Set the vacuum at the right height

If your vacuum is set too low, you can damage the carpet as well as the vacuum’s roller brush and drive belt. If it’s set too high, you won’t pick up any dirt. To set the vacuum’s ideal height, raise it to its highest setting, turn it on and lower it until you can feel the vacuum trying to tug itself forward. Dirt is like thousands of little blades that cut carpet fibers. When you walk across a dirty carpet, you grind sharp dirt particles against the yarn, making tiny nicks in the fibers. All that fuzz mixed in with the dirt in your vacuum cleaner bags is your beautiful carpet headed out the door one bag at a time. When dirt scratches the fibers, it dulls the sheen, which is why high-traffic areas appear duller than the rest of the carpet. Over time, grinding dirt wears away the fibers too, which mats them down and makes them stain more easily. Follow these tips to keep your carpet as dirt-free as possible.

Vacuum often

To protect your carpet, vacuum entrance areas and high-traffic areas twice a week and the rest of the carpeting at least weekly. Oily soils attract oily soils, and frequent vacuuming will reduce soil buildup.

Start with a clean bag or filter

A dirty bag, dirt cup or filter can cut a vacuum’s suction power in half. The main reason bagless vacuums stop working is that the filters aren’t changed often enough. Replace or wash (if possible) the filters on bagless vacuums every three months. Replace vacuum bags when they’re three-quarters full.

Vacuum at the right speed

Vacuum slowly enough to get out as much dirt as possible. Make one quick pass over low-traffic areas and two slow passes over high-traffic areas. Two slow passes removes ground-in dirt more effectively than several fast passes.

Use walk-off mats

Use walk-off mats inside and out to keep dirt off the carpeting. Coarse-textured mats outside your doors remove soil. Water-absorbent mats inside prevent wet shoes on the carpeting.

To clean the faucets all you need are two high quality microfiber clothes. A clean, lint free cotton cloth is a good runner up if you don't have microfiber. First dampen one cloth and wring it out well. Use the cloth to wipe down the entire faucet. Wipe down the handles, the spout, and don’t forget the back of the faucet and in between the handles. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to get all the water spots and fingerprints off, without any cleaning products. If there are some stubborn stains, you may need to use a little glass cleaner. If the spots are caused from mineral deposits, using lemon juice as the cleaner will remove the spots. Once clean, dry the faucet completely with the dry cloth. Now that the chrome faucet is clean, it’s time for a little trick to keep it clean. Rain-X is a fantastic product for repelling water off glass but it also works great on surfaces like polished chrome. Spray Rain-X onto the faucet and then use a clean, dry cloth to rub it all over, making sure to cover all the places we just cleaned. You can even spray a little in the sink to make it easier to get toothpaste and soap scum off the porcelain. Let it dry and then test it out by pouring a little water over it. You'll see the water bubble up and vanish right before your eyes.

Spring cleaning an awesome adventure. If you enjoy cleaning, then the process is fun. Even if you don't enjoy house cleaning, it still means spring is here! Everyone is getting a bit of energy back as the longer daylight hours arrive and that means it's time to clean!

History of Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is not unique to the U.S. It's actually practiced all over the world in one form or another. Spring is the most popular time for cleaning which seems to have roots in religion. Passover is a traditional time for those of Jewish faith to remove all leavened foods from the house (foods made with wheat or other grains). This eliminates a lot of food and the tradition was expanded to include a general cleaning of the entire home. Catholic churches historically cleaned their altars during spring. This may not be exactly what you think of during spring cleaning, but you can see how it could easily translate to a common cleaning regimen at home. The Greek Orthodox Church has spring cleaning during Lent, called “Clean Monday”. Because the church was the main governing body for so much of history, it makes sense that its influence became a common worldwide phenomenon.

Psychological Aspects of Spring Cleaning

One reason it's so popular to go through the spring cleaning process is that it makes people feel better. Having a clean space reduces stress, increases productivity, cuts down on errant snacking behaviors and helps promote gratefulness. This works especially well if you also toss out old items you no longer need in addition to the actual deep cleaning. While some people consider it only a time to clean up, it can help you subconsciously jump start new goals, or keep up the motivation to accomplish older goals.

Physical Aspects of Spring Cleaning

One of the other benefits of cleaning up is that it's actually a really good workout. You can turn up the music and turn your cleaning into a dance party. Use the vacuum to work out your arms, take the stairs as much as you can, climb ladders and move furniture. All that activity gets your heart rate up and your blood pumping. If the option is between hanging out and watching your favorite show or getting up to clean the house, then cleaning is definitely the healthier option. If you're looking for specific exercises, try calf raises while dusting. Do lunges to reach the far end of the carpet while vacuuming. Cleaning the floor is a great time for push-ups and of course, the music is there to make you dance.

Health Benefits

There are other health benefits in addition to being good for the mind and a decent workout. Giving the house a good dusting can help reduce allergies for everyone in the home. It's also the best way to give your home a close look. Being able to expose dangerous pests infestations and other problems in your home is probably the best reason to give it a good, solid cleaning. It's not just allergies that cleaning will help with. It's also great if anyone in your home suffers from asthma. You'll feel better, get some exercise and get any pests or problems out of the way. So no matter why you're doing your spring cleaning, you'll be energized, your home will look better, and you can then take a nice break from cleaning when it's all done.

