Category Archives: General

Valentine’s Day

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I remember when my uncle bought my auntie an iron for Valentine’s Day; I remember the cataclysm that followed. I can only say that he only buy her flowers and diamonds now…

It is supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year (at least for the ones that buy into the spirit), so don’t expected your beloved to cry of joy if you buy a new hoover as a present.

Instead, a gift card to get the house cleaned by someone else would be a nice gift, specially if your partner is one of those who live a hectic life. Even nicer would be if you clean the house instead; but let’s be honest, it will make more “romantic” sense to spend the day with your loved one while a domestic cleaner leaves your home spotless.

What other present ideas do you have for next week’s Valentine’s Day?

Preventing window condensation

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It looks like the freezing temperatures have come to stay for some time. And with cold
weather comes one of the major problems we experienced in our homes during winter: window condensation. Let’s be honest, it is a problem that we will not be able to get rid of, but we can always put some ideas in practice to try and prevent it as much as possible.

Here are some tips that you can follow:

–Ventilation. We need to ventilate our homes at least once a day as well as open windows after having a shower/bath or while cooking, as bathroom and kitchen are the “moisture winners” of all the rooms in the house.

–Laundry. Try to hang your clothes to dry outside; if this is not possible then open a window while the clothes are drying.

–Extractor fan. You can put a fan in the kitchen and bathroom to create more ventilation.

–Dehumidifier. This will take excessive moisture from the air (though some people consider it to be quite noisy).

–Heating. Put the heating on on this winter season. The hotter the air inside the house, the more moisture it can absorb and the less condensation you will have on your windows.

Do you have any other tip to prevent condensation? Let us know!

After Christmas cleaning

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glovesChristmas has come and gone and with this the time of cleaning up the mess we left on those festive days. While every person has a different way to organise the after Christmas cleaning, here are some essential tasks that will help you leave your home clean and tidy in no time:

Task 1.-

Organise the Christmas decorations and the tree. Don’t just toss them all in a big box and pray that next year they will be ready to use. It will be better to sort them out by colour/shape and keep them in clear plastic boxes, so you can see straight away what is inside.

Task 2.-

Hover your floors. Seeing a floor clean of paper or glitter will give you extra energy to continue cleaning!

Task 3.-

Clean the kitchen, most probably the room that has been used the most during Christmas. It will need a good turn around. Remember to start at the top and finish at the bottom.

Task 4.-

Don’t forget the oven! Most probably it’s still smelling of turkey and roast potatoes, so a good scrubbing will make it ready to use again.

Task 5.-

Clean bathroom/toilet. If you have been one of the “lucky” people to have guests at your home, then this is a must. Again, the same as with the kitchen: top to bottom.

Task 6.-

Do the laundry. Most probably you will have 3, 4,5 loads waiting on the basket already, so it is not something we can ignore.

Task 7.-

Instruct your children (if any). Children can help you sorting out decorations, laundry, cleaning their rooms…

Create mini-goals, this way you won’t get overwhelmed by the whole process. A little at a time and sooner than later you will be enjoying your “new house”!

Declutter your home and recycle

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closet_clutter_monsterI think one of the best cleaning tips I’ve ever heard is to de-clutter your home. Getting rid of items that have been forgotten at the back of our wardrobe is as essential as the cleaning itself to freshen your house.

But then, what do we do with all that stuff? We empty our closets, we throw away old clothes, boxes, toys… and then we leave them to dust in the corner as if waiting for them to walk out the door by themselves.

Here is an original solution for your clutter agony:

www.makingfriends.com/recycle.htm

This lovely website will give you ideas on how to reuse your clutter while having fun with the kids.

If you try any of these ideas, let us know!

Christmas here I come!

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christmas_treeI don’t know you, but I can’t wait for Christmas this year! There is still one month to go but I can already hear the singing of Christmas carols and the smell of cinnamon and cookies!

If you are like me, here is a very simple recipe of a Christmassy air freshener that will put you in the mood in no time!

Just bring to the boil a cup of water, a cup of white vinegar, 1 cinnamon stick, a tsp of cloves and a tbsp of vainilla extract. Simmer on a low heat for a couple of minutes and leave to cool. Take the cinnamon stick and the cloves out and put on a spray bottle.

Professional carpet cleaning

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We all know how important it is to keep our carpet clean at home. A carpet’s life can be reduced due to dirt, grit and oil residues, so prevention is essential to keep it nice.

