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Quick Tips for Keeping Your Carpets Clean

Closeup of carpet

A soft, cosy carpet looks and feels great, but you need to work at keeping it in top condition. Here are our quick tips to extend the life of the carpets in your home.

 

Regular vacuum cleaning

Vacuuming your carpets weekly stops any major build up of dirt, dust and hair making it much easier to keep them in good condition. Be careful with very delicate carpets and avoid using a beater bar on anything with a loop pile.

 

Tackle stains as soon as they happen

When something gets spilled try to deal with it straight away. If it’s a liquid then blot it up with a cloth or paper towel to get it as dry as possible. If the liquid has left a stain then tackle it using a stain remover made for carpets or a home-based solution. This is a great article on using different household products to remove different kinds of stain.

 

Neutralise bad smells

If your carpets seem a bit musty, particularly in the high-traffic areas, then spread around some baking soda and leave it to settle for 10 minutes before vacuuming it up. This should remove any bad smells and leave no odour at all. If you want to go a step further you can add in a few drops of an essential oil that you like to leave your carpets with a lovely fragrance. Here’s a guide for how much to use from Organic Authority.

 

Catch the dirt at the door

This sounds like an obvious one but having some great mats at your front and back doors will go a long way to avoiding dirt from the outside world being trodden into the carpets. Give them a regular beat out (outdoors!) and a good vacuum every week.

 

A deep clean

Once or twice a year, consider a deep clean for your carpets. You’ll be surprised at just how much of a difference it can make. Nothing beats the feel of freshly cleaned carpets underfoot, so let us take all the hassle out of refreshing your carpets with a full professional clean. Get in touch today for a free, no obligation quote.

 

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The Ultimate Cleaning Kit: The First Step to Student Household Harmony

A clean and clear dining table

So there are probably many things that you’d rather be doing, but a quick bit of cleaning on a regular basis can help keep your student household living together in happiness. Every student house has one super-clean housemate who’s mind is melting in frustration at the others. Go on, help them out and stop their head from popping with this simple solution:  the ultimate cleaning kit. Keep all these things in stocked up and make any cleaning job easy.

 

Anti-bacterial cleaning wipes

Perfect for pretty much everything, especially kitchen and bathroom surfaces.

Microfibre cloths

Great for keeping gadgets and touchscreens clean.

Bleach

Extra thick stuff is great for applying to the inside of the toilet. Do this regularly enough and hopefully you shouldn’t need to do much scrubbing.

Rubber gloves

Keep harsh chemicals off your hands, but remember to keep them clean and dry and replace them regularly.

Dust cloth

A quick wipe over surfaces regularly will help to avoid dust settling and help out anyone who might have allergies. Dusting during freshers’ flu season is a must!

Floor wipes

If you have hard floors then getting out the mop and bucket can seem like a huge job. Get a flat floor mop that you can clip floor wipes in to, like this one.

Handheld vacuum

Tackle spills and crumbs as they happen and get in those awkward spaces behind the sofa.

 

Keep your cleaning kit in a plastic tub or box and decide on a cleaning schedule that you can stick on the side so that everyone knows their jobs for the day. But, remember, democracy people! Do this together as a household to avoid any bad feelings.

 

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Getting Your Deposit Back: End of Tenancy Cleaning

A clean and empty property

Moving out at the end of your tenancy is a stressful and generally expensive time, so the last thing you want to do is risk not getting your deposit back. One of your biggest tasks (apart from packing!) is getting your house or flat perfectly clean – and perfect is what your landlord is looking for!

 

So follow our advice to make sure your property is ready for inspection.

 

Start with dusting

This may have seemed like an awkward task when your papers and ornaments were all over surfaces and ledges, but now that everything is packed away it should be a breeze. Go over all the window ledges, tops of bookcases and cupboards, tops of radiators, skirting boards and don’t forget the light fittings. You might find that you need to use damp cloths in the kitchen as dust that settles there can end up being quite sticky and greasy from cooking vapours.

 

Sweep any hard floors

Be sure to brush underneath any furniture or kitchen cupboards to get any stray bits of mess that might have found its way there.

 

Next, the hoovering

Go over all the carpets paying particular attention to the stairs. If you have any pets in the house then you might need to get a special attachment (there are loads on Amazon) to pick up any fuzz that they’ve left lying around.

 

Tackle the bathroom

First thing to do is to get some bleach in the toilet so it can start working on any grime, if there are any other stains on tiles or surfaces then get some bleach on them too. Wipe down the sink, the bath and outside of the toilet with some antibacterial spray or wipes. Put the shower curtain through the wash or give it a soak in some cold, mildly bleachy water, depending what the label says. If you have a shower cubicle then clean the glass with window cleaner and pay particular attention to the sealant. It may need some extra attention with bleach or another bathroom cleaner. Clean the mirrors, mop the floor and put any mats or rugs in the wash.

 

The Kitchen

Start by cleaning out the appliances. Inside the microwave, the oven, the fridge and the top of the cooker/the hob. Brush and wipe inside all of the cupboards and drawers, making sure you’ve got all the crumbs that seem to collect everywhere in a kitchen. Clean the fronts and backs of all cupboard doors as well as the fronts of drawers.

