Cleaning the house is a tedious task for any homeowner, but it is still an important task to be done. Your home is, after all, a place you regularly reside in so it is essential that it is of tip-top shape for you.
However, people aren’t perfect. We all mistakes, even when it comes to cleaning our own homes. There are many common cleaning mistakes that a lot of households do that aren’t good for the house.
From neglect to over-polishing, there are plenty of common mistakes we do when people clean. Read on to find out which common cleaning mistakes people do in their homes so you can save yourselves the trouble that continuing to do them may bring in the future.
Neglecting the drains
We often are guilty of ignoring our drains, and this can bite us in the future when we experience clogged drains from the buildup of many gunks in the pipes. This will eventually damage the pipes further causing a more labor-intensive job than cleaning it out.
According to MaidSailors, an NYC Cleaning Services company, cleaning your drains should be a monthly job for your house. You can even do it yourself with readily available materials in your home to save money. Another option is to hire professionals to do it for you to spare time.
Whatever option you choose, as long as the pipes are cleaned monthly they should continue working like a dream. Just remind yourself to include cleaning drains to your list of monthly cleaning chores that include things like dusting ceiling fans or cleaning windows.
Scrubbing your carpets
Speaking of monthly cleaning chores, another cleaning chore that a person should be doing every month is a spot treatment for carpets or upholstery. What material you use to treat spots on your carpet depends a lot on the type of stain.
One thing to note, however, is if you’re ever thinking of rubbing a fresh and new dirt spot away from your carpet then stop yourself. By rubbing away at the stain, what you’re doing is spreading the stain to other areas unaffected by it.
The best thing to do to spot-treat a carpet is to blot it out by taking an absorptive material that can sort of siphon away as much of the offending liquid away from the carpet. This is what you do before you start scrubbing away at it.
The instinct to rub the dirt away is understandable; however, try to keep yourself in check. This can worsen the stain and leave you with more cleaning to do in the future.
Cleaning your windows on a Sunny day
Another common cleaning mistake that you might be doing is something very peculiar. It’s washing your windows on a bright, sunny day.
You might be wondering why that’s wrong. A sunny day is a perfect time to clean my windows, you may say. You can see the stains better. However, that is not the case.
When you’re cleaning during a hot day, it will cause the cleaning fluid to evaporate, and the glass will dry too quickly. This will leave your windows with streaks and some water spots. These streaks can be hard to remove so it will mean more work for you.
Now before you go cleaning your windows in the middle of a downpour, don’t worry. Just wash your windows at the time of day when the sun isn’t beaming down directly onto your windows, and you should be fine.
Washing kitchen knives in the dishwasher
Dishwashers are very convenient for cleaning a lot of cutleries at the same time. However, think twice before you put your knife in there.
The hot water and the moisture inside the dishwasher can damage your knife blade and handle. This is especially important to note if your knife’s handle is wooden.
Aside from that, the shaking inside the turbulence can jostle your knife around numerous places. This will affect the sharpness of your knife, the dishwasher, and the other utensils. Depending on the kind of knife, the jostling can even chip away at it.
For the overall health of your utensils, it’s best to hand wash knives. Handwashing knives will not even take a lot of your time so to make sure your knives last long, do this instead of putting them in the dishwasher.
Using vinegar to clean granite countertops
The use of vinegar to clean countertops is an acceptable practice given the fact that vinegar has anti-bacterial properties. However, this does not apply to granite countertops.
The acidity of vinegar has the potential to dissolve the seal that protects granite from scratches and other damages. This will make your countertops more prone to destruction and could lead you to have it replaced early so don’t use vinegar if you own this kind of countertop.
Spritzing furniture polish directly on furniture
Last but not least, avoid making your furniture extra slimy and slippery from polish because you directly applied one onto it. Instead, just put the polish into a cloth to wipe down your furniture.
Doing this method will remove dust and other marks from your furniture while making sure that residue doesn’t build up and make your furniture too slippery. Plus, there’s the bonus of lessening the amount of furniture polish you’re wasting.
Wrapping it up
A clean home is a fresh mind. Indeed that is the case for a lot of us. However, some of our cleaning practices can do more bad than good, so it’s essential that we know which common cleaning practices are bad for our home.
If you find that you’re making any of these cleaning mistakes, don’t fret. A lot of these mistakes are easily solved and don’t require a lot of time or effort to redo. Moving forward, with this article we can all be better at cleaning our own homes.
Hopefully, this has enlightened you on ways you could improve the cleanliness of your home. The spring cleaning season for your home is about to get a whole lot cleaner.
About the Author – Jacky Xu is the Chief Operating Officer for MaidSailors.com, the # 1 Eco-Friendly Cleaning NY. Maid Sailors take pride in providing unparalleled cleaning services at affordable prices. Maid Sailors help transform your house into a home.
