5 Tips to Going Green and Cleaning Your Home the Healthy Way

Have you considered what’s in that bottle of cleaning solution you just purchased to clean your home? If you haven’t, perhaps you should consider going green. The majority of cleaning products are made from ingredients which can be harmful to your health and the environment. Let’s look at why you should incorporate more green cleaning into your routine for an eco-friendly solution to clean your home. 1.    Going Green is Better for Your Health and Your Home If you read the fine print on the labels of many standard cleaners, many will say to wear gloves or avoid getting directly your skin. Some even tell you to call a poison control center if the product gets into your eyes or is ingested. So many of these products can give you chemical burns or may be dangerous even to just inhale them. Some can absorb deeper into your skin and even get into your bloodstream. And, many cleaning products are petroleum based and are not only harmful to our health but […]

How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen

How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen

When it comes to spring cleaning our kitchens, there are two schools of thought. Some people just intend to do a surface cleaning. A surface cleaning is when you just wipe down all the surfaces that you can see.

But, die-hard spring cleaning enthusiasts go well beyond that.

They want to give their kitchen a deep clean, covering every nook and cranny. If you want to know how it’s done, we’ll show you how to give your kitchen a deep clean from the inside out, and top to bottom.

Why Deep Clean Your Kitchen?

For one thing, every time you cook, grease and grime accumulate all over your kitchen surfaces. We also tend to allow our cabinets and countertops to get more cluttered than we would like. This causes us to work less efficiently when we’re in the kitchen.

How often do most of us spend extra time looking for something in the kitchen, only to realize we don’t use half of what’s in there?

It’s time to deep clean the kitchen!

I’ll share with you how to get it done. I like to approach each task as a separate one, and use a clean towel for each. Let’s get started!

1. First things first! Let’s get organized!

The first thing I like to do is wipe down my countertops and the breakfast or dining table if it’s close by. You’ll also want to grab a couple of totes or boxes. The idea is to have places to put things in as you go through them.

The first job we’re going to tackle is the kitchen cabinets and drawers.

Go through them, one by one, and pull everything out. Place the items on your clean countertop or table and as you do, anything that you don’t need or use, place it in a tote or box. You can donate those unwanted items to a shelter or some place that can use them.

If you’re bored while cleaning, put some music on to make the job more enjoyable.

As you go through the items in the cabinets, it’ll be your chance to place matching sets back together that may have gotten separated.

Then, wipe down the insides and outsides of the cabinets, drying them after with a clean, dry towel.

Replace everything back in a more organized fashion. For me, this is the chore I want to spend the most time with.

Don’t forget to clean out the pantry when doing this first step. Throw out any expired food and organize everything back in place.

Finally, go through your kitchen drawers and pull everything out. Apply the same method as you did for the cabinets.

I love an organized kitchen! Don’t you?

2. Clean any window treatments!

If you have curtains, take them down and wash them according to manufacturer instructions. If you have blinds, you can wipe those clean with a slightly damp towel.

Also, wipe down window sills and then clean the windows with a good window cleaner or a vinegar and water mix.

3. Next, it’s time to wipe down the walls!

How often do we prepare a meal, only to notice unsightly cobwebs in the corner of the room? Or, sauce or other soiled areas on the walls?

Here’s your chance to get rid of them!

The first thing you’ll want to do here is to grab a duster with an extended handle. Dust from the ceiling down in the corners of the room. That should catch those cobwebs and do a fine job of dusting the corners.

Next, it’s time to wash the walls clean. Your kitchen walls are probably the dirtiest in the house just because of all the food preparation that goes on. Grease and steam from your stove don’t help things either.

Use a good all-purpose solution, grab a bucket of water with a sponge, and start wiping down the walls. While you’re at it, don’t forget doorknobs, light switch plates, air conditioning vents, etc.

You also will want to dust and clean anything on the walls, such as pictures, art, nic-nacs, etc.

Don’t use a really wet towel to clean anything that’s framed. A separate clean and slightly damp cloth works best for that.

Finally, give your light covers or ceiling fans some attention at this time. Gently clean them by wiping them clean.

Now things should be looking brighter!

4 & 5.  It’s time to clean the oven while sorting and cleaning the refrigerator!

Don’t you love multitasking?

