Tuesday 30 August 2016

How to Ensure That You Always Have a Clean Home


A clean home that looks amazing helps reduce stress. Also, a well organised and neat environment increases your productivity. Rely on a house cleaning company which can produce stunning result with a minimum of disruption, and a high degree of care and skilfulness.

The home cleaner will be doing weekly or fortnightly cleaning, but here are some habits you should inculcate to keep your house well organised, tidy and inviting:

1. Arrange Your Clothes in an Orderly Way
All your clothes should have an assigned place, and ensure that they go there at the end of the day! So, you need not to search throughout the house, one room after another for a particular matching pair of socks or jeans and shirt.

2. Use Dishwasher Smartly
Make a habit of unloading the dishwasher before breakfast so that you can put the dirty dishes straightway into the dishwasher. This is to avoid piles of dirty dishes in the sink or on the countertop. Your dishwasher will be full by the time dinner is over, and then turn it on before bed.

3. Get Rid of Unwanted Stuff
Don’t keep on accumulating old clothes, decoration lights etc. in your home. Just have a check when you have free time and threw out extra items you no longer require. Also give away old but useful items to charity or organise a garage auction.

If you want to feel the freshness of a clean, orderly home, say no to clutter!

4. Make Your Bed Everyday
Making your bed in the morning gives you the satisfaction of a small job perfectly completed - make up your bed, put away clothes, fluff up pillows, and declutter up the bedroom. This can create a positive spirit and confidence which will continue to make you feel good for the whole day.

This way you also set a good example for other family members and they’ll also follow suit.

5. Keep Your Papers, Bills and Receipts Organized
If you find it difficult to manage stacks of bills and mails piling up all over your home then you need to do something urgently! Don’t’ keep papers hanging around the house- file them intact!

Follow a daily routine for organizing paperwork- file the bills after making the payments. When bills come in, put them in one place and after you’ve paid the bills, file immediately.  If you want to refer menus, coupons and the likes, secure them at a separate place where you can easily access them.

6. Use a Vacuum
If children and pets are in the home, you should dedicate sometime for daily vacuum cleaning- vacuum the high-traffic and pet area. Pets leave hair, dander, dirt and allergens all over the place and it can cause diseases.

7. Wipe down Surfaces in Your Kitchen
It’s essential to wipe down countertops, sink, the front of cupboards, and stove top after every use.  It takes only a few seconds to do a quick wipe of the area you just used to make it tidy and germ free.

8. Give Special Attention to Bathrooms & Toilets
Wash and sanitise sinks, countertops, showers, tubs and toilets and ensure they are sparkling clean. Spray a general purpose cleaner into the tub area and let it stay there (for dissolving oil and soap scum) while you start cleaning the rest of the bathroom. Use tile brushes for tile grout cleaning and a used toothbrush for removing build-up deposits around tub fixtures and faucet.

For many people, toilet cleaning remains the most hated house cleaning chore. Either you’ll have to assign the job to a professional home cleaner or learn some tips to manage it. Either way, it’s mandatory to keep the toilet clean and hygienic.

9. Put Your Shoes and Coats Away
It’s nice to remove shoes at the door and put them away neatly in a wardrobe or closet. This way you can prevent dirt and germs entering your house.  

Adopting a regular, healthy home cleaning habit will keep your home neat and clean and will minimise the psychological stress associated with messy homes. 

If you find the above home cleaning tasks quite tedious, email Select Cleaning Company  or call them on 0800 000 907 and they’ll discuss your cleaning requirements. Currently they service Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hamilton.

Select Home Cleaning Company’s background checked and insured cleaning professionals also undergo in-person assessments after getting feedback from clients. Home cleaners with good ratings from the customers only will be retained on their platform. This pays high dividends as Select Cleaning continues to receive reviews and comments from happy customers across New Zealand and Australia.

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Regular House Cleaning Checklist with Select Cleaning Specifications


You can schedule regular cleaning every week or fortnightly based on your requirements. You may also decide to clean it yourself or call a home cleaning expert as the situation demands. If you go for the second option, always ensure that you call a reputed home cleaner in New Zealand or Australia to meet your unique needs.

Given below is a standard house cleaning checklist as per Select Cleaning Specifications which will ensure you are stepping into a clean house every time you come home!

