How to clean pen and crayon marks from a wall

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Anyone that has children will know how easy it is to get the walls of our house full of pen or crayon marks from our lovely kiddies. Though it could be good to let them explore their artistic self, soon you can find out how difficult it is to get rid of marks and “graffiti”.

Find on this article some advice on cleaning unwanted marks from a painted wall.

  • Marks of pencil can be cleaned just by gently erasing it with a rubber.
  • Use baby wipes to remove crayon from any wall.
  • If what you have is ballpoint pen marks or permanent marker stains, then you will need to work a little bit harder: First rub the area with a soft cloth damped on rubbing alcohol (don’t be scared if the wall turns out a different colour! keep reading); then take some soapy water and clean the area with a sponge; finish with some more rubbing alcohol in a clean cloth if needed.

Do you have any other tips on how to clean ink from walls? Share with us!

 

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?

House cleaning robots

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Improvement in the domestic lives have been massive on the past century. House cleaning has benefited from this thanks to the up-rise of the robotic cleaners.

There are hundreds of robotic vacuums and “mops” on the market and people seem to be happy about the change of house cleaning “machinery”.

But, how good are they? are they really better than the usual hoover or mop?

We have to agree that their compact size makes it easier to go into hard-to-reach areas, so there is no need to move furniture around.

Also they remove all kinds of dust, and even pet hair, better than the usual stuff, and this is great news for allergy sufferers.

These robot cleaners are made specially for busy people as you can program them and forget about it, knowing well that it will do its job at the set time.

But not everything is so straightforward. I think that one of the downsides of these robots is the fact that they tend to miss corners and can only clean flat surfaces (so the need to have a regular vacuum cleaner to do the odd bit here and there is obvious).

There is also a lot of people that have complained about the noise they produce and the price.

Do not think that by buying one of these robots you can stick cleaning out of your chores list; you will still need to do some “elbow dance” to remove tough stains, as they are not able to do this by themselves.

I have seen some of these robots in action and they look like a lunatic creature trying to find their way out of the room. It is kind of funny, but I have my reserves about these robots in terms of replacing the traditional way of cleaning; nothing like a good domestic cleaner happy to go the extra mile (robots don’t do this)!

Do you have any “robotic experience”? What do you think about this new technology? Share your thoughts!

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!

Cleaning is a dangerous business

This week at www.amycleaning.co.uk we received a call from one of our domestic cleaners saying that she hurt her leg while moving a sofa in one of the client’s houses. This meant the need to allocate a new cleaner straight away and brought to us a common misconception: “Cleaning is an easy job… or is not?”.

I would say that, as the title suggest, cleaning can be dangerous sometimes. The use of strong chemicals and the need to move furniture to do deep cleaning, make this job not an easy one.

The use of chemicals imply the possibility of eye irritation (the fumes and odors can affect your eyes) and skin allergic reactions. To minimize the risk, make sure you ventilate the rooms, use gloves and don’t mix any chemicals as this can provoke breathing problems, specially if you suffer from asthma.

Strains and muscle problems can be caused by heavy lifting. So when you have to move that massive sofa or dining table, make sure you stretch your body beforehand and remember that it will always be easier if you have a pair of hands to help you out.

So before you start cleaning, don’t forget your safety check:

  1. Gloves, on
  2. Windows, open
  3. Mixtures prohibited, promise
  4. Labels, checked

Have you experienced any dangerous cleaning lately? Let us know your comments!

House Cleaning in New Year

Our favorite Chinese tradition for the New Year has to be house cleaning. Before the New Year’s Day Chinese consider it very important to give their home a good clean, so they get rid of any bad luck from the previous year. It is like sweeping away any mistakes or bad things that happened on the old days and start fresh with new hopes for the next year.

I suppose it is quite therapeutic; and for those who don’t like the hard chore of cleaning their homes, read on!

For the following few days after New Year’s Day you will need to keep all brooms and brushes away and not clean at all. If you do clean you will be sweeping away the good luck of the new year. So after the hard work you get to enjoy the party with family and friends!

Interested to know more about the Chinese New Year? Check this web http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/chinese_new_year.htm    for more traditions.

Happy Chinese New Year!

How to get your laundry smelling fresh

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I love the smell of launderettes! Every time I pass by one my body shivers with envy; how can I get my clothes to smell like that when I do the laundry? I don’t have a tumble dryer and I suppose that makes it more difficult, specially in winter, when you hang the clothes to dry for days and days with no positive results. So I tried and I tried until I found a really good solution…

Would you like your clothes to smell nice and fresh as if they have been taken out of a launderette?

Put less detergent on your wash and add about half a cup of baking soda. What baking soda does is eliminate detergent residues and re-fresh the clothes, leaving them cleaner and smelling like new!

Do you have any other tips? Let us know!

A clean up recipe

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Most people have a computer at home. Whether is a desktop or laptop they will need a regular clean up to avoid any “brain damage”. Build up of dust and grime can make your computer heat up, which slows the system and can generate computer failure.

So to avoid your computer heating up, here is a step by step recipe on how to clean it!

The ingredients. You will need:

– A can of compressed air

– Cotton swabs

– Soft cloth/e-cloth

– Rubbing alcohol

– Screwdriver

– Water

“Important: Turn your computer off before starting the cleaning!”

  1. Start with the case (you may need the screwdriver). Open it and with a cotton swab remove any debris or build up of dust. Use the can of compressed air to clean any excess dust, but be careful with it, do not blow it too strongly. Wipe the inside of the cover with a soft cloth and close the case again. Don’t forget to wipe the outside of the case with a soft damp cloth.
  2. The keyboard: turn it upside down and shake it to get rid of most of the debris and dust. Use the can of compressed air in between the keys and finish with a cotton swab dip in rubbing alcohol, cleaning the sides and top of the keys one by one.
  3. Clean the mouse with a soft cloth and rubbing alcohol
  4. Clean your LCD monitor with an e-cloth (do not use kitchen towels as this can damage the surface). If you have a glass CRT monitor, you can use a glass cleaner (not alcohol as this can damage the surface).

This cleaning routine can be done every 6 months (or 3 months if you smoke or have pets at home).

How to keep your sponges clean as new

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With the daily cleaning of counter tops, hobs and sinks our sponges and cloths in the kitchen tend to have a very short life span. And that is not even talking about the build up of germs, which makes them smell like something out of this world!

Do you want to leave your kitchen sponges and brushes clean and ready to use the following day?

Then put them on the top rack of your dishwasher when you run it. You will see the difference!

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”!