Home Hygiene and Family Health - Tips and Best Practices

Ms Sue Chetwin, chief executive of Consumer NZ, said in a meeting that 68% of people who attended their latest home survey picked healthcare costs as their biggest concern for the future. Home ownership costs and water quality were close behind.

Health care costs can be reduced by preventing diseases caused by unclean atmosphere in the home premises. This means that maintaining a clean home environment is an important point you should always keep in mind. Unclean homes can contribute to unhealthy children and disease-prone aged family members.

How to keep the home perfectly clean is however a million dollar question! Over 3 million children (below 5 years) die annually due to environment-related causes, a data collection with the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed. It is therefore advisable to do away with air pollutants, mould, contaminated water, household waste, and accumulated dirt & debris from our homes. However, we need not pay heed to the countless advertisements that solely promote a wide collection of antibacterial cleaners waiting to be sold in the supermarket shelves.

So what should you use other than the antibacterial stuff to clean the surfaces in your home to get a clean and healthy environment? Regular detergent, if possible environment-friendly, and water are sufficient to maintain hygiene, provided you follow the correct home cleaning procedures. 

Child health and home hygiene

Inadequately maintained indoor and outdoor areas in your home with overcrowding and clutter can adversely influence a child’s mental focus and physical development capabilities.

A health research published in a recent edition of the Journal of Neuroscience clarified that excessive clutter will lead to over-stimulation and eventually cause slower learning attitude in toddlers. It also said an overcrowded environment makes the children lazy and withdrawn.

A clean home with neatly arranged rooms emanating a pleasant smell, will contribute greatly to your child’s academic performance. Also a clean, germ-free home will improve the immune system of the child.

About 5,000 students in high school were surveyed in a recent study, which confirmed that children living in clean homes obtained higher grades than students who were not. Almost 80% of the students who got top grades revealed that their home had a clean and pleasant scent, while over 30% (with poor grades) admitted that their homes were not kept orderly and had an unpleasant odour. It’s thus clear that a clean home environment is inevitable for the better future of your children.

How to efficiently manage your home cleaning

It’s a challenge for working class parents to manage daily housekeeping and cleaning of their homes. For them, money is not much a big issue, but time is. They need to look for reliable, quality cleaners to maintain their homes in perfect shape. They will be happy if they can get a security checked and dependable cleaner who’ll clean their house safely in their absence too.

Even if one person in the family is a home maker, you’ll find that a Herculean effort will be needed to maintain a house with kids and elderly people. If it really feels beyond you, cleaning companies in New Zealand such as Select Clean can provide help on an hourly or calendar basis like weekly or fortnightly cleaning. They also have special cleaning packages to suit the seasons and particular occasions.

Check out various home cleaning activities and price ranges at Select Cleaning. You can visit their website to know their cleaning standard, company’s security measures, and the training they provide to home cleaners in New Zealand and Australia. Also, watch a comprehensive video on all their home cleaning tasks & house maintenance ideas. Get your free home cleaning quote now by calling Select Cleaning on 0800 000 907 and give your children one less thing to complain about!

How to Use Your Dishwasher Properly – Some Awesome Dishwasher Tips

Modern dishwashers need less energy to run. Save money using a dishwasher as it also consumes about seven times less water than washing your dishes by hand. It makes your life at least a little bit happier too as there won’t be any more daily evening fight over who is washing and who's drying!

Do you pre-rinse your dishes?

Stubborn stains such as starch stains from breakfast, rice and pasta as well as proteins such as meat and eggs are not easy to remove with your normal dishwasher cycle. What you can do is scraping or wiping all food particles from dirty dishes before loading in the dishwasher. In fact, Food Hygiene Regulations also require scraping of plates before they’re washed by dishwashing machines.

You need not to rinse the dishes before loading them in the dishwasher unless they are very heavily soiled with baked or dried on food. In such case of heavily soiled cookware with baked-on grime, you can use Pre-Rinse Spray units of recognised companies which consume very less water and are very effective using only cold water. If you don’t have Pre-Rinse Spray units, avoid pre-rinsing your dishes, just scrape off any large food scraps before putting the plates in the dishwasher.    

