Keeping a clean house is an important part of having a great home life. When you keep your home clean, it reduces your overall stress, uplifts your mood, and is good for you in terms of your overall physical health. Thus, you and your family should make sure that you maintain your home often and with effectiveness.
Although cleaning is an essential skill, not a lot of people are aware of whether or not what they’re doing is effective. There are cleaning “techniques” that could make matters worse.
On that note, here are some common house cleaning mistakes that you might be making and how you can avoid them:
Cleaning Your Windows On A Sunny Day
Although it might seem like cleaning your windows on a sunny day is something that you should be doing, this is not the case at all.
Some people thought that doing so would make the water dry up faster. However, what happens is that the cleaning solution will dry up faster and will only end up leaving streaks on your windows.
These streaks could be difficult to clean in the end. Thus, it is much more advisable to clean your windows on a cloudy day.
Spraying Directly on Surfaces
Another thing that a lot of us do is spraying cleaning solutions directly on our furniture.
We may believe that spraying a cleaning solution directly on the surface is more effective. However, this puts your furniture at risk because doing so can result in the build-up. This could cause dust-attracting stains that could be difficult to remove.
If you end up with these stains, then a non-gel based toothpaste can help. Rub it in with a soft cloth to help remove the stain. If push comes to shove, then add equal parts of toothpaste and baking soda.
Using the Same Rag Around the House
Whenever we’re cleaning, we tend to use the same rag on everything to save time and energy. After all, it’s going to clean dirt all the same.
That’s not the case. What ends up happening is that the germs and dirt are going to be passed around from room to room instead of cleaning them.
Thus, you should make sure that you have a separate rag for each room at the very least. That way, nothing is contaminated.
Putting A Toilet Brush Right Back In The Holder
When you’re cleaning the toilet brush, make sure that you don’t put it back on the toilet brush holder immediately after cleaning it.
Even if you’ve washed away the nastiness after you’ve brushed the toilet, you should still make sure that you let it dry completely first. After all, any form of moisture can serve as a breeding place for bacteria. So putting it back in its holder while it is still wet is ill-advised.
Scrubbing Carpet Spills
Getting a spill on our carpets is not a fun time. No wonder some people are in a rush to get the stain removed. Otherwise, the stain will spread.
However, a lot of us make the rookie mistake of scrubbing in the spill on the carpet. What happens here is that the stain will be harder to remove when you do this.
Instead, what you should do is to blot the offending area, and then spot treat the spill with a stain remover depending on what you spilled.
Deep Cleaning Alone
At Cleaning Exec Deep Cleaning Services NYC, we discourage our clients from doing deep cleaning alone. Regardless whether you assign the cleaning to one person or every member of your family.
That’s because deep cleaning won’t be effective when you do it on your own.
Whether you involve the whole family and assign them specific roles or you hire a cleaning crew to do the dirty work for you, what’s important is that you don’t do this job by yourself. Otherwise, you’re not going to get done any time soon.
Cleaning Countertops With Vinegar
Your kitchen countertops, or any other countertops that are made of stone for that matter, are likely going to have some protective layer. This is added so that it won’t get scratches and marks easily. On the other hand, using vinegar to clean the surface would end up removing that coating.
Because vinegar is quite acidic, the protective layer will break down. Thus, your countertops will be more vulnerable to damages. Instead, use dishwashing liquid and water as a cleaning agent and wipe the counters down.
Cleaning Stainless Steel in Circular Motions
If you plan to clean any stainless steel items in your home, you should avoid cleaning it with circular motions.
The reason being is that you might end up leaving marks on the steel surface. What you should do instead is to identify the direction of the stainless steel’s grain and clean based on that direction.
Cleaning Without Gloves
When you’re cleaning the house, you’re likely going to have to touch and use all sorts of cleaning solutions. These cleaning solutions could be corrosive to your skin. Thus, you should make sure that you wear cotton-lined interior gloves for cleaning.
That way, your skin is protected from all the harmful cleaning solutions that you use.
Conclusion
By learning more about the common house cleaning mistakes, you should be more aware of how to avoid them. That way, you spend more time cleaning instead of causing more damages to your furniture and surfaces later on.
Hopefully, you learn something new and can apply the aforementioned tips when cleaning your house. Doing so can certainly help you be more effective when cleaning your home.