Along with warm weather, summer brings its share of chores that may need to be tackled more often. Fortunately, you’ll have several extra hours of daylight, which really come in handy when there are additional cleaning tasks to take care of. And don’t forget: If you have kids home from school, you have a built-in set of helping hands.
Do you know which areas of your home might need more attention when the days heat up? The following cleaning checklist can help you stay on top of these seasonal chores so you don’t get the summertime blues.
Floor cleaning
Whether the kids are running back and forth to the pool or you’re coming and going more often to tend to your vegetable garden, your home is going to see a lot of extra foot traffic in the summer. That means you may have to clean the floor a little more regularly. Make it a point to spot clean your floors as needed and vacuum or wash high-traffic areas once or twice a week.
Tip: Invest in a good doormat and instate a “no shoes in the house” rule to help reduce the frequency with which you have to pull floor-cleaning duty.
Cleaning Food Spills
One of the best things about summer is the foods it brings. Unfortunately, ice cream, burgers dripping with ketchup and barbecue sauce can increase the amount of summer cleaning you have to do. So keep plenty of
Clean microfiber cloths on the counters or in the pantry so you have them readily available for spills.You’ll want to tend to spills ASAP to prevent having to chisel goop off of counters later on, not to mention avoid a trail of ants parading through your kitchen. So add wiping down counter tops and dinner tables after meals to avoid those hassles.
Tip: Have kids enjoy lunch and summertime treats like popsicles outside to cut back on indoor food spills.
Managing Trash and Stinky Sinks
The season’s heat can bring out the pungent aroma in your kitchen trash cans, so expect to empty those more often. In addition, summer’s messier food items may mean you’ll need to
Wash your trash can on a weekly basis. Don’t forget that all those grapes and apples you’re using for sangria and snack time may start to decompose more quickly this time of year. Make certain you know how to properly clean your sink to keep the smell from getting out of hand.
Tip: Save lemon rinds from homemade lemonade and run them through your garbage disposal so your kitchen smells bright and fresh.
Laundry Duty
Swimsuits, towels and sports uniforms mean your washer and dryer will be working overtime this summer. Make sure you’re stocked up on laundry detergent and consider investing in an outdoor towel tree or a retractable rack to help
organize your laundry room. Also, this is a fairly easy task that older children should be able to manage. Consider adding washing, drying, folding and stowing clothes and linens to their summer chore list.
Tip: Air conditioners will be working harder during the heat of the day; Save this summer cleaning task for the evenings or early mornings to help prevent brownouts or flipping your circuit breaker.
Bathroom Care
The heat and humidity that accompany summer in many regions means you may have to give your bathroom some extra TLC. When it comes to summer cleaning,
toilets should be tended to at least twice a week. Additionally, you’ll want to be certain you’re running exhaust fans while showering and leaving the bathroom door open after exiting. This can help slow down the spread of mildew.
Tip: Stock up on microfiber cloths and leave them near the shower so that you can easily wipe down shower doors and walls after each use.
Finding it difficult to enjoy the season while tackling all these extra cleaning chores? Let your local Merry Maids take care of the housekeeping so you can make the most of your summer.
Call the Tidy Up Angels and we will do your entire house cleaning. Call the Tidy Up Angels today at 913-642-2006 – or fill out our online estimator for your home: https://tidyupangels.com/house-cleaning/ And ask us about our whole house cleaning services in Leawood KS specials.
Give your carpet some freshening by sprinkling baking soda and letting it sit for a half hour, then vacuum.
Remove lime build-upfrom around the kitchen or bathroom faucets by soaking a clean cloth in white vinegar and let it penetrate the affected areas for 20 minutes (while you tackle other chores). Rinse with clear water. BONUS: Old pantyhose make a great bathroom scrubber.
Wash windowswith a mixture of equal parts of white distilled vinegar and warm water. Dry with a soft cloth, newspaper, or clean coffee filters. This solution will make your windows gleam and will not leave the usual film or streaks on the glass.
Take down that grungy plastic shower curtainand wash it with a load of soiled towels. Add 1 cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Hang it back up to dry with the exhaust fan running, or line dry it outside.
Freshen your drapes, comforters, throw rugs, and blankets by hanging them outside (weather permitting – not recommended on very humid days) for a couple of hours. Let the sun and wind work their magic. If the items are especially musty, sprinkle them with baking soda first. Shake or vacuum off.
Call the Tidy Up Angels and we will do your entire house cleaning. Call the Tidy Up Angels today at 913-642-2006 – or fill out our online estimator for your home: https://tidyupangels.com/house-cleaning/ And ask us about our whole house cleaning services in Leawood KS specials.
Sometimes, spring cleaning is a marathon—but it doesn’t have to be. Here are four things you can spring clean in the next 10 minutes.
Dust: Brush a dusting wand over all open surfaces. A few minutes to spare? Break out the furniture polish for a quick shine.
Clean doors and switch plates: Using a damp microfiber cloth, remove fingerprints, smudges, and germs from light switch plates and doorknobs.
Dust ceiling fans: Place a pillowcase over the fan blade, then pull it toward you to collect the dust. After dusting, use a cloth dipped in warm, soapy water to clean off each blade. Then dry.
Baseboards: Use a microfiber mop to swiftly clear dust and debris from baseboards.