The first thing you want to do is open the kitchen window as you self-clean the oven. Put the oven cleaner in the oven and clean your oven according to the directions.

While your oven is cleaning, pull everything out of your refrigerator, shelf by shelf. Start on the top shelf. Throw out anything that’s expired. You can place anything you plan on keeping on the countertop.

Wipe down the items from the refrigerator and wash or wipe down the refrigerator and freezer shelves. You can also wipe the sides of the refrigerator down.

Replace everything in an organized manner. It’s your chance to get your fridge the way you always want it to be.

You also want to vacuum or clean the coils of your refrigerator, but don’t forget to unplug it first.

If you have someone that can help you move things, you can clean under and around the refrigerator as well.

Don’t forget to plug the refrigerator back in!

You may also want to place fresh boxes of baking soda in both the refrigerator and freezer.

Finally, wipe your oven down and clean it as instructed on the label of the bottle of the oven cleaner.

We’re nearly done!

6. Wipe down the surfaces one more time!

Wipe down any surfaces that you haven’t already.

I’d start with your small appliances (toaster, blender, juicer, crockpot, etc.). Don’t forget to clean your microwave inside and out, as well.

Again, unplug any appliances before you clean them.

If you haven’t already, you’ll also want to clean the outside of your stove and refrigerator.

Just wipe down all those surfaces to a spic and span shine.

You also want to clean your kitchen sink with an appropriate cleaner. You might also consider freshening those kitchen drains by pouring some baking soda and a squeeze of some lemon juice, along with running water.

Finally, wipe all of your countertops one last time.

7. The final countdown! Sweep and mop the kitchen floors!

If you didn’t already do so when you cleaned the walls, be sure your baseboards are clean. Then sweep and mop the floors as you normally do.

By now, your kitchen should be shiny clean and organized. It’s a great feeling isn’t it?

Deep cleaning your kitchen is a big chore to tackle. It can be difficult to actually find the time to do it in today’s busy world.

If you are having a tough time setting aside the hours to do it, consider hiring a cleaning agency to do it for you.

Whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you, you’ll be glad you did it!

7 Tips To Spring Clean the Kid’s Room

Spring is the time of the year when we think of giving our homes a deep-clean. By far, one of the more challenging feats is giving our children’s room a thorough cleaning. This is because their rooms are often more cluttered and filled with small toys. It’s not the easiest job to tackle, but it can be done! Here are 7 tips to spring clean the kid’s rooms: TIP 1: Get the Junk Out of the Way Embrace the concept that “less is more” and teach it to your children too. It’ll be easier to clean the kid’s room once you declutter. First, you want to have a big bag ready to place trash in. This bag will be reserved for broken toys, crumpled papers, and bits and pieces that are useless. Just throw it all in there! Secondly, you want a box to place things in that you know the kids can part with. Here comes a tricky part. My two children are completely different when it comes to […]

The 2018 Countdown to Spring Cleaning Guide

As we countdown to spring, we look forward to leaving the stale, cold air of winter to welcome the vibrant, sunny days of spring. The outdoors quickly become an oasis of beauty and life and often inspires us to embark on our annual spring cleaning ritual. With today’s busy lifestyles, a thorough spring cleaning of our homes can seem an impossible feat to accomplish. But, with a little preparation, our 2018 countdown to spring cleaning guide can make the project seem more manageable. The key is to accomplish some of the larger tasks before the arrival of the season. Let’s look at what you should get done before it’s time to scrub your home from top to bottom. Rid your home of clutter If you didn’t already do so for the holidays, minimizing unwanted items in your home is a great first step. The easiest way to do it is to work one room at a time, on different days. Have a bin with you to place unwanted items in […]

Don’t we all love it when our house is spick-and-span clean?

Unfortunately, for most of us, that can be a rare occasion. Cleaning a whole house and getting everything done from one end to the other can be a daunting task. But, it’s not impossible. By breaking tasks down into an organized schedule, we can get it all done a little at a time. Let’s look at how you can develop a cleaning schedule for the entire year and have the well-maintained home you’ve always wanted.

Make a List

The first thing you want to do is to walk through your house and identify the things that you’d like to get done. Many items are common for most any household.

Some items are best done on a weekly basis, while others only need attention on a monthly, quarterly, or occasional basis. The key is to create a schedule based on your needs and preferences.