Wipe down all the surfaces and countertops and then clean, unclog and polish the sink. Be sure to check that there are no funny smells coming from the drain. If there are then think about homemade drain treatments or shop-bought solutions.

 

The lounge and bedroom(s)

Dust and hoover these rooms thoroughly as they will have had a lot of use. If the property came furnished then double-check that all of your belongings have been removed and that you’ve cleaned behind and underneath any big items. Don’t forget to check the curtains if there are any, especially if you have pets as pet hair has a tendency to collect at the bottom.

 

Things that you may have forgotten

Cleaning the windows can make a huge difference to the appearance of the property, it will let more light in and make sure that the place is looking its best for inspection. Door handles and doorknobs often get forgotten, so give them a quick once-over with some antibacterial wipes. Clean any marks from light-switch plates and the surrounding areas as well as any random smudges on walls.

 

Excellent work. You’re done. Say goodbye and lock the door!
End of tenancy cleaning can be a huge job, but if you get organised and start early then you can do it in parts. But if you don’t have time or feel like you need a helping hand then we’re the ones to call. Our friendly team will pitch in with you or just take the whole thing off your hands. Give us a call today for a no-obligation quote on 07957 235 574.

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Go Into the New Year with a Clean & Clutter-Free Home

A clean and tidy bedroom

Now that all your Christmas celebrations are out of the way it’s time to look forward to next year. If there’s wrapping paper everywhere, empty bottles haunting your kitchen and gravy all over your best tablecloth then don’t worry, now is the perfect time to get things back on track and to go into 2017 with a clean and clutter-free home. Let’s start as we mean to go on!

 

Follow my advice on how to get ready for the new year with some simple steps you can take to get things around the house in order. (And don’t forget, an intense cleaning session can work wonders for burning off those Christmas-calories!)

 

Recycling for the win

At this time of year you’re probably left with copious amounts of wrapping paper and boxes from presents and bottles, tins and cardboard sleeves from party food and drink. A trip to the local recycling bins can be a lifesaver. Do a quick whip around the house and collect together all the recyclables – getting these out the way early will make a huge difference to your post Christmas clean up. If you have some little helpers hanging around then make it into a game and give them their own type of recycling to find.

 

Wash, dry & store

This can be a big one, so try and get it done as early as possible. Put a load or two of washing on to get all your table linen and teatowels clean. If you have special outfits that you wore over the Christmas period then put those on to wash. Once everything is clean and dry have a mammoth ironing and folding session in front of the TV. You’ll be thanking yourself next year when you can get everything out of storage and it’s ready to go. Make sure to label any boxes that you use for storage so that you know exactly where to look for particular items. The same goes for any special tableware, plates and cutlery that you might have used.

 

Take down the decorations

Now this one depends on how superstitious you are! According to tradition, taking your decorations down before or after the twelfth night (night of Jan 5th) is considered to be unlucky. But if you’re going to be hosting a New Year’s party then you might want to decorate differently, free up some space for your guests or just make sure that the antique ornament that’s been in your family for generations is safe and sound back in the loft! Remember to think ahead to next year when you’re packing your decorations away, keep them safe and organised by separating them into their own packaging and making sure that any string lights have been wrapped up so that they don’t tangle.

 

One in one out

If you’ve ended up with 2 or 3 of the same gift or have been given something that you already have then don’t hold onto them unnecessarily. I like to work on a one-in-one-out policy so that I can stay clutter free. Decide which you’re going to keep or whether you can replace the one you already have and donate the others to charity. This way they can bring joy to somebody else and raise some money for a good cause.

If you want to go even further with your festive declutter then you could commit to filling a box or charity bag with items that you no longer want or need. We get so many new items at Christmas that it can have a big impact on any decluttering efforts you may have made throughout the year.

 

Time for a change?

So you’ve cleaned and tidied everything away and hopefully done some extra de-cluttering in the process. Great! Now is the perfect time to make that change you’ve been wondering about. It could be something as small as moving a piece of furniture or hanging a picture over the fireplace or it could be redecorating a whole room (put those DIY store vouchers you got to good use!). Either way, why not try it? It could spark off the new start you need in 2017!
Here’s to a clean and clutter free new year!

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Christmas Cleaning Playlist

Christmas foliage and berries on a white background

Getting the house ready for all the visitors over the Christmas period is one of my top December jobs. I like to set a day aside to give everything a good spruce up so that the house shines its brightest and looks fabulous adorned with all my Christmas decorations. And while I’m getting my clean on I like to get into the Christmas spirit and groove away to some seasonal tunes.

 

If you need a little festive lift to get you in the mood for your December clean here’s an early present for you from Cleaning At Your Place – my Christmas Cleaning Playlist!

You can listen to my playlist here on Spotify.

 

 

Merry Christmas from everyone here at Cleaning At Your Place! And remember, if (and when!) your Christmas parties get out of hand then give us a call and we’ll get your post party clean-up sorted!