Category: Basic Cleaning

For some people, cleaning up for hours at a time is totally therapeutic and they absolutely love it.   A life time ago, I used to live in a large house that had been turned into flats.  One of my ‘floor mates’ was a nurse and she revelled in her evening off.   From the yanking out of the furniture into the centre of the room to rolling up the rugs, she could be heard singing heartily as she worked.  We were all familiar with every stage of Operation Bottoming Out, from lugging all her rugs down to the landlady’s garden to be hung over the washing line ready for a beating – I think she used to take out her grievances with Matron just for twenty minutes or so.  After that excitement we had dusting of every surface she could reach.  Then the long handled duster for those she couldn’t. . .  The metal mop bucket was then lugged around with steaming hot water into which was poured enough floral wafting disinfectant to kill off a pandemic – ho ho, she could have killed off Covid19 in a heartbeat!  Her grotty little kitchenette used to sparkle all the time.  Shame her enthusiastic endeavours failed to make satisfactory impression on my cleaning skills!

When we look at the basics, just getting the house tidy is one step in the right direction for someone who feels overwhelmed after a heavy Christmas and New Year festive period.  There are some folk out there who relish the chance to get their rubber gloves on and run that bowl of steaming hot suds – scrubbing brush in hand, ready to attack the deep clean.  They can’t imagine not having a go at an early spring clean the moment those decorations are boxed up and the tree retired for another year.  I personally feel a more gentle approach is best.  Making sure the carpets get a thorough vacuum, including under all the chairs and furniture.  Dusting down the pictures, mirrors and solid surfaces first will help cut a job later but sometimes this crates more loose dust which will need another vacuum later.  Trying to work out which rooms need the most urgent clean up is key to ensuring all rooms do get done, but by planning and listing, you only do each once and not waste energy!

I belong to a couple of social groups, one specifically for women and the other is not confined to but currently attracts only women and of the much older variety.  In the last year as we have been making our way out of the global illness,  I have noticed a sea change from most of them grabbing the chocolate prizes in the weekly raffles to choosing the hand cleaners and body washes.  Our need to brush up on personal hygiene and remember to wash our hands far more often has actually made us realise how much more we can do to stop germs.  I am absolutely certain that older men resent being told to wash more – just like when they were little boys no doubt.  I have witnessed many times, when confronted by a cruise attendant in a buffet, they step around them to avoid the indignity of the public wash basin.  I’m not sure what they’re like at home.   Dread to think.  But hand washing, with proper bars of soap or endless plastic tubs of hand wash, is essential to helping to stop germs spreading.

One of the things I’ve discovered this year is a hand washing product that looks normal in the bottle, but as soon as you pump a little to use, it comes out as a foam – it needs a little running water to really start the hand washing proper.  It’s much nicer to use than the normal glutinous gells or hard bars of soap, both of which do leave an obvious scum whereas the foam does not.  This makes the washbasin much more appealing for the next person to use it.  I’ve also found that the foam wash doesn’t make my hands sore in any way, whereas constant hand washing with other products did have the effect of drying out my hands to the extent that they started to crack.  Very painful, requiring unperfumed, sensitive skin hand lotion.   I also found that at work, more men used the new hand cleaner than ever used the other products, so maybe they are fussier than I gave them credit for!

When this strange pandemic first hit us way back in 2020, the initial advice was just to wash our hands for more than 20 seconds at a time under running water, to ensure germs could not be passed on.  This should have been happening all the time anyway after bathroom and toilet trips but humans are lazy and having to retrain adults is harder than with children.  Getting more organised with a cleaning routine is essential.  Everyone must rinse around basins after teeth and hand cleaning – a pack of wipes nearby will encourage this – and then disposing in the bin.  Washing the towels daily and all flannels, sponges etc. also cuts spread of germs.  Encouraging all in each household to take responsibility for putting their crocks straight into the dishwasher will cut the mess left on the table and around the sink.  In fact, learning to clear up as we cook, so there is less mess to start with is an ever better plan.

