Last year I had an amazing opportunity to meet Lynsey from Queen of Clean, and also Channel 4’s “Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners”. Lynsey is obsessed with cleaning and has some great tips to help us to save time and money with our cleaning. Over to Lynsey…
Cleaning your home can be expensive and take time, there are so many wonderful products on the market presented in well-designed pretty bottles but it’s not always necessary to buy these products.
Your kitchen cupboards contain a host of products than you can use to remove stains, kill bacteria and eliminate nasty odours. Cleaning with natural ingredients saves time, space and money.
On my social media channels you see me using plenty of supermarket brought products but you also see me using homemade products. I am very conscious that I use a lot of chemicals so I do like to bring natural cleaning into my routine.
Here I have listed some of the key cleaning benefits of natural products you may already have in your kitchen.
White wine vinegar
White Wine Vinegar – Kills germs, bacteria and mould. Its great at removing tough stains and acting as a descaler. I run a capful through my washing machine weekly and regularly descaler my kettle. It’s also really good at tackling water marks. White Wine Vinegar can be expensive in supermarkets but here is a cheaper way of buying
Bicarbonate of Soda
Bicarbonate of Soda is great for eliminating odours. If you have a smelly fridge simple add a small dish of Bicarbonate of Soda to the middle shelf and this will soak up and nasty smells. Mixed with White Wine Vinegar it’s also a very powerful drain cleaning and is great at keeping sink wastes unblocked and odour free if done on a regular basis. This is one of my absolute favourite cleaning tips. If the waste is particularly dirty this combination will bring the dirt up for you to see.
Bicarbonate of Soda very much replaces the household cream cleaner. It’s great for cleaning up baths and PVC. Bicarbonate of Soda is also great for cleaning up stained Tupperware and oven grills. I also use it freshen up my carpets. Add you favourite essential oil mix together, sprinkle on the carpet leave for around 30 minutes and then Hoover off. This will eliminate odours and make them smell fresh again.
Lemons and Lemon Juice
Lemons and Lemon Juice Lemons smell gorgeous and can really help improve shine. It’s really surprising how well they can clean your home. Use a drop of Lemon juice to clean your dish washer rather than buying the expensive dishwasher cleaning tablets. Lemon is also great for removing limescale.
Cut a lemon in half and pop on the end of your tap, leave this for an hour or so to get to work to give it time to work. You can also mix some Lemon juice with White Wine Vinegar to make a really good bathroom cleaner. Put both ingredients into a spray bottle with a little water and this is great for the shower door and taps. One of my favourite lemon cleaning tips is to put a few lemon half’s in a bowl of clean cold water in the microwave and then put the microwave on full power for 5 minutes. The lemon will release the grease which will make it really easy to wipe off with a cloth. To see even more of my cleaning with lemons ideas CLICK HERE.
White Toothpaste
White Toothpaste is great for cleaning up white rubber trims on your trainers that have become discoloured. Use a dry cloth and buff away using the toothpaste and then rinse of with warm water. Such a simple process which will give you amazing results. Tooth paste is also great at cleaning and your jewellery and making it sparkle again. And a toothpaste tip that my husband loves and uses all the time is to add some onto a paper towel and then clean your car headlights with it and one of my favourites which has helped me over the years when the children used to draw on anything and everything was to use toothpaste to remove felt tip marks from walls, door and furniture.
Alcohol
Alcohol. Who would have thought that alcohol can help keep the house clean? Well it can and it’s great. I use cheap Vodka that I don’t drink to help me around the home. It’s perfect for cleaning windows inside and out and will keep them frost-free. I also pour a capful in with my fresh flowers as this will help keep them alive longer plus it great for removing pen marks.
Steam Cleaning
Steam Cleaning I am a massive fan of steam cleaning. Once you have invested in the steamer all you need is water to keep your floor clean and your upholstery and curtains fresh. With Steam Cleaning there is so much you can clean including your toilet, floors, sofa’s, shower doors, curtains and so on. Steam kills 99% of germs and bacteria so its saves you the cost of buying household floor cleaner and fabric refresher sprays.
Baby Wipes
Baby Wipes are also great if you have young children at home then you are very likely to have baby wipes. Baby wipes are so gentle so they are perfect for wiping fine furniture and will not cause any damage.
E Cloths
Initially you may think that these cloths are quite expensive but the beauty is you don’t need to use any chemicals or products with them. It’s simply water. Add water to a spray bottle and then wipe with you ecloth to remove dirt and grim or to shine up surfaces.
Essential Oils
Finally Essential oils can be mixed with water and bicarbonate of soda to add relaxing smells to your cleaning. Go for Tea Tree, Peppermint or Lemon oils as these are all natural disinfectant.
I really hope this blog post has given you some ideas to save money and space when it comes to cleaning. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to follow cleaning tips, home hacks and motivational cleaning.
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