Is your bedroom a place for relaxation and rejuvenating sleep?

In order for your brain to ‘switch off’ this room should be clutter-free and look and smell fresh and clean. Here is a helpful insight into how your Helper ensures that this is our priority in your home, enabling you to spring out of bed ready to rock with whatever your day has in store.

Having the correct toolkit for any job is essential for getting great results. Here is a list of the key ingredients to making your boudoir beautiful. Next, of course, is the method in which the magic happens. Follow this simple, yet highly effective order and I know you will be impressed with the outcome:

Order

1. First strip the bed linen and place it in the washing machine. If you are anything like me, the idea of getting two jobs done in one time slot is intensely satisfying.
2. Vacuum any rugs thoroughly and remove them to the landing outside the bedroom.
3. Make the bed with clean linen (It’s really important to do this now so that lint and fluff doesn’t land on your newly dusted surfaces)
4. Dust all available surfaces going from high to low. Don’t forget your window ledges, blinds and radiators.
5. Use this opportunity to declutter your room and arrange high traffic areas such as dressing tables and bedside cabinets so that things are relevant and easily accessible. This is the time to let your artistic flair shine!
6. Vacuum the floor. If you are a shredder and don’t have a fabulous Miele Hoover with it’s special hair grabbing head, then try using the brush function to loosen any hairs from the carpet.
7. I would suggest, that once a month if you store your life under the bed, pull it out and make sure the vacuum gets into all those nooks and crannies. Once a quarter pull your bed away from the wall and make sure you get to these areas too. Grossly, it’s renowned for dead skin cells, hairs, runaway tissues and all the other clutter you have dropped down the side during your nightly Netflix binge.
8. It’s likely that you have ruffled the bed. Make sure that one of your last actions is to give it that hotel feel. Pull the edges of the duvet out and smooth the duvet down from the middle to the edges using the flat palm of your hands.
9. If you have special items such as silver, gold or brass trinkets, take them out to the hallway and treat them using specialist cleaning solutions. Watch this space for our future blog on ‘The Lost Art of Polishing including Silverware’.
10. Return any rugs.

Stand back and admire our handiwork, smug in the knowledge that you can look forward to a good night’s sleep in crisp fresh linen and a newly adjusted Feng Shui bedroom.

Rock a bye baby….

It’s worth noting that we would recommend minimal use of sprays and products in your baby’s bedroom. Dry dusting with microfibre cloths should be sufficient along with a good vacuum. At worst, an anti-bacterial spray could be used, though there is a school of thought that recommends no products so that your baby can build resilience to germs. I’ll leave that battle with you!  Don’t forget to do a regular dust between the struts of your baby’s cot too.

Sweet dreams, Antoinette.

Your living room should be an area of your home where you can relax and unwind.

In order for you to do this, it help’s if it is clean and tidy. Here are my tips on how to achieve a sparkling living room clean.

This is the time for me to rave on about one of my favourite topics – yes! Miele Vacuum cleaners. The ‘creme de la creme’ of vacuum cleaners, consistently number one in most Which? trials, and more importantly for us, most widely recommended by our Helpers. Miele cylinder vacuums come into their own when cleaning your carpeted rooms, and rooms where other fabric surfaces need attention such as your sofa, curtains, and pet beds.

It is really important to invest in a vacuum cleaner that has at least 3 attachments: The Corner crevice/Extension wand (long with a tapering thin end), the Upholstery tool; great for vacuuming sofas and curtains and your Dusting brush – great for leather sofas, and other dusty surfaces that your arms can’t easily reach with a cloth.

Most Miele models helpfully store the three main tools in it’s body so you need never have to scrabble at the bottom of your cleaning cupboard again.  With it’s helpful variable suction feature you can use your machine to vacuum a large variety of surfaces.  That said, your hand, a good cloth and some elbow grease are still the very best tools for most things.

Things that are commonly forgotten

Don’t forget to dust skirting boards using either the crevice tool, or a cloth. A great tip from my good friend Clair is to put a pair of fluffy socks on and use the edge of your foot to dust the skirting boards.  Genius! Lamps can be vacuumed with the vacuum dusting tool and the lightbulbs dusted by hand with a cloth. Blinds can get a quick dust with the long handled duster, or a more thorough clean with a cloth and one finger. We usually recommend this happens as a ‘Helpful Extra’ twice per year.