Try washing windows with a squeegee and you'll never go back to a spray bottle and paper towels. Squeegees get your glass clear and streak free in a fraction of the time it takes with paper towels. Check out the basic equipment you need and the simple steps to follow for fast, clear results.

The same high-quality window washing tools the pros use are readily available at home centers and full-service hardware stores. The whole setup is inexpensive and will last many years. In addition to a 10-12 inch squeegee, you'll need a scrubber, a bucket, hand dishwashing liquid and a few lint-free rags or small towels.

Keep your squeegee fitted with a sharp, new rubber blade and purchase two or three extra to have on hand. The pros we talked to change their squeegee blades as often as once a day when cleaning many windows. That's because you just can't do a good job if the edge of the blade becomes nicked, sliced or rounded over with use. If your squeegee leaves streaks or just isn't performing like new, don't hesitate to replace the blade. You can get a little more mileage out of blades that aren't nicked or sliced by simply reversing them to expose a fresh edge. When you store the squeegee, make sure nothing touches the blade.

Step 1: Add a couple of gallons of water and about a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid in your bucket and you're ready to go. In warm weather, you'll get a little more working time by using cool water. If you've procrastinated so long that you're washing windows in below-freezing temps, add windshield washing solution until the water doesn't freeze on the glass. Scrubber or sponge? It's up to you. A scrubber works great and is worth buying if you have a lot of medium to large panes of glass. But a good-quality sponge is all you really need, especially if most of your windowpanes are small.

Step 2: Dip the scrubber in the bucket and squeeze excess water from the scrubber. Scrub the glass, working at all angles to clean the edges. Make sure to cover every square inch of the glass. This technique allows you to get great results immediately. We typically move the squeegee horizontally across the glass, but vertical strokes will work too. If you work vertically, angle the squeegee to direct excess water toward the uncleaned area.

Step 3: Clean a starting strip. Tip the squeegee so that only the corner contacts the glass. Then, starting at the top corner of the glass, clean a narrow strip of glass from top to bottom on one side. This clean strip makes it easier to start the horizontal stokes. Press the squeegee blade against the glass in the upper corner and pull it steadily across the window. Concentrate on keeping the top of the squeegee in contact with the top edge of the window. Wipe the squeegee clean often by wiping the blade on the clean towel in your front pocket or wipe it across the scrubber to remove dirt and excess water. Begin again with the top of the squeegee overlapping the previous stroke about 2 in. Pull the squeegee across the window at an angle to direct excess water down. Wipe and repeat to finish all areas.

Step 4: Use the rag in your pocket to wipe up excess water along the bottom edge of the window. Then poke your finger into a dry spot on a separate lint-free rag and run it around the perimeter of the window to remove any remaining suds. Wipe off any streaks using a clean area of the lint-free rag. Change rags when you can't find any fresh, clean areas.

You can use a squeegee inside the house too. The pros do this all the time, even in houses with stained and varnished woodwork. The key is to squeeze most of the soapy water out of the scrubber to eliminate excessive dripping and running. Then rest the scrubber on the edge of the bucket rather than dropping it in the water after each window. Depending on how dirty your windows are, you may be able to wash five or ten windows before rinsing the scrubber. Keep a rag in your pocket to wipe the squeegee and quickly clean up soapy water that runs onto the woodwork. Use a separate clean rag to wipe the perimeter of the glass. Microfiber rags work great for window cleaning. For divided-style or French windows, use a sponge and a small squeegee. If you can't find a small enough squeegee, you can cut off a larger one to fit your glass size. Scrub the glass with a wrung out sponge. Then use the tip of the squeegee to clear a narrow strip at the top. Pull the squeegee down and wipe the perimeter.

First things first. Act quickly!

As with all stains, the sooner you deal with blood stains, the better. The first step is to sponge the area with cold water. Heat of any kind will set the stain, so the colder the water, the better. Don’t use too much water or you’ll spread the stain. Just dab with a wet cloth, then blot with a dry cloth. Repeat until you’ve removed as much of the blood as possible.

Next, hit the medicine cabinet

Grab your bottle of hydrogen peroxide! Just apply a small amount of hydrogen peroxide directly to the stain and watch as the red blood stain disappears. In the case of old or stubborn stains, reapply as needed. After the stain is removed, rinse the area with cold water to remove any peroxide that may be left behind. ER nurses swear by this trick to get splatters out of clothes. Hydrogen peroxide is a mild bleach and like the ‘oxi’ products on the market, it is usually color-safe even safe for silk and wool.

How to get blood out of upholstery and carpet

Here's a DIY remedy the pros swear by. For carpets and upholstery that do not prove color-safe with hydrogen peroxide, try using a liquid dishwashing detergent. First, mix one tablespoon of dish detergent with two cups of cold water. Grab a clean white cloth, and start sponging the stain with the liquid cleaning solution. Continue to dab the stain with the solution until the stain disappears. Then, sponge again with cold water and blot dry. If you need a little more stain fighting power, try using a carpet or upholstery cleaner that's recommended for pet stains. These products often contain enzymes and generally work well on blood stains.