Cleaning Tips - A-1 Cleaning Service, LLC.

December 10, 2020March 30, 2024

Ways On Keeping Your Self-Storage Unit Clean

Renting a storage unit Christiansburg is an ideal option to have extra space to store your belongings temporarily. It’s an asset that’s practical to have if you only have limited space at home or your workplace. However, it’s also a responsibility that you have to deal with.

Paying to rent a self-storage space from someone like Jim’s Self Storage Melbourne is like renting an apartment; you have to maintain it yourself. You can’t have the provider do it for you because your stuff is in it, and you’re spending good money for it. An important part of maintaining is ensuring its cleanliness, particularly if you’ll use it for the long run.

Occasional cleaning of your storage units Lynchburg is essential to keep your belongings in good condition. Though you won’t be using most of what’s in it, it still makes sense to keep them clean when the time comes that you’ll need them. In this article, you’ll find some ways to keep your self-storage unit clean.

Declutter and take everything out

Regardless of if you only have a few items stored in your unit, you still have to declutter. This is all the more necessary for those whose units are full. You should also do this even if you’re cleaning yours for the first time.

Proper decluttering is done by removing every content of your self-storage. Most storage facilities are left closed and are only opened a few times annually, which causes dust and dirt to accumulate. So before you start cleaning, you should take all your stuff out first.

Remove all the items in every container or box it’s packed in. You can then group them so you can sort them in preparation for individual cleaning and return. As for the boxes and cartons that you think you won’t be needing, you could contact services similar to Rubbish Removals Clayton in your area to get those whisked away for your home and yard to look spick and span!

Dustproof your things

You can avoid dust accumulation by replacing the packing material of your belongings. Instead of using traditional boxes for packing, use plastic containers. After you’ve decluttered, removed each item, and cleaned them, put them in plastic containers before returning them inside.

Plastic containers are more durable and easier to clean. They’re also less susceptible to pests like termites, so they’re safer for books, files, and documents. Just don’t stuff them with too many heavy items, or they’ll break after a short time due to the weight it carries.

Another way of dust proofing your things inside your self-storage unit is to elevate them. The ground is normally where dust accumulates, so keeping them off is a wise thing to do. You can bring in shelves or pallets to provide elevation for your items in order to keep enough air circulation inside your storage unit.

As for larger items like furniture or hefty appliances, you should cover them with plastic wraps. In case you don’t have those, you can use old blankets as a good alternative.

Stick to a regular cleaning schedule

Lastly, you have to check and clean your storage unit regularly. Regularly means on schedule, and you should follow it religiously. It’s recommended that you should do it at least once or twice every year.

Remember that even though you’ve done everything to keep it clean the last time, it’s not a guarantee that it’ll remain that way. Maintaining it is the key for it to stay clean. It’s also beneficial to check to see if there are items that you may not need or damaged ones to decide whether to repair or sell them.

Final words

The best way to go about having a self-storage unit is to keep it clean. Do everything you can to maintain cleanliness inside for the sake of your belongings. Keep in mind that you stored them there because they still have value, so keep your self-storage dirt-free to protect them.

**Author’s Bio:**
William Ross worked for a storage and logistics company before he finally decided he wanted to pursue his writing career. Today, he writes about the importance of storage facilities and organization, and how this will be the future of the storehouse industry.

August 20, 2014

Sitting room cleaning, step by step

If you are concerned that you could be cleaning the sitting room in a more efficient way, then you could well be right. If you don’t have the right order or products then you could be missing dust and dirt every time you clean. Having high-quality products, such as a Hoover, then you will be able to get all of the dirt up in one. If you think getting good products will be too expensive then 10BestCarpetCleaners has done a budget friendly series on the best Hoover’s so be sure to take a look.

If you can get an order for doing any job together, it will ensure that you are not at risk of repeating yourself, wasting time, or having to think of what to do next when you are in the moment. The beauty of the ordered approach is that you will repeat it, and start to learn it off by heart, meaning that it will eventually become your natural way of doing things. You will likely find that the best way to deal with this is to develop your own order, but that can be hard, so there are some pointers below and a rough outline for the job. Have a look at how the order may work for your sitting room, or any room for that matter, and adapt it to your needs, so that the whole thing becomes a really useful tool in your overall cleaning sequence.