Draining the dishwasher

Drain the dishwasher at least once daily and any time it’s left idle for more than a few hours. Drain the machine soon after a wash cycle so it’ll be still hot to drain all dirty wash water and oils etc. in the water. If at any time you see that the dishwasher overflows onto the floor, check the drain system for any blockage. Select Home Cleaning can recommend expert plumbers who’ll rectify the blocked drain of your dishwasher without overcharging.

Clean your dishwasher at least once in a month

The grease, soap scum and food debris that build up in dishwashers encourage the growth of germs and affect the efficiency of the machine. So, it’s necessary to clean a dishwasher from time to time or at least once in a month. If you have any doubts about cleaning the dishwasher, consult a reputed home cleaning company in New Zealand.

What’s the proper way to load your dishwasher?

Avoid making common dishwasher loading mistakes and get maximum sterilisation. Remember, there is a right and wrong way to load a dishwasher. Stick to the basic rules. Load the bottom rack with large soiled dishes so they get good water flow and effective cleaning. The bottom rack is also specifically designed to hold the dishes in a way that allows more number of plates to fit in and also ensure hot water easily passes through them.

Place the cups, glasses, and bowls at an angle so water can run off the bottoms and dry properly.  This way they also don’t take up too much room.Load Tupperware and all other plastic items on the top rack if your dishwasher has an exposed heating element.

How hot should be the water to get optimal cleaning?

For the dishwashers to perform their best and get you really clean dishes, you need to keep the hot water at 120 degrees F, the ideal temperature to dissolve food stains.

Dishwasher detergent

It’s advisable to use tablets, or small pre-measured gel packs called pods, which are known to clean the dishes best, without leaving behind water spots, film, or discoloration as it happens with powder detergents. New Zealand Hygiene Regulations require the use of liquid detergents and automatic injectors in dishwashers.

Note that all dishwashing machine detergents are hazardous and so they are to be stored safely out of the reach of young children.

Quick Fixes and Home Improvement Skills Every Adult Should Know

  

To be part of a well-functioning place to call home, you have to be able to fix damages/ breakage or should know how to make them alright by hiring a professional home maintenance service.

Today we want to discuss some simple house maintenance activities every adult should master so they can manage their homes in good condition without spending much.

Unclog a smelly and blocked drain

Blocked drains can be cleared with the following easy technical method. First, remove the stopper by loosening the horizontal rod that goes into the drain pipe. Now bend a piece of stiff wire to make a hook, and use it to locate and fish out the clog. A wad of hair and soap scum near the top of the drain can be easily removed this way without applying any chemicals.

If the drain is still clogged, you can unclog it naturally using household items. Pour quarter to half a cup of alkaline baking soda onto the drain. Add one cup of white vinegar after 20 minutes. The acidic vinegar and the alkaline soda generate a chemical reaction resulting in the release of oxygen which will be forced into the mix and scour the drain pipe. Finally when the chemical reaction is over, pour enough boiling water into the drain to flush it clean.

The baking soda-vinegar method is environment-friendly and the cheapest cleaning idea you can ever try. This way you can also avoid using harsh chemicals that may leave odours and residue in your sinks.

Precautions while hanging wall art and mirrors

The wall art or a mirror can enhance your home decor by highlighting a focal point or an architectural detail.

You can easily learn how to hang up artwork or mirrors properly in their right place. Here are some safety measures to be observed to display them properly without damaging the walls.

First of all check and find out if it’s a masonry wall or a cavity wall. You should be more careful with cavity walls, which can conceal all manner of pipes and electric cables.

Also, never drill directly above or below light switches or plug sockets because you’re sure to find electric cables there. Take precaution using an electronic tester, which can detect electric current and the metal of a pipe behind the wall.

How to manage patching holes in the wall

Normally people have a tendency to ignore holes in a wall. Patching holes is not a difficult task if you read the hints given below.