Kitchen
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom
  • Clean around stove top
  • Clean top and front of fridge & microwave
  • Scrub around taps with toothbrush
  • Clean plug hole with plug hole brush
  • Wash out sink with cream scourers
  • Vacuum floor
  • Mop from back of room to front
  • Check corners & edges
  • Leave all surfaces dry

Dining Room
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom
  • Dust & spot clean anything in middle of room
  • Vacuum floor
  • Mop from back of room to front (if required)
  • Check corners & edges

Lounge
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom 20 Dust & spot clean anything in middle of room
  • Vacuum floor
  • Mop from back of room to front (if required)

Halls/Stairs
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom 25 Dust & spot clean anything in middle of room
  • Mop from back of room to front (if required)
  • Vacuum floor

Bedrooms
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom 30 Dust & spot clean anything in middle of room
  • Mop from back of room to front (if required) 32 Vacuum floor
  • Laundry
  • Remove all cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working left to right & top to bottom
  • Spot clean front of appliances
  • Scrub around tapes with toothbrush
  • Clean plug hole with plug hole brush
  • Wash out sink with cream scourers
  • Leave all surfaces dry
  • Sweep/vacuum floor
  • Mop floor
  • Check corners & edges

Bathrooms & Toilets
  • Put mats outside door
  • Flush toilet & spray with disinfectant / cleaner
  • Check bathroom for cobwebs
  • Dust & spot clean working around room
  • Clean mirror
  • Clean around edges of tap and unit with toothbrush
  • Clean plug hole with plug hole brush
  • Clean top of vanity with disinfectant / cleaner
  • Clean basin bowl with clean scourer & rinse
  • Dry all of top including chrome taps
  • Spot clean base of hand basin & cupboards
  • With toilet brush fully scrub inside of toilet & S-bend
  • Spray disinfectant / cleaner over entire toilet & floor area behind & to sides
  • Wipe Cistern including back
  • Wipe behind toilet and all pipes
  • Wipe outside of bowl
  • Leave toilet outside dry, especially seat
  • Clean toilet brush holder
  • Clean rubbish bin
  • Clean scales
  • Mop floor from back of room to front
  • Check corners & edges & behind doors
  • Scrub corners with Doodlebug

Showers/Baths
  • Check base for mould & spray with bleach/punch
  • Spray walls with zest & scrub with pad
  • Clean chrome fittings & soap dish with toothbrush
  • Spray glass walls/doors with zest & scrub with pad
  • Use toothbrush to clean shower door tracks
  • Wash down 4 walls with shower head or bucket & cup
  • Squeegee walls dry & dry chrome fittings
  • Clean base of shower / bath with cream scourer & pad –Clean drain
  • Wash away scourer & dry floor / bath
  • Clean outside glass as needed with glass cleaner
  • Wipe outside ledge of shower base

Finish
  • Straighten magazines
  • Close doors
  • Set Alarm
  • Lock main door

Select Cleaning always want 100 percent quality output and customer satisfaction. They’ll provide you with a communication book to record any specific instructions or issues you want to notify the home cleaner. This is done for the cleaning company to check and improve the quality of their service.

You can call Select Cleaning now on 0800 000 907 for a free home cleaning quote in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hamilton.

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Easy Tips to Keep Your Home Sparkling Clean & Germ Free



Kitchen Cabinet Goo & Gunk Remover
A lot of grime and grease get collected on your kitchen cabinets as time goes by. Here’s a magic solution to make your kitchen cabinets shine like new. Take one part vegetable oil and two parts baking soda and mix together using a spoon. This will form a thick paste and apply it onto the dirty spots, especially near the handles. Scrub the area with a toothbrush to get the gunk out of the cabinets!

Always remember to wipe out the cabinets as soon as spills and drips occur. This will reduce the formation of thick layers of dirt.

Dishwasher Cleaner
Make sure that the dishwasher is empty, then pour one cup of distilled white vinegar into the dishwasher and run a heavy clean cycle. Now sprinkle one cup baking soda in the bottom of the dishwasher and let it stay on overnight.

Next day morning, run an empty cycle to remove leftover food, grease, and soap scum. During cold season pour ¼ cup of bleach to the normal dish cycle to prevent bacterial infection.
A damp sponge sprinkled with baking soda can be used to wipe around the edges of the dishwasher. Do this on a weekly basis to clean all food particles and stain on the machine.

DIY Shower Head Cleaning
The idea is to soak your shower head using vinegar for about 15 to 30 minutes. Take a plastic bag (which will just fit over your showerhead) and fill it partway with equal parts of distilled white vinegar and water. Now wrap the polythene bag around the showerhead so that it is dipped fully in the vinegar. Ensure to tie a piece of string tightly around the plastic bag and the shower pipe so that it won’t fall off.

Take the bag off after 30 minutes and scrub the shower head with a toothbrush. Turn the water on and again clean with the old toothbrush.