To help you along, here is what works for most people:

Daily Do’s

No matter how busy you are, when you clean up a little each day, it goes a long way to staying ahead of the task. Some of the things you’ll want to tackle are:

• Wash the dishes after each meal. It’s easy to put it off and before you know it, there’s more than you want to deal with. Keep up with the dishes as you go along and you’ll feel less stressed and more relaxed. You’ll feel your home is tidier just by having the dishes done.
• Pick up once a day. It’s an easy thing to do that doesn’t take much time at all. The best time to do so is before you retire to bed in the evenings. Starting with a clean slate in the mornings can make you feel more ready to face the day.
• Air out and wipe down your bath and shower. I don’t know about you, but one of the things I hate the most is when grime and mildew accumulate in the bathroom. By wiping the walls down after showering or bathing, it helps to prevent build-up. Leaving the shower door or curtain open after using it also allows the shower to air and dry faster.

Weekly Chores

Most of us have a weekly cleaning routine. Saturday mornings have always been the time I’ve set apart to get these basic chores accomplished:

• Dust away. Feather dusters are great for hard-to-reach places, but for basic furniture, it’s best to use a soft cloth that is slightly moistened with your favorite furniture cleaner. This helps to prevent the dust from recirculating the air and landing right back where it started.
• Clean the bathrooms. Implement a weekly chore of a leave-on bathroom cleaner where you can spray it and walk away. Then, after an hour or so, wipe it all down. It’s also a good time to thoroughly clean the toilet after swooshing it with a toilet bowl cleaner. Consider using a brand that has a disinfectant to kill germs.
• Get those floors clean to a shine! It’s a good time to sweep and mop your floors. Very few of us have carpets anymore, but for those of us who do, a weekly vacuuming ritual is also in order.
• Change the sheets on your bed. There’s nothing quite as refreshing and rejuvenating as climbing into a clean and freshly made bed after a hard day’s work. It’s about the little things.

Monthly Tasks

Monthly tasks are those many of us dread, but in the end, make our lives so much easier and more efficient.

• Thoroughly clean the refrigerator. This means going through and throwing out spoiled foods. Read labels to dump anything that’s past the expired date.
• Give the hood on your oven a good cleaning. Grease accumulates fast around stoves and it’s best to keep it in check before it becomes overwhelming.
• Wipe clean ceiling fans and light fixtures. It’s amazing how quickly dust can accumulate on those spots.

Quarterly to Yearly Maintenance

The beginning of each season is a good time to get these quarterly or occasional routines done. Getting ahead of these chores is one step closer to achieving an efficiently-run home. These can be done quarterly to yearly at your discretion.

• Maintain the exterior of your refrigerator. This includes cleaning the coils and removing the toe grille. Sweep away dust and lint from around your refrigerator, pulling it away from the wall if need be.
• Clean your windows to a sparkling shine! Don’t forget to pay attention to the window sills, as well. Nothing brings light into a home like clear, shiny windows.
• Clean behind furniture. Pull furniture away from walls and clean floors and baseboards.
• Steam clean your rugs and furniture, if need be. Don’t forget to lift rugs and clean the floors underneath.
• Clean out the pantry and deep freeze. Throw out expired items and organize and sort for easier access.
• Clean out air conditioning vents and vacuum where needed. This will help your unit to run more efficiently and keep your home cooler during the summer months.
• Go through your closets and sort items out. Give away unwanted items or items that don’t fit anymore. Each season, you can also put the clothes you’ll wear the most where they are most accessible while placing other items in the back of the closet.

These are some of the basic things you can do to have a clean and tidy home. When you develop a cleaning schedule you can utilize throughout the year, the tasks become less daunting. Check out these quick tips to clean big stains in your Chicago home!

Get a plan together today and have the family get in on the action. Teamwork can help you get it all done faster and takes the pressure off of doing it all yourself. You may even want to think about hiring a cleaning company to help out and free up some of your time.

Sweep Home Chicago Cleaning Company

Our Sweep Home Chicago family is comprised of some of the most experienced and friendly people in the industry. Always detail-oriented, always punctual and always trustworthy, our cleaning staff is carefully screened and selected to ensure a sweet Sweep Home Chicago cleaning experience.
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