustlaura

Interesting thread as I sacked my cleaner a few weeks ago and so am doing the work myself just now.

I've never used wipes as it seems expensive when cloths can be washed and reused.

I use supermarket own brand or basics range cleaners - sprays for kitchen and bathroom, all purpose cleaner for washing floors with mop and bucket, glass cleaner, furniture polish and toilet cleaner.

budgetboo

Gosh I feel wasteful now looking at my cleaning supplies.

Cheapest baby wipes I can find (never pay more than 50p a pack) for those panicky moments when you have unexpected guests and realise there's bolognese on the dining chair from lunch A pack of cheap wipes is so handy for those little emergencies that plague this non-domestic goddess

Lots of cloths for the daily clean - old clothes etc get recyclced as I think you can never have too many cloths, though I do like my microfibre for glass/mirrors.

Value Bleach - with cat/dog and child bleach isn't eco friendly but it does clean properly if anyone is sick etc.

Value dental tabs - we have v. hard water I've never found a cheaper way of keeping the loo descaled and shiny than popping one of these down over night.

Vinegar - used instead of fabric conditioner.


Stardrops - enuf said
As a "general purpose" cleaner for everything from walls to floors mixed with a little vinegar and essential oil.

Essential oils - orange and/or lemon for general cleaning. Lavender for laundry.

Value Soap and washing soda - mixed with water & a few drops of lavender it makes a VERY cheap laundry detergent."Gloop" I think most call it.

Ariel/Lidl gel detergent - for spot scrubbing those awful stains that little boys love to get on white school shirts.

Value biological laundry detergent liquid - only thing I've ever found that does get rid of pet accident smells.

For the spring clean

Sugar soap - it makes SUCH a difference to paintwork etc that it's worth it to give any painted walls a quick wash down. Same for ceiling light fittings as looking up I'm not sure how mine got so gross.

Decent scrubbing brush - it's amazing how handy one of these and a few old toothbrushes can be once you start moving around the furniture. Especially if you pull out the fridge etc.


Floors - I have hard floors so sweep them with a broom every day and mop the old fashioned way once or twice a week as needed. (Usually depends on the weather as if DS and his friends troop in on a rainy day from the park it can need mopping 3x a day!)

LittleMissAspie

I use Astonish sprays because they aren't tested on animals, don't contain animal ingredients and are not damaging to the environment. They are also dead cheap, you can find them in pound shops and the like Unfortunately they don't make a polish so I use the orange general cleaner on furniture.

The only place I use wipes is for the toilet, I'm not happy with the wastefulness of wipes but I hate the idea of reusing something that has wiped the stuff you get under the toilet seat.

I don't have room to store a bucket and in past houses found a mop makes the floor too wet anyway, so I have one of those flat broom things and I push a wipe around the floor with it, but am phasing floor wipes out and will make up a spray using Astonish floor cleaner instead.

dumpy

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

The only place I use wipes is for the toilet, I'm not happy with the wastefulness of wipes but I hate the idea of reusing something that has wiped the stuff you get under the toilet seat.

.

After my neighbour managed to block the sewers to 5 houses by putting wipes down his loo I'm not so keen on them.

I think the raw sewage all over his garden may have changed his mind about using them.

HelenYorkshire

I have a multi-tiered system in the loosest sense of the word.

Washing-up sponges that are past their best become the kitchen worktop sponge. The kitchen worktop sponge is relegated to the bathroom if it's still got some life in it. Spray cleaner is a refilled bottle of water/white vinegar/stardrops (or drop of liquid soap).

Cloths for damp dusting are microfibre; some of these are also good for glass.

The hoover does everywhere, then the kitchen and bathroom are mopped (though I could do with a decent mop head) with water+soap/stardrops/washing up liquid/ dregs of a nice smelling shower gel.

Incidentally, used tumble drier sheets work magic on steel/chrome taps.

camNolliesMUMMY

In my cupboard i only have these cleaning products

stardrops
zaflora antibacterial disinfectant
furniture polish
bleach
washing up liquid
vinegar
micro fibre dusters
cloths

thats it!!!

my surface spray i make up of a glug of stardrops and a dash of zaflora mixed with water for surfaces and bathroom etc a cheap antibacterial cleaner and saves me £'s.

washing up liquid mixed with a dash of zaflora for mopping the floors, id never get rid of my mop as wipes cost a fortune.

bleach for the loo and servicing the washing machine every now and again by putting it on the hottest wash gets all the carp and bacteria out of the pipes.

vinegar for deoderising things and also put in washing machine to get sweaty smells out of oh gym clothes and cleaning the machine in one go