Pet Hair

There are many different ways to get rid of pet hair to keep your home looking tidy; it just depends on the surface. Obviously a vacuum cleaner is a good place to start but sometimes it can be troublesome, particularly if your pet moults thick hair. Using a squeegee to scrape your carpet can gather hair into a clump which can then be picked up by hand and disposed of.

If you are forever covered in pet hair yourself, always keep a few lint rollers about the house and even in your car. Their sticky surface makes cleaning clothes and fabrics quick and easy. A lightly damp latex glove will also work in the same way for plastic surfaces and furniture.

Little Accidents

No matter how trained your pet is they are likely to have a little accident at some point around the home. Be especially vigilant if your pet is ill as they are more likely to fall out of their training habits. Urine stains can be easily removed but smells can linger.

Try to treat the stain as soon as it happens for best results. Place kitchen roll over it to retrieve any excess fluid before covering the stain with baking soda. Rub a small amount of hydrogen peroxide into the baking soda and pour white vinegar over the mixture. This can then be vacuumed.

Light Odours

For lighter pet odours, particularly those on your sofa or soft furnishings, you don’t have to resort to expensive professional cleaning to remove them. Sprinkle talcum powder over the area and leave for a couple of minutes before vacuuming off.

You should try testing an area first before doing this to a whole furnishing. Keeping your home scented with natural fragrances too, such as fresh flowers or herbs, can be a great alternative to masking odours with commercial deodoriser products.

Be Vigilant

Perhaps the most important cleaning method when it comes to looking after your pet is being vigilant and staying on top of stains and mess. Regularly cleaning up fur will save a lot more time than trying to clean up a bigger mess.

If there is a particular spot your pet likes to sit in or a piece of furniture they love to go to, place a blanket, rug or pet-bed there for them. These can be cleaned individually when needed. Keep an eye on hiding places they might like such as under tables or behind furniture. You don’t want a nasty surprise when you do a thorough blitz of the house!

For more tips on keeping your home clean and tidy when you have pets just get in touch with us today. If your business requires cleaning up after mucky pups and messy kittens, we can help. At SCS Cleaning Services our specialists in Edinburgh have experience in working with animal-based businesses.

So, we put together these fast and cheap hacks to make things a little less stressful and a little more tidy for you – or even for someone else! There’s nothing stopping you from showing this to your roommate that always leaves the kitchen looking horrible or your son that ‘s never cleaned anything in his life.

Mould

Bathrooms are susceptible to mould for obvious reasons; you can find it in between tiles, caulk, on the shower curtains, or on the wall and ceiling in severe cases. You don’t necessarily have to see the mould for it to be there or for it to affect you. When water has seeped into a wall cavity because the caulk has become puckered or shrunken, it can cause serious damage behind the tiles – not to mention the effect that the mould could have on you.

The easiest thing for you to do is to act fast to any broken tiles – replace them or fix them as soon as you can. Secondly, don’t let the moisture in your bathroom build up as this will only lead to more mould; your bathroom should be appropriately ventilated which will help this.

Germs

It’s so important that you disinfect your bathroom regularly and efficiently. It’s a particular room in your house where germs and viruses can flourish and quickly spread from person to person. And when we say ‘efficiently’, we mean efficiently! That means disinfecting every single surface in your bathroom on a regular basis.

Don’t go forgetting about the taps, door knobs and light switches either. They are something that everyone touches on their way in and out of the bathroom, and are great places for those germs to hide.

Shower curtains

We’ve all seen those little black dots that form at the bottom of your shower curtain and work their way up. This is mould and is a result of the soapy moisture trapped in the shower curtain; this is why you find the black dots of mould to be denser at the bottom of the curtain where it gathers in the bathtub.

Getting rid of these is simple, either remove them using cleaning products or popping the curtain in the washing machine (if it is the right material), or buying a mould-resistant shower curtain made out of washable nylon or polyester.

Toilet seat

Not closing the toilet lid when you flush could be making you ill too. You’ll be surprised to hear that studies done have proven that droplets of water – as miniscule or as invisible as they may be to you – can travel up to six foot away from the toilet. By keeping the lid closed, you’ll help to prevent any germs from making their way across the bathroom and beyond!

