Five essential ways to deep clean the house
Our homes deserve a thorough cleaning at least once a year. Now that most of us are under house arrest, this might be a very good time for that deep cleaning, to alleviate your boredom if nothing else.
Busy schedules seldom allow us to observe our own surroundings. So, sit back and take a minute to inspect how badly your home might require a thorough clean-up. Unsurprisingly, boomers are very finicky when it comes to cleanliness and will go through the hassle of ensuring their homes remain immaculate at all times. They will continue to scrub until that last stubborn spot is wiped off, and not a single speck of dust remains. However, surprisingly, we still tend to find hidden dirt within the nooks and crannies, despite our regular clean-up.
Here are five ways to really deep clean your house.
Declutter and organise
If your closet looks like a pile of balled up clothes with mismatched attires, utilise your spare time to finally declutter the mess. Who knows, you might still have your favourite dress from childhood lying around in there somewhere?
You can start by taking clothes out by sections, and rearranging them on the basis of usage. Unnecessary clothing items that are eating up space can be stuffed in a bag and kept aside for donations. Scarves for the ladies and ties for the gentlemen can go into hangers for easy access.
As for the tardy task of cleaning that chest of drawers containing things from ages ago, just go ahead and clean it up! You will be astonished at the gems you find from years gone by. Crests and medals from schooldays, paper games and marbles, and birthday/Eid cards you got as gifts — all these will either make you reminisce about the good old carefree days, or make you wonder why you stored those useless junk all these years!
Disinfect your kitchen
Your kitchen requires thorough cleaning more than once a year. After all, your food factory must be in utmost hygienic condition at all times. While we wipe our cabinets and counter every time after preparing a meal, it is also necessary to disinfect them.
Smear the counter and stove tops with a disinfectant and wipe them. A common household item such as baking soda is useful to get rid of hidden dirt. Also, do not forget to sift through your cabinets and drawers and toss out any metal kitchen items that have caught rust over the years.
Lastly, do not leave out your appliances such as toaster and oven. You can use a brush to eliminate dust from those hard-to-reach areas of smaller appliances and use a DIY cleaner consisting of baking soda, vinegar, and water to thoroughly clean and disinfect ovens.
Cleaning the cooling systems
We often miss out doing these; fans and air conditioners. They contain a lot of gunk that might not always be visible to the naked eye. But once you get on a stool and take a closer look, you might just be in for quite a disgusting shock.
With changing seasons, there exists a higher risk of catching a cold or flu, and a fan spinning with a layer of dust can further increase that risk. Therefore, take a wet cloth and wipe off your fan blades and motor holder carefully. As for your air conditioner, seeking professional service is probably the best option, but you can at least take out the filter manually and run it under water.
Walls and floors
Mopping floors is daily ritual but thoroughly cleansing is not. Occasionally use disinfectant in your water while mopping floors and do not miss out the edges and corners. You can do the same for wiping your doors and windows.
For walls, take a long broomstick and break off spider webs from every nook that provided your spider guests with a home. If swooshing around with a broomstick makes you feel bad about your condition, you could always just pretend to be carrying one from Harry Potter that has the ability to fly.
Don't forget rugs and carpets
Lastly, properly clean your rugs, carpets, and sofas with a steam iron. Smaller rugs can be washed with water and detergent, but you really need a dedicated device to clean the larger ones. To remove oily stains that have been triggering your OCD, you could use a solution of vinegar, water, dishwasher liquid, and baking soda to finally get rid of them.
Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed
Comments