House work is one of the most rewarding jobs but its a lot of work to maintain all areas of the home and it takes a lot of time. Did you know the average family spends between 8-12 hours a week cleaning? That’s a lot of time completing chores that will only have to be done again so you want to be sure you are using the best tools for the job. How many hours a week do you clean? We would love to hear in the comment section below. With over 20 years of cleaning experience, Mandy knows all the cleaning myths and what to do instead. She looks forward to sharing some of her “in house” secrets so you can have a few of the pro tips to get through your house work.
- You need to use chemicals in order for the house to be clean. Wrong. Chemicals don’t actually clean. Cleaning solvents add chemicals like ammonia, bleach, or chlorine, for example to your counters, washroom or floors and as a result it kills the germs. However this is chemically cleaning, meaning you still need to remove the chemicals from your counters or bathtub before bathing or preparing food. Many of the warning labels on disinfectant wipes is to let the solvent sit on the surface for 4 minutes then wash thoroughly. If you’re preparing food or bathing after using these wipes be sure you wash the surface with water and a good microfibre cloth to get rid of the solvents. Mechanical cleaning is the best way of cleaning. What this means is you’re cleaning with microfibre, BacLock technology, and water. The Norwex envirocloth will replace all purpose cleaners, washroom cleaners, disinfectant wipes, paper towel, window solvents and more. To learn more about Norwex and how you can become chemical free in 2020, we invite you to check out our blog on Chemical Free Cleaning Supplies
- Bubbles means clean. Bubbles are defiantly not a sign of clean and in fact the opposite. Bubbles that take longer to pop are the bubbles that hold the most amount of baceria like e-coli and as a result can spread the most amount of germs the fastest. Bubbles contain ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate or triclosan and can cause skin irritation, irritation of the eyes or lungs and if ingested it’s uncertain of the long term consequences. When purchasing dish soaps, hand soap, or dish washing detergent avoid these ingredients
- You need to polish wood with furniture polish or oil. NO! This is not a safe alternative for your furniture. It smothers the original coating and doesn’t allow the wood to breathe. Instead dry dust your antique furniture or wet dust if you want there to be a nice shine (non antique). The Norwex microfibre dusting mitt collects all the fine dust and allergens without leaving beind lint, chemicals, and dust from other areas. The dusting mitt is machine washbale and works using static electricity, rub your hand and the mitt together and get to work. The dusting mitt is machine washable and can be hung to dry or dried in the dryer.
- You need an aerosol can of solvent to clean your oven. This one is a very serious NO. Aerosol cans in general aren’t good but you especially don’t wan’t toxic, explosive cleaners in the major appliances that prepare your food. Self cleaners work sometimes but repairing this feature can be costly, as well, self cleaners in gereal stink. Many of the oven cleaning products burn the skin, lungs, and eyes and quite honestly don’t work. If you come into contact with oven cleaner contact poison control for how to treat your symptoms. Norwex continues to impress again and again offering products that are tough on the dirt and easy on the cleaner. For cleaning your oven, we recommend using the Norwex spirisponge and cleaning paste to cut the grease and return your oven to new. The cleaning paste is Norwex’s “elbow-grease” in a jar and ready to tackle any big chore in the house.
- How many of you use a lint sheets to remove hair off the furniture? Seems to take forever doesn’t it? For a lot of years, many of our families had blankets on their sofas to try and reduce the amount of hair ending up on the couch or chairs. That was until we learnt this next trick. You know those yellow rubber kitchen gloves, get one of those and head to the sofa. Run your hand along the couch and gather the hair. The rubber allows to you to easily and quickly collect the hair without multiple disposbale lint sheets. These gloves can be found at your local dollarstore.
- Did you know that your kitchen sink is one of the dirtiest areas in your home? If you thought the kitchen sink was clean, I’m here to expose that myth and tell you it’s NOT! Your sink, sink stopper, bottle brush and scrub pads should be washed often to reduce bacteria and germs such as e. coli. Have you ever had your kitchen cloths smell and you don’t know where the odour is comig from? Those are odours that are deep in the fibres of the cloth and over time they won’t wash out. Changing your kitchen cloths and scrub pads to antibacterial cloths like the Norwex kitchen cloth, the enviro cloth, the bottle brush and the netted cloths will reduce bacteria and inhibit the growth of odours. Norwex has the best kitchen solutions you could ask for.
