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5 Top Tips for a Sparkling Clean Christmas

by Christmas

It’s a really good idea to prepare for Christmas in advance. I find that if you split your house into sections and plan to tackle one section at a time at the lead up to Christmas.

For example.  The children’s bedrooms can be week one as you probably need to make room in these for new toys that are coming in for Christmas, dinning area week 2 so you can stock check table decorations and so on.

Make sure you declutter as you go.  Clear out wardrobes, cupboards, check underneath beds and in drawers.  If you haven’t used it recently and it has no real purpose then it really needs to go.

There are 5 things you can do in advance to make sure your home is sparkling clean this christmas.

Clean your carpets

If you are fortunate enough to own a carpet cleaner  this is the time to give them a really good clean. Move as much of the furniture as you can to get that freshly cleaned look.

Don’t panic if you don’t own a carpet cleaner many local Companies will probably be offering a few Christmas cleaning packages for the festive season or there is also the option of hiring one or borrowing one of a friend.

Clean the Oven

You may be like me and clean the oven pretty much after every usage but if you not and it has a build up of dirt and grim then its time to get your oven clean on. There are some fantastic oven cleaning products on the markets so you can quite easily do its yourself but always take care and use good cleaning gloves.

Clean the Fridge 

Have a really good fridge clean, take all the items out and the shelves. Soak the shelves in warm soapy water and clean all the sides using a good antibacterial fridge cleaner.  Check all sell by dates on the food and wash over jars and bottles so everything you are putting back into the fridge is very clean. Add in a fridge deodoriser to help keep it smelling fresh and make sure you leave enough space for all the extra Christmas food.

Clean the silverware

If you are doing Christmas Day at your house then make sure you have plenty of cutely and its sparking clean. Most of us have a nice set of cutlery or dining set that only makes an appearance on special occasions. So get this prepared.  Just wash in warm soapy water, towel dry and if your silver has become slightly tarnished use a metal cleaner and buff to dry.  You can also try this amazing silver polishing gloves. I have these and use them all the time I must have my silver as shiny as I can get it.

Organise and clean the Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations spend a long time living in dusty confined spaces until they are brought out again but how many of us actually think about cleaning them.  You would have seen me a few years on Obsessive compulsive Cleaners bleaching my baubles and still to this day I am stopped in the street and asked If I really do this and YES of Course I do.  But you don’t have to be as full on as me. A quick wipe over with a damp cloth will be enough. Make sure you test the lights before you put them on the tree and plan your christmas theme making sure it matches well with the room you are displaying your tree in. If threads on baubles are looking bear and the odd decoration is looking a little tatty then hide at the back or better still don’t hang at all.Over the years my children have made me various tree hanging decorations so we have a special tree on the middle floor for all their bits and pieces and they get to decorate this just the way they wish.

I have designed a christmas cleaning and organising calendar that starts on November 25th it gives you a daily task to do to help keep you organised on the lead up to christmas.  Click here to get yours.

 

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Inside,Of,Electric,Stove,Oven

Hands up if you hate Oven Cleaning

by Cleaning Tips

Oven cleaning is one of the most hated and worse household cleaning tasks.  Its one of those jobs that we tend to put off as much as we can. Once you close the Oven door you can no longer see the grease and grim.

I have to always have a clean oven and being quite a traditionalist after we have had our Sunday Roast I am straight in armed in my rubber gloves ready to go.  Daily if we use the oven I wipe the Oven over with a warm soapy cloth to ensure its stays clean. If grease and grim build up your Oven Clean can become a much more time-consuming job.

Plus having an oven door covered in grease, grim and burnt food is not good for your energy consumption, opening to check food will soon add up.

I have tried many products over the years and here are a few of my favourites:

Oven Pride makes oven cleaning less of a nightmare, it’s a unique bag cleaning system that has been designed to give unbeatable results. It’s so easy to use but please make sure before you start to use oven pride you must read the instructions and wear the provided gloves.

Scrub daddy power paste is made from natural materials, is biodegradable, non-toxic and can be used throughout the home including the kitchen and bathroom. It is Lemon-scented for extra freshness and does a marvellous job in cleaning the oven. Power paste is effective with water alone. Just dampen the sponge and swirl on the paste to produce a cleaning foam. Use it in conjunction with a scrubber to remove surface debris or with a microfibre cloth. The Scrub Mommy two-sided sponge is perfect for delicate as well as heavy-duty jobs. Her FlexTexture side changes depending on water temperature. Soft in warm water and firm in cool water for tough scrubbing

Astonish oven and cookware cleaner is a cleaning paste, that cleans all types of enamel, porcelain, ovens and cookware. This one is also lemon scented to banish cooking odours.

But I am a big fan of steering away from harsh chemicals in the oven so use a more natural method of Bicarbonate of Soda and white vinegar

Bicarb is really effective and makes the daunting task of oven cleaning a little easier. All you have to do to get a shining oven is spray the whole oven down including the glass door with a water bottle so that it is damp, and pour on a thick layer or bicarbonate of soda, especially on the bottom, until there is about 1/4 inch layer of bicarbonate of soda paste on the bottom. If any of the bicarb is still dry, I wet it with the water bottle.

Once the bicarbonate of soda has been applied then you need to add some neat white wine vinegar to a spray bottle and then liberally spray this all over the oven so it reacts and works with the bicarbonate of soda.  After close the door and leave for a few hours. The two products work amazingly with each other and will start to lift all the dirt and ground in grease.

I’ve found that it is important to make sure that the bicarbonate of soda residue has been completely removed before using the oven as any remaining bicarb  may smoke if left in contact with the heating element and a spatula works well at removing this.

For the wire racks I use wirewool and washing up liquid and I find this brings them up like new.

Then there is a the grass trick which does actually work, you simply remove the racks and leave over night on your lawn, the dew and moisture loosen the burnt on food and grim.

And lastly there is the tumble dryer sheet trick, check out my little demo here.

I hope this helps with your oven cleaning and remember if you try to wipe over your oven every time you use it with a simple warm soapy cloth this job will be a whole lot easier.

For more ideas on how to use White Wine Vinegar than take a look here