Old style spring cleaning - Please share your moneysaving secrets

trinidadone

Hello all, I am sure this has been covered already, and I can see a number of different threads relating to cleaning, but with spring only around the corner, I wanted to look at some moneysaving cleaning tips, but old style.

Have you got any ideas on cleaning that oven. getting the kitchen floor gleaming, or even the outside paving looking good?

I am interested to know more, please share your successes / tips

GreyQueen

:eek: Ovens need cleaning?!

Blimey, glad I was out when that memo was circulated.

There's a wunnerful product called Astonish Oven & Cookware cleaner, £1 a tub from Wilk0 last time I looked. Invaluable.

You can scrub outdoor slabs and concrete with a real OS scrubbing brush and hot soapy water and it comes up much better than it was but not nearly as good as it will if you hire a pressure washer.

Re floors, just wash them with w.u.l and apply a floor polish if you want shininess - a clean floor often looks dull, cleanliness and shininess are two different functions.

trinidadone

Thankyou, any suggestions for these:

grouting in the bathroom?

cleaning the bottom stem of the taps?

Dusing?

Cleaning the inside of the washing machine door?

purpleybat

i have a carpet that needs a shampoo, its not big enough to warrant hiring a cleaner to do it and I'm happy to use a scrubbing brush. i've looked at various cleaners online but they all seem really expensive for not very much product.
can anyone suggest something cheap and cheerful to use? carpet is about 6ftx6ft

tru

Here's a Mega Index with links to everything you can think of Posts 4, 5 and 6 have lots of links to cleaning stuff.

It used to be a sticky thread, I have no idea why it isn't anymore, it's really useful.

GreyQueen

trinidadone wrote: »

Thankyou, any suggestions for these:

grouting in the bathroom?

cleaning the bottom stem of the taps? Old toothbrush and cream cleanser.

Dusing? Scoop up the worst with the duster brush on your vac and wipe the rest with a damp microfibre cloth.

Cleaning the inside of the washing machine door?

Each and every time you use it, use a dry microfibre cloth to wick up the water which sits in the bottom of the rubber door seal, wipe quickly around the inside of the door glass and wipe out the powder drawer. Do this every time and you'll never have mould. If you've got mould inside the door seal there's no fix I know of. Have been 26 months with this washer following this habit (20 second chore) and no mould yet.

trinidadone

GreyQueen wrote: »

Each and every time you use it, use a dry microfibre cloth to wick up the water which sits in the bottom of the rubber door seal, wipe quickly around the inside of the door glass and wipe out the powder drawer. Do this every time and you'll never have mould. If you've got mould inside the door seal there's no fix I know of. Have been 26 months with this washer following this habit (20 second chore) and no mould yet.

I see you really know your stuff. where have you got all this knowledge from?

GreyQueen

trinidadone wrote: »

I see you really know your stuff. where have you got all this knowledge from?

Some I learned at mother's knee. Not microfibre, of course, it wasn't around when I was a child.

Other than that, I left home at 16 and have been fending for myself for nearly 40 years, housekeeping in everything from a bedsit to a double-decker bus, from a large tumble-down victorian house to my present tiny flat. I've also cleaned for a living when I needed the money and there wasn't much else to be had.

Some things you learn by observation, some you learn by reading about them and trying them out to see if they suit. Some just occur to a person in the witching hours of the night. There's plenty more tricks out there that I don't know, I'm sure.

Oh, you asked about the bases of the taps? Take the trusty old toothbrush to them with some cream cleanser (tisco basics is all I ever use) and scrub a little. If it's just grunge it'll come off, if it's grunge + limescale, the limescale will stay behind once the grunge has gone.

Limescale is an alkaline, so you get rid of it with an acid. Vinegar is perfect. Get a tissue, or fold a bit of kitchen roll/ tip and soak it in vinegar and lay it over the limescale. Check every 30 mins or so, it'll gradually shift the scale.

You don't want to leave it in contact with metal any longer than necessary as it can cause damage, particularly to plating which isn't very good quality. Don't use on gold-plated taps, should you have them.;)

Franalamadingdong

A few years back I bought a steam cleaner that can do hard floor, carpet, windows, and various other things with its different attachments. It was £45 on offer, but it means I don't buy floor cleaner etc. The steam kills off all yack. Not particularly old school, but certainly saves money and time. Also handy if you need to do carpet but don't have enough carpet to warrant hiring a cleaner. Another alternative is asking on your local Facebook village noticeboard if you can borrow one. Many people are happy to help.

Dusting is just dusting. Feather duster starting from the top down, then yellow duster for furniture, or microfiber cloth if you have one, then vacuum. Don't forget the curtains and blinds or doors!

trinidadone

GreyQueen wrote: »

Some I learned at mother's knee. Not microfibre, of course, it wasn't around when I was a child.

Other than that, I left home at 16 and have been fending for myself for nearly 40 years, housekeeping in everything from a bedsit to a double-decker bus, from a large tumble-down victorian house to my present tiny flat. I've also cleaned for a living when I needed the money and there wasn't much else to be had.

Some things you learn by observation, some you learn by reading about them and trying them out to see if they suit. Some just occur to a person in the witching hours of the night. There's plenty more tricks out there that I don't know, I'm sure.

Oh, you asked about the bases of the taps? Take the trusty old toothbrush to them with some cream cleanser (tisco basics is all I ever use) and scrub a little. If it's just grunge it'll come off, if it's grunge + limescale, the limescale will stay behind once the grunge has gone.

Limescale is an alkaline, so you get rid of it with an acid. Vinegar is perfect. Get a tissue, or fold a bit of kitchen roll/ tip and soak it in vinegar and lay it over the limescale. Check every 30 mins or so, it'll gradually shift the scale.

You don't want to leave it in contact with metal any longer than necessary as it can cause damage, particularly to plating which isn't very good quality. Don't use on gold-plated taps, should you have them.;)

thank you, thank you, thank you. I am loving the knowledge

trinidadone

I have a dirty keyboard for my PC, seem to have crumbs built up in between the keys, and some muck on the keys