First, tidy everything away in to the places where it needs to be. You will find that there are many different ways in which you can find these places, but it is best to have a set place for everything, to ensure that there is no question as to how you tidy the house. You will find that tidying immediately makes the room look better, which can spur you on, as you are already half way there. You will find that it also removes the amount of stuff that the next step knocks dust on to, meaning that you have less to dust afterwards, which makes it a lot more practical to do first off…

Next, dust the room from top to bottom, with a feather duster for any difficult to reach bits. You will likely find that you have to run over the surfaces under the higher areas a few time to ensure that you get rid of it all easily enough. There is a lot to be said for taking objects off of mantles and sills whilst you are doing this, as it ensures that you are not having to dust around them, and it means that you are getting dust on less stuff again.

Next take the sofa cushions out, shaking the dust off of them, so that you can get rid of all of the rubbish and debris that comes to settle on them through use. Take a hoover and vacuum under the cushions, having taken out any money or larger objects that fall down the gap. Failure to do this may well result in breaking or clogging up the vacuum cleaner. Return the pillows to the sofa having plumped them up nicely.

Once you have dusted off the surfaces, polish them and the objects up with a polishing cloth and some polish, should the surfaces and objects need it. You will find that this is a pretty simple job, and that you will be able to get a decent shine up with a few sprays and a couple of buffs with the cloth.

Take the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the floor. If it needs mopping be sure to do this afterwards, as otherwise you risk scratching the floor with the mop as you push the debris around, and that would be a real nightmare, as that will mean even more cleaning and polishing to do after all the rest of it! http://www.carpetcleaningcleaner.co.uk/carpet-cleaning-wandsworth/carpet-cleaners-wandsworth.html

July 17, 2014

Practical Office Cleaning Tips

Working in an office environment is a fate a lot of us face today, which has its ups and downs as we go. If you do spend more than enough hours there, then you already know how much dust can get on everything there, not to mention the germs on your keyboard and the rest of your office desk; office cleaning services mean that when your workers are getting ready to leave at the end of the day, the cleaning is in good hands meaning they can go with peace of mind. The tips ahead will give you an idea about what you can do to make sure the problem is under control while you work:

• One of the big problems in the office, despite our firm entry into a digital age is the use of paper which many companies still purchase from places like office monster. Your job might largely differ from the general idea of what an old-school office was like, but you likely still work with at least a bit of paper. You must make sure you remove whatever paper you don’t really need from your desk, as this will make the job of cleaning a lot less troublesome to deal with. It’s worth considering whether you really need paper at all in this digital age, especially with companies like FilecenterDMS that turn your paper files into easily accessible computer files. This will greatly reduce the amount of space taken up by paper in your office and make it look cleaner, as well as make your job easier with files you can pull up in a matter of seconds!

• Make sure you never eat over your keyboard, as this will only make it worse when you follow up with your cleaning efforts. You can do a lot of good with simple antistatic wipes, as they are made for cleaning electronics specifically. You can also turn the keyboard around and shake it around. If you see any bread crumbs coming out of it, as well as bits of dust or hair, then you will need to do a very good job at cleaning them. However, if you consider your job in a factory as your office work then you should have something like rugged industrial keyboards in an integrated computing system which means that you will very rarely have to clean your keyboard. However, it still might be worthwhile to not eat over this system as anything can get dirty!

• Another thing you should also make sure is to clear out and organize the top of your desk, so you won’t have to dig through a pile of belongings each time you need to clean it. Since this is where everything is kept usually, then this means you will need to do this task on a semi-regular basis so you won’t have to deal with a big mess later down the line. If you have less decorations, then you will have a much easier time cleaning your personal space.

• One key thing worth remembering is to ensure you keep things in their place, not placing them all over the desk or office space. This will keep things organized, but at the same time easier to deal with.

