As some of you will already know, elmkind was founded from our eco-friendly commercial and domestic cleaning company 'CleanEco' in Devon. We wanted to share a few handy tips we've picked up along our journey to help you on your way to cleaning your home like a pro.
- Always start from the top down.
This rule applies to the levels in a house and each individual room. When removing cobwebs and dust, these tend to float around in the air and settle at the lower levels, so if you've already wiped that surface below, get ready to wipe it again!
- Removing cobwebs.
Only remove cobwebs where the spiders have moved on. Spiders are the good guys and keep the flies in our homes in check, remove these heroes are you could be opening yourself up to a home full of bacteria laying pests (and not the good kind of bacteria either!).
- Dusting Surfaces.
Generally dust will build up quicker than dirt, so where you have a dusty surface you always want to start by removing the layer of dust first before tackling the dirt. A simple dry duster cloth will make light work of collecting dirt. Then you can apply your surface cleaner and wipe clean with a separate cloth. The reason we suggest keeping one cloth for dry dusting and one for using with liquid surface cleaners is because the minute you get dust wet it will cling to your cloth, and stick to everything. So when you clean your next surface you'll be chasing bits around everywhere causing yourself more hassle. You end up getting through cloths a lot quicker that way too.
- Bathrooms.
Remove all easily moveable items from the bathroom to create an easy working space.
As above, you'll make cleaning any surface 10 times easier if you remove the top layer of dust first. This includes around the toilet basin and base of loo as well, although a couple of sheets of loo roll tend to work well here instead of your duster cloth so you can immediately flush this away avoiding the spread of nasty germs onto other surfaces. Soak the dirtier areas of your bathroom first in product (usually toilet cleaner down the loo, bathroom cleaner in and around the tub and sink) and leave the cleaner to work it's magic for a few minutes, leaving it a while to do its thing will mean you don't have to do as much scrubbing as the surfactants in your cleaner will be doing their job to get underneath the dirt and lifting it from the surface.
Squeegeeing any water away after rinsing your shower/shower screens will prevent any water stains and mould from building up.
Always remember to close your toilet lid when flushing to keep any germs in your loo!
- Buffing/Polishing.
After cleaning if you go that little extra mile and buff your chrome fixtures to a high shine, then they will continue to look brand new for much longer with very little effort. This takes away any water marks and prevents the build up of limescale and dirt. Our Glass and Chrome Cleaner is a daily must have for our cleaning company, to keep everything shinny and our customers happy with that wow factor.
- Hoovering.
This may go without saying, but always hoover your floors (and sofas) once you have completed the surface cleaning. You don't want to have spotless floors and then remember you've missed the kitchen surfaces - I don't know about you but for me I can't physically clean the kitchen without dropping almost everything on the floor (*hangs face in hands).
- Mopping.
Last but not least, when washing your hard floors it's a good idea to leave your bathrooms until last, this way you're not risking spreading any harmful bacteria into your kitchens or other rooms around your home, this way you may be able to get away with just the one bucket of soapy floor mix, dependant on how dirty your floors are of course!
You also don't want to 'throw' water down when mopping, lots of water can be damaging to most floors, so you want to aim for more of a 'damp mop' than a wet one, this should give you the clean you need without compromising those floor boards!
Thanks for taking the time to read this and happy spring cleaning! If you have any further questions on the uses of our cleaning products then drop us a message and we'd be happy to help.
Emma x
