You might get away with a quick tidy week to week, but once in a while a really thorough clean will make your home happier and give you a strange sense of satisfaction!
Few (if any) of us have the kinds of lives where we can set aside Monday to do all the laundry, the week’s baking and getting on our knees to scrub the front doorstep, like perhaps our grandmothers used to.
But while a speedy house clean will usually help keep everything tidy and healthy enough every few days, once in a while it’s worth doing a really thorough clean. Nooks and crannies can be perfect dusty corners for mice to hang out in, and after a while it’s easy for the family’s half-used debris to pile up in kitchens, lounges and hallways. Having a ‘deep clean’ will not only leave your home feeling truly spruced, it will make everyone put away their football boots, toys, etc, and it will genuinely give you a lift.
Make the right start
This task is not for those amazing women who actually do a deep clean every week – for the Big Spring Clean, you ladies are our role models! No, this mission is for the rest of us, who take comfort in the phrase ‘spring clean’ because it suggests we really only have to face this once a year…
• Seize the challenge – set yourself a goal. It’s fantastic to get the whole house shipshape, but if you have to focus, give yourself the weekend to get the key areas done: kitchen, hallway, downstairs living spaces and the bathroom areas.
• Amass your troops – this doesn’t have to be a one-woman job. Issue your kids and hubby with their own tasks or marked areas. You could even draw up a map of the house and tick off the areas if you’re feeling in a rallying mood.
• Get the right tools for the job – a new broom, sponge and clutch of cleaning products isn’t going to break the bank. Using special wipes with the right cleaning product impregnated in the cloth can be great for smaller surfaces, but you might want to buy a bottle of cleaner to dilute in water when covering more floor space.
Cleaning floors – 10 tips
• If you have wooden or laminated floors, make sure you buy a suitable acid-free cleaner. A regular cleaner might stain or begin to wear away the shine on the surface.
• Flooring which is ‘wood look’ often has a more uneven surface to give it texture, so the corners which don’t get swept or walked on might have really gunked up. Look especially around the base of cookers, kitchen units and fridges – they are often a little more grimy than the rest of the floor when inspected closely.
• On wooden floors, use a soft-bristle brush to sweep away grit or dirt before you start to mop otherwise this top layer might scratch the wood.
• If your wooden floors are still quite new, you may know to use specialist cleaners and wood treatments. If you are unsure, read the back of several different products rather than just grabbing the first ‘wooden floor’ cleaner you see – some floors are varnished, others oiled, and this could affect what is the most effective product to use.
• Kids love to slop the mop around, but do try to keep the amount of water you are using to a minimum. The solution in your bucket should be of the right concentration (follow the instructions on the bottle for how much cleaner fluid to water you need), but wring out the mop or squeeze the sponge a little before washing down the floor. Small pools of water sitting on the floor surface will take longer to dry and also might stain the floor.
• Regular vacuuming will help keep any carpet looking fresh, but it’s tempting to just work around the furniture. For a thorough clean, pull out the sofa and plant pots to get an even finish everywhere.
• If you want to do a wet clean, you can hire a proper cleaner or go round with a sponge and a diluted cleaning fluid to focus on stained areas. (If you don’t have the correct carpet cleaner, don’t just use a regular floor cleaner as this might stain your carpet, instead use a mild washing up liquid in water.)
• Don’t use too much water as a very wet carpet will take a long time to dry before you can re-install heavier furniture, and if you have a wool carpet, it might cause some shrinking.
• After giving carpet a scrub to get a stain off, gently brush the carpet back in the natural direction of the pile.
• If you have pets, check our tips on cat hygiene at home, and dog hygiene at home, for ideas about how to clean your floors.