• Thankfully, your main problem while you’re at work will be your own belongings rather than doing too much actual cleaning. You should keep things under control so there will be less to deal with. Put them in your desk, keep things less cluttered and you will do your cleaning easily. After that is done you can simply dust your work area as well as sanitize it if you feel its necessary.
http://www.londonhousecleaning.org.uk/W4-carpet-cleaners-chiswick/rug-cleaners-chiswick.html

June 23, 2014June 24, 2014

Getting Out Carpet Stains

If you are tired of your carpet looking tired, then it is essential that you are well equipped with both the tools and the knowledge to get rid of the stains that can make it so ill loved. You will find that most stains are pretty easy to get rid of if you attack them with the right technique, and as soon as possible after the staining has happened. There is a lot to be said for keeping the stained area wet and ensuring that there is no risk of the staining pigment drying and setting in to the stained area, as this will make it nigh on impossible to remove. You should also try and remove as much of the staining article as possible form the area before you start attacking the stain, as trying to clean the area up without doing so can result in spreading the stain in to a wider area, which if it sets in, will essentially make your problem a lot worse. If you feel like the stain is something that you can tackle, then have a look at some tips and tricks to doing so beneath. If not, then you may need to call the professionals in, and that can be a great but expensive option, so think carefully about your plan of action!

For a start, you will find that different carpets will react differently to different cleaning agents. PH neutral soap will be fine for everything really, but some acids and alkalis will not do so well for some carpets. You will find also that using enzymes to clean up stains like blood and grass will be all too effective if you have stained on a wool or silk rug, as the protein fibers used in those materials will be eaten away by the enzymes as they clean, leaving holes. If you are at all in doubt as to how to treat a certain stain, then it is essential that you either ask someone with some experience in the matter, or you test out the product on an area of the carpet that can not be seen. Most carpets do not have an area like this, so the professional advice option is usually a good shout.

You will find that carpet shampoos work well on most stains, but some will need some extra help. You can often get great results form oxi-action stain removers, that you simply work in to the affected area, and then vacuum out when they are dried. The issue of course with this is that in the drying process, any left over pigment may well dry in to the carpet fibers, and leave you with a stain, even after all of your hard work! Bleach and other more harsh chemicals will usually only be a last option on a hardy carpet, as with delicate fabrics and darker coors you are at risk of allowing the bleach to remove the color of the carpet itself, which will not be a stain as such, but a white scorch mark, if the bleach is left for too long! If you are using these things, then you should rinse them well after wards, to ensure that there is no chance of being left with a load of acid or alkali cleaner in the area, that will carry on working away at the spot, long after the stain is gone, as this could result in far worse problems!

http://www.cleanerscarpet.co.uk/carpet-cleaning/SW12-rug-cleaning-balham.html

June 2, 2014June 6, 2014

Sofa Cleaning for Light Marks

Getting Rid of Light Marks on your Sofa

The sofa is really easy to get marked, simply because it is a much loved spot for the family, and goes through a lot throughout the day. As a place where you are able to sit back and relax in comfort, you will find that it is actually very much the kind of place that gets things spilled on it; whether it is your cup of tea, the kids’ dinner or your friend’s glass of red wine, you will find that there are often little marks here and there, some of which are easy to remove, and some of which are really hard to get rid of! The main issue with a sofa is that only some of them have removable covers, and this essentially means that getting the stained area wet on a sofa that cannot be uncovered is risky, as the wetness can soak in, fail to dry, and cause mold and damp smells! Clearly the last thing that you want if you are trying to get rid of marks on the sofa is more marks, or a nasty smell, so it might be a good idea to look down other options!

For a start, if you have a light mark, you can often just wipe it away, and allow it to dry out. This is only really an option if you are aware that the staining article is not something that will get worse with drying in to the fabric, as this will mean that the stain is pretty much permanent if you don;t get rid of it completely the first time! For instance, red wine is not going to come out with a wet cloth, it will need more specialist attention. However, a little gravy on a black sofa will likely wipe away with a cloth and then be fine to dry out, as the mark will be unnoticeable.

