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How Clean Is Your House? A guest blog by our tenant M. Haffner (Kirby Muxloe)

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When I was asked to write a blog for the James Sellicks website about cleaning I thought where do I start? Then I thought, I know! I’ll start with white vinegar! I use white vinegar by the bucket full. I literally clean everything with it, that’s the good thing it has so many uses but I’ll come back to that.

As a tenant, I think it’s vital to keep the house you are renting spick and span. Everybody has their own levels of what clean means but I can make this a bit extreme. I feel the house is now pretty much spotless and even Kim and Aggie would be proud. Even our neighbours commented on how many times we hoover – that was embarrassing!

One of the biggest problems we faced when moving into the house was that the previous tenant obviously cooked with a lot of fat, and I mean a lot! For cast iron surfaces I use ‘Shiny Sinks’ which strips through any grease and dirt. You can buy this very cheaply from Wilko’s at £1 a bottle. I get through a bottle of this fortnightly! I also clean inside the oven with Shiny Sinks and a metal scourer. I do this weekly which helps the oven stay clean and prevents any build-up of burnt food and carbon. 

 For the dishwasher, I use Bicarbonate of Soda which I put into the tablet dispenser with white vinegar. This mix gets the dishwasher spotless and strips through any grease. A drop of white vinegar in the rinse aid compartment also prevents glasses from streaking and turning misty.

 The kitchen and utility floors are tiled and highly shiny. These floors tend to get dirty very quickly so are hoovered daily and glass polished. Yes, glass polished. We use Aldi own glass polish and the floor comes up spotless and streak free with the aid of two micro fibre cloths – one for wiping the glass polish on and a second for drying the floor after to prevent any streaks.

My mum always swore by watered down Methylated Spirits to clean windows. I used to use watered down white vinegar until I thought, why not mix Methylated spirits which white vinegar, so I use a mixture of ¼ Methylated spirits, ¼ white vinegar and ½ water. Windows are guaranteed to come up clean using this mix with the aid of microfiber cloths. I also use this on the bath too as it strips through any soap and grime. I also use this mix for the shower screen.

My partner and I are always told we must be dream tenants due to how clean and tidy our house is. I really hope we are because we both take a lot of pride in how the house looks.

 

 

 

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