Cleaning tips Archives - Diary of a New MomDiary of a New Mom

Steps to Cleaning Your Garage

If your garage is full of everything, but your car, then it is time to organize your garage. After all, keeping your car in a garage increases its resale value in many cases. Here are steps to take when organizing your garage.

Take Everything Out

Start by laying three tarps on the ground. Label one the stuff you want to keep, one the stuff that is trash and one the stuff that you are going to give away. Now, start taking the stuff out of your garage and putting it on the tarp where it belongs. Be ruthless with yourself about getting rid of things.

Install Storage

Since you now have everything out of the garage, install some storage in it. If you have a work table, then consider hanging a pegboard above it to hang small tools. Install a garage cabinet or two to keep other items. You may want to think about one that locks to keep all your items that could hurt children or pets in.

Put Things Away

Each item should have a dedicated space in your garage. This makes it easier to find when you are in a hurry, and it allows you to easily spot when something is missing so that you can go on a hunt for it. While this step is extremely simple, it can eliminate a lot of stress when you need to find something in a hurry.

Deliver or Call Charity

There are many charities in your area who will gladly accept the things that you are giving away. Find one and deliver your giveaway pile to them. If you have large items, then they may even be willing to pick it up.

Throw Trash Away

The last step is to throw your garbage away. If you have items that cannot be put in your community’s landfill, create a special pile for them. Make it a point to deliver them the next time that your community has a clean-up day where they accept these items.

Use these steps and your own ingenuity to clean your garage today. You will enjoy the space more when it is clean, and you will probably be able to sell your car for more money when it is time to trade.

The Top 5 Cleaning Tools You Need as a Homeowner

06 05 , 2018 No Comments

Proper cleaning is essential to keep any home in good condition. But, sometimes it is hard to decide on which tool to be used for home cleaning. On the other way, having many cleaning tools in your home will need more storing area and that can also add clutter to your home. This is why you need to know the most essential cleaning tools to get the job done right!

The Top 5 Cleaning Tools You Need as a Homeowner

Below, I listed the essential and top 5 cleaning tools which every homeowner needs.Other than below tools,you can use cleaning wipes for a quick cleaning task.

1. Vacuum cleaner

For every homeowner, the vacuum cleaner is a handy-dandy device that goes a long way in helping an individual clean up the house. The vacuum cleaner helps to suck up dirt and dust in various places around the house, such as the couch, under the beds and also on the carpets and rugs in various rooms in the house. There are various types and sizes of these cleaners, some of which can hold a large amount of dirt before requiring to be emptied. They are essential in keeping dust away from our houses and are therefore a cleaning tool that every homeowner requires.

2. The broom

A broom is a simple tool that has been used for ages in cleaning at our homes. Brooms are quite easy to use and are very convenient since they help us reach places that would be hard to get access to otherwise. Brooms come in different strands of various material such as fibre or plastic and are great for different surfaces, be it wood or cement floors. When purchasing a broom make sure to include a dustpan which will make it quite easy for you to collect the dirt you have swept off.

3. Spray bottles

They are often overlooked, but spray bottles are easy tools that help us a great deal especially in cleaning kitchen countertops and surfaces. They make it quite easy to clean up because all you need to do is fill it up with some water and soap, spray at whatever surface you are cleaning and scrub or wipe away. They also come in quite handy, especially when cleaning glass surfaces such as windows or doors. Make sure to use gloves though, if you are using bleach or substances that may be harsh on your skin.

4. A mop

Gone are the days when we would have to bend and be on our hands and knees in order to clean our floors. With the invention of the mop, cleaning has become so much easier and efficient. Mops are great for all types of surfaces and are well drying since most of them are made of absorbing material such as cotton strings. Always remember to purchase a special type of bucket when buying a mop, the kind that will help you wring the mop when cleaning. On the other hand, you may purchase a steam mop, which helps disinfect surfaces and cleans through the use of steam. You may check this website for more information on steam mops, types, as well as their features.Steam cleaning is always convenient and fast.You will assure your carpet or your floor is well cleaned when you use steam cleaning.You can learn more on how to steam cleaning at home here.These tips will help you to have more understanding on steam cleaning.

5. Cloths

Cloths are great tools to help you wipe various surfaces around the home, be it in the kitchen, bathroom or living room. These work hand in hand with spray bottles or buckets and are quite efficient as they help the job get done real fast. For example, after scrubbing your tiles for instance with a sponge or brush, you may wipe them with a cloth in order to dry out the place to avoid accidents such as slips and falls. Cloths made of materials such as cotton are quite good since they are very absorbent.

9 Tips To Save Money On Laundry Detergent

27 04 , 2018 No Comments

The problem with laundry detergent these days is that they are all packed with brightly colored boxes and bottles, as bags of laundry detergents all claim to clean dirty clothes. As a result, people often get confused when deciding which product suits best.

Defining Your Laundry Needs

The state of your laundry would determine how much money you are going to save on your detergent. This means that if your laundry is only lightly soiled with just a normal wear, then you don’t have to use heavy duty detergent.

