Need some heavy firepower for the tougher bathroom stains? No problem. Time to bring out the power drill. Just whip out your tool box and attach a scrubber with strong bristles to the drill bit part of your power drill. Use your bathroom cleaning spray of choice and grind away!
Fill up a sandwich bag with distilled vinegar and wrap if around your shower head. Then use some string to tie the bag around the neck of the shower head so that it is closed tight. Let the bag remain overnight and your shower will be looking good as new!
As a traditional family holiday, Easter is usually a time for big family gatherings, lavish festive meals and fun group activities in the beautiful weather outside. And if everyone is coming to your home this year, Easter means one more thing – spring cleaning. On one of the sunny weekends ahead, gather up your strength and plan your time well. With a good strategy, cleaning and organizing for Easter is easy and doesn’t require an entire army of professional cleaners.
Winter isn’t really a wonderful time for washing windows and deep cleaning of carpets, and towards its end our homes are far from looking their best. Dust and dirt have found their way to every corner of your house and removing them unfortunately isn’t as easy as we would want it to be. But where to start? The preparations for Easter seem so many that finding the right organizational system is really important. One of the essential steps is obviously deep cleaning, but before starting with it, try to go through every room, de-clutter and pick out the things you don’t need any more – old clothing, torn and de-colourised bedding, piles of old newspapers and magazines, broken toys, and so on. Decide on what could be recycled or reused, and what’s for the garbage. Check the attic, every closet and every cabinet, and get rid of all the clutter – it can make spring cleaning even more challenging.
Next, you can proceed with the clean-up. Start with the kitchen and pay some special attention to the oven and the refrigerator, because you will be probably doing a lot of cooking around Easter. Greasy grime is settled on the kitchen cabinets – remove the build-up with a wood cleaner or a soapy water and a soft cloth. Then go to the living room and start with the book shelves, cupboards and cabinets. Wash the windows well both on the inside and on the outside, using either a household cleaning product, or a mixture of water and lemon juice. Instead of wiping with a regular rag, rub the windows with an old newspaper – it’s great for really dirty and smudgy windows. Professionals like Sparkling Carpet Cleaners Battersea advice to wash the curtains, vacuum clean upholsteries or if they have stains, clean up with a mixture of water and white vinegar. Mop all the the floors, even the wood ones, using soapy water and cleaning the baseboards with a dampen cloth.
Move on to the bedrooms – they are usually the easiest to clean up. Wash all the bed linen and coverings, dust off, polish the furniture. Use the vacuum on the mattress and follow up with a good disinfecting spray to kill all the bacteria and odours. Put the pillows and blankets in the washing machine. Don’t forget the bathrooms – clean them after a hot shower, the steam makes dirt come off easily. Mix water and baking soda for the tiles, but if you run into serious stains, choose a good bathroom cleaning product. Change the towels and wash the shower curtains – they should be changed or washed regularly. Clean the washing machine, as well – run it with hot water, then rub it with baking soda and white vinegar, leaving them for an hour. Run it again and after it finishes, wipe it dry. This should remove not only the dirt from it, but also any unpleasant smells.
After cleaning your home and throwing all the garbage, organize and tidy the yard and the garden. Prepare for the Egg hunt by removing weeds, dead or dry plants, as well as any leafs that are left from the autumn. Mown the lawn, refresh the shed with a new coat of paint, and plant early spring flowers to have a colourful and beautiful Easter. You can try pansy, bloodroot, wild “harmony” iris, yellow Trillium, Grape Hyacinth, daffodil, and others. Right before Easter, set the festive mood by decorating your home with cute Easter candles, egg and Easter bunny décor and a lot of fresh flowers.
Your home is the place where you and your family should feel completely safe and protected from possible accidents and potential intruders. The truth is that you cannot safeguard your home against everything, but you can bring its safety close to perfection with just a few simple steps. You shouldn’t worry about leaving your children at home, so you should do everything in your power to protect and provide them with a safe environment.
Make Your Home Healthier
The safety of your children doesn’t depend solely on alarm systems and other burglar-proof measures. You also need to provide them with a healthy and toxin-free home that will be a stimulating and enjoyable environment. Thus, you need to reduce the indoor air pollution by adding houseplants and high-quality air purifiers and use chemical-free cleaning products thus turning your home into a greener, more sustainable and, therefore, healthier environment.
Install a Security System
The statistics show that houses with security systems are an effective deterrent to burglars, reducing the risk of burglary. In order to maximise the safety of your home, you should consider installing an alarm system, as well as surveillance cameras or motion-sensor cameras. Certain areas, such as dark passages or backdoor entrances, are weak spots, so installing surveillance cameras here will make them much safer.
Additionally, you should place warning signs to send the message to potential burglars that your home is protected, but make sure not to reveal which type of security system you have. Even homes with only mock security systems are less likely to be broken into, because burglars won’t test their luck.
Safeguard Your Home Against Fire
Another essential home safety measure is fireproofing your living space. This step is of utmost importance, especially if you have children at the age of five or younger since they cannot escape on their own. You should install smoke alarms on every floor and have a multipurpose fire extinguisher. In addition, you should outline an emergency escape plan in case of fire and have a contact number of an emergency service within your reach.
Get to Know Your Neighbours
Your neighbours can be a huge help when it comes to protecting your home against burglars, so you should get to know them, especially if you’ve just moved to a new neighbourhood. They can watch over your house while you’re away, check it from time to time or pick up your newspapers to help you create an illusion of occupancy. Of course, you should return the favour and watch over their house when they need it. You can also join or start a neighbourhood watch program and keep your area safe together.
Secure Your Doors and Windows
Locking your doors and windows isn’t enough, so you’ll need to apply some additional security measures. You can opt for security doors with a peephole and deadbolts or place a metal bar at the bottom of sliding doors and windows. When it comes to windows, you should reinforce them with security screens, films or roller shutters. Additionally, you can install lockable windows in order to maximise the safety.
Illuminate Your Home
In the majority of cases, burglars will attempt to break into a home when no one’s there, and lighting is a major indicator of occupancy. A possible solution is leaving several lights on when you’re not home, but many burglars observe a house before breaking in, so they might recognise the pattern. A more efficient solution is installing outdoor motion sensor lights and indoor lights on timer that will turn on and off randomly in order to create an illusion of occupancy.
Keep Your Doors and Windows Locked
Although this tip might seem banal, the estimates show that in approximately 30% of burglaries, intruders enter through an unlocked door or window. This is the simplest security measure that anyone can apply. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance that you teach your children not to leave external doors unlocked even when you’re home. Before leaving your home, check whether you’ve locked all the doors and windows.
Protecting your home against burglaries and home fires, and making it toxin-free is of utmost importance for your family’s safety. With the help of these simple steps, you can quickly turn your home into a healthy, safe environment.
Most of us use Google search to look for our ancestors on a regular basis. After all, once we’re done searching our favorite family history sites directly,
Check out this link for good search tips: 6 ‘Secret’ Google Search Tricks for Genealogy That’ll Help You Find Your Ancestors | Family History Daily
Country & Victorian Times 