Love it or hate it, cleaning is an essential part of life with both DIY cleaners and professional companies like Molly Maid tackling grime on a daily basis. It’s amazing how quickly surfaces collect dust and cookers get splashed with grease, so what cleaning supplies should you have available at all times, to ensure your home is sparkling? You can leave it to the professionals like cleaners or get on with it yourself.
Dust cloths and polish
Dusting is a thankless task, but it’s one of the hose jobs that simply needs doing – and often. One minute everything is sparkling and the next you could write you name in the grey matter resting on the living room table or TV.
A good microfiber cloth, however, will help keep those dust particles down as will a squirt of furniture polish, but make sure you use plenty of elbow grease to avoid unsightly smears. Want to keep things natural? Then try whipping up your own cleaning products or use olive oil as an alternative to chemical-laden polish. Simply pour onto a soft cloth and massage into wooden furniture or other non-varnished surfaces to bring out the shine.
Rubbish bins and rubber gloves
Every household needs to keep on top of their rubbish to avoid a stinky home and a pest infestation. For this reason, you must stock up on black bin bags for general waste and pop all reusable materials into the recycling bags/containers/bins provided by your local council – you’ll find more on government recycling initiatives here.
As dealing with rubbish is not a particularly pleasant task, it’s also wise to have some rubber gloves to hand to ensure you don’t touch anything nasty or dangerous. A pair of thick, reusable Marigold gloves will prevent you from coming into contact with anything unsanitary but make sure you only use these for waste disposal only to prevent cross contamination.
All-purpose cleaner
Whether you want to quickly spruce up the kitchen work surfaces or clean up a small spillage, a good all-purpose cleaner will do the trick. This can be used in almost any room of the house and on most easy-wipe surfaces and will help keep your home looking spic-and-span. There are many different all-purpose cleaners on the market these days, but if you want to make your own, mix the juice of one whole lemon with some fresh water and pop into a clean spray bottle. Lemon juice is a natural disinfectant that will not only leave your home smelling great but will remove grease marks and stains from metals too.
Washing up liquid/dishwasher powder
Cleaning up at the end of a meal might not be that enjoyable but it’s a job that needs to be done, which is why it’s crucial to have some washing up liquid on standby. Washing all plates, cups, utensils and such like in warm water before rinsing thoroughly will eliminate germs and leave your kitchenware ready to reuse. If you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher, make sure you never run out of dishwasher tablets as these handy machines can become stinky if they’re loaded but not switched on.
Bleach
Bleach is a hazardous and strong cleaning product that should be used sparingly but is ideal for kitchen surfaces, toilets, baths and other high-germ areas. It helps to kill off nasty bugs and will leave porcelain toilet bowls white and hygienic so it’s worth keeping some around.
When using bleach, however, make sure you open as many windows as possible as the fumes could leave you a bit lightheaded and always keep products such as this well away from children – preferably in a high, locked cupboard.
Whether you’re a cleaning fanatic or would prefer to call in the professionals it’s always a good idea to have plenty of cleaning supplies to hand – just in case.
It’s almost impossible to make a universal cleaning supply list that fits every home. Every family and house is different, making their cleaning needs also unique. But I must say that your is very good. Thank you for sharing!