Other things to consider

Special items such as brass door knobs, silver ornaments and photo frames all need special polish and cloths. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. It is best to remove the items to the dining room or kitchen counter, covering the surface with newspaper to protect it.

Final touches
Mop your way out of the room, moving furniture back into place as you go.
Clean another room in the house and come back to replace the rugs and dustbins.

That’s it! I hope you find this useful for your living rooms. Now you can sit back, relax and enjoy ‘Strictly’ in a dust-free and sane environment!

Your kitchen needs cleaning more regularly than any other room in the house; it is used 2-3 times a day and sometimes much more in shared accommodation.

They can also be the biggest bone of contention for households of any size: “Are you gonna wring that cloth out or just leave it dripping on the side?”… “I don’t think it’s ok to leave your toast crumbs on the worktop”… “How big does this washing up pile have to get for you to start doing it?!”… “Next to the dishwasher is not in the dishwasher, is it?”. I’m afraid we can’t offer any advice for those niggling day to day issues but if you are ever in need of a full top-down clean we are here to help.

Again, as with the bathroom clean, I can’t stress enough how important it is to get a good set of clean microfibre cloths in your arsenal. Here’s what you’ll need for the kitchen, in addition to a white-topped scourer (less harsh than their dark green counterparts):

• Cloth 1: This one may start dry but will get progressively wetter as you go along
• Cloth 2: This one should be done dry and lint-free and used for drying all cleaned surfaces
• Cloth 3: This one is a specialist polishing cloth, best-kept bone dry
• Cloth 4: This is for the dusting

Also, always remember to work from high to low so that you are not leaving spray residue on areas you’ve just done and centre all your cleaning on the sink being the final battle, moving towards it from the left and then the right so you can keep using it to rinse your dirty cloths in hot soapy water right until the last moment.

Step 1: Tackle the lime scale & grease first

Pre-emptively spray the taps and hard lime scale areas around the sink with lime scale remover before moving on to your first job. Also spray the hob with degreaser. Soak any tough looking stains with a splash of water. For Induction or electric hobs: a product called Hobrite works well for stubborn burnt on stains; make sure that the instructions are carefully followed otherwise it is not as effective as it could be. Just leave things soaking for the moment but keep an eye on the time, some of these products have a limit on how long they should lay on the surface.

Step 2: Bins

Empty all bins and spray with anti bac cleaner, leaving it to soak.

Step 3: Clear out the sink

This will probably involve emptying or refilling the dishwasher and switching it on if it is full. Once the sink has been emptied, fill it with hot soapy water ready for your top to bottom wipe down of all surfaces, doors, countertop items and applicances. Think HOT so get your gloves on.

Step 4: Don’t forget the washing

If you need to get the washing machine on now is the time to do it.

Step 5: Doors and handles

Wipe down all the fronts of the cupboard doors with your wet cloth soaked in your hot soapy water, then move on to the handles, not forgetting the rooms doors, light switches, oven buttons and glass oven door – giving an extra squirt of Anti-bac spray for those high ‘finger-fall’ areas. Go over the surfaces with your dry cloth and finish any glass surfaces with the polishing cloth.

Step 6: Counter and Countertop items

Now let’s be logical about this, move items to areas you’ve not yet cleaned in sequence, wipe counter, wipe item, dry counter, return item. Think about some of those special countertop items that attract all the daily use grime too: toasters, kettles, microwaves, coffee machines, bread bins, oil and spices racks…make sure they get a little bit of extra hot soapy love.

Step 7: Hob & Extractor fan

Put any rings and frames into the sink. This is where the pre-soaking will have come in handy. Avoid using the scourer, unless it is a ceramic hob because you won’t realise until after how nasty that scratched patch will look and how much it will catch your eye after every clean. Use the wet cloth to wipe down the hob, rinsing regularly in the sink. The final touch could be to use a metal cleaner, we recommend Cif stainless steel cleaner, then polish with the dry cloth once the final wash has been done. Don’t forget to wipe down the top of the extractor fan too – it can get very greasy up there, even though it is out of your eye line: use a cloth rinsed in warm soapy water and have the polishing cloth on hand to immediately polish once wiped down.

