10 PROFESSIONAL HOME CLEANING HACKS

Work smarter, not harder, with these professional home cleaning hacks. They’ll save you time and money, so you’re working smart, not hard. If you can’t quite get your stainless steel to shine or your windows to be streak free, you’ve come to the right place. Dubai Cleaning 

These ten professional home cleaning hacks are easy to do and will save you from the emotional stress associated with cleaning a home.

10 PROFESSIONAL HOME CLEANING HACKS

1. Remove Hard Water Stains

For stainless steel sinks, faucets, and other appliances, rub the surfaces with a lemon half to erase hard water stains. Let the lemon juice sit a few minutes, then rinse with warm water, and the surface will shine like new. (See also, How to Remove Hard Water Spots.)

2. Remove Greasy Buildup

Grease and cooking buildup on your kitchen cabinets will disappear when you use a mixture of 1 part vegetable oil and 2 parts baking soda. Scrub the buildup with an old toothbrush and be sure to get to any wood and cabinet handles. (Try this Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner.)

3. Clean Your Iron

Use salt to get rid of scorch buildups on your iron. Place a pillowcase on your ironing board and pour salt on the pillowcase. Iron the salt with the steam option off and the metal on your iron will end up clean.

4. Get Rid of Mildew Smells on Towels

The mildew smell that is a result of accidentally leaving towels in the wash for too long is not the most fabulous smell. If this happens to you, throw them back into the wash with a cup of vinegar. Run a cycle on hot water and the smell will disappear. (Here’s more on how to get rid of mildew smells.)

5. Dusty Air Vents

Often overlooked, air vents do get pretty dusty. Clean up your air vents by wrapping a rag over a butter knife and sliding it through each of the crevices. (For a deeper clean, check out how to clean your own air ducts.)

6. Stale Mattresses

Over the course of a few months, dust and skin cells can build up in the folds of your bed. To freshen your mattress, add about 15 drops of your favorite essential oil to an entire box of baking soda. Close the box and shake it up then sprinkle it on the bed. Vacuum slowly to remove it. (Get rid of stains, dust mites, and mildew using these tips about how to clean a mattress.)

7. Make a General Cleaning Spray

Make a quick, non-toxic cleaner with 4 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 quart of warm water. This solution will work great on appliances and kitchen counters with a sponge or rag. (Need more cleaning power? Mix up some homemade soft scrub cleaner.)

8. Remove Label Stickers

If you have annoying labels sticking to your ceramics, do not fear. Fill up your kitchen sink with warm water and a scoop of Oxiclean. Soak any ceramics with stickers for 30 minutes and the labels should fall off on their own.

9. Give your Baking Sheets a Shine

Cookie sheets and baking pans often build up stains quickly, but you can make them look brand new with a mixture of 1 part baking soda and 1 part hydrogen peroxide. Place the mixture on the stained sheets and pans and let them sit for about 2 hours before wiping the mixture off. The stains will be absorbed, and you won’t have to scrub heavily.

10. Eliminate Odors in Fridge

Placing a bowl of coffee grounds in your fridge will absorb any foul odors. Replace the coffee grounds every two months, and your fridge will remain smelling fresh. (Here’s how to spring clean your refrigerator, too.)

With these ten professional home cleaning hacks your home look and feel great, and you’ll love your living space even more than you did before.

