There’s nothing like starting a brand-new year with a good old fashioned deep clean, and no one wants to wait until Spring to get in order🧺🧹
Follow these helpful tips & tricks to get your ABI Holiday Home sparkling again👇
Disclaimer: Although the cleaning products listed in the article are natural and chemical-free, they are to be used at your own risk.
Chemical-Free Oven Cleaning
Let’s face it, during Christmas our ovens have been working overtime. From turkey to roast potatoes and everything in between, it’s safe to say our ovens can get pretty grimy🫧
Follow the steps below to get your oven back in tip-top shape!
- For a deep clean, preheat your oven to 200° and fill an oven-safe bowl with water.
- Place the water bowl inside with the door closed and leave for 45 minutes.
- Allow your oven to cool and wipe away the loosened dirt with a clean cloth.
- The shelves can be cleaned by dissolving 250g of soda crystals in hot water, soaking the shelves and scrubbing them with a kitchen foil ball.
Ta-da you almost have a brand-new oven to enjoy 😉
Give your Washing Machine a Spa Day
Whilst it’s working its magic to clean our clothes, we often forget that debris and nasties can get stuck in our washing machines too 😷
To get rid of mould and bacteria, pop your washing machine on a hot wash once a month, around 60°, and every three to six months use a proprietary washing machine cleaner to ensure your washing machine is working at its cleanest.
Just like new.
Limescale-Free Cups of Tea
We all love a nice hot cup of tea, but it’s not doing us any favours when our kettle is home to limescale.
For a cheap, hassle-free way to remove limescale, fill the kettle with a mixture of half distilled white vinegar and half water and leave to soak overnight.
Make sure the kettle is unplugged and leave a note on it, so nobody accidentally uses it!
In the morning, empty and rinse the kettle thoroughly, then boil up a fresh kettle-full of water and discard to avoid a vinegary tang to your cuppa ☕️🫖
A New Use for Old Socks
When cleaning our homes, we don’t always think about our blinds – but they collect a lot of dust and debris that you end up breathing in 😮💨
For a quick and efficient way to clean grime from venetian blinds, put a slightly damp sock over your hand and run it between the slats, then pop the sock straight into the washing machine.
A clean damp sock is also a good way to wipe skirting boards and picture frames.
Sparkling Windows
With kids, grandkids, and furry friends too, our post-Christmas windows end up smeared with fingerprints, food and all sorts of grime 🪟
To get those windows shining again, spray on a solution of one part distilled white vinegar to nine parts water and wipe with a lint-free cloth, followed by a glass polishing microfiber cloth to buff them to a brilliant shine.
The number one rule is to never clean your windows on a hot, sunny day. The heat will make the glass dry too quickly and cause even more smears.
Santa Has Muddy Boots
We always have more people coming and going from home in December.
Whether you’re hosting Christmas, a festive gathering, dinner or drinks, there’s plenty of dirt being traipsed into your home and carpet.
To refresh your carpet in January:
- Using gloves, pick up all of the large dirt clumps from the carpet.
- Apply a mixture of baking powder and salt to the dirtier areas of your carpet. Allow the mixture to sit for a couple of hours to soak up all of the moisture from the stain. Then, vacuum away the mixture.
- Next, mix a tablespoon of washing up liquid with two mugs of warm water and saturate the areas with the solution, using a clean cloth.
- Blot the excess liquid using a good absorbent paper towel.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until any dirt patches or stains are removed.
- Sponge the carpet with cold water and blot away, again with a paper towel.
- Let it air dry.
It’s also worth investing in an indoor and outdoor doormat to reduce the amount of dirt coming into your home ☺️
We’d love to see your shiny 2024 ABI Holiday Homes, tag us in your January cleaning pics on Facebook, Instagram, and X – Happy cleaning! 🧹