Adapt to your cleaning personality.
Some people are stress cleaners, others are chore procrastinators. Identifying your cleaning personality is the first step to coming up with a plan or routine that works for (rather than against) you. For example, if you’re an angry cleaner, go ahead and let that emotion motivate you to tackle tough cleaning tasks, like scrubbing grout. Find your cleaning personality here.
Dust blinds in half the time.
The beginning of spring makes us want to let the light in, which means it’s time to clean our window treatments. Instead of tediously wiping each individual blind, order this brilliant $8 cleaning tool that dusts multiple blinds at once, so you can get the job done much more quickly.
Clean the toilet—without gagging.
Cleaning the toilet lands near the top of the most-dreaded cleaning tasks list. To make it a little less gross, invest in a swivel-head mop with a detachable pole
Clear gunk off your oven door.
If the inside of your oven door is caked with sauce splatters and baked-on food, try this trick “To de-grime the inside of the oven door (including the glass) without using chemicals or scratching, wet a scouring pumice stone, scrub, then wipe clean with a wet microfiber cloth.”
Call the Tidy Up Angels and we will do your entire house cleaning. Call the Tidy Up Angels today at 913-642-2006 – or fill out our online estimator for your home: https://tidyupangels.com/house-cleaning/ And ask us about our whole house cleaning services in Leawood KS specials.
With nearly all kids out of school in the United States and in many other places around the world, and large numbers of workers telecommuting, many houses are more crowded than usual.
And bathrooms are perhaps the one crucial point in the house where all humans — and therefore microbes — pass through. So during the present pandemic, keeping your toilets, sinks, counters and showers as germ-free as possible is key to keeping you and your family healthy.
As you get ready to clean your bathroom, start by making sure to wash your hands.
If you’re using disinfectants, you should pick higher-quality ones. The US Environmental Protection Agency released a five-page list of disinfectants — including Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and certain Lysol sprays — which are strong enough to defeat “harder to kill” viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.
It’s important to focus on cleaning “high-touch” areas of your bathroom including light switches, door knobs and the sink areas in particular. That can also include less obvious areas everyone in the house likely touches, including shower heads, shower curtains and around the toilet seat.
Anything that people touch should be cleaned, whether they have symptoms or not. That includes hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, shavers or other appliances in the bathroom. (You may not have touched razors recently if you’re trying to grow out a gnarly quarantine beard.)
We know you would never forget this, but just a friendly reminder not to forget to make sure devices are assuredly unplugged and turned off before you embark on a deep clean.
You should consider placing a wipeable cover on electronic devices if you can, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises, and try to use a solution that’s at least 70% alcohol.
It pays to be thorough, because droplets capable of carrying the virus can really get around within your bathroom.
Call the Tidy Up Angels and we will do your entire house cleaning. Call the Tidy Up Angels today at 913-642-2006 – or fill out our online estimator for your home: https://tidyupangels.com/house-cleaning/ And ask us about our whole house cleaning services in Leawood KS specials.
The coronavirus has sent many Americans home to ride this pandemic out. All the increased food preparation, laundry and cleaning puts family members — as well as houses and apartments — under increased stress.
There are things you can do in this time of heightened awareness to help keep germs under control and make the most efficient use of home appliances. We have been speaking to experts to address some of these issues. Here are some highlights.
Figure out what they are eating before they open the door. As regular maintenance, you should be vacuuming the coils on your refrigerator so it isn’t overworked from being clogged with dust, pet hair and dirt. Check your manual for where these coils are located. Some are accessed by removing the front panel, and some are in the back.
Check to see whether you have a sanitizing cycle on your washing machine, dryer or dishwasher. Many newer washing machines, dryers and dishwashers have a sanitize-cycle option. These cycles offer the hottest temperatures available in your appliances, making them the best choice for anyone concerned about germs. World Health Organization statistics show that temperatures of 140 to 150 degrees are enough to kill most viruses.
If your washing machine has a sanitizing cycle, you might want to use it for bedding or clothing you have worn outdoors. Standard hot-water cycles in washers tend to be as warm as your hot-water heater setting, traditionally about 120 degrees. A sanitizing cycle can vary in different brands and models but may include hot-water temperatures that reach 140 degrees, and additional agitation time, rinses and spins to remove soils and bacteria. Some models also require an oxygen bleach cleaning additive to power the sanitizing cycle. (Both bacteria and viruses are germs, but machines are only tested for killing bacteria.)
Some dryers also have sanitize cycles of high heat at 145 degrees to kill germs. They could be useful at this time for bedding, especially when someone is ill. If you don’t have a sanitizing option, he suggests drying a load normally using a high heat setting immediately followed by a timed dry cycle on high heat for a minimum of 45 minutes.
If you have a dishwasher, this may be the time to use it on a regular basis vs. washing dishes by hand. During the sanitize cycle in GE Appliances dishwashers, the water will reach at least 150 degrees to kill 99 percent of germs. The water temperature in a normal dishwasher cycle is 125-135 degrees, and hand-washing temperatures are even lower and vary based on the tolerance of the person washing dishes. Dishwasher companies statistics say that a sanitizing cycle kills 99 percent of bacteria.
Call us for all your house cleaning Overland Park KS needs; and we will get with you on our special and discounted pricing.
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