Step 8: Sink and taps

Rinse and clean your wet cloth one more time and drain away the dirty water, not forgetting to wipe down the anti-bac off the bin before your final rinse. Go over the taps and the sink one last time with the kitchen spray and wipe round, polishing as you go afterwards to avoid streaks.

Step 9: Wash the floor

Poor hot water and your floor cleaning solution into the bucket and, working towards the door, wipe the floor with your rung out mop, rinsing as you go.

That’s it! I hope you find this useful for your kitchen.

Bathrooms are notorious for having the most sparkly things in them: tiles, enamel, porcelain, glass, mirrors, and stainless steel.

They also deal with the biggest enemies of shine on a daily basis: lime scale and soap scum. No wonder our clients find this the toughest room in their house to clean and subsequently the one with the biggest ‘wow’ when we come in and make it sparkle again. So here’s my basic step by step guide on how to clean your bathroom top to toe:

Before we get started let me go on a small rant about cloths, you’ll find I do this a lot. Using a good set of cloths will halve your cleaning time and leave a sparkling finish with minimal effort. I recommend having 4 Mircofibre cloths on hand at the beginning for all you bathroom cleaning needs:

• Cloth 1: This is the duster, which will then end up being the wet one once rinsed
• Cloth 2: This one is dry but will get progressively wetter and dirtier as you go along
• Cloth 3: This one should be done dry and lint free and kept that way
• Cloth 4: This one is a specialist polishing cloth, also left bone dry and lint free

Step 1: Get things going!

Some things take a bit of time to get going so let’s get the first things soaking before we launch ourselves into the scrubbing: Soak toilet with cleaning solution, preferably one that will deal with lime scale like popping in a toilet cleaning tablet into the bowl.  Leave the toilet brush soaking in the toilet pan while cleaning the rest of the bathroom so it too is getting a bit of a clean.

Then it’s all about clutter and dust riddance: Remove dustbins and any other portable items and place them outside the bathroom door. Dust all the surfaces with Cloth 1 like the shelves and window sills and as well as anything on them like ornaments and products. Hoover the floor, before any water activity to ensure that none of the dust starts sticking to things.

Spray glass and chrome with lime scale remover so that can be left doing its work while you start dealing with all the other items. Lime scale can be a huge problem in London homes and other hard water areas, hear my tips about this here.

Step 2: The shower and/or bath

Lay a healthy sheen of surface cleaner on all grimy surfaces. Use your scourer for getting rid of all the grime, or for really lime scale infested areas you might want to get out a toothbrush or grout scrubber, ensuring the surface is tough enough to take it. After this you can scrub round with wet Cloth 1, focusing on all the chrome fittings, rinsing off as you go. Use the squeegee to scrape the excess water from the glass. The final touch is the 2 part Mircofibre rub down – let the shine begin:  Cloth 2 to remove any excess liquid and then Cloth 3 to polish the glass and chrome fittings. Lastly return all the bath/shower paraphernalia to where it came from, having wiped it all down with Cloth 1.

Step 3: The toilet

This is the last job cloth 1 will need to do: Rinse the cloth out well so there’s no excess water dripping everywhere, use your antibacterial spray and clean the top of the toilet pedestal, being sure to give the flush mechanism a good wipe.  Fold the cloth in half and use a fresh side to wipe down the top of the toilet lid. Fold the cloth in half again and set aside. Now use 3 sheets of folded toilet paper and anti-bacterial spray to wipe down the space behind the toilet seat, the toilet side of the toilet lid, the upper and lower side of the toilet seat, the chrome fittings of the toilet seat and the top lip of the toilet basin. The order is important: moving from the cleanest to the dirtiest parts of your loo to avoid cross contamination.

With the seat the the lid lifted, use the toilet brush to thoroughly scrub the inside of the toilet basin being sure to get underneath the rim and also as far into the u-bend as you can. Flush the toilet, rinsing the toilet brush under the stream.

Finally use trusty Cloth 2 and anti-bac spray to wipe the wall or tiles behind the toilet and outside of the pedestal.

