Bathroom Cleaning

Toothbrush mugs and holders harbour germs, so pop into the    dishwasher once a week.

A good tip to prevent mirrors steaming up is to wipe the mirrors    with a little vinegar, then wipe over with a dab of shampoo.

To prevent cross contamination use different cloths and rubber    gloves for cleaning in other areas of the house. A good way to do    this is to operate a colour coding system, say pink cloths and    gloves for toilet cleaning and other colours for the rest of the    house.

Try to clean your toilet in the following order: cistern, handle,    outside of bowl and u-bend, lid, seat, under seat, under rim,    inside toilet.

To maintain the tiles in your shower and to reduce the cleaning of    them, polish the affected area with car polish - this prevents the    dirt from sticking to them.

The steam created by a bath or shower makes easy work of    wiping the surfaces around the bathroom.

To remove lime and other mineral deposits from your shower    head, remove the head and place it in a pot containing a mixture    of equal parts white vinegar and water. Bring the mixture to a boil    and the lime and mineral deposits should come right off.


To remove mildew and clean your rubber nonslip bath mat, rub it    with an old toothbrush dipped in bleach.

Here are two good uses for Alka Seltzer when cleaning. First one    is to take two tablets and drop them in the toilet wait 30 seconds    and flush. This will leave your toilet sparkling. The next is to use it    to clean your china, the citric acid and the bubbling action cleans    china spotless.

To make chrome surfaces shine, scrub with a cotton ball soaked    in rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.


Kitchen Cleaning

If you don't remember your kettle during your regular kitchen    cleaning ritual, lime and other minerals will embed itself to the    sides of the kettle. If this becomes the case, boil one part vinegar    and one part water in the kettle, turn off the heat, and let stand    overnight. The next morning your kettle will be clean as a whistle.

An open box of baking soda in the back of the fridge will prevent    smells.

Keep you dishwasher clean by running it empty every so often,    try adding half a cup of vinegar or some baking soda to the    dishwasher before running it.

Put pots of herbs (basil and mint) on the windowsill to deter flies.

Baking soda on a damp sponge removes grease easily from    stove, back splash etc.

Cleaning stainless steel is simple: just wipe with undiluted    vinegar. The result will be that, after rubbing and washing with    warm soapy water post application, nice and shiny stainless steel    will result.

To remove a black skid mark caused by shoes on your linoleum    simply use an eraser to gently lift it off. (Rubbing with a wet cloth    will not remove it).

To remove a stain from marble simply pour a puddle of neat    bleach and leave for approx 20 minutes, wipe clean.

The easiest way to remove cooked on food, for instance    scrambled egg, from a pan is to soak it for a couple of hours with    some Biological washing detergent and some warm (not hot)    water. The enzymes in the detergent will digest the egg, and it    will wipe off easily. No more scrubbing.


Carpet Cleaning

Clean animal hairs off stair carpet - wear a rubber glove and wet    it. Rub over area and hair sticks to glove.

Here's a nice simple but effective tip for you on how to remove a    red wine spillage. The answer is to actually use white wine on a    cloth and apply to spillage - it may sound odd using more wine on    another wine spillage, but it works. You should find that the stain    vanishes quickly.

To fix a cigarette burn in a carpet, brush the pile of the carpet    with a brush, now put a little glue in the hole and use some of the    fluff from the brush to plug up the hole. It will look as good as    new. But remember to allow the glue to harden properly before    you hoover.

If you spill a drink on the carpet, just grab a towel and stand on it    to soak up the liquid. Its magic.

To remove chewing gum from your carpet put ice cubes on    chewing gum, and it will be able to be removed more easily. The    ice causes the chewing gum to loosen its grip on the material,    meaning that the chewing gum will be lifted off easily.

Moving an item of furniture to another position you notice the    deep indentations it has left in your carpet. To remedy this simply    place an ice cube in each indentation and leave to soak in. After    24+ hours the carpet should be restored to its former    appearance.

Coffee stains on carpet are tricky, but you should still be able to    remove the stain by using dry-cleaning solvent. Blot the stain    using a clean cloth, replacing the cloth as necessary whenever it    gets saturated.