How to Clean Shower Door Tracks
White vinegar can remove all traces of mould and mildew on tile grout. When handling vinegar, it’s advisable to wear cleaning gloves to prevent your skin absorbing the vinegar.

Spray the white vinegar on paper towels and lay them along the shower door tracks. After 30 minutes, you can remove the paper towels. Now use an old tooth brush to clean the loose grime.
Make a weekly and monthly cleaning schedule for your shower door and the door tracks respectively. And avoid soap scum build up by giving the shower door a quick wipe down after every shower.

Homemade Drain Cleaner
A mixture of baking soda and vinegar can perfectly clean the drains. First, pour two cups of boiling water down the drain after removing all water from the sink or tub. Now pour one cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a mix of one cup of white vinegar and one cup of hot water right on top and plug the drain immediately.

DIY Mattress Cleaner
Mix half cup baking soda with 12 to 15 drops of essential oils. Now spray it over the bed and rub the mixture into the bed. Leave it for one hour for the mixture to work on the dirt, residue and stains. Lastly, clean the mattress with a vacuum cleaner to remove all traces of baking soda and dirt. Now enjoy a good night’s sleep.
It’s also recommended to flip the mattress every six months to extend its life and prevent sagging.

Homemade Carpet Cleaner
Add one tablespoon of dish soap (that doesn’t contain bleach) to four litres of hot water. Then add one and a half tablespoons of distilled white vinegar and a quarter cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Your carpet cleaner is ready. To get a lovely fragrance on your carpets, you may add five to six drops of lemon essential oil to the carpet cleaning mixture.

This carpet cleaner will also work well for cleaning your mattresses.

Always keep in mind that these DIY techniques and easy tips are for assisting you with normal house cleaning chores. However, for removing stubborn stains and ensuring perfect cleaning, you should consult a licensed home cleaning company to work around your schedule for weekly/fortnightly home cleaning or one-off house cleaning.

Tuesday 9 August 2016

DIY Home Cleaning Tips and When to Call the Pros


It’s better to do cleaning and housekeeping works daily rather than saving everything for one big cleaning task. Get into a daily house cleaning routine: making the bed, doing the dishes after every meal or at least at the end of the day, and sweeping the kitchen floor. This will ensure that your house looks fresh and cleaner every day! 

Make Your Own Window Cleaner
You need not to use fancy window and mirror cleaning sprays- they are not only costly, but also inefficient for cleaning stubborn stains. Take one and a half cup of water, and one and half teaspoon each of white vinegar and rubbing alcohol in a mug. Put three drops of peppermint essential oil into the mixture and fill it in a spray bottle. Your homemade cleaner is ready – now spray it on windows and wipe with a lint-free cloth such as a microfiber cloth.

To permanently remove the menace of water spots from glass shower door, rub it with lemon oil twice or thrice a month. The presence of lemon oil will cause the water to bead up and roll off, thereby keeping glass doors clear and shining.

Tea-Stain Your Fabric and Get Antique Creamy Look
You need not to throw badly stained kitchen towels. You can tea-dye them to get a new creamy brown colour and nice look. Take a metal bucket with boiled water and put five black tea bags in it for 10 minutes. Now take out the tea bags and put the stained linen in the tea mixture and stir gently.  Let it soak for 10 minutes or until you get the desired shade.

Now remove the fabric from the tea mixture and rinse well with warm water and dish soap. The approximate volume of water and the cloth size: 4 cups of water and 4 single cup tea bags will dye roughly 1 yard of fabric.

Wooden Furniture and Kitchen Cabinets
Use natural oils like lemon oil (Old English or Milsek) to revitalize the wood and continue to nourish and protect the wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets. The lemon oil will also help to remove wax build up along with water marks on the wood. Use a plain cloth to rub the oil into the wood and let it dry for 10 minutes or so.

Use flour-sack tea towels made of pure cotton in your kitchen for general cleaning. They are better than paper towels to dry glasses lint-free and to wipe down the stove.
Kitchen Sink

Sprinkle baking soda on the stains or on a damp rag and gently scrub to remove stains in sinks or to buff scuffs off floors. Another method is: make a paste of 1 cup borax and 1/4 cup lemon; apply it on a damp sponge to clean floor tiles and porcelain sinks.

You may not believe, but it's a fact that your dirty kitchen sink sometimes accommodates more bacteria than your toilet seat. That’s why we emphasise to call a quality house cleaner to thoroughly clean your kitchen and bathroom every weekly or fortnightly.