Using upholstery cleaners is a good plan, as long as you know how to use them. Each product is different, but most will spray on, or have some sort of opportunity to lather up on the stain. Leave this lather in place so that the chemicals get their full chance to react with the stained area, and then wipe the foam away. You should find that the lather takes on the color of the foam, and that you are able to get a decent amount of the pigment of the stain away form the fabric or the upholstery. Using lemon or white vinegar in the same way can be very useful in that the acid in both will break down the build up of the stain, allowing it to be soaked up with a clean cloth, without spreading to the surrounding area of the upholstery. You should be careful with tougher stains not to allow them to be spread by your scrubbing, making sure to lift things off the surface with a knife or scraper, and ensuring that nothing gets pushed on to clean parts of the sofa.

Take the vacuum cleaner to the sofa to get up all of the crumbs, debris, pet hair and other bits and pieces that fall on the sofa. These smaller bits of dirt may seem inconsequential over all, but they can contribute to the deterioration of the fabric as the sofa is used, and the cushions rub together. Removing this dirt and dust regularly will ensure that the sofa looks better for longer. You will also find that plumping the cushions has a lot to do with the life of your sofa, as allowing a groove to be worn in to the cushions where people consistently sit will mean that the fabric is stretched in to a set position. Reviving the feather or padding within the cushions and upholstery will mean that this is less quick a process, and you will have your sofa looking a lot better for a lot longer!

Having a wet wipe ready to clear up any little food spills and other lighter marks that might befall your sofa is a great way to ensure that you are never worrying too much about the way it looks. If you feel like you are in a situation where you are always having to clean things up, it can be a good idea to get a sofa cover that matches the look of the room, that you can just throw in the washing machine in the event of a spillage!

http://www.carpetupholsterycleaners.org.uk/N1-upholstery-cleaners/islington-sofa-

May 26, 2014August 22, 2023

Cleaning for the Busy Professional

If you are starting tireless that your cleaning process is taking up a lot of time in your life, then it may well be the case that you are actually having issues with how much free time you have in the first place. As your job gets more and more stressful, there will be things that you need to change about the rest of your life in order that it does not become totally overrun by work and chores. Whilst many feel like they should be able to have a regular balance between work and the home, you will often find that work starts to encroach in a way that is not so appealing, and the only time that you feel that you have to sacrifice is your family and social time. This is some of the most important hours of your life however, so it is essential that you find a way of reducing the amount that you lose to working, and try to find time elsewhere. One way of doing this is to get out of the cycle of letting the housework take forever, and there are two ways in which you can do this.

First off, you could get a cleaner. This is a fairly simple answer that many professionals go for to ensure that they are not being forced to work when they get home after a long day at the office. There is little better relaxing than coming home to a clean and tidy home, so it is certainly a good idea to look in to this. Besides that, a cleaner often has a good supply of commercial cleaning products and knows exactly the tasks to be done—professionals often possess the know-how of these things. Of course, you may have to point out the areas of the house and let them know what to clean, but they will surely find a good idea to go about the work.

Be sure of the hours that you need before you call anyone. Remember to ask your friends and family if they have a cleaner that they can recommend before you even start looking. Have a think about the sort of budget that you are willing to spend on cleaning, and look in to how well the cleaners get paid by the various agencies that you are looking at using. There is a lot to be said for having a loyal and devoted cleaner, who will ensure that you are always looked after, and they can become like a member of the family if you cultivate the relationship carefully, so choose wisely!

You could also try streamlining your own cleaning process, so that it does not get in the way of your life. This process is not a particularly easy one, but if you were to clean more often, and in a less block like way, then you may well be in for a revelation in terms of how well you can get your place cleaned without having to allow the process to take up much of your time. By separating the tasks that contribute to the whole house clean, you can get them done within five or ten minutes, and this of course means that you are in a position where you can slot such jobs in amongst other larger things in your life. For instance, if you are waiting for the kettle to boil for your coffee in the morning, you can wipe down the kitchen, or if you are waiting for your favorite TV program to start in the evening, you could vacuum the living room! If you want, combining this way of doing things with a less regular cleaning service would make everything a lot easier, without the expense of a cleaner coming every week or more often.

http://www.cleanerscarpetcleaning.com/kensington-carpet-cleaners/W8-floor-cleaning-kensington.html

April 14, 2014April 16, 2014

Guest Blog: Teaching Children to Clean

Teaching Children to Clean

So many times parents wait to give chores to their children when they are much older. The best way to train your children to clean house is to start from the time they learn to walk. And even before they can walk you can talk to them about the work you are doing and what is the best way to get it done. Many studies show that children can learn to read or learn a foreign language in their infancy. It is never too early to start teaching them how to clean house as well!