Always remember to remove your shoes when arriving home; regular vacuuming is also important; as well as cleaning any stains as soon as they happen.

But eventhough we try our best to keep our carpet clean, we always need to think about cleaning it professionally on a regular basis. Here is a table to help you decide how often you need to call the professionals. Take it only as a reference and remember that every household is different:

How often should I clean my carpet: A house with:
Every  year 1 or 2 people

No pets

Non smokers
Every 9 months Children

or, Pets

or, Smokers
Every 6 months Children and Pets

or, Children and Smokers

or, Pets and Smokers
Every 3 months Children and Pets and Smokers

Cleaning products for your bathroom

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Following the series of  “basic cleaning products” posts, find on this one the cleaning products that you will need to leave your bathroom shining like a diamond!

Bathroom cleaner

For general areas such as bath tube, sink, wall tiles,..

Lime scale remover

Use it on those hard to clean surfaces like your glass shower door or even your toilet bowl. You need to get rid of lime scale with a proper chemical!

Toilet cleaner

For your daily cleaning of the toilet bowl.

Would you like some extra bits? Try vinegar! It is well known that lime scale can “invade” your bathroom very easily and vinegar is an excellent green product that will help you tackle it quickly.

Do not think about using bleach on your toilet bowl! Here at https://www.amycleaning.co.uk/ we recommend our clients and cleaners to use an alternative product. Apart from the dangers of using such a strong product as bleach, with time your toilet will look dull and yellowish, which is not very nice. Stick to a good lime scale remover to ensure you are pleased with the results.

If you missed our last post on “basic cleaning products” for your kitchen check on here https://www.amycleaning.co.uk/blog/?p=976

Mastering the art of organising your home

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1260926_beach_house_indoorsThe day of the moving is getting closer and, honestly, I am dreading it. You know that you throw away thousands of silly and useless stuff when you move house, but it is always difficult to get rid of that teeny weeny porcelain toy from your trip to Italy or that jumper you got as a present last Christmas and never wore.

When you decide it is time to organise your home and give it a good clean up you have to be brave and get on with it as soon as possible. Ask yourself these 3 simple questions and your life (and home) can change for ever!

– Do I use it? You have to be honest on this one. If it has been more than one year without using that item, the chances are you will never use it.

– Do you like it? Well, if you don’t use the item but you love it, there’s not a lot we can do… but you have to find a place it to keep it; if there is no place at your home, it may be better to throw it away.

– Does anyone like it? This could be an option if you find problems space wise. Think about a family member or a friend that would be happy to have that old jacket or that repeated copy of “Cooking for dummies”.

Be strict when cleaning up your house and don’t faint! sooner or later your home will become a paradise of organization and cleanliness!

House cleaning workout

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With this rainy days we are having, it looks like the footing on the park and “outside gym” are already out of the equation. We are getting closer to Autumn with its dull weather… but we still need to put those biceps to work!

Do not worry! What could be better than a “cleaning workout” to burn those stubborn calories? It is amazing how many calories you can actually burn when cleaning a house; here are a few examples:

  • Fast hoovering can help you burn around 120 cal.
  • Mop the floors for about an hour and you can end up burning about 110 cal.
  • Gardening is a tough one: do it for one hour and you can burn about 200 cal.
  • Hate ironing? think about the 100 cal that you could burn in an hour.
  • Cooking (yes! cooking) will help you burn between 40 and 50 cal.

To make it work we obviously need to make an effort, so organize your house work so you are forced to go up and down the stairs; be creative in the kitchen! you won’t burn calories by heating a ready made soup on the microwave; dig and plant in the garden (cutting some flowers for a bouquet is not enough workout).

What do you think? Can you burn calories and get fitter while cleaning your house? Fancy a try?

London riots clean up

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We have been bombarded with news about the London riots for over four days now. I think we were all shocked to see how easy it was to get these riots organized through the social media (that is, facebook and twitter) or so they claim.

Today I am amazed at how quickly people have organized themselves to counteract the effects of the riots. There is a website called www.riotcleanup.com where you can help to clean different areas that have been affected by the riots, with regular updates on their facebook and twitter pages.

Here at www.amycleaning.co.uk, we love clean up… and we love altruism. So our thumbs up for all those people that are voluntarily joining the “clean up” teams to get UK cities back to normal!