Cleaning Tips

. Do not mix ammonia and vinegar together. They will neutralize each other.

. Vacuum cobwebs instead of smashing them on the surface with a broom or dust mop. They are sticky and can leave a stain.

. Wash your painted walls instead of repainting. It's faster and cheaper. You can have them professionally washed for a fraction of the cost of repainting.

. When washing walls or floors, use two buckets. One with a cleaning solution, one with clear rinse water. Rinse your sponge or mop in the rinse water before placing it in the solution bucket. Change the rinse water frequently. You will use less cleaning solution with this method.

. Remove crayon marks from painted walls with lighter fluid.

. Remove black shoe marks from flooring with an eraser.

. To wash window screens, lay them on a flat surface with an old sheet underneath. Apply cleaning solution, scrub them gently with a brush, rinse with a hose and shake off excess water.

. Rotate area rugs so that they soil and wear more evenly. If they have a pad under them, vacuum it annually.

. Use a hair dryer to blow dust from dried flower arrangements or silk flowers before vacuuming the room.

. Remove candle wax from holders by placing them in the freezer for an hour.Then peel off the frozen wax.

Clean Secrets

True or False: You can make your water clean better and clean easier.
True: To a sink of sudsy water, add 1 tablespoon of bleach to kill germs and a few drops of water softener to make cleaning agents penetrate faster.

True or False: There are more harmful germs on your bed sheets than on your sofa.
False: Sofa's have more germs because they don't get cleaned enough, while sheets are washed often.

True or False: For dust allergy sufferers, hard floors are better for health than carpets.
False: Properly maintained carpets are better, because they hold dust instead of letting it blow around.

True or False: Guests decide if you are dirty or clean by the appearance of your carpet.
True: 60% of your guest's first impression of the inside of your home is formed around the carpet.

What Shoud I Wear On My Feet When Indoors?

The best thing to wear on your feet in the house is white cotton socks. Shoes are abrasive on the carpet and track minute amounts of oils on the carpet (like tar and asphalt), which then attract dirt.

Bare feet also have oils from skin and soap, which attract dirt. So socks or special indoor-only slippers are best. Cotton is great because dirt sticks to cotton easier than it sticks to synthetic carpet fibers.

By wearing cotton socks, you actually pick up some of the dirt that would otherwise end up on the carpet. I suggest white socks, because some socks or slippers have dyes that rub off and stick to the carpet and can stain the carpet permanently.

Sunlight Is A Natural Deodorizer For Your Home

Often people open all the doors and windows to 'air out the house.' The flush of fresh air is healthful and refreshing, but much of the benefit comes from the fact that more sunlight is brought in, which works as a natural deodorizer by chemically neutralizing many odor sources.

The sunlight also kills many germs and spores that lurk in the home. On the bad side, the same force in sunlight also faded textiles and degrades or discolors many furnishings.

How Do I Get Rid Of Indentations In The Carpet

We recently moved into a 3 year-old house. The carpet is in great shape, except for one thing: There are indentations in the carpeting where the previous owners had their furniture. How do we remove them? Will cleaning the carpet help?
Signed, Mrs. Dent

Deep furniture indentations are a combination of compression of the carpet pad (which is most likely irreversible), stretching of the carpet backing (which can sometimes be improved), and distortion of the face fibers.
Cleaning alone, will not remove the dents. It may help improve the carpet and backing, but will do very little for the carpet pad. Over time, the pad may slowly return to it’s original shape, but that rarely happens - especially if the pad is of lower quality.
You can try a couple of things:
1. Place a damp, white towel over the dents and set a steam iron over the towel. Remove it after 1 minute, then fluff the carpet fibers up and allow to dry.

2. Try the ice cube trick: Put an ice cube on each dent and let it sit over night. I have never tried this, but I’ve heard that it works in some cases. Don’t ask me why.

If none of the above works and the indentations are really bugging you, as a last resort you could have the carpet pulled back and have new pieces of carpet pad inserted where the compressed pad is.

How To Mix Homemade Cleaning Solutions

Ammonia, diluted with 3 parts water in an empty spray bottle can be used to clean windows, appliances and countertops. Full strength it can remove wax build-up from the kitchen floor.

An excellent way to scour copper and brass is 1/2 cup vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon salt.

Full strength pine oil is great for deodorizing garbage cans, and scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floor.

Removing Carpet Depressions Left By Furniture Legs

Moisten the area with hot water. Cover it with a damp, white, disposable towel. Press
a hot, steaming iron to the towel for up to 90 seconds, being sure to check the carpet underneath for signs of damage such as scorching.

This will soften the backing of the carpet and after removing the iron you can work the backing up so that it is flush with the rest of the carpet. This will not work on all carpet types.