To disinfect the kitchen sink, first clean it with soap and water. Next, spray a mist of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide one after the other. Allow the sink to air-dry. Apply a few drops of mineral oil on a soft cloth and buff the stainless steel sink to avoid water build-up and mould growth. This will also make the sink looking clean and sparkling.

Calendar and Checklist for Yearly Special Cleaning
Ensure that you do the following cleaning tasks at least once a year: wash the windows inside and out; flip and vacuum your mattresses; deep-clean toilets, tub/shower, carpets, and the floors; change the furnace filter- it is better if you can do it twice a year.

These sophisticated cleaning tasks require expertise and hard work. It’s always good to get professional home cleaners to do the tough house cleaning chores. They will be doing it perfectly and so you need not to worry about hygiene and quality housekeeping. Also check with well known house cleaning companies for available cleaning packages that could save you some bucks too.

For your information, Select Home Cleaning provides dependable and affordable domestic house cleaning service that will leave your home looking great every time. This award winning home cleaner services Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington & Christchurch. Call them on 0800 000 907 for a free quote. 

Tuesday 2 August 2016

How to Keep Your Natural Stone Surfaces Spick-And-Span


The life period of natural stone surfaces in your home can be prolonged and its elegance preserved- if you just take adequate safety measures while cleaning and handling them.

General Guidelines for Care & Cleaning of Natural Stone
Natural stone surfaces such as countertop, bench top, vanity top, floor tiles etc. need regular cleaning to avoid the buildup of stains, mould and dirt. It’ll be better if you can keep cleaning cloths and mops separately for natural stones. Even though they are stones, natural stone surfaces are delicate and porous. You will have to be very careful about the cleaning products you use on stone surfaces.  

Vinegar, lemon juice or other cleaners containing acids should never be used on marble, granite, limestone and other natural stone surfaces.

A clean white cloth can be used for cleaning stone countertops while cotton mops are to be used for marble or other stone floors. Ensure to replace the cleaning cloth and the mop, well before they become outdated or damaged. 

Keep your stone floors and countertops clean on a regular basis and occasionally call expert home cleaners to clean and maintain them in a professional manner. You paid good money for your marble floor and granite countertop, now pay little more attention and invest time to clean them up properly. If people leave coffee mug circle stain on the stone surface unattended for long, we can’t blame the stone! And what result do we get? Stain marks that won’t go with normal cleaning!  

Another issue is natural stone surfaces get dull and worn out over time, even if you clean them regularly. Don’t worry; a well established home cleaning company can use appropriate cleaning and polishing/sealing methods to regain the shine and sheen on the stone surface. 

Care & Maintenance of Floor Tiles
Never use ceramic tile cleaners or the ones having acidic compounds on marbles and other stones for they can dull those surfaces.
While vacuuming natural stone floors, be careful not to allow metal components of the suction head coming into contact with the floor tiles and making scratches on the stone.

If some juice or acidic liquid spilled on the floor, quickly blot the liquid using a microfiber cloth- never wipe the affected area because it will help the harmful spill to get inside the stone through the porous surface. After blotting, give the area a good mopping to remove all traces of the spill.

Use furniture pads such as felt, rubber, cork, or plastic for chairs and heavy furniture to avoid scratching on the stone floor.

Bench Tops or Countertops
In order to prevent damage to stone bench tops, use coasters, trivets or placemats under glasses with citrus fruit juices or wine, and place hot-plates under heated dishes.

Blot (not wipe) the spills immediately with a clean cloth. Be attentive when there are guests with children.

For cleaning the stone bench top, first wet it with warm water, and then apply a neutral (pH-7) cleaner recommended by a reputed home cleaning company. Clean the bench top now with small overlapping sweeps and once it’s done, rinse the surface thoroughly with clean water. Then dry the surface with soft cloth. No traces of water or the cleaner should be left out because it’ll stain the bench top. 
Don’t use abrasive cleaning materials or chemicals as they can scratch your bench top. They will also dull the stone if used for long. 

Bathrooms and Toilets
Your toiletries such as perfumes, toothpaste and nail polish solvents etc. should be kept in a glass or ceramic tray to avoid spillage on the stone vanity top. If proper care is not taken, the stone surfaces in the bathrooms and toilets will get etched, and slowly the polish and sealants will be affected.

Ask your home cleaner what cleaning materials can be safely used on natural stone surfaces in your bath area.

At Select Home Cleaning Company, we do normal regular inside cleaning of homes. We also do spring cleaning and moving cleans. If your stone surfaces are severely stained or damaged, we can arrange to have them repaired or restored by affordable stone care professionals in our contact list. Call us now on 0800 000 907 for a FREE home cleaning quote- available now in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hamilton.