Use Less Detergent

Detergents often use concentrated formulas, so you don’t always need to fill that lid cap the moment you wash clothes. Simply determine how much product should be used for a particular load of laundry.

Use Cold Water

Take note that most liquid laundry detergents nowadays are intended to clean if you use cold water. You should know how well cold water can do wonders with minimal detergent, unless extremely dirty or greasy laundry.

Buy Generic Laundry Products

You should also know that some generic store brand detergents, bleach, and fabric softeners are formulated by leading manufacturers. Just try them and check if the results satisfy you.

Use manufacturer or store coupons

A lot of times you can find manufacturer coupons in the newspapers or online. Some websites curate those deals so you don’t have to look on 10 different sources to find a recent laundry detergent coupon.

Making Your Own Laundry Product

Sometimes it is good to create your own blend of homemade detergents, starch, scent enhancers, and fabric softener. When you get the combination well, you can save as much as 15 cents in each load of laundry.

Vinegar As Fabric Softener

You can add some amount of white distilled vinegar to the final rinse water. This will help in the loosening of any final detergent residue on clothes due to its mild acid content.

Cutting Dryer Products Costs

If you would want to save on laundry detergent costs, you can add a ball of aluminum foil to the dryer. Thus, you can just use half of the dryer sheet, as you get double the load for your money’s worth.

Using Fresh Air

You can still lessen the cost on laundry detergent if you save on energy to dry or iron out your clothes. This can be done by hanging your clothes outdoor and using fresh air to dry your washables.

Making More Heat

Being energy efficient can be a great way to save with each load of laundry that you wash. Just add one piece of aluminum foil below the ironing board cover so that it can hold more heat and help you iron more clothes using lower temperature.

Balancing Your House Cleaning With The Joys Of Being A New Parent

11 04 , 2018 No Comments

Once your little bundle of joy arrives home, cleaning as you knew it before is about to change for the rest of your life. You will soon see that it’s not just about figuring out when to get your cleaning done but also how you need to go about it. Parenthood is a massive new responsibility and means you need to have a lot more caution and care than before. As is the case with a lot of the changes you will be asking, it is all too easy to get yourself overwhelmed. However, with a few tips for your cleaning – as well as a little time – you will be the best parent in town, making sure that your little one is as safe as possible at home.

Have A Basket In Each Room Of Your Home

A basket for your little one’s things in each room will help to speed up your cleaning and free up space. Getting things off the floor and into one designated place will allow you to quickly clean the room at the drop of a hat. This will also let you be more efficient when you are doing the full house clean.

Household Cleaning Products Should Be On Hand

Be sure that all adults in the household know where to find their disinfectant and sprays to wipe down a dirty area the moment it is spotted.

Beware Allergens

A new baby can be allergic to all sorts of things and you won’t know yet. Understanding how to prevent this helps and this post on that looks at 7 common allergens that could be lurking around your home could help you identify them before there are issues.

Time To Get On Your Baby’s Level

From where us adults stand, it is all too easy to see the floor and think it is clean. However, your baby is going to be spending a fair bit of time down there and you want to make sure that they are free of bacteria and viruses which can come in from people’s feet. Dettol Pourable Disinfectant Liquid can help your floor to sparkle and show off its cleanness, without leaving a nasty residue.

Baby Steps Are Vital

When you have a newborn, one of the key things to learn is that you don’t have to have an immaculate showhouse. The time you will lose in your attempts will be stolen from those precious moments to enjoy with your little one, while they are still little.

The Fantastic Benefits of Steam Cleaning

04 11 , 2016 2 Comments

Steam cleaners have many benefits since they don’t use chemicals. Also, they’re safe to use on any surface, including curtains, material, and upholstery. Steam cleaners are suitable for many uses within your home and garden, including steaming creases in clothes and cleaning car upholstery. It can also kill up to 99.9 percent of the germs and bacteria.

An upright steam cleaner can sanitize flooring and freshen carpets like a vacuum cleaner. The steam cleaner is lightweight and requires very little physical effort. There’s no need to carry buckets of water or containers filled with cleaning fluids and utensils.

Most steam cleaners can be converted to a hand held unit. Some can be carried around with a shoulder strap. Attachments come with some steam cleaners and this gives the user the chance to clean surfaces that are otherwise impossible or inaccessible to clean with ordinary cleaners or by hand.

Steam Cleaners Used Around the Home

1. Stubborn grease and fat around barbecues, grills, and cookers can be difficult to clean. Great may be impossible to remove with scrubbing alone. Some chemicals may even have a hard time removing the thick build up.

There are some chemicals that are formulated to dissolve grease fast, however, these chemicals can be toxic and dangerous. This is where a steam cleaner can excel. The steam’s heat can loosen stubborn great and you can wipe the surface clean with a damp cloth.

A steam cleaner can leave your home’s surfaces looking like new and you won’t have to worry about toxic residue or poisonous vapors.

2. Steam cleaners can take some of the effort out of cleaning tiled walls and there is even a steam mop for wood floors. If you get a grout steam cleaner, you can easily get rid of the dark stains that accumulate between tiles. They remove grime from many hard to reach places, such as the areas around shower heads and taps. This cleaner can also read into the crevices around shower screens, door frames and windows.

