Good Cleaning Products

Gael23

Moving out of home soon and looking for some cleaning tips. Any particular good products I should stock up on?

Michael D Not Higgins

Oven Pride. Very caustic but will clean the oven without any elbow grease.

Gael23

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Oven Pride. Very caustic but will clean the oven without any elbow grease.

And the stuff like Domestos, Cif Cream/sprays etc I guess

Michael D Not Higgins

Domestos is just chlorine bleach. I wouldn't pay extra for the brand name.

Gael23

True. I suppose Cif/Jif is just the same.

fineso.mom

Easiest way to clean microwave if it's very dirty...put a bowl of water in it on high for 5 minutes,leave door closed for another minute and then just wipe clean. Repeat if necessary.
For grime on top of cupboards, hot water and washing up liquid works best with one of those yellow sponges with a green pad on top. You can get a pack of 6 from lidl. They also do microfibre cloths that are cheaper than other places, great for cleaning glass.

Gael23

What works good on work surfaces?

bottlebrush

See if you can get a box of Eraser Sponges in Aldi. Just need to dampen them a little and they will clean anything - glass, stainless steel etc.

Gael23

bottlebrush wrote: »

See if you can get a box of Eraser Sponges in Aldi. Just need to dampen them a little and they will clean anything - glass, stainless steel etc.

Never heard of those. They are probably handier than sprays or cream cleaners.

bottlebrush

ryanf1 wrote: »

Never heard of those. They are probably handier than sprays or cream cleaners.

If they are not in Aldi at the moment (they may only come in as part of their 'specials ') you will also get them in Tesco or Dunnes - I think most of the cleaning brands have their own versions of eraser sponges now, I see one being advertised on tv at the moment but I can't think which one it is.

Muahahaha

Probably no use to the OP as they're moving out but I just solved one of my bugbears- fogged up mirrors after a shower. You simply cover the mirror in a thin layer of shaving foam before you shower. Then after wipe it off with a windows squeegee and polish to a shine with newspaper. After that your mirrors should remain free from fog after showers for around 3 weeks.

DoozerT6

**Sorry, epic post up ahead!! I'm brain-dumping from years of sharing houses/flats with people. Hope some of it is useful!****


-Cillit Bang grime and lime remover is your only man for limescale buildup on taps, glass shower doors, sinks etc. Use it with the green scrubby bit of the aforementioned yellow sponges (and rubber gloves!) and the place will be sparkling. Open a window first though, that stuff is strong!!!

-Any of the commercial cleaners, Dettol, Cif etc will probably do a good job on work surfaces.

-Hobrite is also good for cleaning and shining up ceramic hobs. (Not sure if I got it in Lidl/Aldi or Dunnes).


-Try and make sure the fridge doesn't become a festering pit of mould and rotten food. Don't store raw meat on the top shelf, it might drip meat juice onto other foods below.
-Defrost the freezer before you move in if you need to. You may need to do this every few months if your freezer is very full.

-If you're moving into a new place, it might be no harm to make sure it is properly clean before you move in - maybe the landlord would agree to have carpets/mattresses/couches etc professionally cleaned before you move in? At least you're starting with a clean slate then

-Laundry: if you don't already know how to sort your laundry (white/coloured loads) or put on a wash, now is the time to learn!
-I like Daz detergent meself, one tip is to use powder and NOT liquid detergent. You're less likely to develop a smelly washing machine if you use powder, as it cleans the actual machine better than the liquid does as it goes through the wash cycle.
-If possible pick one evening a week to do your laundry and stick to it, to save yourself having to recycle used jocks
-Change your sheets at least every couple of weeks and wash them at 60 degrees.
-Leave the door of the machine open when not in use to air it out.
-Learn how to iron a shirt/t-shirt/trousers if you don't already know how to

-Buy a plastic 'hair-trap' for the plughole in the shower and empty it into the bathroom bin after your shower. Encourage your flatmates to do the same. It's basically like a sieve that stops all the hair going down the plughole and forming a slimy blob of hairy gunge that's gonna block up the plughole and have to be removed by someone with a wire coat-hanger, gagging profusely as they do so. Especially important if you or anybody you're going to be living with has long hair. I speak from experience!!!!!

-If you're moving in with other people, organise a cleaning rota of some sort: basically, everybody cleans/tidies up after themselves (especially dishes!!) but once a week you take it in turns to give the place a once-over: clean kitchen floor and surfaces, hoover, clean the bathroom, put out/take in the bins, the usual. Of course, and again speaking from experience, one or maybe two of you will probably end up doing the bulk of the cleaning, unless you're very lucky with your housemates. But at least make an effort with a rota system, you never know, it may work.

athtrasna

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Oven Pride. Very caustic but will clean the oven without any elbow grease.

Dealz do their own version of this, I think it's called Oven Brite but I'm not sure. It's €1.49 as opposed to €8ish for Oven Pride and works just as well. Box is almost identical.

Michael D Not Higgins

athtrasna wrote: »

Dealz do their own version of this, I think it's called Oven Brite but I'm not sure. It's €1.49 as opposed to €8ish for Oven Pride and works just as well. Box is almost identical.

Must look into this, thanks

Gael23

DoozerT6 wrote: »

**Sorry, epic post up ahead!! I'm brain-dumping from years of sharing houses/flats with people. Hope some of it is useful!****


-Cillit Bang grime and lime remover is your only man for limescale buildup on taps, glass shower doors, sinks etc. Use it with the green scrubby bit of the aforementioned yellow sponges (and rubber gloves!) and the place will be sparkling. Open a window first though, that stuff is strong!!!

-Any of the commercial cleaners, Dettol, Cif etc will probably do a good job on work surfaces.

Would you use sprays for work surfaces or something like Cif Cream?

ted1

Sugar sops to clean the walls. Works wonders and removes all scuff marks etc

DoozerT6

ryanf1 wrote: »

Would you use sprays for work surfaces or something like Cif Cream?

The sprays are grand, just don't spray them around like air freshener, or near uncovered food they're easier to rinse than creams too.

on_my_oe

DoozerT6 wrote: »

-If you're moving in with other people, organise a cleaning rota of some sort: basically, everybody cleans/tidies up after themselves (especially dishes!!) but once a week you take it in turns to give the place a once-over: clean kitchen floor and surfaces, hoover, clean the bathroom, put out/take in the bins, the usual. Of course, and again speaking from experience, one or maybe two of you will probably end up doing the bulk of the cleaning, unless you're very lucky with your housemates. But at least make an effort with a rota system, you never know, it may work.

The best way I found (with 15 years of flat sharing behind me) is scratch the traditional 'Im on loos, you're on hoovering -you fecken lazy <beep>' battles is to have week abouts... This week you do the common areas (living room, shared bathroom, kitchen, bins etc), next week it's your turn - if it's your week to clean the entire flats common areas, it's harder to forget than a scrubbing of the loos.

Don't forget to hot wash the tea towels and bath mats weekly.

Oh, and in general if doing the common areas takes less than 1.5 hours, you're not doing it right; if it takes longer than 2.5 hours, you're a little fussy.