Step 4: Mirror, mirror on the wall…

Even at this late stage Cloth 3 should look like it’s barely left the drawer so can be on the mirror with a small squirt of glass cleaner to limit the streaks.

Use the pristine Cloth 4 glass polisher to get that sparkly streak free finish and use the same cloth to finish the shower screen glass and all of the tabs and other chrome fittings. Step back and admire the dazzle.

Step 5: The sink

You’ve probably been using your sink to rinse your cloths and sponge and store all the wet things as you’ve been going along so now is the time to start clearing up the mess and give the sink a squirt with your all-purpose spray, scrub round with the scourer, Cloth 2 and 3, not forgetting the splash back tiles and pedestal.

Step 6: The towel rail

Use Cloth 2 to remove dust and dirt from the towel rail and give it a polish with Cloth 3 to finish. Fold towels beautifully for the that Just Helpers Finish!

Step 7: The floor

Assuming you have a tiled bathroom floor you can now crack on with the final task, get some extra hot water, mop, bucket & floor cleaner making sure you work into all the easily neglected areas like round the toilet and in the corners where the grime usually gathers. Open a window and leave to dry.

Step 8: Return everything to normality

Empty the dustbin and spray and wipe the inside and outside, polishing where necessary and then wipe down any other portable fittings that were removed at the beginning. Wait for the floor to dry, replace all items and pat yourself on the back for a good job done!

Step 9: Reflect

Sit down and have a cup of tea, think to yourself, ‘I’m never going through all that again’ and get in touch to book your Helper to do it for you!

You may have heard of fish spa’s, who use Garra rufa, also known as doctor fish to eat the dead skin from feet..

But did you know it’s now possible to employ another kind of water dwelling creature, to clean your toilet?

The Malaysian Trumpet Snail or MTS, is being touted by eco-nomists as the next best green alternative to toilet bleaches and cleaners that are currently polluting our waterways and threatening fish populations across Britain. Currently only being tested in medium-soft water areas, the snail, which breaks down limescale into calcium to build its shell, also eats any leftover unwanted streaks left in the bowl, leaving your toilet sparkling like new.

So how does it work? Tests were initially done by leaving the snails in a tank installed in the bathroom during the day and moving them to the toilet bowl each night but concerns about disturbing the snails so regularly led to studies to find a species of snail that could survive, and even thrive, undisturbed in the toilet bowl permanently. The unique streamlined shape of the MTS allows it to stick rigidly to the side of the bowl during flushes and movements whilst managing to catch enough ‘food’ to live on happily without needing any dietary supplements. A recommended maximum of 3 snails per bowl should get your toilet bowl sparkling in under 3 weeks.

So it’s bye-bye to water damaging cleaning products and hello to happy toilet cleaning snails! Who knows what will catch on next – toenail clipping lizards?

Hoping to take on an oven clean? Here’s a couple of tips we’ve gleaned from years of experience.

Everyone knows that smell.. the pool of a sticky or fatty spillage smoking in the bottom of the oven when it gets hot. Even if you haven’t got time to go for a thorough clean, get a few pieces of kitchen towel and mop up the worst of the spillage before you turn the oven on again – the more times you ‘cook’ that spillage the harder it will be to get off. Better still, prevent spillage by putting a baking tray underneath the usual suspects.

Stick it to the sticky stuff

A Which? Best Buy report from 2012 rates the leave-it-over-night gel cleaners as generally the best performers, heralding Oven Pride as the most widely available top product for its removal of tough baked on grime, a little bit of scrubbing will still be needed on the oven walls of course. In my time, when I had to get an oven done without the luxury of leaving it over night I used to use Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and leave the spray foam to soak but this still requires a lot of elbow grease to help Mr. Muscle’s muscles along. All of these products use caustic chemicals to dissolve the dirt, leaving a very bad smell in the air and risk of damage to your clothes and any other surfaces that are not the inside of your oven. It can also mean that your oven will smell for a few days while the chemicals in your oven burn off, even with plenty of rinsing this is hard to avoid.

Eco alternatives

To eradicate the need for chemicals you must to start as you mean to go on: cleaning your oven on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Although there are many eco-alterntives on the market, none of them can cut through hard burnt on grease to the same extent as sodium alkyl ethoxy sulphate and sodium hydroxide.