Towels

We understand that not many people will wash their towels after every single use, but you do have to be careful with what you do with the towels after you’ve used them. Hanging them up on a hook on the back of the door or scrumpled up on the side is NOT hygienic.

Doing this won’t do you any favours at all – not only will you then have to dry yourself with a semi-wet towel next time you use it, but the moisture trapped between the folds can cause mildew and bacteria growth. Hang them spread out across a towel bar or even better, a heated towel bar.

Wrong cleaners

It’s not only the things that you’re not cleaning properly that could make you ill – it could also be what you’re cleaning those things with. Using the wrong cleaning materials could do you harm too. It’s important to make sure that you’re using the right cleaner and the right brushes or scrubbers.

The cleaners to use shouldn’t be too harsh as this could irritate your skin and potentially your lungs too. Steer clear of the cleansers that use ammonia or chlorine – and never, ever mix them! When it comes to the utensils that you use, ensure that they are used for the bathroom and the bathroom only. Don’t go bringing the kitchen’s dish scrubber in because you can’t find another one.

Daily routine

Make the job a lot easier for yourself and keep on top of your bathroom by cleaning it on a daily basis. Have a microfiber cloth handy at all times so you can quickly wipe down the sink, bath or other surfaces before the dirt or bacteria can build up too much.

By simply adding it to your daily routine – just like you’d tidy the kitchen – you may see a real difference in the appearance of your bathroom by the time it comes round to that spring clean, and you will reduce any health risks from those nasty bathroom bugs and bacteria.

It’s a good idea to have a professional clean every so often to make sure it’s all in tip top shape. At SCS Cleaning Services, we will provide you with a deep clean, using all the very best equipment to provide you with the very best and most efficient cleaning service, all for a very good price.

If you’d like to find out more about our cleaning services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.

If you are the kind of person who would rather be doing anything other than cleaning your home, why not make 2016 the year that you introduce a few new habits? We’ve come up with four cleaning resolutions for the New Year that will help you to keep on top of things, and perhaps even enjoy cleaning!

1) Clean as you go: The best habit that you can adopt is to clean as you go. This means wiping up spills as soon as they happen, washing pots and pans straight after use, and loading the dishwasher or washing the dishes as soon as possible after eating. Leaving plates and cups on the worktop makes your kitchen look messy, encourages bacteria to breed, and turns ‘loading the dishwasher’ into a big job that you keep putting off. Get into the habit of doing smaller jobs as you go, and they won’t build up into big, unmanageable ones!

2) Make oven cleaning easier: No one likes cleaning the oven, and those who say they do are lying! It’s inevitable that food and grease will spill over and build up in your oven; and every time you use it that food will get cooked onto the shelves even more. For starters, you can make life easier for yourself by placing a silicone oven liner in the bottom of your oven to catch spills and drips – this can be removed and cleaned easily once a week. Secondly, when you’re cleaning the silicone sheet, slip the shelves out and soak them in warm soapy water before gently scrubbing them with a wire sponge. Doing both of these things prevents the need for an annual oven scrub-down.

3) Let your cleaning products do the work: If you’re using the right products, and using them properly, you shouldn’t need to use every ounce of elbow grease you have to scrub things clean! Spray the mildew remover onto your tiles, or the grease remover onto your hob, and leave it to do its job for a good few minutes. When you come back to
it, it should be a case of just wiping the dirt away and rinsing the area with clean water.

4) Check your fridge regularly: You know that smell that hits you every time you open the fridge door? It’s probably caused by some lingering, forgotten-about food, or a spillage that never got wiped up properly. Check your fridge at least once a week, throwing out any food that has seen better days, and giving the shelves a quick wipe down with an antibacterial wipe. Work it into your routine whenever you’re taking the rubbish out; before you tie the bin bag up, glance in the fridge and throw out any unsavoury items that aren’t worth eating. This is a good way to keep on top of things and prevent food waste too.

First impressions

The first thing you see when you look at a house is the front garden, and what better impression than a well-maintained, beautiful-looking garden? It’s a wonderful welcome for guests, and you can really play around with it to make it your own. An overgrown garden filled with weeds, dried up leaves and rubbish has much less of a ‘WOW’ factor, and doesn’t have any personality to it at all. Make the most of the spaces you’ve got with your house – don’t just stick to the interiors, have a real think about what’s going on outside your house, too.