3. If you use the proper attachments, steam cleaners are a great way to freshen and clean upholstery and curtains. Please note that steam is not suitable for draylon, velvet, and some other fabrics.

Steam is a great way to eliminate clothes odors and remove creases for drapery. There is a large range of clothes steam cleaners that can offer this feature.

4. Outside in the garden, you can use a steam cleaner to clean the grime off plastic furniture. Rather than spending time scraping grass or dirt from lawnmowers and garden tools, steam can remove it effortlessly.

Some ‘obscure’ jobs you may not think about using a steam cleaner for, include killing weeds on patios and paths, disinfect soil, and if you have a swimming pool, you can use it to clear away algae.

5. The steam cleaner may be used to clean upholstery, dashboards, and carpets in boats and cars. It can also be used to remove pet hair from carpets, and car seats. A steam cleaner can be used to remove dirt and mud that are trapped in the trim of a car’s wheel. The dirt can be dislodged effortlessly using steam.

6. Jewelry can be cleaned using steam, especially if there are stones set in the piece. Dirt can be impossible to clear out of jewelry, depending on where it collects in a piece. You can use a special attachment to save money on professional jewelry cleaning.

Super Speedy Tips For A Much Cleaner House

27 09 , 2016 2 Comments

Cleaning your house takes time, doesn’t it. Well, it doesn’t have to take as long as you think. Check out these great tips to speed it up.

Use Baskets For A Speedy Clean (Giving You Clear Surfaces)

Designate one basket for each room. Gather all items and general clutter from table tops and place in the basket. Tackle one room at a time and make quick decisions about the items that give an untidy appearance. Do not overthink the action; if the item isn’t serving a purpose (like a candle holder on a coffee table), it’s going in the basket (that includes all those scraps of paper, tech accessories, pieces of cosmetics and so on). To get all the surfaces cleared and free of clutter can take as little as five minutes. As part of your bedtime ritual, or at a more convenient time during your day, take a few moments to go through the baskets and put the items back where they belong. With the exception of hoarders, pretty much anyone should be able to keep on top of their baskets, so long as they are clearing surfaces every day and sorting through each basket. Simple!

Next Up, Give The Surfaces A Wipe Down

There is little point in attempting to wipe down surfaces that are full of clutter. You can easily convince yourself that it’s fine to wipe the spots in between, but what you actually end up with is ugly dust lines that highlight each and every object.

Instead of this, basket-clear all of the surfaces in your home, that includes your dining table, coffee tables, and bedside lockers and so on, then once they are cleared, wipe them down with a wet cloth. A daily surface wipe like this takes only a few moments, yet the effect is more than significant, in fact it much contributes to the appearance of a squeaky-clean home, as well as putting the brakes on a build-up of dust, food particles, hair and such like.

Get Sweeping Or Vacuuming (Or Both)

Vacuuming is to your home what a band-aid is to a cut. You’ve probably seen it yourself, you haven’t done a spot of cleaning, but the moment you run the vacuum, over the dining room rug, the house looks stunningly clean. Always wipe down all surfaces first before vacuuming, otherwise you’re going to spill dust and particles onto your freshly vacuumed floor. Alternatively, for an easy life – consider a robot vacuum cleaner like these at https://www.robotvacuum.io/best-robot-vacuum/

Each And Every Trash Can Should Be Emptied

For the fastest trick in the books for a home that appears cleaner, get into the habit of taking your trash out very regularly. For trash cans around your home that don’t have lids this is specially the case, an empty trash can always convinces our mind that the room has a clean feel.

Pillows Are For Fluffing

A quick fluff of the throw pillow in your lounge gives the room an immediate burst of care. Granted it’s simple and requires less effort, but it works. To transform your living room into a welcoming hotel-feel room, rather than a weary old-lounge, just give those pillows a good fluff. Here’s some good tips on a morning ritual.

Bed-Making Should Be Part Of Your Morning Ritual

A made-up bed makes your whole house feel cleaner. This is not just a chore that your mum used to annoy you with. The added benefit is that if you start the day making your bed, you set the tone for the rest of the day, meaning the temptation to ignore the start of a messy buildup around your home won’t be able to win out.

The Laundry Is Only For Your Eyes

A pile of dirty clothes will make any room look messy. If you have a routine of doing the laundry once weekly, then get the stockpile hidden away somewhere that only you will discover.

Fridge Doors Should Be Clutter Free

We tend to use our fridge door for far too much safe-keeping, whether it be coupons, recipes, or random notes, they all get stuck behind a fridge magnet. Clear the fridge door and your kitchen will quickly take a cleaner appearance.

Flowers For You

Granted this one doesn’t really classify as a cleaning tip, however once you have basket-cleared the surfaces, done your wipe down, finished the vacuuming, admired your fluffy pillows and of course made the bed, you deserve a nice bunch of flowers for your efforts. You may not follow all of these steps, but if you commit to just one of them you will see some improvement in the appearance of your home.

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