6 Home Cleaning Mistakes You Might Be Making (And How to Avoid Them!)

What if there were a better way to clean? Many homeowners lack any kind of formal training when it comes to cleaning, and inherit any mistakes that their parents may have developed with their cleaning technique.

Taking the time to absorb some simple cleaning tips can really increase your efficiency so that the job is done sooner.

Our Steamatic professional cleaning team would like to highlight some common house-cleaning blunders that may be costing you valuable time and effort. Read on to make your cleaning more efficient!

• Save time scrubbing spoons. Have you ever finished a dishwashing cycle and found that your spoons are still covered in bits of crusted yogurt, dried-out peanut butter, or stuck-on jam? While most people could benefit from giving their dishes and cutlery an extra rinse and scrub before throwing them in the wash, this isn’t always the issue. Sometimes, it is a simple matter of proper utensil placement.

  If you are loading up your utensils improperly, you will have to waste a lot of time scrubbing off caked-on mess. Taking the extra fraction of a second to line them up properly can save you a lot of trouble.

  If all of your forks and spoons are pointing in the same direction, they get in each others’ way and obstruct the cleaning jets of water and detergent. They literally “spoon” each other so that one utensil covers the back of the other. Take a quick moment to turn them away and watch your dishwasher clean like never before.
   

• Don’t wash windows on a sunny day! Glass cleaners are notoriously bad for drying up and leaving streaks when they are exposed to lots of sunlight. Cleaning the windows is a tough job as is, involving lots of awkward angles, impossible reaches, and physicality as you haul a bucket and ladder around your home. If you’re going to do it, do it right so you don’t have to go over your work again the next day.

  The ideal time to clean windows panes in any season is in the late afternoon or evening, or whenever you notice that the sky is overcast.
   

• Don’t spray your cleaners right onto your target surface! Spraying your cleaner directly onto a surface is wasteful and can harm certain materials as the chemical pools in a small area. This method is useful for heavy-duty messes, but should be reserved for serious cases. Instead, spray your cleaner onto your cloth, then wipe. This will cut down on the amount of cleaner you consume, and reduce the chance of chemical burn or build-up on your target surface.
   
• Never scrub bare-handed! You may think it is no big deal, especially for a quick sink scrubbing, but think again! Human skin is extremely absorbent, soaking up almost anything it touches. This can dry out your skin, cause painful irritation, or cross-contaminate surfaces in your kitchen. In either outcome, your cleaning efforts are disrupted as you need to tend to irritation or re-do contaminated areas.
   
• Don’t scrub at carpet stains. Take it from our carpet cleaning professionals, scrubbing stains is not effective. It might be tempting to vent your anger scrubbing away at that spilled red wine or coffee, but you must resist! Scrubbing is ineffective, and even harmful. You can root the stain even further into the fiber this way. Though you may see results, the stain can resurface over time. Instead, blot the stain immediately with a dry towel, then douse the area in ice water. Throw down another towel and walk over it, repeating this process until so more colour is picked up by the towel you are using.
   
• Don’t vacuum pet fur without using an attachment. Without an attachment, you may end up blowing away more fur than you collect. Don’t waste time spraying allergens into the air. Use the wand attachment for more controlled suction.