Spring Cleaning with Colin and Justin
Put a spring in your step this season with Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan’s hot guide to making spring cleaning a breeze, courtesy of Ambi Pur.
First thing’s first – don’t let your spring cleaning take forever! Make sure you have a grand plan. Assemble all the equipment and products you need for every spill, stain and spot. Plan out your cleaning timetable and be realistic about what you can achieve on a day-to-day basis. A deep, every nook and cranny clean can take a few days, so pace yourself and try not to overwork each day – remember that spring cleaning should be a pleasurable experience and not a chore! Sharing work means half the time - and half the trouble - so get your partner or kids to give you a hand. After all - whose mess is it anyway?
‘To fail to plan is to plan to fail‘, so before you start throwing yourself at a seemingly never ending task, go from room to room and make a list of everything that needs to be done. Start at the top and work your way down, listing dusty areas, dirty paintwork and furniture in need of polish, and floors in need of a spruce. Listing these chores allows you to mentally contain the work and makes the whole exercise feel much more achievable. With one room listed, move onto the next until you’ve got a game plan for the whole house. Post your plans on the door of each room and you’ll remove the worry about where to begin - and you’ll remove any excuses for not getting it done!
C and J’s 10 Tips for a Tip Top Tidy!
- When cleaning anything (especially appliances) work from the top down, moving from the inside to the outside. That way you’ll avoid dirtying what you have just cleaned.
- Drag a damp cloth along the point where carpets touch skirting boards to ‘grab’ the hard to vacuum grit and grime which even the most determined vacuum cleaner often leaves behind.
- Sling a dishwasher tablet down your loo and leave to fizz overnight. Wash away with a kettle of hot water and flush several times to remove residue. Then complement your cleaning effort with Ambi Pur’s Spring Collection toilet rim blocks (£1.49 RRP).
- Clean the inside of your microwave with a 50/50 solution of water and vinegar. A cheap as chips way of staying fresh!
- Don’t let the bedbugs bite! Steam-clean or vigorously vacuum your mattress, keeping your bedroom windows open to let everything properly air. Flip over your mattress (top to bottom and side to side) every time you make the bed with fresh linen.
- Pop in an air freshener to freshen the air - and make sure you use one that changes perfume. The Ambi Pur 3volution (£7.99 RRP for a primary unit) is genius courtesy of its rotating trio of smells which makes sure your nose doesn’t become immune to ‘static’ aroma. Try Ambi Pur Spring Orchard, inspired by freshly cut flowers, fresh fruit and spring blossoms, or Spring Meadow, inspired by luscious citrus, the freshness of morning dew and the purity of white flowers, to complement the season.
- Clear your closet - swap your summer and winter wardrobes over and vacuum pack your unseasonal clothes away for next year. Be ruthless - if you didn’t wear it this year and you won’t fit into it again, give it to charity and free up valuable storage space.
- Sort your drawers! Empty out each one, wipe with a damp cloth and examine the contents – throw away odd socks etc and use drawer organisers for underwear.
- Wipe down the inside of your fridge with lemon juice to keep it spic and span and smelling fresh.
- It’s time for the annual kitchen drawer marathon! Grab a bin bag and ditch all the useless things you’ve collected over the last twelve months! Say ‘adios’ to all those out of date coupons, say ‘au revoir’ to that legion of duplicate bills and bid a less than fond farewell to that less than tempting collection of restaurant menus. Yup, the ones you never call!
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