Dangers of Air Fresheners and a Few Alternatives

Many store bought air fresheners don't really freshen the air in your home. They mask the odors by using oils that can clog your respiratory system. People with allergies are very sensitive to these chemicals. I used to get a sinus infection at least four or five times a year until we stopped using those plug-in air fresheners. I also noticed a big drop in the amount of dust that we had to clean every week. I later researched some of the chemicals in these commercial air fresheners and was surprised to learn that some of the chemicals actually could diminish your sense of smell once they coated your nasal passages. We have forever sworn off these products, but we still like to have a nice smelling home. Here are some of the tricks we use:

• Open the windows - With spring finally here, open up your windows and let the fresh spring breeze in.
• Make your own potpourri - Potpourri is great because you can really tailor it to your tastes. Here is a link to our easy to make potpourri.
• Use Our Homemade Odor Remover.
• For more ideas you can visit our Aroma Therapy Week post review.
  

Reusing Household Items to Clean Better

As I was cleaning this weekend I was wondering how many people reuse household items for cleaning. Here are some of the things I reuse:

• Socks - These work great for dusting. The thicker the better. I just put one over my hand and spray with Pledge and go to town.
  
• Toothbrush - I use these to scrub around faucets, drains, caulk, and grout. They get into the little places very well.
• Hair dryer - I use a hair dryer to dust plastic plants and flowers. I sometimes use the hair dryer to also dry the carpet after stain removal.

These are just a few that come to mind. What do you use around the house? Send me an email or leave a comment.

Make Homemade Reusable Swiffer Cloths

Jenny submitted this great tip on how to make your own washable Swiffer cloths:

We have hardwood floors throughout most of our house, and I give them a weekly dusting/cleaning with a dry Swiffer. Instead of using disposable Swifter cloths, I use old pieces of fleece. When I'm done with a room or two, I shake the cloth outside, and toss it in the wash.

There are lots of things called fleece these days; what I'm talking about is fairly thick, is sometimes called Polartec, and is 100% polyester. My pieces are probably about the weight of Polartec 200. Fleece attracts dust like a magnet, and doesn't let go.

I came to this idea because I was wearing fleece pants around the house and noticed that they got dusty and picked up flecks of "stuff"at an annoying rate. Rather than get angry, I realized the house cleaning potential, and promptly went out to Goodwill and found an old large fleece garment and cut it up. Voila!

If you have any tips, please send them using the link in the left sidebar.

Don't Forget About The Bedroom!

Bedrooms are probably the most ignored rooms when it comes to cleaning. Company rarely sees them and most of the time we spend there we aren’t conscience. You spend about a third of your time in that room. For people with allergies or sinus problems, this can be down right dangerous. If there are dust bunnies under the bed, things have gone too far. Be sure to regularly dust and vacuum your bedroom, work it into your regular cleaning routine. Treat them like you treat every other room in the house and do what you keep telling the kids to do. GO CLEAN YOUR ROOM!

Furnace Maintenance Volume 2

Now that you have utilized our tips from Furnace Maintenance Volume 1 it is now time to focus on cleaning the dust and dirt out of the rest of your heating system. Now that the blower is blowing clean air, its time to focus on the cold air intake, the vents, and your duct work. You can spend a lot of money having your ducts professionally cleaned, but with a little time, a screwdriver, and your canister or shop vac, you can get the majority of the dust out of your system. First, remove all of the vents from your home including the cold air intakes. You may have to remove screws from both sides. Once the vents are out, completely vacuum both sides of them. Remove any stuck-on dirt with a toothbrush or stiff-bristled brush. Next, using the brush head on your vacuum's flexible hose, vacuum and brush out all accessible areas of your ducts that you can reach through the open vents. I will let you in on a more invasive way to clean your duct work in Furnace Maintenance Vol. 3. It requires a little cutting, so I will focus on it exclusively.

Furnace Maintenance Volume 1

As the nights are starting to get colder, it is time to do a little preventative maintenance on your furnace. The first step is to clean out your furnace. Dust is a major reason for furnace failure, it decreases the life of your furnace and can cost you more money. As dust builds up on the filter, the motor, and the blower assembly, it causes your furnace to have to work harder and consume more energy. If not cleaned, the motor can overheat and fail.