I know that when I was very small my own mother would sit me near her as she was cooking or baking in the kitchen and she shared each step with me. She would also take all of us from room to room with her as she cleaned and she talked about everything she was doing. Now even though I do not recall these conversations as they took place at the time I know that I these experiences are stored in my mind. I have always known, almost instinctively, the best way to dust furniture, bake a cake, to clean a tub, etc.

Starting from the time your child can walk you can find chores that they can do. Picking up their own toys and putting them back into the toy box for example. Putting away their own clothes in the dresser or helping you to carry a few dirty clothes to the laundry room. These are things that babies can easily achieve. If you wait until they get older and more responsible, they will most likely at this point rebel against the idea of cleaning. Starting them out early making it just another natural part of life (and it is) will give them the skills they need in their adult years. It will also ensure that you as the parents will not have the entire responsibility of cleaning the home. I personally know families with teenagers and adult children that take no responsibility for the home and the parents are working and have the entire responsibility for the home as well. This should never be the case, it is not fair, but if you wait to train your children when you think they are old enough then you may find yourself in the same situation.

There are some really clever charts I have seen in several different posts lately about age appropriate chores for children. You could search the internet for these charts or just sit down and write down all the chores that need to be done in the house from the smallest on up. Write down your child’s or children’s names and start writing age appropriate chores under their names. Yes, you will need to spend a little more time in the beginning supervising and teaching but it will be well worth your time when you witness the results. Start them off small and work your way up to bigger and bigger challenges as they age. In the beginning you can work side by side with the children to train them and encourage them but as they advance in skill they can be left to work on their own.

Some people say that they have charts with stars and rewards for chores. Some children get allowances if they do their chores. Even though I do believe in giving children allowances I have never believed in giving it to them for doing their chores. I feel like everyone who lives in the home should be responsible for it and that their reward is a clean and nurturing environment. In my opinion the allowance should not be for doing the chores but instead for personal responsibility for their lives. Not just doing their chores but doing them with a good attitude. Being responsible for their homework and doing their best in school (which of course is different for each individual). One child may be an A student while the other brings home a B in a few subjects but you know they are doing their best.

And children should not just be taught to do their chores. They should also be taught to see a need and meet it. How many times have we all seen a child or even an adult for that matter walk right over something that needs to be picked up and put away or thrown away? Or you may be carrying in a lot of groceries and no one offers to help. This type of instruction is so very important for children to get early in life. We are only hurting our children when we do not give them proper training in thinking of others and noticing small things that need to be done and doing them. When they enter the workforce they will have a hard time adapting to being a team member and working with others if they do not receive the proper training at home.

Cleanliness is a big part of life and something that can not be ignored. As parents we need to look at it for what it is, a life skill, something that our children need to become successful independent adults. We only make it easier for them by starting them out from the beginning. Chores are not a punishment but a very important part of life.

Rachael Cherry is a wife, mother, and writer who is passionate about helping connect families in need with high quality caregivers. She has taken that passion and put it to work through NannyPro, a respected online nanny referral service. Learn more by visiting @NannyPro on Twitter.

February 3, 2014

Guest Post: Invaluable Tools for Cleaning Up After Children

Invaluable Tools for Cleaning Up After Children

Cleaning up after your kids can feel like a full-time job. That’s because most often, especially when parenting two or more, it is. The good news is with the right tools on hand you can significantly cut the cleaning time and even get the kids to help out with basic household clean up.

1. Baby Wipes – Keep a container on hand in every room in the house, in the diaper bag, and in the car for easily clean up. Clean faces, sticky hands in surfaces with a single swipe. Since they are safe enough for baby’s bottom, as your kids grow they can grow in their ability to help clean up little messes independently.