There is a train of thought suggesting that being too clean is not always healthy but I suspect this is retained mainly by those too lazy to see to the regular cleaning and sanitising of their little palace of glittering delights!  I had a colleague who hadn’t acquainted herself with the finer points of kitchen hygiene for some years and yet proved you can build up an immunity to germ warfare by just living amongst them!  For most of us though, this is not possible.  So if time is short, always spend a few minutes on a basic daily routine. Turn back the duvet whilst you ablute and dress.   Always flush the toilet and pop down some bleach.  After doing teeth and showering, always have a quick rinse round with hot water and bathrom cleaner.  Then dry off with an e-cloth, these simple steps done every day will really revolutionise your lifestyle.  Retyurn to the bedroom and make the bed – a duvet & pillows don’t take much shaking.  Check the room before leaving.   Then bask in your satisfied glory.

Let’s face it, when faced with the chance to go out for a while with the family pooch, as one of the current acceptable ‘exercise past times, the result is always a jolly fresh approach to the rest of the day.  The mind is often cleared of those annoying little time eating niggles.  There is one  drawback to this wonderful dog shaped past time – despite a great deal of brushing poochy with towels and other cleaning implements, there is still a lot of stuff gets deposited on the carpets and floors.  The way to handle this is to sweep round hard floors often – it’s amazing how long it takes for stray fur to float up into the air and then come down on the furniture and carpets.  Buying a vacuum with an  ‘animal’ setting will be helpful too – the extra cleaning action does help remove more hair than standard cleaners.   Wiping around hard surfaces with a cloth wrung out in disinfectant will also clear germs that come with the doggy fall out!

Things are really getting difficult with Covid 19 currently.   The problems are with virus mutations – this used to be the stuff of science fiction.  Books from my youth would play on peoples’ fears over this very eventuality.  No one in the sci fi books or films every seems to make much of the cleaning services needed to keep a place in tip top hygienic condition and free of as many germs as its physically possible to make it.   The very basics of cleaning should be to ensure the bathrooms are cleaned often during the day.  Even if its only a wash round the basin and loos with soapy water, using separate cleaning cloths!   Using cotton cleaning cloths are good as they can be put in a hot machine wash.  Anywhere that food is stored, prepared and eaten will need to be cleaned down very regularly.  It’s not difficult but takes much more time than we probably usually spend doing these essentials.

It’s obvious that we are now all much more aware of the need to keep ourselves and our homes cleaner than we were perhaps used to.   I have learned the hard way there is a right way to clean and a very wrong way.  Take my ensuite basin for example, I must have used a product which is not designed for  vitrous enamel – the lovely smooth shiny finish has gradually become rough and dull, probably through my habit of liberally spraying with gay abandon and forgetting to go back and rinse it off.  The damage is permanent unless I pay for a restoration job.  It will be much cheaper to replace the basin.  But it is a lesson well and truly learned.  Now, because I live in a hard water area, I use a product specifically manufactured to cut through hard water residue that marks surfaces such as in washrooms and kitchens.  But it needs spraying round, scrubbing with non abrasive sponge/scrubby and then rinsing off immediately.

With the gradual return to working life post pandemic restrictions, there are many rules in place to secure and maintain the safety of workers and customers in every environment.  The main thrust will be to reinforce the notion of a cleaning process.  All workplaces must be cleaned far more frequently with more time gien to high contact areas, for example door handles, keyboards, hand rails, lift buttons, tills etc etc.  All employers must provide handwashing facilities and or hand sanitisers at every entry and exit point.  They will also need to display a government certificate to show they have followed the official government guidance.   The guidelines are very detailed but all companies must adhere to the cleaning processes constantly.  Obviously, as with all aspects of life, there will be company bosses who cut corners and just break the rules.  We’ve already seen many examples of this in hotspots around the country.  Sweatshops where non english speakers pretend not to be aware of the rules.  No matter how carefully worded guidance is, for those who don’t want to comply, they’ll ruin it all for the rest of us!