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Getting Guest ready this Christmas

by Christmas

At Christmas time visitors can make the festive season all the more stressful, but a few simple steps will help ease the pain.

Guest preparation is the key at Christmas time. Always make sure you are as organised as you can be so you can relax and enjoy special time with your friends and family. Think of your visitors, there is nothing worse than ignoring them because you preparing food in the kitchen or tidying up and in turn they are sat twiddling their thumbs in the lounge.

Make sure if you have guests coming over for a meal that you are fully prepped. (ie) The table is set, extra chairs have been brought in, food is nearly ready, drinks are ready for pouring and you are ready. 

No dashing off too quickly get changed or apply your makeup!

I really enjoy playing host and will spend weeks getting organised. It’s so important that your guests feel welcome. If you have invited friends or family to stay then think about offering them privacy and a few home comforts.  Have the guest room ready or a dedicated area to accommodate them.

Always have a few spare generic Christmas presents wrapped up under the tree in case a gift is given to you but you didn’t buy them one.  You do not want to get yourself in an embarrassing situation.

The Guest room 

Having a space that guests can make their own allows for a much easier stress free visit. Your spare room may also be a bit of a dumping ground passing off as a home office, or a place where you dry your clothes so this is a good chance for you to have a quick declutter and organise. If this room isn’t used much you may not have the radiators switched on so get these switched on ready and warm the room.

Allow your guest some storage space, make room for their bags and a space for them to hang their clothes.

Leave a set of clean towels at the end of the bed and a set of mini toiletries in case they have forgotten something. Pop the wifi code on the bedside cabinet along with a few bottles of water.

If you have a family staying in the room invest in a few airbeds so a family can all stay together.

20 Minute Mad Guest Dash

We can also have unexpected visitors where little notice is given, Here are some of my top tips for getting you guest ready within 20 minutes.

Throw open the windows to let air through the house to make it feel refreshed and to get rid of any smells.

Entrance Hall 

Start by clearing the entrance to your home so guests don’t fall over shoes and coats when they walk in and make sure your door mat is clean by giving it a shake and sweep any dirt away.

Leave a space for guests shoes and coats.

Kitchen

Next, clean the kitchen. Put any dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher and make sure your tea towel is clean. lighting a festive candle and emptying the bin. Spray a damp microfibre cloth with all-purpose spray and use it to wipe over kitchen surfaces and brush crumbs onto the floor. Once you’ve finished, speed-vacuum yourself out of the room starting in the furthest corner. 

People always migrate to the Lounge

The living room is another area of your home where guests are likely to spend a lot of time. Tidy away any clutter in your living room such as books and magazines, and if you have a pet, quickly rub your furniture with a damp rubber glove to remove pet hair. Spray sofas with a fabric refresher and turn your cushions over instead of vacuuming them to save time. Dim the lights and use lamps where possible to hide any dirt and hair on the carpets.

Your Bathroom must be clean

The bathroom is an area in your home where your guests will spend time alone and will make judgements about how clean it is! If you only have a few minutes to get your bathroom ready grab some fresh clean bathroom towels and change the bath mat.

1. Grab a clean cloth and a good bathroom cleaner and  wipe down the sink, the toilet seat and underneath the base of the toilet. Keep some handy cleaning wipes under the bathroom sink so you can just grab one quickly when in and out of the bathroom yourself.

2. Scrub the inside of the toilet and add some toilet bleach.

3. Leave the window slightly open

4. Light a strong pleasant scented candle.

5. Replenish Toilet paper.

No go areas

Lastly, if there’s a room in your home that you don’t want guests to enter, simply closing the door will make them less likely to go in.

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Intense Bathroom Cleaning with the Queen of Clean

by Bathroom TipsCleaning Tips

Bathrooms are one of the worst places in the home for germs and bacteria to really spread so it’s important that we give the bathroom a real deep clean once a week.

A have put together this simple guide to help you with your intense clean. This should take you approximately 30 minutes. 

Before you start you will need to make sure you have the following

  • Strong Rubber gloves & Apron.
  • Plenty of cloths and a hard scrubbing-brush.
  • Rubbish bag
  • Bucket of warm water
  • Broom/Hoover
  • Multi surface cleaner
  • Bleach
  • Lime scale remover
  • Glass cleaner
  • White wine vinegar
  • Bicarbonate of soda.
  • Sonic Scrubber
  • Karcher Window Cleaner
  • Steamer
  • Lastly tie your hair back

Before you start Clear the Bathroom

Remove all bath towels and bathroom mats.

Remove laundry basket.

Shower curtain if you have one. (put this in the washing machine)

Empty all cabinets.

Clear the sides of any products.

Clear the window seal

Open the window.

