How to Keep Your Home More Organized and Germ-Free

When taking the services of a home cleaning company, ensure that their cleaners are insured and they provide all cleaning supplies and equipment necessary for the job. A good idea is to ask the company whether their home cleaners are vetted and customer recommended.

The secret to happiness: Not having to clean your house thoroughly will remove a lot of stress in your life and also will free up a lot of time for you!

Tips for Mopping Timber Floors

Timber flooring is very appealing, but you’ll have to take extra care to maintain it in good shape. Avoid the use of hot water on wood floors, and wipe out all traces of water after cleaning. Wet patches will stain the wood and can even result in expanded and warped boards.

Mats are to be placed at outside and inside of exterior doors to avoid dirt and germs entering your home. If you don’t remove the shoes at the doorstep, the tracked-in dirt could spoil a wood floor's finish.

Put floor protectors under furniture and rugs in children’s play areas to avoid getting marks and scratches on the wood floor. While vacuuming, give utmost care to prevent scratches- use only floor-brush attachment to the vacuum cleaner, not the beater bar attachment. Ensure that you are using the correct mop and mopping technique while cleaning timber floors.

One should understand that the weekly dust mopping won’t remove the stubborn dirt, pet stains, oil, and grime build up and scratch marks on a wooden flooring. For this, take the services of a professional home cleaning company which uses appropriate cleaning products. Trying to clean a very dirty wooden floor yourself with the help of DIY tips using sandpaper, steel wool, or harsh chemicals will result in permanent damage to the soft finish.

Removing Germs from Your Kitchen

Make it a point to keep your kitchen tables and countertops clutter free. When cooking raw meat and fish, avoid using cloth towels as they hold more germs- keep disposable towels handy. After preparing meat and fish, it’s advisable to disinfect your kitchen sink to prevent the growth of germs and harmful bacteria.  Keep the knives, spoons and plates dry so as to avoid mould growth. 

Kitchen floor is another vulnerable spot easily infected by large colonies of germs, so daily cleaning is a must. Make use of an antibacterial and disposable mopping system to make your kitchen floors sparkling without germs. 

Lastly, clean all the surfaces in the kitchen and dispose of food leftovers after the meals. Wash the dishes or put them in the dishwasher. Once all areas including stovetop are cleaned, clean and disinfect the sink and faucet. Remember to regularly clean the sponges if you use them in the kitchen. 

Organising Your Bedroom 

Every day morning one should make the bed, and declutter the bedroom. Put away dirty clothes, and ensure that reading materials, glasses, dishes, toys, etc. go to their proper places. 

If you have sufficient time and the mood to clean the bedroom yourself rather than calling a professional cleaner, then do the following on a weekly basis: 

Dust the dressers, vanities, nightstand, picture frames, armours and chests; sweep and clean the floor- or if carpets and rugs are there, vacuum them. 

And on a monthly basis, you can do the following to keep the bedroom neat and tidy: 

Remove the curtains and wash them. Rotate and flip the mattress to prevent sagging in the areas mostly used while sleeping – for this, rotate the mattress 90 degrees and then raise it on its edge, and lower the mattress over so that the other side comes upward.  Don’t forget to vacuum underneath the bed and open the windows and doors to allow all the dust and dirty air out. 

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Home Cleaning and Maintenance Tips from the Professionals

Routine Home Maintenance Checks

You should remember that there are some home maintenance tasks that may cause bigger trouble or even worse, cost you big money, if you don’t check them in a timely manner.

• Sump Pump – If they are not routinely checked (at least every six months) for their functionality, you may face frequent flooding in your basement.
• Water Pressure gauge - Check for high water pressure in your house water pipe lines. If it’s more, fixtures and appliances may get affected.  
• Weep holes - Check and clean window weep holes at times. If they are clogged, rainwater will enter your house.
• Heaters -Routinely drain sediment from your water heater, if there is a provision.
• Garage - Lubricate the garage door-springs occasionally for smooth functioning.

Daily Home Organising Tasks

Here are 5 things you should do every day to keep your house clean, organized and germ-free.

1. Effective decluttering: Put things in order as and when you see them strewn all over the place. Keep bins, baskets and cubbies at convenient places so that everything in your house has a proper place.  

When children and others in the house come to know that everything has a place to go and you do replace them regularly, they will also have a tendency to place things back to its place.

2. Properly arranging the paperworks: Proper handling of all physical mails such as forms, letters, bills, reports etc. - if done efficiently, you won’t face the issue of getting them accumulated on the countertops, bedroom tables etc.

3. Keep countertops neat & clean: You should ensure that all the sinks and countertops are wiped down at least once daily- the ones in the kitchen may require frequent cleaning as the need arises. This will avoid any crusty gunk accumulating around the edges of the sink, behind the faucets, and in or around the drain. This gets rid of colonies of germs settling in your kitchen.

If you can manage washing the dishes daily, it’ll be a great advantage. Washed dishes, clean countertops and sinks all create a good feel of cleanliness everywhere.

4. Take out the trash: Make it a habit to take out the kitchen trash every night. This will not only keeps harmful bacteria and bad smell away, but also makes your house seem cleaner in the next day morning...

