The maintenance of the house or the apartment is something that everyone must do on a daily basis. And even if it’s not always pleasant (some people love it!), hygiene rules are essential. In addition, it can turn out to be expensive. Here are 8 tips to know to maintain your home…
Summary
Tip #1: prepare your mind
This is the most important trick that costs nothing. It’s about making the most of something unpleasant…
Avoid procrastinating
Doing the housework, putting away the laundry, cleaning the bathtub… These are chores that take a minimum of time and that we would do well without. This is why we tend to procrastinate by finding a good excuse to give ourselves a good conscience to put off the maintenance of the house until the next day. If you wait to deal with it, you accumulate a larger cleaning load. The time will come when you will have to spend the whole weekend doing housework…
Ban the word « chore »
We must stop associating the interview with the word « chore ». This negative connotation does not invite you to get down to work. Rather, you have to live it as a moment when you are quiet, you think about things… and many cleaning tips can make our lives easier! We can listen to the music we like with headphones to make household chores as pleasant as possible. You can also listen to an audiobook or podcast. So you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time. It is therefore his moment to himself which is akin to relaxation! And casually while we strive to maintain the habitat, we move and we do a little exercise!
Read also: House maintenance: tips for cleaning your house
Tip #2: Unclog the iron
Let’s stop buying all sorts of chemicals that are bad for the planet and moreover expensive when accumulated over a year.
- Place a cloth on the ironing board.
- Pour coarse salt over several centimeters in length, the equivalent of 5-6 cl, or ½ glass.
- Connect the iron to maximum temperature, without activating the steam.
- Once the soleplate is hot, imitate the gestures of ironing for a few minutes.
All the impurities that clog the holes and dirty the sole are attached to the salt!
Tip #3: Remove limescale on and around faucets
If you do not clean the plumbing and well around it daily, limescale is quickly visible. The longer you wait to remove it the more difficult it is.
- Pour white vinegar on paper towel.
- Rub the faucet for a few minutes.
- Pour white vinegar directly onto the earthenware around your faucet and other places that have a layer of limescale.
- Let it act for a few minutes.
- Rub with an old sponge and the limestone comes off instantly.
This is called a grandmother’s trick, and which avoids buying a liter of anti-limescale product at 5 € per liter while for the same quantity of white vinegar it only costs 0, €50…
Tip #4: Remove marks and scratches from wooden furniture
Wood, even treated, ends up deteriorating over time. Apart from large, deep scratches, it’s easy to give furniture a second lease of life.
- In a carafe pour 10 cl of white vinegar and the same amount of olive oil.
- Mix everything well.
- With a clean cloth soaked in the solution, you apply several coats to the wooden table or cupboard.
The result is final and you now want to keep your old wooden furniture! And for only a few cents… Against nearly 7 or 8 € for a product, certainly effective, but so chemical and harmful to the environment that each time you spray it you are taken by a fit cough and headache…
Tip #5: Effectively clean gas stove grates
Grease settles everywhere when cooking, especially on gas stove grates. If you wait too long, they get dirty and it’s a horror to make them look like new.
- In a large bag, pour ammonia.
- Immerse the grates in it, making sure that the dirtiest places are well soaked.
- Close the bag so that the ammonia vapors act on the grime.
- Prefer to store the bag in the sink, the bathtub or the shower cubicle in case the bag is pierced.
- Leave to act overnight.
- When you open the bag do not breathe the vapors and if you have protective glasses wear them.
Ammonia vapors dissolved grease with a 1 liter bottle of ammonia at 2€!
Tip #6: Remove mold from tile joints
The bathroom is prone to mold on the tile joints because of the ambient humidity.
- Soak 3 paper towels in bleach.
- Place them on the moldy tile joint, securing them with tape stuck to the tile.
- Repeat the operation wherever necessary.
- Leave on overnight.
After removing the paper towel sheets, the treated seams look newer than the unbleached ones. Without physical effort, and for the sum of around €4 (€3 for 1 liter of bleach and €1 for a roll of tape).
Tip 7: Remove white marks on dishes washed in the dishwasher
Visible especially on glasses and cutlery, the white spots give the impression that they have not been properly washed. It is of course limestone that is deposited.
- Put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
- Add the usual detergent.
- Pour 1 glass of white vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher.
- Launch your program.
Your glasses are sparkling white without spots, the same for your cutlery and all glass dishes. In addition, the interior of your household appliance is also clean and without traces of white drops. All this for a few cents!
Tip #8: Clean the inside of the microwave
It often happens that dishes to be heated project under the effect of the heat of the sauce. We also hear a mini explosion when this happens.
- In a bowl pour 50 cl of water and 10 cl of white vinegar together.
- Tip: insert a wooden toothpick into the solution so that the very hot water does not spill out.
- With the bowl placed in the microwave, close the door and start cooking for 5 minutes at maximum temperature.
- Wait 5 minutes to open the door so that the steam produced acts.
- Once you have removed the bowl, clean the walls and the tray with a sponge.
All the grime from food cooked for years settles on the sponge without even rubbing. And all this for a few cents again, without buying so-called « magic » products that are expensive, which do not necessarily have a satisfactory result, and which are made with a multitude of chemical components that are ultra harmful to the planet.
These 8 tips, or rather 7 insofar as the 1st addresses the motivation to maintain the house, are very easy to put in place and represent a really ridiculous cost and without effort.
Read also: House: how to maintain your roof?