SPEED CLEANING

General Guidelines:

• Start at one end of the house. (I start in our Master Bedroom and work my way through the living room and kitchen to the girls’ room and bathroom.)Sharjah Cleaning company 
• Cleaning is much easier when everything has a home. Work on creating organized storage for all of the things that end up being scattered around the house, like papers, mail, shoes, & toys.
• Use a large laundry basket to collect items such as toys or clothing that need to be returned to a different room. If you have multiple offenders, use multiple baskets. After you have finished tidying every room, take 5 minutes to put away the collected items.
• Save sweeping/mopping and vacuuming until the end, then do it all at once. We have mostly hard surface floors, so I use an industrial dry mop to wipe the floors each day. It takes only a couple minutes to run it over all the floors and then shake it off outside. About once a week, I do a really thorough sweep and then use a Swiffer WetJet to mop. I vacuum the rugs about 3 times a week.
• Likewise, save the glass cleaning for the end as well. Once the house is completely clean, I will grab my windex and rag and run around doing spot checks on the glass doors and windows. I wipe the bathroom mirrors as well as the fixtures and sink.
• Keep daily shower cleaner in the bath/shower and spray down after each use.
• Store your toilet brush in a container of bleach; replace the bleach once a week.

Bedroom(s) (5-10 minutes each, depending on how much to pick up):

• Always make the bed. Even if there are other things laying around, the room will look much, much cleaner.
• Quickly pick up any clothes, toys, or dishes that are lying around.
• Use a duster or dry rag to quickly dust all surfaces, including the headboard and footboard.

Bathroom(s) (5 minutes each):

• Squirt toilet bowl cleaner around the rim; let sit.
• Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to quickly wipe down the sinks, tub, and shower.
• Use toilet brush to quickly scrub toilet, rim, and seat.
• Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to wipe down toilet seat & surrounding floor.

Living Room/Dining/Home Office Areas (10-15 minutes):

• Quickly pick up any shoes, dishes, toys, or other items laying around. (Put them in basket to put away later.)
• Use duster to quickly dust all surfaces.
• Use damp cloth to wipe down furniture (if leather), table(s), and dining chairs.
• Tidy desk area and make sure all paperwork & mail is filed & sorted in its proper spots.

Kitchen (10-15 minutes, depending on how many dishes):

• Quickly pick up any items that don’t belong in kitchen and place them in basket(s). Gather any dirty dishes and put them next to sink.
• Quickly unload (if necessary) then load diswasher.
• Hand wash dishes/pots/pans as needed
• Spray all counters with disinfectant spray, then use soapy water and wet sponge to wipe them all down.
• Wipe down stovetop.
• Dry and put away any hand-washed dishes, then drain and rinse sink–the secret to a truly clean-looking kitchen is clutter-free counters and a nice clean sink.

Finishing Up:

• Use a dry mop to clean hard floors. Spot clean with a sponge if necessary.
• Vacuum rugs/carpet.
• Clean glass surfaces & mirrors as needed with glass cleaner and a lint-free rag. Don’t forget to spray & wipe the bathroom fixtures for extra shine!
• Put away items collected in baskets while cleaning.

It may take a little getting used to, but once you are in the habit of speed cleaning each morning, you will be done in no time and free to enjoy a clean house for the rest of the day!

House Cleaning Made Easy – 5 Steps to Keep Your House in Order

This is a guide to keep your house neat and tidy in between a more thorough house cleaning.

By developing a routine and sticking to it, last-minute visitors won’t leave you scrambling and anxious to restore order before guests arrive.

One of the most important tips to keep it simple is to have all the right tools and cleaning supplies in one place. A sturdy caddy that you can carry from room to room is an excellent way to do this. Also, replenish supplies as needed and take the time to clean out the dirt from your vacuum regularly for optimum efficiency.

During the week, find a rhythm that suits your lifestyle.

Maybe you prefer to do one or two chores daily while others will want to get them all done in one day. Whatever your situation, you can apply these easy tips for   stress-free in-between cleanings. Sharjah Cleaning company

Keep the right cleaning tools all in one convenient place.

Include all-purpose surface cleaners and a window spray for mirrors/glass, microfiber cloths with an adjustable wand for high-reach places, disinfectant wipes, paper towels, and bathroom cleaners.

 Clear the clutter.

• If you don’t have time to put everything back in its place each day, gather items in a wash basket or plastic tote, then have everyone put whatever they left behind back in its place.
• Magazines or newspapers – clip articles, recipes, etc. that you want to save and recycle after reading.