Good to try this to have a fresh smell near the trash: drop a dryer sheet into the bottom of the empty can before you put in the new bag.

5. Sweep the floors: A clean floor is what adds up to the overall cleanliness of your home.  You need not to vacuum daily, but dust out and sweep the floor whenever you can.

It’s good to add two more points to those daily things to do: Always make your bed and keep a clean kitchen sink. You may not have much time to clean but these tips give the appearance of an orderly, clean home.

Bathroom Cleaning

Use clever tricks to remove soap scum from your bath area.  It’s not that easy to get rid of soap scum if you don’t follow instructions from an expert home cleaner.  Soap scum forms a tough film on tiles in tub and showers and won’t get removed by rubbing alone. Use a plastic putty knife to scrape off the scum when the surface is dry. If you are okay, you may use synthetic soaps which don’t form scum.

Cleaning and Maintaining Stone Floors

Natural stone surfaces are delicate and porous too. Marble is softer than granite, and so it is very easily etched by acids and citric juices. Even water drops left after mopping can cause water stains on marble.

If a spill occurred, quickly blot the spill to minimise their absorption into the stone’s inner layers. Place doormats at all entrances to minimise dirt and other particles lingering to the stone floors. Also ensure to dry up marble floors with a towel after cleaning. If you leave the floors to air dry, there are chances that the marble may get water spots and stains.

Never use strong detergents for cleaning marble or other natural stone floors. The chemical content in the detergent could harm the stone and also dull the polished surface. Always use the gentlest methods to clean marble and other delicate stone surfaces. Consult a stone restoration specialist or a reliable home cleaning company in New Zealand for tips to maintain stone floors and counters.

Follow the Stipulated Hygiene Standards for Your Healthy Home

As we spend over 80% of our time indoors, we should make it a point to reduce the presence of a wide variety of micro-organisms in our home. The air we breathe should be fresh and oxygen rich without harmful germs. Frequent and thorough hand washing with soap and then drying by a clean towel is necessary when you’re working in the kitchen or spending too much time indoors.

For strictly adhering to the hygiene standards of healthy living, let’s look into different areas in the home where you need to concentrate more. 

Doormats

The doormat placed outside the main door harbours bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. which can cause infectious diseases. These germs can easily enter your living area from the doormats in many ways. Keeping your shoes outside can prevent the free flow of germs to a great extent.  Nylon yard or polypropylene mats have the quality to collect most of the dust particles from the shoes.

It’s thus clear that more attention should be given to doormats while cleaning the house. Inculcate good hygiene practice by vacuuming the mats weekly and washing them neatly on a monthly basis.  Use a standard disinfectant spray while cleaning the mats.

Kitchen Dish Towels and Germs

A new study reveals that kitchen dish towels contain more bacteria than any other place in our homes. Damp dish towels, even those cute embroidered ones, are breeding grounds for germs.  People working in the kitchen have the tendency to touch the towel too often and that too sometimes even before washing the hands after handling raw meat. This causes the towel to be contaminated with bacteria.

Replace kitchen dish towels daily or at least on those days you cook. This is to avoid bacteria in an area in your home that needs to be the most hygienic place.  Stock up on alcohol wipes could also cut down on bacteria.

Cell Phone Usage in the Kitchen

It’s advisable to keep your smart phone out of the kitchen. People have a tendency to grab the mobile while cooking. Bacteria are sure to infest your phone and you’ll transfer them to all the places you and your phone move!

Kitchen Sink

Don’t get surprised if some tests by microbiologists prove that your kitchen sink is dirtier than even the toilet seat as far as harmful microorganisms are concerned! Some studies said around 500,000 bacteria per square inch can be found in a kitchen sink. A sink, where raw meat, dairy products or other things contaminated with bacteria are handled, easily becomes breeding ground for large colonies of the bacteria and poses a health risk.

Because dirty dishes are rinsed and washed frequently, there will be higher levels of moisture in the kitchen sink. This creates ideal conditions for heavy bacteria buildup.  So make it a point to wipe down your kitchen sink frequently.  

Water Filters

Not all types of bacteria are harmful. Many organisms, including some varieties of bacteria, are found in drinking water. They normally pose no health concern. But you have to be careful about E.coli, Coliform Bacteria, Salmonella & and other such disease causing microbes. 

A free-standing ceramic filter can be used on a countertop or under the sink filter housing. Some standard water filters use four-stage purification to cleans the water of bacteria and viruses.

Floors

Know where harmful bacteria lurk in your home. Floors occupy most of the space and face maxium foot traffic in your home, so they naturally contain large colonies of bacteria.  Vacuum the floor regularly and sweep it at least once in a week with a good disinfectant cleaner. 

Pets

If you have pets, learn the safety precautions and special cleaning procedures to follow so that you can control the levels of bacteria and fungi inside the house.

Bedding and Carpets

Wash your bedding on a weekly basis and vacuum the carpets regularly. Maintain a routine cleaning timetable for the carpets and beddings as they harbour dust-mites and other allergens.

Occasionally call a professional home cleaning company in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington & Christchurch to safeguard the well being and healthful life of your family members.