Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Baileys_Babe

This link might give you come ideas Cheery.

https://dupray.co.uk/blogs/how-to-clean/the-top-ten-things-in-your-hous-to-steam-clean

strandedinaber

Hello Cheery, I thought I would check out your diary as a fellow MFW who is also trying to DIY her house and garden 😊 You have a lovely cheery diary - it was so nice to read! I also borrowed a steam cleaner from my local library of things a few weekends ago and found it addictive, although I didn't have time to do too much with it. Have fun playing with it this weekend - I've got the hedge trimmer this weekend 😅

Cheery_Daff

Baileys_Babe said:

This link might give you come ideas Cheery.

https://dupray.co.uk/blogs/how-to-clean/the-top-ten-things-in-your-hous-to-steam-clean

Thank you! It hadn't occurred to me to do the sofa 😂 

strandedinaber said:

Hello Cheery, I thought I would check out your diary as a fellow MFW who is also trying to DIY her house and garden 😊 You have a lovely cheery diary - it was so nice to read! I also borrowed a steam cleaner from my local library of things a few weekends ago and found it addictive, although I didn't have time to do too much with it. Have fun playing with it this weekend - I've got the hedge trimmer this weekend 😅

Hello 😊😊 Nice to meet you 😊 I will investigate your DIY efforts to find inspiration 😁 Oddly enough someone was leaving with a hedge trimmer when I arrived, and someone came in after me to collect a set of ladders, so it seems well used! 

Our library of things is situated in an actual library of books, and I remembered I'd never actually joined. This is our most local town, but we actually live just over the border in another county, so joined the library there instead. But now I've joined this one too! 😊

Didn't bother bagging the rest of the ivy for the tip, it's been hailstoning heavily this morning and while there are brief glimpses of sunshine they're not lasting more than 5 mins... Quick nip to the supermarket I think, then home to do some batch cooking and play with the steam cleaner! Exciting stuff.

Cheery_Daff

Right. I have made four portions of a Joe Wicks breakfast crumble recipe for the freezer (well, I've eaten one for dinner 😂). Three portions of brocoli and mushroom bake, and 12 of flapjack. Good to have some ready made meals for the working week 😊

Had a brief initial go on the steam cleaner. I suspect my expectations were rather too high, and at first it seemed to be behaving like a rather ineffective mop 🙄 But once I got down on my hands and knees, and went behind it with a cloth, I think it might actually be able to remove the ancient splattered plaster and other builder debris from the floor. 

Not quite as effortless as I was hoping, I'll still have to be on hands and knees and wiping, but it will at least save the endless scrubbing that was what made me ignore the job for so long.

Hailing again now so I'm going to get an audio book on and spend the afternoon doing that. Fun and games! 🙄 And then when Mr Cheery leaves at 5pm I'll do the sofa, should have time to dry by then. 

Going to experiment with a couple of stained jackets too, that are on the way to the bin if we can't revive them. Has anyone steam cleaned clothes? It seems like this is a thing, but does it actually get stains out? (Don't ask me what the stains are, I have no idea! 🙈)

badmemory

I am assuming that you don't have actual instructions for the steam cleaner.  Have you tried online as many now seem better than the ones you receive.  I only use mine on the cooker, mostly grill & top & the need is currently dire.  I remember thinking about doing my curtains but thought again.  I have four full length.  Well I say 4 but I tried washing one a few years ago & it basically shredded, so I cut one down a seam & rehung.  It is a good job I don't draw any of them.

FreetodoasIlike

Great comments on steam cleaners - love reading them! I have a steam cleaner (and a steam mop) but I’m often too lazy to get them out of the cupboard.  I clean the kitchen floor tiles with a long hard bristle brush, as I didn’t find the steam mop as effective as a hard brush on my kitchen porcelain tiles (is Ok for the tiles in the bathroom though). I will have to make the effort to use my steam cleaner more. I’ve steam cleaned my mattress in the past and it was very effective. I was also thinking about curtains. My lounge curtains aren’t full length but it’s been a while since I’ve had them dry cleaned. They are lined and custom-made and were quite expensive (not a usual window shape) so I had to pay extra for same day cleaning as we had to put them back up the same day as we certainly couldn’t afford a spare set. Now that Spring is on the way, I will make the effort to get mine out and have a play (and hopefully a cleaner house!). May I ask how effective they are in cleaning ovens?

With regard to clothes, I have a washer dryer (no room in the kitchen for both). I hardly ever use the dryer (can’t wait to hang my clothes on the washing line) but it has a steam fresh programme which I use quite regularly to freshen clothes. It doesn’t dry clean them but it’s quite effective when you want to freshen up an item. I also use the steam on my iron which gets rid of a lot of creases and freshens clothes that don’t really need washing.

redofromstart

The steam thing is good for removing ancient wall paper (lightly scored) m, defrosting, and surface clean of floors. No use at all for aged quarry tiles. I need to sort our justified and ancient red quarry tiles in the front porch this weekend, scrape of splatters, acid scrub, naturalising rinse etc. I know it works from the yellow dining room quarry tiles, and it's a tiny area so far easier. 

Cheery_Daff

Defrosting the freezer, of course! 😂😂 Looks like I'm going to have a busy week 🙄😂

Bored of the steam cleaner now. Have done a small area of the dining room, the very worst bit, with a big load of encrusted gunk that would just not be removed with normal cleaning. Hard scrubbing, yes, but I'd done that with part of the floor and my appetite had worn off... 

This is no quicker, but at least it doesn't tire your arm out in the same way, and is nice and warm 😂😂

Have done the sofa, which looks a bit fresher, although it's not removed the grim greasy patches on the arms from years (many, many) years of use (no matter - I made washable fabric covers for them a few years back 😂).

Then I've been wielding it in the bathroom... A dangerous endeavour in our case, because the entire bathroom is tiled, and our predecessor painted green emulsion over the lot, which is prone to flaking at the slightest opportunity 😱 Yes, it needs decorating, but there are a LOT of jobs on the list before it 😂 So I've done the bit round the shower (I removed the paint from that a couple of years back so it was easier to wipe clean - looks ridiculous), and sink, bath etc. 

Most satisfying was the metal shower hose, which clearly I just usually ignore 🙈

Main aim is the kitchen/dining floor, but I'm sick of kneeling down tonight so that can wait 😂 Not sure I'll be buying one myself but I might rent one every 6 months for a freshen up! 

beanielou

How long do you get it for? 

VintageHistorian

There was an announcement on the community Facebook page last year that our town was looking to set up a Library of Things, inviting suggestions on what could be supplied.

It then went very quiet so someone asked a few months ago how progress was going, and whoever was organising it said it was indefinitely on pause because there were concerns about loaning out tools and electronic items that could cause harm or damage. I'm not sure what suggestions they were expecting for "Things" but I did think tools and electronic items (such as steam cleaners) would be the most common requests.

Clearly your Library of Things has managed to come up with a solution (or insurance) to deal with it. Personally I've been trying to borrow a "1" shaped cake tin for DS's first birthday, with no luck so a template and a sharp knife will be wielded near a traybake. But it made me think of the Library again, there are plenty of less "dangerous" items that could be started.

On the other hand a recycling group I'm part of has got a Celebration Lending Scheme, with banners (Happy Birthday etc) and other decorations that can be loaned out and returned. Given how many decorations are plastic and quickly binned I think it's great, if we had the storage space (and if Mr VH could be persuaded) I'd love to do one for this town. But deep down I know I don't have the time or energy or space for it.