2. Hand Sanitizer – While washing yours and your little ones hands with soap and water is always the best defense for spreading germs, when a sink just isn’t available, opt for hand sanitizer instead. Keep a small bottle on your key chain, in your diaper bag and in your car for easy access. Monitor the kids carefully when using it so you can be sure that they rub their hands together properly and let their hands dry.

3. Bucketless Mops – Mops designed with reusable containers attached to them make laminate floor clean up a cinch. Simply squeeze the trigger to spray your floor with the cleaning material of your choice and you can quickly mop up nearly any mess. Once the map pads are nice and gritty, remove and throw it in the washing machine. For a deeper clean opt for a steam mop that kills bacteria without the use of chemicals.

4. Handheld Vacuums – There is hardly a thing handier then a handheld vac. From cleaning leaves and dried mud up from the entry way to clearing crumbs off the countertop, floor, and table, handheld vacs allow you to clean up the mess without making a bigger mess as you try to carry crumbs over to the trash can. Added bonus? The kids love to use it.

5. Steam Vac- At one point or another, your child’s bodily fluids are going to hit the floor, literally. Whether it’s a potty training mishap or a case of the stomach flu, forget calling the carpet cleaning professionals and clean up quickly – even in the middle of the night – with your very own steam vac. Having one on hand will save you time, money and effort.

Cleaning up messes is part of life. Make this part of life a little easier to keep up with by having the tools on hand that can save you time and energy as you tackle your children’s messes both big and small.

With over 20 years of experience in the nanny world as an award-winning nanny, agency director, and parenting author, Michelle LaRowe is considered a leading industry expert. A mom herself, she loves to educate parents and nannies on the importance of quality in-home childcare. Find out more by visiting @eNannySource on Twitter.

January 14, 2014January 18, 2014

Make Your Floors Shine With These Hardwood Cleaning Tips

Hardwood Cleaning Tips to Make Your Floors Shine

Hardwood cleaning can be difficult, when a nice sheen on your hardwood floors is what you are aiming for, it can sometimes feel impossible.

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This feels especially applicable when the ‘tried and true’ methods either leave you with a layer of ammonia water drying on the floor or force you to go back over the cleaned floor with a dry rag.

Now while this will get your floors clean, it might not always restore the glossy surface that shows off the beautiful grain of your floor, thereby leading you to consider getting the entire flooring replaced and reinstalled with the help of Shadow Wood Flooring (https://www.shadowwoodflooring.com/).
We definitely do not want that to happen to you! Therefore, want to use a product that not only cleans off the surface of the floor but restores the glossy look of the original varnish.

If you have floor mats over your hardwood, then you will want to get those clean too as you do not want to put dirty mats back over a newly cleaned and varnished floor. So checking out links like https://serp.co/best/floor-mat-cleaner/ as well as other similar websites for these products, can help you get what you need so your floors are always looking great.

My preferred cleaner that I use on the job is Bruce Hardwood & Laminate Floor Cleaner, although some people might not like using it because of the perceived harm of chemicals such as 2-Propanol, or Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether. Well I’m here to tell you these complicated chemicals aren’t nearly as bad as you would think! For starters, this ‘2-Propanol‘ is really just everyday Isopropyl alcohol, and in hardwood cleaning applications, this is extremely useful (and safe) in the dissolving of oils, gums, and resins that have been deposited onto your floor from normal everyday use. Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, whose proper chemical name is simply 2-Butoxyethanol, is also not nearly as hazardous as the name sounds, as it is used in such applications as paints, inks, leather protectors, oil dispersants, degreasers, liquid soaps, cosmetics, lacquers and varnishes. The combination of the 2-Propanol and 2-Butoxyethanol in Bruce Floor Cleaner allows us to not only strip the oils and resins off the surface of the floor (with the 2-Propanol), but restore a nice shine to the floor as if you had applied a new layer of varnish (with the 2-Butoxyethanol).

