Never underestimate a cloth and hot soapy water
“The majority of your cleaning can be done with quite simple ingredients. You would be amazed how many jobs you can do with just a clean cloth and some hot soapy water. You just need to make sure that when you dip the cloth in the water, it is well wrung out before you use it – but you can really get your house looking very clean with just that.”
Don’t waste your bicarb
“Some of the awful cleaning hacks you see on social media raise my blood pressure. For instance, people say to mix vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and use that to clean things. It makes a big fizz and it looks very impressive, but that’s all it does. It doesn’t actually do any cleaning, so it’s not really worth wasting the vinegar or bicarb.”
Adopt the single best way to make cleaning less of an effort
“Little and often is the absolute golden rule when it comes to cleaning. The more often you do it, the easier it is. For example, I keep a squeegee in the shower, and before I get out, I use it to wipe the water off the tiles and the shower screen, which means it doesn’t need cleaning nearly as often. Or, when I have finished using the sink, I wipe it over to get the splashes off while they’re still wet, which means I don’t need to properly clean my sink very often. These things take a second or two, but over the course of a week, it will save an hour’s work.”
Use your vacuum for more than just the floors
“Not only do I vacuum my floors, I vacuum my sofa, I vacuum my toaster, I run the nozzle at the end of my vacuum cleaner over my kitchen workshops to pick up all the crumbs before I wipe. Little things like that save you a lot of time.”
Always damp-dust
“If you dust, never do it with a dry duster. It just knocks all the dust in the air, only to come back again. Instead, use a damp microfibre cloth and wipe with that, as the dust actually sticks to it. Then rinse your cloth, wring it out, and keep going.”
Run a cloth over your carpets
“If you have vacuumed but your carpets still look dingy, run a damp cloth over them. This will lift all the dust up into little lumps that you can then vacuum up. And while you’re down there, don’t forget the skirting board.”
Clean and clear your corners
“If you make sure that corners are clear, your rooms looks more spacious, because your eye line tracks further. Because they’re often dark and dusty, don’t just give them a quick vacuum: take a cloth to get into those corners properly. Do that, and move things such as your waste bin away, and all of a sudden, the light reflects back, meaning the space looks bigger and clearer.”
Make ironing easier
“When something is slightly damp, it is easier to iron. So, if you’re drying clothes on an airing rack, take the items you want to iron off before they are fully dry. I know we have steam irons nowadays, but they’re only putting the moisture back from the outside in – whereas if something is damp from the washing, it is damp in the middle. If you can’t iron it immediately, put it in a bag and pop it in the freezer. That traps water, so when you are ready to iron it, you can take it out and it will still have that dampness. Finally, if you know something is difficult to iron, when you wash it, keep the spin speed down – the higher the spin speed, the more creases it creates.”
Clean mirrors without smears
“Forgot buying expensive sprays – the best way to clean anything glass is washing it with hot soapy water. Then squeegee off the water and use a dry cloth to mop up the damp bit at the bottom, and that will avoid smears. This method is very easy and very cheap.”
Do windows after dark
“When you’re cleaning the inside of your windows, it’s better to do it after dark, because you can see the inside of the glass much better. I then do the outside in the day, and what I’ll always do is clean either side in a different direction. So, when I do the inside, I squeegee horizontally, from left to right, and when I do the outside, I squeegee vertically, from top to bottom. The reason I do that is so that then, when I’m sitting next to my windows with a mug of tea and I notice that I’ve left a mark, I know whether it’s on the inside or outside, because if it goes left to right, it’s on the inside, and vice versa. This saves me an awful lot of mucking around.”
Use trainers for pet hair
“With things like cat fluff, human hair and fine dust, you will struggle to get it up with a vacuum cleaner. You can now buy gadgets that help, but the sole of a trainer will work just as well. This is because it’s rubbery, and rubber is slightly sticky, so the hair and dirt stick to it so it’s easy to lift it up and off. Just make sure you don’t use muddy trainers!”
Use window cleaner on the hob
“The one thing I do use window cleaner for is to make a hob sparkle. A little bit of window cleaner and a clean, dry cloth will buff it up. Also, if you have a gas hob, every once in a while, take all the grates and flame spreaders off and put them in hot soapy water. You can even do that with the knobs, but be warned, when you look inside, you’ll see a tiny little piece of metal that acts as a spring. Whatever you do, do not lose that piece of metal, as they’ll never go back on properly again.”
Get rid of your plate marks
“Quite often, people end up with grey scrape marks on their plates, especially if you’ve got ones that aren’t particularly shiny. They are from the cutlery, but you can actually remove them. You just need something like Astonish paste or a little bit of Cif on a cloth. Rub that into your plates, and those marks come off.”
Simplify cleaning the loo
“Always apply your toilet cleaner properly. Go right up under the rim, making sure you cover all the limescale and any marks, then leave the product to work. When you flush the loo, hold the head of your loo brush in the clean water coming in to rinse everything off. Then spray the seat with anti-bac, leave it to work, and wipe it off using toilet paper. I do that rather than wiping with a cloth, as then you can just flush it away, and you don’t need to worry about keeping cloths separate.”
Cheat on oven cleaning
“I do know people who have never, ever cleaned their oven. I don’t think that’s too much of a problem. But the main issue tends to be the bottom of the oven, as you get food spills which then burn and are difficult to get off. One easy cheat I swear by is buying a heatproof nonstick sheet that you can put on the oven floor, then remove. It saves a lot of faff.”
Pay attention to vacuum filters
“One of the most important things with your vacuum cleaner is to make sure that you keep the filters clean. Obviously, you know that if you have a vacuum cleaner with the bag, you must change the bag. But all vacuum cleaners, including the ones that don’t have that, are very reliant on their filters. If those filters are clogged and dirty, the flow of air through the vacuum cleaner is reduced, and it doesn’t clean as well. It also means you’re kicking some of the dirt back out into your room. You can change the filter – they are usually quite cheap – and a lot of them are washable. Doing this makes your vacuum cleaner much more efficient and it will make it last longer as well, because there won’t be as much strain on the motor.”
Wipe your light bulbs
“If your room feels darker than it should, it could be that you have never dusted your lightbulbs. They will obviously emit much less light if they are covered in dust. So use a damp cloth to wipe the bulbs – obviously, don’t do this when they’re hot – and you can also vacuum the shades.”
Never throw out a toothbrush
“When you have finished with a toothbrush for cleaning your teeth, it should go into your cleaning box. They are really useful for cleaning all sorts of nooks and crannies around the house – things like the seal of the fridge, the washing machine and around the sides and of back of taps.”
Don’t close your washing machine door
“Unless you are actually doing a wash, leave your washing machine door open. This is because the rubber seal which stops the water from leaking out has a tendency to go mouldy and gunky. So if you leave it to ventilate, you’ll find that the mould won’t grow. I leave mine ajar; and even though my machine is six years old, the seam is still spotless.”
Lower your expectations
“Don’t set yourself unrealistic standards, or think your home should be immaculate at all times. The truth of the matter is that virtually nobody actually lives like that. And certainly no one has ever stood up and given a eulogy on how sparkling somebody’s kitchen always was. They give eulogies about how much people laughed or how kind they were. So when you feel overwhelmed, remember that life is to be lived, not to be spent cleaning.”
As told to Anna Bonet
‘How to Clean Everything’ by Ann Russell (Headline Home, £12.99) is out now
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