Lightweight spackle dabbed on with a fingertip and a damp rag is all you need to plug pinholes in your home’s walls.  When it dries, touch up with an artist brush and a little leftover paint. Wipe off all excess spackle surrounding the hole.  For textured walls, you can apply the spackle with a toothpick so it won’t spread beyond the hole and spoil the texture.

To patch a big hole in drywall, you need some expertise in handling tools. Attempt the DIY procedures only if you are ok with that.

Set a screw that won’t stop turning

We know it’s frustrating to see a stripped screw that spins and spins endlessly without getting tightened. Of course, there are a few ways to deal with the screw that just spins in place.

Remove the stripped screw and try using a wider screw if it fits with the hinge so you can fix a wobbly cabinet door. If the hinge allows the small screw only, then stuff the screw hole with wooden toothpicks coated in wood glue. Once the glue is dried, cut the protruding extra portion of the toothpick with a knife. Now you can easily tighten the screw which won’t spin again.

These DIY home improvement skills that everyone should know how to do are brought to you by the training department of Select Cleaning, New Zealand's most reliable home cleaning service.

Franchising New Zealand 2017 Survey and Some Highlights of Select Franchise

A research team from Massey University Business School and Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence conducted the ‘Franchising New Zealand 2017 Survey’ from April to May this year.

This business-related survey confirmed that New Zealand is the most franchised country per capita in the world as it had one franchised unit for every 124 people during the survey period, a report published by World Franchise Associates on 2^nd August said.

The survey revealed that there are an estimated 631 different franchise systems (business format franchisors) in New Zealand in 2017, compared with 446 in 2012. The total number of franchise units around the country stands at 37,000, an increase of 14,600 since 2012.

Sales and service sector turnover has increased substantially in the past five years with further growth forecast into 2018 and 2019. Franchising offers employment opportunities for increasing numbers of people, and full-time positions have risen.

The survey clarified that the turnover of the franchise sector has shown robust growth (about 84 percent), with an overall turnover of $27.6 billion compared to $15 billion turnover in 2012. This indicates the strong, experienced New Zealand franchise sector is riding the wave of an upbeat national economy.

And now coming to Select Home Cleaning Franchise, it has helped many people attain financial freedom through business ownership with over 190 Franchisees in its fold in the home cleaning sector. It had also once bagged the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Award for the best franchise system in the home services area.  

Select Cleaning effectively deploys their core systems and business processes that enabled their franchisees to deliver and maintain consistent quality cleaning to their customers at a cost effective price. As Select Cleaning Franchisees own their businesses, they really care about the cleaning quality they provide and are trained professionally to delight their customers.

Select Cleaning Franchisees get quality training, which covers everything one needs to know from how to mix chemicals through to how to build positive and lasting relationships with clients. The training has been provided in several different ways such as face to face training with dedicated trainers, video training, operational manuals and onsite training, and more.

Quick home maintenance tips for the week 

How to replace a sink pop-up stopper: Fixing a bathroom sink pop-up stopper is not a difficult task if you have the willingness to do it.  You only need some common tools like a slip joint pliers, an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver to replace the stopper.

First, remove all items from under the sink. Using torchlight, you can locate the horizontal pivot rod that connects to the sink drain, and see where the rod threads through the clevis (vertical plate).

Unscrew the clevis screw and the pivot nut where the rod slips into the drainpipe. Now pull out the rod enough to insert the new pop-up stopper into the drain.  Slide the clevis over the stopper rod and carefully insert the horizontal pivot rod into the drainpipe and check to ensure everything is properly aligned.

Next, tighten the pivot nut just enough so the stopper doesn't slide down, and tighten the clevis screw also on the other end. If you feel that the stopper doesn't move freely, slightly loosen the nut till it is working fine. Check for leaks under the sink before you finish the job.

For a free home cleaning quote, use our New Zealand wide phone number 0800 000 907, and a trained office staff will promptly attend to your queries. You may also contact us via email; all you need to do is fill in your name, suburb and phone numbers on our Select Cleaning website. While visiting the Select Home Cleaning website you can also read customer reviews about our dedicated home cleaning service.