Choosing the Right Cleaning Solutions for Your Home and Lifestyle

by James P. Outreach & PR Executive

No two lives are the same. Our lifestyles can differ wildly, and this all affects how our homes stay clean. Whether you’re a makeup connoisseur, parent to fur babies or real babies, or a technology guru, we all have to contend with dirt. Between hidden dirt and difficult to clean devices, choosing the right cleaning solution for your home and lifestyle may prove to be a difficult task. But the answer is often simple. Here we look at your home cleaning best practices, and the housework hacks you never thought you needed.

Pets and Kids

Small children mean small toys and objects strewn about the house. Often cleaning up after the kids when they’ve scattered building blocks across the living room or raided the costume jewellery draw can be an arduous task — especially when attempting to vacuum up. Small pieces can risk getting pulled into the vacuum chamber and damaging your beloved suction cleaner. However, the solution is strangely simple.

Pulling a pair of tights over the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner creates a toy and jewellery-friendly catcher. A bagless vacuum cleaner is strong enough to pull air and dust through the material, but it’s unlikely that action figure accessories and small earrings will evade rescue.

You vacuum cleaner can also be a handy tool for those who have hairy pets. Depending on your animal’s reaction, a vacuum cleaner can be used alongside a hairbrush, instantly catching malting hairs as they’re combed through.

Animal hairs are the biggest culprit for getting entwined in carpet, so doing this can help avoid any difficult cleaning in the future. For some pets, the sensation of a vacuum cleaner can stimulate their senses and be quite an enjoyable task — for others, less so — but it’s worth a try.

The things we forget in the kitchen

Kitchen cleaning is divisive. Some people enjoy making their worktops glisten, but others find the task of scraping grime off their oven too difficult. A clean kitchen is essential for hygiene — after all, it’s where all our meals are made. However, there are some aspects of kitchen cleaning that are easy to overlook.

One part of the kitchen we may forget to clean is the stove vents. Their job is to extract vapour from above our cooking points, ensuring that our kitchen is not exposed to damaging moisture. However, they are a collection point for grease. Not only is this unhygienic, but it’s also very dangerous. Grease is flammable, and a high flame or strong wave of heat could ignite the grease. Cleaning these vents is essential.

To clean these vents, boil a large pan of water with about 30 grams of bicarbonate of soda. Bring to the boil, being careful not to let the solution spill over. Then, submerge the vents in the water. Let the vents sit in this boiling water for about two minutes, then rinse clean. The grease should fall off.

Tile grout in the kitchen is often overlooked, but often rife with grease and grime. Many people avoid cleaning this because the roughness of the cement makes it a difficult clean — but the right solution can make it easy.

Like with the stove vents, bicarbonate of soda works wonders to break down grease. Rub some of it over the tiles and then spray them with some cleaning vinegar or lemon juice. You’ll see a satisfying fizzle. After a couple of minutes, a small scrub with a toothbrush can eliminate any dirt that has built up since their last deep clean. Using lemon juice can also bring a fresh fragrance into the kitchen.

Bathroom bathing

The bathroom is one of the most important places in the house. A good shower can help us kickstart or unwind from a busy day, and toilet time can often a valuable escape from the noise of normal life — have that magazine handy. This space must be as clean as possible, but they are dirt traps.

Cleaning the bathroom can be a simple and enjoyable task, regardless of how you use the space. For example, if you find makeup stains all over the sink or windowsill you can quickly remove these by using shaving foam. Shaving foam contains surfactants, which means they help loosen the grip of dirt on surfaces. They also act as a detergent.

Rubbing shaving cream into your mirror until it is polished clean can also prevent fogging. The glycerine in the cream prevents water from sticking to the surface. This means you’ll have a clear view of yourself even after a steamy shower.

Other innovative cleaning solutions for the bathroom include using coke or other acidic fizzy drinks in the toilet. Allowing these drinks to bathe in the toilet bowl for an hour can remove limescale and unwanted stains.

Using chopsticks is also another handy way to reach those difficult crevices in the bathroom. A cloth wrapped around a chopstick can help you to clean taps, vents, and all the other small nooks and crannies you may encounter.

Technology cleaning

We’re not talking about robot cleaners just yet. But with technology playing an increasing role in our lives, we must keep our devices clean. Television remotes are a hive of dirt and bacteria. Dust and skin particles can build up over time, especially if your household are serial channel surfers.

Of course, with technology, the electricity must be considered. When cleaning remotes, soak a cotton swab in alcohol and clean the surface of your remote. Use a toothpick to clean between the buttons. This should prevent any internal or water damage.

Devices like televisions or computers should be cleaned with a microfibre cloth. Microfibre cloths generate static electricity which attracts dust and holds particles. This means that you’re unlikely to need any liquid when cleaning these devices.

Most of these devices live in the living room. Upholstery can often create dust. Therefore, washing your cushion covers and throws regularly can prevent dust being generated and stop you from having to wipe down your devices and surfaces so regularly.

Cleaning shouldn’t be difficult. In fact, it can be an enjoyable task. Our lifestyles and homes dictate which things need cleaning the most, but there is often a simple solution to all our housework needs. Sometimes, the easiest option is the best — whether that be a quick vacuum clean of the stairs, or a once over with a microfibre cloth. Understanding how our lifestyles affect our cleanliness is the first step in finding the solution to the mess.