There are a few brands who offer a mineral based paste that you can spread on and wipe off, normally made of a vegetable soap and mineral abrasive, here’s one from Astonish. Or you can make your own paste with bicarbonate of soda and ‘bake’ it on. If you are planning on doing the scrubbing regularly, you might want to soften the grime first by putting a bowl of water in the oven and setting it to 100℃ for 30 mins to steam, this also works well in microwave ovens on a short 4 or 5 minute setting.

Oven cleaning is one of our Helpful Add-on Services.

When you speak to your cleaning manager they can arrange for this to be added to an existing clean for an extra cost, some of our other add-ons include cleaning blinds, taking duvets to the laundry or washing down walls; those jobs that no-one ever seems to have the time to do.

Expel from your mind images of dark cellars and creeping damp patches and you’ll be left with the reasonably modern problem of mould caused by condensation.

Condensation is caused when warm moist air hits cold surfaces it is largely attributed to the addition of airtight double glazing to homes that are poorly insulated. Home builders have started to cotton on to this and now install double glazing with air vents to allow the moist air to circulate with air outside, as well as improving insulation in walls and roofs.

For those of us not blessed with a new build or a large air circulating wood burner, it can feel like a constant battle when the temperature outside starts to drop every year. Here are a few tips for combatting the looming black speckles:

Prevention is better than cure:

The centre for sustainable energy gives some great tips for trying to prevent mould growing in your home:

1. Produce less moisture: keep lids on boiling pans, dry clothes outdoors etc.
2. Let moist air out and fresh air in: install extractor fans, open windows after cooking or showering, make gaps between walls and furniture to allow air to circulate.
3. Get rid of moisture: wipe down windows and wring out the cloth, get a dehumidifier if it is really bad, but they can often be costly to run. If you are in the market for a dehumidifier the top scoring best buy on Which.co.uk is the Meaco 20L Platinum. Their DD8L is also high scoring and £100 cheaper.
4. Paint your walls with mould resistant paint, here’s a good additive you could use if you’ve already bought the paint.

Getting rid of existing mould:

Firstly kill the mould with a decent mould spray. In the past I’ve used Domestos, Ultra white & sparkle bleach and HG mould spray, these offer good results but they are basically 99% bleach so very harsh on surfaces and difficult to use without passing out or staining clothes. There are a couple of less harsh ones, but results are not satisfactory – Dettol Mould and Mildew remover being one of them.

Secondly, if you haven’t opted to repaint your wall with mould resistant paint then give it a good wash with a fungicide, here’s a well rated one on amazon.

How can we help?

We can tackle some of your bathroom based mould over the course of 3-4 weekly cleans, but unfortunately we are not fully insured to use wide spread bleach based mould killers or fungicide in your homes, even for deep cleaning. They carry health risks for our helpers using them regularly and pose quite serious damage dangers on your furnishings. This means any large patches of damp on walls and windows need to be dealt with by a local specialist.

Cleaning cloths come in all shapes and sizes along with a gamet of price tags and promises.

It’s easy to just go for the cheapest or nearest option when choosing your cloths, or to fall back on the fail-safe: “If it worked for Mum it will work for me”.

Microfibre cloths have only really been on the market since the late 90’s, so it’s understandable if your Mum isn’t into them – but if she only knew the benefits, I’m sure she’d be all over them!

As technology has advanced, fibres have been able to get smaller and smaller so that the surface area is increased, working like lots of little Velcro hooks pulling up dirt, but small and soft enough that they do not scratch and damage surfaces. It’s a simple, effective system and when built out of polyester, lasts for years and years. It also means you only need to use water so it’s better for the environment.

There are plenty of own brand microfiber cloths, and plenty of pricey ones too. In my experience, they really just fall into two camps: hitchy fluff and well-woven. Even from before the first wash, the hitchy fluffy ones feel like they are not going to last – avoid these and pay an extra £3 to get something decent.

