SWho cleans their house with vinegar? Thought like this. Vinegar is an excellent grease remover, but it doesn’t clean, and even if it’s disguised with essential oil, that smell lingers.
Baking soda is a bright, slightly abrasive cleaner, deodorizer and stain remover. But it can permanently bleach colors, and those little cans of baking soda you buy at the grocery store don’t go very far, right? Lemons smell great, but they’re not exactly cheap or practical.
The good news is, when it comes to daily cleaning, you can forget about them all. They have many uses, but all you need for a quick and efficient cleaning at home is a cloth and water.
Microfiber cloth is the most life-changing and chore-reducing product that has appeared around the home from the dishwasher. Whether it’s money, health, water, and saving the planet or the time-saving aspect that is so amazing about these cloths, it’s a tough decision.
Let’s start with the obvious:
Money
A cloth that costs a few dollars is cleaned without the need for any chemicals or cleaning products.
How does it work?
Micro technology. Unlike a normal cloth that pushes dirt away and leaves behind a chemical residue, the hundreds of thousands of tiny micro-hooks lift up and absorb grease, viruses, germs, and dirt on their own. The cloth cleans all hard surfaces, including thick grease, and is ideal for the kitchen and bathroom.
If you want visible proof, start by cleaning a window or mirror. Fold and spray a dry cloth or the surface very lightly with a spray bottle of water and wipe the glass. That’s. Clean, bright and without stains. You’ll find that you can clean an entire wall of windows, inside and out, in minutes with a better, healthier result. If you are using the standard E cloth instead of the window and glass cloth (thinner, finer), shake the cloth before use to ensure that no sand from a previous cleaning is trapped in the fibers.
Fight against superbugs
Microfiber cleaning technology was first adopted in Scandinavia, particularly Norway, during the 1990s to combat hospital superbugs. With just water, good quality microfiber cloths remove more than 99% of bacteria, including E. coli, along with dirt and grease, from household surfaces. Because the cloths do not leave any residue on the clean surface, there is nothing left to encourage the growth of bacteria.
Today this cleaning system is widely used throughout Scandinavia, in hospitals, schools and businesses, as well as in homes, and the word is spreading. Scotland’s new high-tech hospital, the Forth Valley Royal, has installed microfiber cleaning robots in its operating rooms and they are working – MRSA statistics are down. The UK National Health Service is increasingly introducing microfiber cleaning systems across the UK.
Hour
I am as bothered by the time I spend on household chores like anyone else, and I think this might be the most impressive savings of all. I use microfiber cloths to clean the kitchen surfaces, the hob, the refrigerator door, walls, tiles, doors, handles, bathtubs, sinks, faucets, shower screens, mirrors, windows, furniture (wooden and upholstered), skirting boards, shelves and floors. . I also use them to:
• clean the curtains
• clean the interior of my car: upholstery, windows, mirrors, interior doors and dashboard
• clean upholstery and clothing. They are great for coats, dresses, and soft furniture that is only dry-cleaned and only needs a little updating.
• as a quick carpet cleaner when I can’t be bothered to vacuum. A quick mid-week cleaning of the floor around the sofa, dining room table and fireplace is a very effective use of 5 minutes a week.
Rules
• Do not use it soaked. The less water, the stronger the microfibers can grip.
• Don’t be tempted to use it with any cleaning product. They will block the power of the microfibers even more than excess water.
• For general cleaning, use slightly damp, sprayed from a spray bottle. If you find that you have used too much water, to clean a window for example, you will need to add extra minutes by wiping off excess drips and stains with a dish towel to achieve a shiny, spot-free result.
• Use it dry as a duster (shake it first if you are cleaning a mirror or glass).
• When cleaning floors or other heavily soiled areas, the microfiber cloth will trap a lot of dirt and hair. Rinse in a bucket of water between wipes and wring to remove most of the water before cleaning again. To use dirty water in the toilet instead of the sink, which could be blocked.
Many?
I started with a cloth and for a long time I only had two: one for floors and one for surfaces. I had to carry them from room to room and wash them more, but it’s just a matter of washing or boiling them. I use a very small amount of detergent in a saucepan of water and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so. This part of the boiling rags is an oddly satisfying thing to do. You can wash microfiber cloths in the washing machine at 60 degrees C (140 F), preferably in a wash bag, but for a thorough cleaning they should be boiled at 90 degrees C (194 F). Don’t use fabric conditioner or bleach.
How to have one of those houses ‘I have a cleaner’
I have a habit of pacing my floor every day, cleaning all the surfaces that are clear. For 6 days out of 7, I never spend more than ten minutes cleaning. It took a while to make it a habit, but this means we now have one of those houses where ‘I have a cleaner’ that never looks or feels dirty, with clean fresh air without chemicals. Another great advantage of microfiber cloths is that once you have dampened them, you only need to quickly wipe them with one hand. One of my favorite multiple tasks is grabbing a washcloth while chatting on the phone, especially long gossip with friends, and wandering around cleaning door knobs, shower enclosures, faucets, baseboards, etc.
Once a week I clean the hardwood and tile floors and vacuum the carpets. If I’m feeling flushed, I’ll buy some scented flowers and treat the big pine table and any neat wooden surfaces with a beeswax cream polish. I spend a fraction of the money I’m saving on cleaning supplies in a really luxurious cream polish that nourishes and protects the wood.
The beautiful, subtle and persistent smell of natural beeswax mixes with the scent of flowers and lasts for days.
If you have a large house and / or a large family, it will obviously take you longer than it takes me to tour my little London apartment. But if you can get into the habit of cleaning only the main living areas and bathrooms every day, leaving the whole house for a quick cleaning once a week, you will notice a big difference.