Let’s get cleaning

Fill the bath a quarter of the way with hot water and then add in 4 capfuls if neat bleach.  This will soak whilst you carry on cleaning. Don’t forget to open the window. You will see dirt that you didn’t think was there lift to the top.

Always work from the top down when cleaning so start by dusting the ceiling and removing all the cobwebs.

Dust the light fixture.

Remove the vent or fan cover and soak these in warm water, whilst this is soaking clean the fan well.  Then dry the cover and pop this back.

Using glass or window cleaner clean the window and any mirrors.  If you mirrors have bad water marks rub over these will a cut in half lemon and then rinse after approx. 15 mins. Alternatively use a steamer here.

Clean inside all the cupboards using a multipurpose bathroom spray, don’t forget to clean the doors and handles and also reach to the top of the cabinet as dust can settle here and be thick.

Clean the toilet, pay attention to the bottom of the toilet as well as the pan, and add in bleach. If you have any brown toilet marks at the bottom of the pan add in a good quantity of lime scale remover. I always like to give mine a steam too to make sure I have killed all the germs and bacteria.

If you have any lime scale on the taps then use a strong lime scale remover to remove.

Use a small hard brush to scrub the grout and the tiles. Rinse with warm clean water and then buff dry.

Use the same brush to get into any small areas and really scrub clean.

Hoover or sweep the floor.

Use a solution of warm water and detergent to scrub all tiles and the floor.

Rinse the floor with clear warm water and then use a dry cloth to polish dry.

For the plug holes use a drain cleaner or mix bicarbonate of soda together with white wine vinegar

Clean the shower door and base thoroughly. I use my Karcher for the doors as its brilliant.

Soak the shower in bleach and if it has lime scale, spray on some lime scale remover.

Make sure you clean the shower hose and the switches.

Clean the bathroom light cord/switch

Using the bleached water from the bath now scrub the rest of the bath using an abrasive cloth.  Rinse and buff dry.

Finish up

Put all items back in cupboards on the sides etc.

Bring the colour back into your bathroom by bringing in clean towels, mats, accessories and plants.

If you are at home light a few scented candles.

My Bathroom cleaning essentials are

Sonic Scrubber This is such a must as its great as cleaning in between and for tackling limescale.

Karcher This will help remove hard water stains and leave your shower doors with a perfect streak free finish.

Strong rubber gloves Cheap ones easily rip so invest in a good quality pair that fully protect your hands.

Cleaning Caddy  Keep all your bathroom essentials in one box to save you from going up and down the stairs.

As I get asked all the time here is the link for my Glitter toilet seat

If you feel that this has helped you then why not take a look at my simple daily tasks to help you stay on top of your home or Get the children helping out more

Now Enjoy a nice CLEAN Bathroom

Lynsey Queen of Clean xoxox

There are some affiliate links associated with this guide

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Washing Machine care

by Laundry

It’s so important to keep your washing machine nice and clean as detergent alone isn’t enough to keep your clothes smelling nice and fresh.

Washing machines gain horrible smells from the build up of odours caused by the dirt they remove from your clothes and the hard water. Dirt sticks to the drum and builds up hence the reason we need to keep our machines nice and clean.

Tips to keep your washing machine clean

When your machine is not is use try to leave the tray open slightly just so this gets some air and dries out.  This little tray is on and off being wet and never really gets the chance to dry out. Once a week take your tray out and soak it in warm soapy water and then dry it well before you pop it back in.  Also clean the space it comes from putting your arm right in and giving it a good clean and dry.

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When your machine has finished a cycle try to take your clothes out immediately don’t leave them in for too long as this can cause damp smells.

If you use your machine a lot a once a week give it a good deep clean is good.  Just run the machine on an empty wash along with a washing machine cleaner, a do-lap of white wine vinegar or a cap full of bleach. Follow the instructions of the brought washing machine cleaner but for the bleach or white wine vinegar option put this into the detergent tray or straight into the drum.

This will help keep your machine smelling nice and fresh.

Then wipe inside the machine all around the drum with a nice clean soapy cloth.

Also weekly try to give the rubber seal a good wipe, you can use your detergent for this or mix some bicarbonate of soda with some white wine vinegar into a paste and use a small brush to get right into the rubber.  The rubber seal picks up all sorts of dirt from your clothes and will also pick up minerals and hard water.

The filter at the bottom of the machine will need to be emptied regularly, try to do this at least once a month. Plus if you can access the back of your machine easily check the water supply pipe for any build up of dirt.

