10 Tips to a Cleaner Home

Posted in home cleaning with tags , , , , , on September 27, 2008 by homeclearner

1. Clean Carpets

One of the things people don’t
like about carpets is that they are a real chore to wash. If you really
want a comfortable house or you want to office to look like a real
office, you need to think twice about your skepticism towards carpets.

After
your carpet is installed, you need to buy a vacuum cleaner. Called a
hoover in the UK, the vacuum cleaner is very effective. Run the vacuum
cleaner at least once a week or more if necessary. Think about all the
dust you’re putting away that would otherwise fill up your nostrils if
you weren’t choosing to run the vacuum cleaner instead.

2. Conspiracy Theory: Roaches are Taking Over the World

Cockroaches
are as universal as water and are as disgusting as a 3-day old pizza.
Cockroach infestation in a house is a sign of negligence in
accomplishing basic chores, but that isn’t always the case: many
households in the world have their fair share of cockroach infestations
at some point because they thrive in just about any home as long as
there’s food to eat and dark corners to breed in.

Hiring a
professional pest control company is the easiest way to take care of
this roach problem. If that doesn’t fit in your budget, you can always
do the job yourself. Go to the grocery and buy a few roach repellent
products-how many depends on the severity of the infestation. This
should fix your roach problem in no time at all.

3. It’s Garage Day Today

Though
a garage is for parking a car, people tend to stack their gardening
tools, sporting goods and holiday decorations in them, too. Boxes pile
up. Old things are forgotten. Before you know it, the garage has become
a maze of old stuff that there’s no room for the car.

The key out
of this mess is, first, deciding what goes into the garage and what
ends up in the garbage bag in the alley. The second step is sorting all
the stuff into organized piles. Not only do you tidy up the garage, but
it’s also easier to dig up some old stuff that’d be otherwise
impossible to find.

4. Cleaning the Home’s Exterior

This
includes the house’s paint job, the lawn, lawn path, driveway, the
front porch (if you have one), plus the surrounding area belonging to
your name. You need to take as much care of the area around your house
as the rooms inside.

Paint the house every few years to avoid
flaking and discoloration. Tend the lawn and sweep the driveway. These
minor chores shouldn’t be overlooked by the responsible home owner.

5. Choosing a Great House Cleaner

If
you don’t have enough time to clean all of your house yourself, you
might consider hiring a house cleaner to help out. While having some of
the chores taken care of for you is nice, you have to make sure you
trust the person who will be coming into your home, possibly even while
you are not there.

The fact is you need to be very extra careful
when hiring professional house cleaners. Check their police record for
past law offenses. Also, you need to ask for references. Next you
should consider paying slightly higher than the normal rate to try to
encourage the cleaner to do a great job. If you choose cheap, then
expect cheap in return.

6. Clear as a Window

The windows
are the eyes to the outside and inside of the house. Without windows,
natural light can’t get into the house and without natural light, a
house looks like one large attic clothed under a dusty white sheet.

This
may come as a shock, but the best way to get the windows shining is to
use old newspaper. Take some out of the garage and put it on the table.
Then, fill up a bucket with tap water and take it over to the window.
Believe or not, it works. Crumple up a sheet of the newspaper, dip it
into the bucket, and wipe the window glass like you would with regular
cloth. You’ll easily find that old newspaper and water are the best
materials to clean windows – they’ll be shiny, and no lint will be left
behind. This tip works for picture frames and mirrors, too.

7. How to Wash Pillows

There’s
no better feeling than the prospect of getting a good night’s sleep on
your newly-washed sheets and pillows. A smelly pillow is one thing and
bed bugs are another. Take it from us: you will attract bed bugs if you
don’t wash your pillows regularly.

The easy way is to take your
pillows and blankets down to a commercial laundromat station. The
washers in most laundromats do not use the same spinning motion as
those in many household washing machines, so you can rest assured you
won’t get tears in the fabric and the pillow will stay in one piece.

8. Removing Blood Stains

Fear
of blood stains ought to have its own name. Linens seem to be addicted
to blood more than Dracula is. Blood easily soaks well into almost any
type of linen, be it cotton, satin, silk, even carpets. How can you
deal with this bloody mess?

It’s easy: don’t let fear get ahead
of you. First, you need to treat the wound from where the blood came
from. Then, rinse the stained area with cold water. Never use hot water
for this as it makes the stain permanent. Next, blot it using cloth or
paper towel. If you have a shop vacuum, use that. Then comes the
cleaning. Using a paper towel and some mild cleaning detergent mixed
with cold water, continue to dab at the stain. Repeat the steps if
necessary. This should remedy your blood dilemma in no time.

9. The Bed Bugs of Courage

Bed
bugs are disgusting tiny insects that feed when you sleep. They can be
hard to find in your bed, but your scalp and skin will let you know if
you have an infestation.

Check your pillows and mattress from
time to time. If possible, run them over with a vacuum cleaner every
couple of months or so to eliminate most of the bed bugs already in the
fabric. Frequent travelers should check and vacuum more often. If you
still have bed bug problems, contact a pest control service.

10. Termite Control

Termites
are probably the worst kind of pest you can have in your home. A
termite eats through wood from the inside out. They’re hard to find
most of the time, up to the point when an infestation has grown so
severe that the house itself is beginning to show signs of falling
apart.

The only way to effectively deal with termites is to call
up the services of a termite control company. In severe cases, they
might have to gas your house to annihilate the infestation and keep the
termites from coming back. Most of the time, this only needs to be done
once, but if the problem persists, you’re left with no choice but to
cement over the infestation-prone area.

From blood stains to
termites to messy garages, there are many ways your house can get
dirty. With these cleaning tips, you should be able to conquer any
clutter!

Want to know more? You can read more tips on Top Ten Tips to a Cleaner Home, plus other cleaning tips only at http://cleaningglow.com/