There are many other ways in which brands like Spontex and e-cloth have elaborated on the basic cloth, here’s a few with their benefits:

• Waffle/3D textured: – more absorbent, particularly good for use in wet areas
• Thin polishing cloths – very light weight, use to wipe dry glass, tiled and metal surfaces
• Scrubbing bands – thicker strips of non-scratch scrubbing material for working on tougher stains like hob grease or bathroom watermarks

How to get the best out of your cloth:

• Use one wet, but not dripping and polish after with a clean dry one
• Wash them at 60 degrees to get rid of any lingering grease
• Don’t use fabric softener as it clogs up the fibers
• Do not iron or tumble dry them

Thanks for reading, we hope this brings you closer to a yellow duster and J-cloth free home

If you have been noticing your sink or bath plug draining a little slower than it used to then act now!

Professional drain unblocking services are costly and can be avoided if you follow these simple tips:

PREVENTION

Assuming you haven’t inherited bad drains from previous tenants or owners there are small things you can do which will prevent blockages:

1. Do not pour animal fat or coffee granules down your sink, scoop them into your bin
2. Buy a strainer that fits over the plug hole to catch pesky bits of food that end up in the dishwater
3. *Squeamish alert* Pick out hair from the plughole regularly to stop build-up. You can even buy a ‘drain snake’ to pull the hair out.

CURE

So it’s got pretty bad. There’s still hope. There are two options for you depending on the severity of the situation (or the strength of your stomach):

1. Chemical: If you have some drainage in the offending sink, you might want to opt for the cheaper option of a chemical unblocker, the best-reviewed product that we always recommend is the Kitchen Buster Plughole Unblocker. Be aware, the fumes are terrible so keep the doors and windows open and don’t hang around watching it work!
2. Mechanical: Several foolproof devices are available on the market for DIY pressurised unblocking. In cases where nothing is going down the sink at all this may be your only option. The Power Plumber Instant Drain Cleaner is getting great reviews and won a Which? Best Buy award in 2009. A pricier option, but what price would you put on rank water riddance?

London is a hard water area. This means limescale creeps in, in various forms, all over our home: our taps, our showerheads, our toilets, our kettles, even our washing machines are not safe.

Here are a few tips to get you on the clean and shiny path to scaly free homes.

TAPS & SHOWERHEADS:

People think that Viakal is the best product to use but our best buy recommendation is Cillit Bang limescale and shine. Second best is Lime Lite – our clients recommend this regularly – but these pricy products will only work if you are using them regularly as a way of slowly preventing the build-up of limescale on your bathroom and kitchen taps and surfaces. If the build-up is already there, then here’s what you need to do:

TACKLING BUILD UP:

Ever heard about the Coke down the toilet trick? Pour a bottle of Coke down the toilet don’t flush and leave overnight. This works for all forms of limescale build-up. Unscrew all the easily detachable bits from your taps and showerheads and soak them overnight, (making sure you don’t unscrew something essential that gives you a reason to call the plumber). For the other parts use cotton wool pads soaked in lemon juice and wrap firmly around the remaining parts. Keep basting the pads with lemon juice ensuring that the pads are fully in contact with the part. If all else fails, we have a frightening trade secret – Harpic toilet cleaner is potent stuff, but if you don a pair of gloves and carefully apply some with a toothbrush, watch with an eagle eye and leave for no longer than 2 minutes before rinsing thoroughly, this should obliterate limescale on your taps.

KETTLES:

Oust. You can’t beat this. If you are trying to save money and the planet then white vinegar works very well. Fill your kettle 3/4 full with equal parts water and white vinegar, boil, remove kettle form the port source, leave for 15-20 minutes, rinse several times and voila! a sparkly new looking kettle.

WASHING MACHINES:

Are you expecting me to say washing machines live longer with Calgon because some time in the nineties you were inadvertently brainwashed by a nice man in overalls on ITV? Well I was, until I did a bit of research! More about this below. Calgon is a water softener and therefore a preventative rather than a descaler. Descalers on the market that work well in Washing Machines are Oust and ecozone balls. White vinegar has been known to work too.

TO SOFTEN OR NOT TO SOFTEN?

Spending money on water softening tablets for specific appliances is not economical. Tests done by Which? UK show that after six years of Calgon use, you may have a limescale free machine, but you would have also spent approximately £295 while at normal use (40 degrees washing) the limescale build-up in a machine would not grind it to a halt for another 2 or 3 years.