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March 16, 2007
Get down with your dirty floors
Shake off the cobwebs of winter with a good burst of spring cleaning
in every corner.
VERONIKA STEWART
It's that time of year again: the time when flowers start to bloom,
animals meander out of winter hiding, and people everywhere feel
the shudderingly strong call of spring cleaning.
While some may have more work than others when it comes to scrubbing
their house to perfection, the basic tasks are the same.
First off, enlist help where you can get it – from children,
spouses and close friends. Depending on the size of your residence,
help may or may not be necessary, but it's always nice to share
the suffering.
Before you begin, make sure you have the appropriate cleaning supplies.
These include extra garbage bags, rags, paper towels, some kind
of spray-cleaner, glass cleaner, oven cleaner and bathroom cleaner,
and if you have hardwood floors, an oil soap.
If you're looking for a non-toxic, eco-friendly way to clean the
house, use baking soda to clean countertops, sinks, bathtubs, ovens
and fibre-glass items. For wood floors, lemon juice and white vinegar
are great at neutralizing dirt from wood surfaces, and will also
get rid of any gummy build-up you may find in cupboards or around
the stove.
Clear some space by getting rid of all of the clothing you and your
family don't wear and household items that you don't (or won't ever)
use. Ultimately, they're just extra things to clean and keep space
for. For clothing (this includes shoes, ladies) and smaller household
items, you can take a load to the Salvation Army or Value Village.
If you don't own a vehicle, you can call the local branch of Big
Brothers and they'll be happy to pick it up as a donation.
As for cleaning, start with the basics – the walls. If you
have crown moldings, they have a tendency to collect a lot of dust
over the year, especially if you have hardwood floors and live in
an older home. So begin by wiping those down with a damp cloth.
Next, it's time to scrub off those nasty black scuffs that accumulate
behind furniture, near the front and back doors and wherever kids
play. Use a light spray cleaner for this, as anything too heavy-duty
may wear on your wall's paint.
Next, it's time to wipe down every windowed and mirrored surface
in your home with a glass cleaner and some durable paper towel.
Start from the inside and work your way to the outside of the house.
This may require a ladder, and may also be impossible if you live
in an apartment complex. When you do your window cleaning, clean
the window ledges while you're at it, and if you have sliding doors,
the dirty grooves that the doors rest in – those never seem
to stay clean, no matter how often you clean them.
Computers get very dusty inside if you don't give them a cleaning.
Unlike most appliances, however, you need a special air duster to
clean a computer, which you can pick up at London Drugs or Future
Shop. With air duster in hand, you'll want to spray down your keyboard
and inside the case of your computer to get it dust-free.
Now for the kitchen. No one likes to do this, but you should start
off by pulling out both your stove and refrigerator and wiping down
the floor underneath, and the sides of the cupboards and walls next
to these appliances. They may be scummy, so it might be a lot of
work, but don't despair: it will ultimately be rewarding to know
there's nothing growing under the fridge.
If you don't clean out your fridge on a regular basis, this is a
good time to start. Get rid of any leftovers that no one will eat,
old salad dressings, etc., and if you don't do this already, add
a new packet of baking soda to the fridge to keep your food smelling
fresh. You may also want to wipe out your microwave. Food in microwaves
has a nasty tendency of getting crusted on, so it will take a good
amount of patience and scrubbing.
If you aren't fortunate enough to have a self-cleaning oven, then
you'll need to get down on your hands and knees and scrub. The oven
is probably one of the worst parts of spring cleaning, so it's forgivable
if you leave it to the last kitchen chore.
The last room on the list is the bathroom. Although most people
clean their bathrooms fairly often, there are some spots that often
go neglected. This includes the cupboard under the bathroom sink,
the walls of the shower and behind the toilet. If you are guilty
of neglecting these spots, now is the time to clean them.
Now, that wasn't that so hard, was it? Well, maybe it was, but at
least now you have a whole year until you really need to clean on
that scale again!
Veronika Stewart is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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