Keep the kitchen clean.

• Add dirty dishes to the dishwasher daily. Run when filled and empty the next day.
• Clean up as you cook by wiping up drips and spills, putting things like spices back in place, and rinsing prep bowls.
• Keep kitchen cleaner spray and paper towels handy to wipe counters and appliances regularly.
• Don’t let items you need to wash by hand accumulate and get overwhelming.
• Get rid of garbage to keep kitchen odor-free.

Work the whole house instead of just one room at a time.

• Take dusting supplies and continue through each room; then follow with vacuuming. Also, clean all the bathrooms at the same time.
• First add cleaner to toilets, then spray shower stalls, tubs, and sinks. While the cleaner is working its magic, clean mirrors and fixtures then go back to wipe down and rinse showers, tubs, and sinks, leaving toilet scrubbing for last.
• Begin dusting from the top down with a long-handled microfiber cloth – start with ceiling fans, highest shelves, lamps/lampshades, knick-knacks, TV, then table surfaces.
• After dusting, run the vacuum throughout the house and/or sweep and mop floors.

Extra add-on tasks if time allows.

• Throw a load of laundry in the washer before you begin cleaning. By the time you are done, the laundry will be ready for the dryer.
• Replace hand towels and change bedsheets.
• Spot clean rugs and windows as needed. If you have pets, use a sticky roller to pick up hair on upholstery.

Also, getting the family involved can speed things up and make your job easier.

Assign tasks to your kids and, yes, even your spouse. Then make it a routine and take away the distractions like TV, cell phones, tablets, etc. for 30 minutes or so and turn on some lively music to keep the pace and make it fun!

Practice these bonus tips and tidying up will be even easier:

• Go thru the mail each day – throw away the junk mail and organize the rest.
• Spray and rinse or squeegee the shower immediately after each use…really, it only takes a minute.
• Put dirty clothes right into a hamper and don’t allow laundry to build up.
• Have an area for coats, keys, backpacks, etc. near the door.

A new routine may take a few weeks to flow, but don’t give up. Once you develop a rhythm and everyone is accustomed to doing their jobs, it will get easier and you will finish faster. Then when it comes to giving your house a more thorough cleaning, the job won’t seem as daunting.

For those really BIG once or twice a year JOBS, leave it to the experts.

In the Bitterroot Valley area, call Purity Cleaning and Restoration Services for specialized carpet, area rug, hardwood floor, and upholstery cleaning; and have them open your world to the beautiful outdoors with superior window cleaning. Purity technicians are certified professionals and will bring the right tools, cleaning supplies, and knowledge to get the job done with minimum disruption to your household. Visit puritymontana.com for a complete list of cleaning and restoration services.

11 Daily Habits to Keep a House Clean

Keeping up with the daily house keeping can be a drag, but it doesn’t have to take up all your time.  I feel that keeping a clean home is less about the time involved, and more about creating some good habits that you {eventually!} start to just follow instinctively.  Yes, there are still times that things get crazy and I’m not able to always follow through with the daily cleaning, but, for the most part, I do try to follow these 11 habits to keep a house clean and tidy.  I promise – the more you do them, the easier it gets! If the list seems overwhelming to start with, just pick one or two to get started and then add in more as you are able.

Start by Making the Bed.
I know some people think that making the bed is a waste of time, but it really makes a big difference in how tidy the room looks and only takes a couple of minutes.  Plus, I think it starts off the day well and I love climbing into a made bed at the end of the day.  To make things easier, simplify your bedding as much as possible.  We ended up cutting out our top sheets {as they always just ended up in a big puddle at the end of the bed anyways} and just use a duvet and washable cover.  If you love your top sheets though, you can look at minimizing the number of pillows on your bed or using a large enough comforter or duvet that you don’t need to tuck in your sheets.

