Walk into any supermarket and the household cleaning shelves will be groaning from the weight of brightly coloured bottles, filled with chemicals promising all manner of “sparkling”, “germ free”, “shiny” surfaces. Walk away, and save your money. The most effective cleaning materials are actually common sense and elbow grease, coupled possibly with just a few intelligent products that make chores easier. Now worth a staggering £250 million, the household cleaning products market is bigger than ever before, led by brands such as Flash, Cif and Mr. Muscle, which, between them, own nearly 50% of the entire market. In fact 80% of the household cleaning products market is led by brand names, as it seems we do not trust supermarkets’ own brands to clean our homes well enough. Furthermore, in 2009 the British market for hired cleaners, both corporate, franchised contract cleaners and domestic helpers, was worth £9 billion.
We love to buy branded cleaning goods, and then we prefer someone else to do the work. It has been scientifically shown, however, that people who do all their own household chores, D.I.Y. and gardening can help to lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis in old age, as all three can be very good forms of excercise.
To help those people for whom the recession will mean less disposable income to spend on hired help, and with no shares in Proctor and Gamble or Unilever, I have devised ten top tips for simple, efficient, ecological cleaning that will not destroy the planet, your weekly budget or your enjoyment of life.
Top ten tips for efficient, no-nonsense cleaning
1. Hygiene starts here
Most germs, bacteria and viruses are introduced into the home by our own bodies and hands. If you concentrate on personal hygiene, particularly hand-washing, changing outdoor-indoor shoes, providing a clean door mat and wearing an apron, you will automatically reduce the workload. Regular washing of all towels, bed linen, tea towels, sponges and wash cloths is also recommended.
2. Kitchen
In the kitchen make sure you do not cross contaminate cooked food with raw food, either on chopping boards or fridges. Wash all boards (plastic and wooden) thoroughly with hot water and washing up liquid, then sprinkle table salt, leave on for half an hour, rinse and dry thoroughly. Sodium chloride kills all bacteria, does not leave a smell and does not pollute the environment like bleach.
3. Nature’s cleaners.
Lemon juice (citric acid) and vinegar (acetic acid) are powerful cleaners and limescale removers. Fill a kettle with white vinegar, boil, and then pour the hot vinegar down the sink. This will descale the kettle and clean the drains at the same time. Dab vinegar on a cloth and wipe the sides and rubber runners of the dishwasher door, pour undiluted vinegar into the tablet drawer, close, and run the dishwasher on a hot setting. This will clean the machine and de-scale the element. Vinegar can also be placed in the drum of the washing machine too, and a hot programme run. Use hot water, a drop of washing-up liquid, the juice of a whole lemon and a clean cloth to wash down windows. Then use a clean muslin cloth to achieve a flawless finish.
4. Several handy modern products
Astonish is a silica paste cleaner sold by Lakeland, www.lakeland.co.uk, and many hardware shops, to clean ovens, sinks, cookware and any stubborn stains. It rinses clean away, and is truly astonishingly good. It costs about £1.50 and a small tub will last you a long time, as it is very strong. Brasso and Silvo wadding are excellent at cleaning metalware and silverware, and I also recommend HG silver cleaning dip for cutlery and jewellery. Bicarbonate of soda, a very effective cleaning agent all around the home, and washing salts are also very good for washing clothes, and enable you to get rid of tough stains first time round, at lower temperatures. Bicarbonate of soda mixed in a cup with a little hot water and a scourer can cut through stove and oven burnt in grease. Dettol liquid antiseptic (the original brown liquid formula) is excellent diluted in a water sprayer and used on all kitchen surfaces and to wash floors.
5. Brushes and Cloths
If you have a good scrubbing brush for the sink area of the kitchen, one for outdoors and one for floors and steps, you will be amazed how much better brushes are at lifting dirt, followed by a wipe with a cloth. A good dustpan and brush is worth its weight in gold, as is a well made duster, that will hold onto dust particles as it collects it. I recommend packs of white cotton washing cloths that are sold in all major supermarkets, for dusting and doing the washing up. They are cheap, will not leave yellow dye in the washing, and last for weeks. A Vileda Supermocio Floor Mop, with its replaceable head, has been proven to lift floor dirt particles more effectively than other brands. A very good website for all manner of cleaning and household products is www.rouillerwhite.com.
6. Washing up liquid
A few drops of washing up liquid in a bucket of hot water can be used for most household cleaning, including walls, kitchen surfaces, skirting boards, bathrooms, shower rooms, shelves and doors. There is no such thing as a completely ecological detergent, as all industrial processes produce carbon dioxide, but it is always better to buy such brands as Ecover, www.ecover.com, that produce cleaning agents with minimal residue of unnecessary chemicals, quick and complete biodegradability, minimum impact for aquatic life, are against animal testing and are not abrasive to skin. Use a washing up plastic bowl for washing and a separate one for rinsing, to save water, instead of rinsing under a running tap.
7. Vacuuming
The more regularly you vacuum your home and soft furnishings, the less likely they are going to become a habitat for dust mites. Bagless vacuum cleaners have been shown to be more effective at spinning dust particles out of the air, off of floors and into the cylinder. By visually seeing the daily amount of dust, hair, fluff and fur that accumulate inside the transparent cylinder of my Dyson, www.dyson.com, this makes me a more conscientious cleaner. Mattresses should be turned and vacuumed at least four times a year, and a washable matress cover should be used. The White Company is excellent for these sorts of household sundries, www.thewhitecompany.com.
8. Old fashioned Marseille soap
This is a very effective and 100% biodegradable, colour free, perfume free soap, made in the traditional way in cauldrons, using Mediterranean sea water, olive oil, soda ash and lye. Marius Fabre (www.marius-fabre.fr) is a fourth generation French soap maker, still making soap blocks and flakes with 72% oil. I use my soap block, dipped in a little water, to rub on tough stains and I use the flakes in the washing machine for linens, silks and woolens. Another excellent producer is Savonnerie de Bormes. They also produce hand wash liquids in pump dispensers.
9. Starting at the top
A very effective way to tackle whole room cleaning is to start from the top to the bottom, moving from left to right. Dust, cobwebs and debris fall downwards as you brush, so use protective plastic sheeting over soft furnishings if you are doing a big spring clean. Light fittings, pictures, tops of doors, switches and wall mirrors can be wiped down with hot water, a little washing-up liquid and vinegar. Once you have cleaned a whole room, vacuum your way out and shut the door behind you. Feels good.
10. Coping with it all
If you have a large house, or regularly feel overwhelmed by cleaning, remember that you will cope better if you do a little and often, rather than letting the dirt accumulate, and attempting to tackle it all at once. Keep on top of the little chores, or they become bigger, and will eventually get on top of you.
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