Seattle Real Estate News

8 mistakes to avoid when spring-cleaning

1. Starting without a plan of attack. Start cleaning upstairs and make your way down or start on one side of the house if your home is a single story then move room to room tackling one room at a time.

2. Cleaning a room from floor to ceiling.. Start at the top and work your way down. In other words begin by removing cobwebs and dust on the ceiling then clean off clutter, dust furniture, wipe down walls, switches and doors before cleaning the floor.

3. Using weak cleaning products for touch grime. Using a spray bottle with a simple mixture of 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup grease cutting dish soap will clean most surfaces well. Some chores may require sanitizing cleaners like a bleach-based product.

4. Using only one rag to clean. Keep a stack of 100% cotton cloths or microfiber cloths to change out when they are dirty. They can be washed and reused the next time you clean.

5. Drying surfaces with paper towels. Cotton or microfiber cloths are more efficient for drying surfaces than paper towels and they won't leave lint behind. Another reason to stop using paper towels: Many have a rough surface that can scratch or damage delicate furniture and TV screen.

6. Not opening windows to let your house air out. Ventilation is crucial whenever you are using cleaning products. The simple act of opening windows can counteract the indoor air pollution from cleaning products and make it easier for you to breathe. Cranking up you air conditioning won't solve the problem because more home heating and cooling systems don't mechanically bring fresh air into the house from outdoors.

7. Mixing chemicals from different products. Combining chemicals from different cleaning products can create harmful fumes. Bleach and vinegar for example are a deadly combo. Together they produce chlorine gas and exposure to chlorine even at low levels can cause coughing and breathing problems as well as burning and watery eyes. Very high levels can cause death.

8. Washing the windows on a sunny day. Though sunlight can help illuminate how dirty your windows are you are better off washing them on a dry cloudy day because strong heat from the sun will dry cleaning fluid more quickly which could leave hard-to-remove streaks or stains.

Spring time is also an excellent time to declutter your house. The trick of decluttering is having fewer possessions and regularly keeping stock of what you actually need in your home. Just set aside a fixed amount of time say two hours to declutter a room in your home.

First take everything out of drawers then clean and put back half of what was there before, keeping only the things you truly value.

a) Display objects that hold meanings or make you happy.
b) Aggregate the rest in i) Discard ii) Organize iii) Store.

You can donate to Goodwill, Salvation Army or consignment shops around Seattle. Organize with similar items elsewhere and store it out of sight for later use. Organize first then store together.

Decluttering at least once a year is ideal and springtime is the perfect time for it.

Posted in:Spring Cleaning and tagged: SpringCleaning

Posted by Sam Kader on January 8th, 2023 7:36 PM

Seattle Real Estate News

8 mistakes to avoid when spring-cleaning

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