- Too often, our clients tell us ‘if we don’t do the chores it wont get done’. To an extent we agree, however there are some great appliance (large and small) that complete the house work, and reduce your work load. Run stuffed animals through the washer and kids toys through the dishwasher for a couple of simple examples. Or get a iRobot Roomba vacuum to help take away the worry of keeping the floors clean. You do not need to be doing all the work to have a clean home, figure out what robots or machines work best for you and impliment those tools when it’s right for your family.
- Do you vacuum before you dust? Or dust before you vacuum? A vacuum dispenses a lot dust and allergens back in the air and on the furniture making this a difficult decision to be made. Cleaning your vacuum filters and bags often can reduce the omissions that land back in the air. If you have high ceilings and the cob webs are starting to develop, the Norwex envirowand will allow you to get into those high hard to reach webs. Add the enviro wand on to the handle of the Norwex mop for an 8ft reach. The envirowand and Norwex mopping system are machine washable solutions with a 2 year microfibre warranty.
- You don’t need to scrub your microwave if it’s dirty. You may have used this tip before and not even realized it. Heat a cup of water in the microwave for 1-2 minutes to loosen the stuff that’s stuck. Wipe the microwave walls and turntable, and it’s done. If you want to remove odours you can always add a dash of lemon or orange to the mug of water. Citrus will typically remove any unwanted scents.
- Did you know?! If you clean for 2 hours you burn 200 calories. Excuse me, I have some house work that needs to be done.
- Did you know that disinfectant wipes have to be left on the counter or surface for 1-3 minutes and MUST be washed off as the chemicals are recommended NOT to be ingested. You should NOT prepare food on surfaces that have been cleaned with disinfectant wipes. This was a real eye opener for us, as most people think these wipes are safe in the kichen. Instead the solvent must be removed before food prep. A safer alternative that is also better for the environemnt is the Norwex counter cloths. These cloths are half the size of a sheet of paper towel and the perfect size for wiping up small messes or cleaning up after dinner. The counter cloths replace the disposable paper towels, plus it’s made of 70% recycled materials. Mandy and her family of 7 no longer purchase paper napkins or paper towels, and instead use the counter cloths and washable napkins. The best part about these cloths is that there are no chemicals required. You can wash your counter with just water and microfibre!
- You don’t have to fuss over your blender, Ninja, or juicer anymore. Fill it approximately 3/4 of the way with water and add a small amount of Norwex dish soap. Turn the blender on and eureka it’s clean. Rinse, dry and put away. It’s quite honeslty that simple. Do you like to air dry your dishes before storing them away? We recommend you dry your dishes before sealing a lid on the container. If the dish is not completly dry it could cause bacteria to form in the dish. We LOVE our Norwex dish matt for air drying the larger dishes. The matt is machine washable, offers BackLock technology, folds to a decent size for putting it away.
- Most people don’t clean as they live, making tidying up and cleaning a lot more difficult and timely than it needs to be. Mandy has shown a lot of people how to live a little more tidy or organized in their space, by helping them reduce the amount of household stuff and improving the organization throuoghout the house. Often it’s not that people want to be messy or disorganized, it’s that they have too many things and not enough space. It’s important to have totes, baskets, shelving and bins throughout the house in effort to stay organized while being “trendy” in the home.
- Did you know!? If you spend too much time in your bedroom you will actually struggle to fall asleep? This is in part why each room should have a purpose. The other reason is it’s easier to keep up with the mess and clutter if the kitchen mess is in the kitchen and the sleeping necessities aren’t strewn across the living room. Each room should have a purpose. If you use your space accordingly you will have an easier time tidying at the end of each day and cleaning at the end of each week. What is the one chore that never ends in your home? In ours it’s DISHES!
- Don’t let your dishes pile up. This one sounds good in theory but dishes is the never ending chore. Would you agree? We’ve learnt that it’s always best to clean as you go or dishes take a LONG time. Do you prefer kitchen sponges? Or are you a cloth kind of person? Cleaning Tip: Make sure you run your cloth and sink stopper through the dish washer to remove any bacteria or fungi.
Well there you have several cleaning myths busted, and several cleaning solutions that will make cleaning more efficent and eco-friendly. We understand that your time is valuable, so we try to save you time and money with the cleaning solutions we recommend. Do you have any cleaning myths that you want to share? Feel free to send us an email or comment below. We hope to add value to you and your family by providing simple solutions and look forward to your emails. Happy cleaning and dont forget to check out my catelogue here.