Selling purposes

Taking care of your garden will not only impress visitors and passers-by, it will also increase kerb appeal and value. Even if selling your home isn’t a plan yet, looking after your house and garden will make it a lot easier for you when it comes to it. Five years in a house with no work done in the garden whatsoever would be a BIG job for just you, but if it did come to that, we’re just the guys to help; no job is too big or too small!

Inject some colour into your home

Planting flowers and greenery in your front and back gardens is a fab idea for any home. By simply adding a bit of colour, a house can be totally transformed. As the seasons come round, you can play with the colours and types of plants that you use – you’ll learn so much, too!

Lift your mood

The combination of a smart-looking front and back garden with the happy effect of colours and flowers will most definitely lift your mood. Every time you walk through it, you’ll be proud to be the owner of the property, rather than hanging your head in shame with the amount of weeds coming out of your patio.

Something to do

Taking up gardening or going out of your way to maintain the look of your garden is a great hobby. It’s healthy and it’s much better than spending your evenings outside or planning things for your garden after work sat in front of the telly. You’ll find it so much more rewarding and satisfying.

Somewhere to play

Especially if you have kids or pets, having a well-maintained garden is important. You want them to be able to play out there freely, and be in a place where they want to be playing. Whilst they may not appreciate the brand new gerberas you’ve planted, they will appreciate the mowed lawn and the pleasant surroundings. Just wait!

Great for summer

Whilst it’s important for your garden to be looked after all year round, summer is when you can appreciate it most. It’s when you want to spend all of your spare time outside, it’s when the colourful flowers pop and the grass becomes greener, and it’s when all those outside parties come round! What better motivation to keep your garden in check?

If you need some help with getting your garden looking its best, don’t hesitate to get in touch with SCS Cleaning Services Ltd and we’ll be happy to get our garden experts on the case!

Cleaning with no gloves

Just because you only want to quickly run over the sides with a cloth and cleaner, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear gloves. Even if it’s just a simple kitchen cleaner out the cupboard, it can still be harsh on your hands.

Overusing the cleaner

As tempting as it may be to load up the cleaner on that annoying stain on your living room’s carpet, stop! You’re much better off using it sparsely with water – the water will soak the area, and the cleaner can help disinfect and wipe the stain away.

Using the wrong things for the job

Before you think about doing that ‘spring clean’, make sure you’ve got the right kit for the jobs you want to do. For example, don’t go using abrasives if you’re looking to clean the bathroom, and importantly, do not consider that a rinsed sponge is clean!

Scrubbing the carpet

When you accidentally drop something on the floor and it looks like it’s going to stain, the first thing you want to do is scrub it, right? Resist that urge! Scrubbing out spills in your carpet will only damage the carpet’s fibres. What you want to is blot the area with a clean white cloth or paper towel until the moisture is fully absorbed, and then treat the area with a stain remover (that won’t fade your carpet’s colour!).

Cleaning windows on a sunny day

Staring and looking out to a beautiful day may inspire you to clean those grubby marks off your windows to make the view even more beautiful. But guess what? That might make those grubby marks even worse. The heat of the sun can cause the cleaning solution that you use to dry too quickly, leaving more streaks than you started with. Wait for a cloudier, more miserable day and you’ll benefit when the sun comes out again!

Mopping a wooden floor with water

Whilst it may feel right to whip out the mop and bucket to clean your wooden floor from time to time, it’s not. Water and wood together is not a happy combination. Using it on your home’s wooden floors is a lot more harmful than helpful – stick to sweeping and vacuuming.

Vacuuming in the wrong way

Oh, you might just be doing that wrong too. Believe it or not, there is indeed a right way to vacuum, and a wrong way – well, a better way and a less efficient way, let’s say. Don’t think of vacuuming as a block-by-block job. You want to vary your direction so that you pick up dust and debris at all angles – hiding under every carpet fibre.

Forgetting to clean the cleaning tools

After all that cleaning, you probably think you deserve a sit down and a cup of tea, right? But, just before you put the kettle on, give your cleaning tools a clean themselves. Think of all the germs you’ve cleaned up with them, you don’t want to leave them settling in your toilet brush or kitchen cloths!