The best way to start your seasonal furnace cleanup is to grab your canister vacuum or shop vac and a can of compressed air. Turn off your furnace at your circuit breaker panel to insure that it will not kick on while you are working on it. Next, remove the blower access panel from the front of your furnace. It should be fairly easy to open. If you have difficulty opening your access panel, consult your owner's manual. Once open, turn on your vacuum and begin using the compressed air to blow off any dust or durt and use your vacuum to suck up the bits as you go along. Make sure that you pay special attention to the blower motor, the belts, and the sides and bottom of the blower area. A wet rag or microfiber cloth may be used to remove larger dust build-ups. Next, remove and replace the air filter. You should replace the air filter at the beginning of the winter season and every month when under continuous use. Just because your user's manual says to replace it every 2 or 3 months, it must be replaced every time that it gets dirty. You can hold the filter up to a light to check to see if it is getting dirty. Once you have replaced the filter and cleaned the blower assembly and motor, replace the cover and turn the unit back on. It may seem like a waste of money to replace the filter this often during the winter, but a filter is much cheaper than a new furnace!

Safely Clean Your Delicate Lamp Shades

Many people have pleated lamp shades in their homes. These can be a pain to dust. If the lamp shade is very hardy, you can you the long hose attachment on you vacuum to get at that dust. But if the shade is made of a delicate fabric, that may damage the overall look of the shade. For those delicate pleated lamp shades, use you hair dryer on low and just blow the dust out. Afterwards just dust the area around the lamp.

How To Save Time Floor Cleaning

Here’s a quick tip to save a little time. If you’re planning to sweep your hardwood and/or tile floors as well as vacuum your carpeted areas in the same cleaning session, leave the dust pan behind. Just sweep everything from your hard surfaces on to you soft ones. You’ll be vacuuming those areas anyway. This is also helpful if bending over is difficult on your back or legs.

Reducing Dusting

Certain places seem to attract dust quickly, thing like TV screens, computer monitors and blinds. To slow the rate of dust accumulation, lightly dampen a dryer sheet and gently glide it over these surfaces. This will remove the static charge that’s attracting the dust.

Cleaning Artificial Flowers

Over the last few years, artificial flowers have really started to look real. My parents have seasonal bouquets that they bring out throughout the year that absolutely look real. It's amazing how fake they look with even the smallest amount of dust on them, I guess real cut flowers don't stay around long enough to collect dust. A simple way to dust all of the petals, leaves, etc. is to use a can of compressed air. Just give the flowers a good once over every few weeks to avoid having to ever wash them.

Tip to Clean Mini-Blinds

Plastic or wood mini-blinds are an inexpensive window treatment. But they are also a bit of a pain to clean. Many methods involve taking them down. But I really don’t have time for that. Here’s an easy, effective and fairly quick way to clean them. Get an old pair of socks and put them on your hands. Spray the socks with a little mild soap dissolved in water. Hold each blind in your sock-puppeted hands and go back and forth until it’s clean.

Dusting the Impossible!

If you can't stand the sight of dust build-up, here's a great quick tip for those impossible places to clean. My TV and most of my electronic have small slots and vents on them. These tiny places attract dust. It is impossible to clean these spaces without going crazy using a cloth. I have found that the best thing is compressed air. Now don't go get a compressor just yet, the small $3 compressed air cans are readily available at all computer stores or hardware stores and will save you a ton of time.

Clean More Than Just The Inside Of Your Fridge!

Besides cleaning and disinfecting the inside of your fridge, make sure that you keep the coils on the back clean as well as the area around the compressor. Using the brush-head attachment on your vacuum, remove all of the dust and cobwebs that you can. Be careful not to bend or put too much pressure on the coils. Keeping the cooling system clean will help your fridge last longer and stay cooler.

Don't Forget to Clean Your PC!

Obviously, I have a computer. If you do not realize why this is apparent, don't worry, the advice will still work for you. When performing your spring cleaning don't forget about your computer. At least once a year, you need to clean out your computer. To do this, first turn off the computer. Second, remove the power cord completely from the back of the machine. Open the side of the computer case, you may have to remove a few screws. If opening the case is not readily apparent, consult your owners manual or check with the manufacturer's website. Don't try to simply force it, a lot of modern computers have cheap plastic hinges that will break under even slight pressure. Using a can of compressed air (available at any computer or electronics store) blow out all of the dust from the case focusing on the many heat-sinks in the computer. Vacuum up the dust and cobwebs, put the computer back together, and you're good to go. Heat is a computer's enemy and dirty heat sinks and fans will kill a computer over time.

Quick Tip: Dust and Polish Furniture Details

To dust and polish those small details on your furniture, spray Pledge on a small paint brush and dust the details with it.

Listen to Books On Tape to Help You Clean

Make your cleaning fly by and catch up on all those great books that you have been meaning to read! You can rent great books on tape or download MP3s to listen to while you're cleaning and doing chores. It will make the time pass faster and, with the low cost an ready availability of MP3 players these days, you won't be bothered with a cassette player.

Dusting knickknacks and hard to reach places

My wife collects little cow figurines. These can be pretty tough to dust with ordinary dusters. We use an old paint brush to get into those hard to reach areas. The paint brush also works well for dusting electronics and telephones. Let me know what useful things you find to dust with a paint brush.