Now, Bruce is not the only brand of floor cleaner that uses these two chemicals, and those are not the only two chemicals that will give us the desired results, but it is one that is widely available, and the one that I use out on the job cleaning houses. On floors sealed with varnish, it’s possible to use a floor-cleaning machine like those from Intelligent Design Manufacturing to apply the solution, which also has the benefit of drying, buffing and polishing the floor too. On smaller jobs, however, I use a 5 step method in hardwood cleaning, repeating each step as necessary before moving onto the next:

Sweep the floor with a regular broom to get the bigger debris off the surface.
Re-sweep the floor, focusing most of your time on the cracks between floorboards and the edges around the baseboards. At this point: TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! This keeps you from tracking dirt and debris back across the floor.
Wipe entire floor with dry cloth, or use a microfiber dust mop to get the fine particulate matter off the wood surface
Spray a small amount of floor (about 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep from where I stand) with Bruce Hardwood & Laminate Floor Cleaner or similar hardwood cleaning solution
Wipe with a microfiber or cloth mop (NOT a ‘wet mop’) WITH THE GRAIN OF THE FLOOR, always moving your body backward, so you never step on the newly wiped areas. This way even if there are streaks on the floor when it dries, it will only blend in with the grain of the floor, and there will be no foot prints anywhere on the floor!

After using your new technique for hardwood cleaning, and before walking on, or using the floor, you will want to wait for it to dry (only 10-15 minutes, as there is very little liquid on the floor) at which point the floor will still be quite slick, but dry to the touch. At this point if you turn the lights on in the room and get down near the floor you can see the glossy finish that you just restored, and check for areas that you either missed the first time around or areas that need extra attention.

Hardwood cleaning can be difficult when you do not have a plan, but with these steps your floors will retain their shine and be less prone to scratches! With only a few minutes of hardwood cleaning a week, your floors will remind you that a beautiful home starts from the baseboards up.

Also see http://www.scribd.com/doc/200630232/Hardwood-Floor-Cleaning-Tips-From-a1clean-net-Blog

January 6, 2014

Guest Blog: Cleaning Tips to Reduce Smells

Reduce Smells With These Simple Cleaning Tips

Living in a stinky home is not pleasant. Not only can grime buildup stink, but it can also cause breathing problems and even worse longer lasting health problems. However traditional cleaning chemicals can cause breathing problems as well. What can you do? Try to clean green with these simple tips:

Dishwasher smelling foul? Sprinkle in a handful of baking soda before your next load or between loads.
Remove the musty smell from sponges and loofas by soaking them overnight in four tablespoons of baking soda to one quart of warm water. Let them dry in the sun and they have new life!
Stave off bad smells in your refrigerator and freezer by leaving an open box of baking soda in your refrigerator all the time. Swap it out every month for optimum scent control.
Keep your trash can or recycling bin fresh smelling by sprinkling in a dash of baking soda every time you empty it. Also works great on big outdoor trash cans and helps keep the flies away!
Keep your closets from smelling musty and giving your clothes the same smell. Leave a container of baking soda in the corner of your closet and change out every few months to keep your clothes smelling fresh. Add a drop or two of essential oils for an even better scent.
Stinky gym bags? Sprinkle in a dash of baking soda to drive away smells.
Clean out ashtrays and remove the lingering smoke smell by scrubbing with baking soda.
Get the stink and stain out of plastic containers and lunch boxes with vinegar. Wipe with undiluted vinegar and let sit overnight. For tough stains let the container soak in a half and half solution overnight.
Clean and deodorize the oven with vinegar. Soak the oven with undiluted vinegar and let it sit for several hours or overnight. Then rinse well. For tough stains you can scrub them with baking soda.

Using baking soda and vinegar to clean can be a great way to cut through the grime and stink without further aggravating the problem. Try some of these easy cleaning tips in your home and see if you can breathe easier.

Author Bio:

This post is contributed by Christine Maddox. Currently she is pursuing her Master’s degree from University of Texas as well as blogging for www.4nannies.com. She loves to write anything related to parenting, kids, nanny care etc. She can be reached via email at: christine.4nannies @ gmail.com.