Spring Cleaning: Get the Most Out of your Cleaning Supplies

Flowers are blooming, the sky is blue and the air is fresh with the scent of warm spring breezes and lazy weekends spent enjoying the beautiful weather. Spring is here. Now is the time to put away your winter wardrobe, open the windows and enjoy the beauty that is new life. It is also the time to get your spring cleaning out of the way. While this probably isn’t your idea of a fun spring activity, it still needs to be done. Before you break out your cleaning supplies, there are a few things you need to know about your spring cleaning habits that could be doing more harm than good.

In a time of such economic difficulty, many women are trying to save money. One way that they are doing this is by making their own cleaning products, or using common household items in place of expensive store-bought cleaning products. One such product is vinegar. It is great for cleaning and deodorizing, and many women use it to clean glass, ceramic and other surfaces around the house. However, despite its excellent ability to clean most household surfaces with ease, vinegar can damage surfaces such as hardwood floors, stone and grout.

Many women grew up hearing from their mothers that newspaper is best for wiping windows and mirrors. This is true to an extent. Newspaper is doesn’t leave behind lint like towels, but it does smear ink on windows and glass. Another spring cleaning mistake many women make is cleaning their wood surfaces with furniture polish. While furniture polish does make your wood furniture look shiny and lovely, it actually leaves you with more work. Furniture polish has cleaning agents in it that actually attract more dust, meaning you will have to clean your furniture more often. The best way to clean your wood furniture is with a microfiber cloth.

Finally, bleach is not the answer to all household cleaning problems. Bleach is great for disinfecting a surface, but it doesn’t clean it. To really clean surfaces in your house you need to clean them with a gentle cleanser followed by bleach to really disinfect a surface. This year, spring cleaning can be easier than ever. Knowing this information will help you to protect the surfaces in your home and really get them clean.