My recommended brought washing machine cleaner is the Dr Beckmann there products never fail to let me down. I have found a really good offer for you too just CLICK HERE

I also recommend you buy your white wine vinegar in a bigger bottle online to save you money. I have picked a great 5l bottle for you too. Just CLICK HERE

There are so many ways you can use natural cleaning products around the home like white wine vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, I have put together some great ideas which will help you save money and clean naturally HERE

As always thank you for reading my post
Lynsey Queen of Clean xoxox

this post contains affiliate links 

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Cleaning Tips for Moving into a New Home

by Cleaning Tips

Moving into a new home is a very exciting time but it’s so important to give your new home a good clean before you move in to make it feel like yours. Other people’s grime will be polluting the surfaces and door handles!  You will notice the previous occupants marks of habitation which can make you feel uneasy in your new property but never fear a few antibacterial products and a drop of bleach here and there will help your home to feel brand new and all yours.

My advice would be to start at the top and work your way down!

1 – Firstly dust those ceilings concentrating well on the cobwebs and the corners. Have a step ladder to hand and go over with a large feather duster.  It will be satisfying watching the dust drop to the floor.  Ceilings harbour dust so it’s important that you get these clean.

2 – Door handles, light switches and other buttons all need a really good clean with antibacterial spray.

3 – Get all the windows and doors open and give the house a really good air.

4 – Pull up any unwanted carpet and rugs and pull down old curtains, blinds and  lampshades and get them straight to the tip. This items will smell and if they don’t go the smell won’t go!

5 – Add a good amount of neat bleach to all the sinks and baths and leave to soak to really help kill those germs.  After a good soaking scrub clean with an antibacterial spray until it comes up like new.  if you have a shower replace the shower head these harbour a lot of bacteria and germs.

6 – If you are keeping the toilets make sure you replace the seats with new ones and really scrub the pan clean.  Pour a cheap bottle of coke down to ensure the pipes are clean and there are no unwanted blockages that can create nasty smells.

7 – If appliances have been left and you are keeping ensure you scrub them clean, invest in a good over cleaner and use baby oil to really shine that hob.
8 – A bit of neat bleach on a toothbrush will help you get the grout in-between any tiles clean and bring them back to life.

This rigorously but well needed clean will now make your home feel like yours and is now ready to move into.

And most important of all enjoy your new home.

As always thank you for reading.
Lynsey Queen of Clean xox

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How Often Should you Change your Bedding

by Cleaning Tips


Recently I surveyed local people in my community on how often they changes they bedding. 80% of the people I surveyed said they only change their bedding once a month.  Someone admitted that they hadn’t changed there sheets in the past 6 months and others where on average once a week or once every two weeks.

I than run a similar survey with the people that follow me on my social media platforms and was very pleased to see that many people are like me and change their bedding on a regular basis from twice a week to once a week.  When people are suffering with a cold or a bug they then change the sheets and this is exactly what I do.  You don’t need any further germs to take up nesting in your bed.  I also discovered that many people like to air their bed before making it.  You can’t beat a cold icey aired bed.

Personally I change my bedding once a week, there was a point where I was doing this every other day.  But time was against me and I was forever washing sheets and ironing them.  In my opinion no point in washing them if you aren’t going to iron them.  Having the freshly ironed lines on the bed is just a must for me its like seeing the lines on a freshly mowed lawn.

Now I just stick to #cleansheetssunday

My method

I hoover the mattress and I always do this with a clear cylinder so I can see what comes out, I then very lightly steam and finally spray with a Dettol spray. I will then leave the mattress to dry off and air before I put on the freshly ironed sheets. Monthly I also use my Vorwerk mattress cleaning system.

Its good to use a good pillow protector, and a good mattress protector as these will prolong the life of your pillows and mattress and give you some extra comfort.

bed

For those that don’t do this you are creating a nest of germs.

We are not alone in our beds

Dirt and dust can quickly build up in our beds and unfortunately we’re not alone in our beds, our beds are full of dust mites.

But dust mites aren’t the only hidden surprises lurking in our sheets, and we only ourselves to blame for their presence. Every night we shed a million skin cells, accompanied by oil and sweat. If you don’t wash your bedding regularly, this adds to your bed’s attraction for mites and their breading.

Bedbugs are small blood-sucking insects that live in cracks and crevices in and around our beds. They crawl out at night and bite exposed skin to feed on blood. Disgusting!

bedbugs

Though Bed bugs and mites aren’t known to transmit disease or pose any serious medical risk, the stubborn parasites can leave itchy and unsightly bites. However, bedbugs don’t always leave marks. The best way to tell if you have a bedbug infestation is to see the live, apple-seed-size critters for yourself. Unfortunately, once bedbugs take up residence in your bed they can be difficult to exterminate without professional help.

Bed bugs are flat, round and reddish brown and about the size of an apple seed. They don’t have wings and can’t fly or jump.

Keep bed bugs and mites away and make changing your sheets a regular part of your cleaning routine.

Thanks for reading
Lynsey Queen of Clean xoxox