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Holiday Preparation: Spring Cleaning In Winter

Having friends and family can be a wonderful thing. However, having them as company can be a disaster. For any homemaker, a big part of holiday stress is keeping the house clean through the season of togetherness. With Christmas coming up, a lot of people have mixed feelings about the idea of playing host to a gaggle of guests. Although I can’t offer any tips on preparing a meal fit for a king, I can offer some suggestions on making your palace presentable.

Since the living room is usually the first room any guests will see, it’s the first place I’ll look at – you don’t mind if I come in and take a look around, do you? Thanks so much! First of all it’s obvious that we’re going to need to dust and vacuum, but that’s a simple task that shouldn’t take very long. However, there are a few stains in the carpet, the windows are streaked and spotty, and the room itself can use some freshening up. Let’s go to work, shall we?

When removing a stain from a rug or carpet, the important thing to remember is that you must not rub the stain. Dabbing or blotting the stain with your cleaning solution will take care of the problem, while rubbing will only spread the stain, and has the possibility of pushing it deeper in, making it much more difficult to remove. Also, for fresh spills be sure to clean up any excess by either dabbing with a rag or scraping with a sharp edge.

The type of stain and type of carpet or rug will decide what cleaner or cleaning solution you’ll be using to remove it. There are all-purpose solutions available for certain carpet types and most cleaners will list the stains that can be removed with them. There are also household items that can be used, and with them we can get rid of some of the more common stains. Beer, soda, coffee, tea, fruit juice, catsup, mustard, and ink are some of the most common – and frustrating – stains to remove from a carpet or rug, but all of these unsightly annoyances can be removed with a solution composed of one teaspoon neutral detergent and one teaspoon white vinegar to one quart of warm water. Follow this treatment up with clean water and those stains will be nothing more than an unpleasant memory.

Window cleaning can be just as easy. Just spray a streak-free glass cleaner to both sides and wipe with a soft cloth. Make sure you wipe the surfaces until the cloth has absorbed all of the solution, else there is still a possibility that you’ll have streaks and residue; even the most potent streak-free cleaners can leave a mark if not used correctly. For cleaning windows, another useful tool is a squeegee. It makes the work go by faster, makes things easier, and all that’s required afterward is a cleanup of the excess water or solution with your cloth. But again, take care to clean up after it or you have a good chance of there being a very unsightly film left behind by the remaining solution.

Your living room looks great now, but it smells musty. There are a few things we can do to add a little olfactory satisfaction here. I noticed you’ve got a few plants in here, but they’re plastic. I know real plants are difficult to take care of, but did you know that they can be used to freshen up a room better than most cleaners and chemicals? Philodendrons, Chrysanthemums, and the pleasant Aloe Vera can be used to freshen up a house like nothing else can. For a room of this size, you should need no more than five plants of a good size. A dozen or so throughout the house, while on the subject, will do wonders to remove any odors that may linger in the other rooms of your home. If you want something that works a little faster to freshen up a room, or if you aren’t comfortable with taking care of live plants, you can either use an ozone generator to clean the air or use a room deodorizer. While the plants will give your room a natural ambience, room deodorizers will give it a pleasant fragrance that usually can’t be found from house plants.

We did a good job today, and we didn’t take too much time doing it. I’ll see you tomorrow, when we start on another room – unless, of course, you want to come over to my house; you can help me clean my living room. No? Well, not for lack of trying, I suppose!

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Christmas Holiday Preparation: Spring Cleaning In Winter Articles, Stanley Home Health News