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Do One Load of Laundry Per Day.
Now, depending on how many loads you typically do per week, you may not need to do this everyday, but, for us, we definitely go through at least 7 loads of laundry per week.  Try to get in the habit of putting in one load of laundry first thing in the morning.  If you work outside of the home and won’t have a chance to dry it before your leave, put your machine on delay {if you have this as a feature} so it will be ready to put in the dryer when you get home. Alternatively, put the load in the machine in the morning and just turn it on when you get home.  Make sure you save some time somewhere in your day to complete the load –  cleaning service including putting it away.

Be Happy with “Clean Enough”

As a perfectionist, this is probably the hardest one for me.  You want your house to be relatively clean and tidy but that doesn’t mean that every little thing has to be perfect.  I always {try!} to follow the 80/20 rule – meaning that I am happy with 80% of the cleaning being done.  Getting caught up in all of the little details that make up the last 20% {like making sure every little speck is cleaned up off the floor or getting to all of those little out of the way and hard to reach places to dust} are huge time suckers and are probably details that no one would really notice.  I’m not saying that they never need to be cleaned, but make them part of a deep cleaning routine rather than your regular weekly cleaning schedule.

Prioritize.
Not all cleaning is created equal.  Make a list of what you would like to get done and then prioritize what needs to be done and what can wait until the next day or two.   Given the time that you have available, write down your top 2 or 3 {realistic!} cleaning goals and stick with these before attempting to do other things.  I always used to hate writing out lists but I find that it really helps me to stay focused.

Get the Whole Family Involved.
This is one that I have really tried to work on lately.  Yes, it is often actually easier to just do the job yourself, but spending the time to teach your children to do age appropriate jobs will be better in the long run for both of you.  Start by just working on having your kids pick up after themselves – putting their coat and shoes away when they come in the house, putting dishes in the dishwasher, cleaning their room, etc. – and add in other chores as able.  It’s amazing how much of a difference it can make in the overall tidiness of the house if just these simple things are done.  For the first few weeks that you do this, you will likely need to be on your kids a lot, but over time this will start to be a habit for them as well and it should eventually be able to be done with minimal reminders.

Do a 15 Minute Nightly Clean-up.
Make it a routine to do a family 15 minute nightly clean-up.  For some reason it doesn’t seem quite so bad to clean up when everyone else is doing the same thing.  Put on the timer and just stick with the top cleaning priorities.  Kids can clean their rooms or do other small household chores while you finish up the kitchen cleaning or fold and put away laundry.  Start with the things that are making the biggest mess or creating a lot of clutter or any “must dos” that need to be done before bed.  I always run my bObi robotic vacuum during this time – usually in our high traffic areas.

Keep Basic Cleaning Supplies Close to Where You Use Them.
I have all of our bathrooms stocked with basic cleaning supplies – microfiber cloths and a polishing cloth, a toilet scrub brush, and a spray bottle with water and vinegar {or a multi-purpose cleaner of your choice}.  This makes it so much quicker and easier to give the toilet a quick swipe or wipe the gross toothpaste spit from the mirror instead of having to track down cleaning supplies.  Try to do these simple tasks as you see the need – most of them take only a minute or two – and it will really reduce how often you need to do a top to bottom deep clean.

Never Leave a Room Empty Handed.
This is one habit that can make a huge difference in the general tidiness of your home.  As you move from one room to another {or from one floor to another}, try to do a quick scan to see if there is anything that you can take with you that belongs where you are going.  Take only what you will have time to put away – moving a pile from one room to another without actually putting anything away doesn’t really help you out much.  It can be a couple of dirty dishes that you put in the dishwasher or some laundry that needs to be put away upstairs.   Always keep in mind the “one touch rule”, meaning that you ideally only want to touch items one time before they are put away.  Every time you touch an object to move it from one place to another you are using up precious time and energy so make that extra little effort to put it directly away.  Again, I think it is really more about habit than not having the time.