What's the best kind of dirt? Dirt that you never allow into your house in the first place. That's dirt in its proper place--dirt you don't have to clean up. As we all know from the "ounce of prevention" saying, it's easier to head off a problem than to fix it after the damage is done. So learn to stop dirt in its tracks.
Wrestle Dirt to the Mat
Actually, what you want to do is stop the dirt in your tracks--specifically, on the soles of your shoes. Use doormats at every entrance to your home, inside and out.
Remember: Most of the grime in your home comes from the outside, the bulk of it hitchhiking in unnoticed on people's feet.
Choosing the right doormats will measurably curb the time you spend cleaning and chasing down dirt, says Sarah Smock, marketing director of Merry Maids Inc', a housecleaning business with franchises across the United States. The heavy-duty mats that retail stores, supermarkets, and hospitals use to keep dirt at bay are a terrific choice here. Typically called walk-off mats, they can be purchased in janitorial supply shops and home improvement stores. The name tells the tale here: They're called "walk-off" mats because people coming into the house walk across them, giving the dirt on their shoes the brush-off. Mats for outside your door are usually made of rubber- or vinyl
backed synthetic turf. (Astroturf is one popular brand.) Inside, walk-off mat choices come in nylon or olefin with either vinyl or rubber backing. The indoor variety is available in several dark, dirt-defying colors to coordinate with your decor, says Merry Maids'Smock. A walk-off mat should be long enough so that both of a person's feet walk across it before entering the house, and the width no wider than the door itself. The mat should never impede the door's movement, either.
Floor Mats are also a good idea near such high-traffic or spillprone spots as the kitchen sink, the refrigerator, the tub, and the toilet, says Mary Ellen Rymanski, who has cleaned houses in philadelphia suburbs for more than 20 years. "Cleanups are much easier when all you have to do is clean a mat instead of the floor," she advises. "Think of all the stuff gets dripped on the floor in front of the sink or the fridge, for instance."
Doormats need minimal maintenance. just haul them outside occasionally and give them a good shake and also give them a once-over with the vacuum cleaner now and then.
When mats are really grimy, hose them down and scrub them with a squirt of dishwashing liquid in warm water. Rinse and allow them to thoroughly air-dry. Another method: Try a wet/dry vacuum or upholstery shampoo to freshen them. Make sure your mats are completely dry before you put them back on the floor. Moisture caught underneath the mats could damage your floors. When your mats get threadbare, replace them--worn mats don't do their job as well as new ones.
To reduce the dirt entering your house, limit the number of entrances that are used. This way, you'll cut down on the places where people and pets can track dirt in. And if most people enter your house through a mudroom with an easy-wipe floor, a ton of grime will never make it to first base in your abode.
An even better idea: Make your house a shoeless zone for everyone. Encourage family members, guests, and friends to shed their shoes just inside the entrance. Provide a decorative
basket or some other receptacle where people can stash their shoes. Keep some fresh "house" slippers on hand for guests--slippers that never set foot outside, so they'll be clean as can be.
Design Away Grime
It's not every day that you get to buy new furniture or redecorate the kitchen or bathrooom. But when you do, choose your surfaces wisely.
Easy-care decorating choices abound. For instance, there are a number of no-wax, no-refinish floors to choose from. For countertops in the kitchen or bathroom, you'll find that solid
surfaces--those that have few or no seams, don't have indentations, and are impervious to spills and marks--are remarkably easy to keep clean.
Over time, many drapes, curtains, and other window coverings become magnets for dust and cobwebs. Instead of dust-catching materials, choose fabrics treated with a stain-and-dust-resistant finish, or treat the fabric yourself with a product such as Scotchgard fabric protector, following package instructions.
To kidproof a child's bedroom, or the kitchen, use Benjamin Moore's AquaPearl paint (available at paint stores) on the walls. It may cost a tad more than other well-known brands,but the pigment will stand up much better to scrubbing, says Deborah Wiener, a Silver Spring. Maryland, interior designer who is known for her "real life" solutions. The paint was designed for use in hospitals, restaurants, and schools, so marker and crayon wipe right off of it.
Have you made a mess of a family room wall by taping and tacking children's artwork to it? You can have a full-wall gallery in your home without the eyesore. Just cover the wall in a magnetic paint (avialable in paint stores) and use magnets to post the work of your building Michelangelos.
Patterns and designs camouflage dirt and grime, whereas solid colors hide little. And don't forget your pets when you redecorate. If you have a black Labrador retriever or another dark-hired breed, for instance, light-colored surfaces may not be the wisest choice.
If concrete or mortar joints haven't been sealed, they can slough off bits of sand and concrete dust onto surrounding surfaces. To keep this grime at bay, use sealers such as Drylok Masonry Treatment and Drylok Concrete Protector, avialable at hardware stores and home improvement stores.
Cook Up Some Preventive Measures
When you have cooked a meal, your kitchen should not look like the food fight scene from Animal House.
To keep airbone grease and such away from counters, turn on the exhaust fan when you're cooking on the stovetop.
To cut down on jumping tomato sauce and other messes, use big pots and pans, with their lids. When you deep-fry, saute, or otherwise cook foods that spit, line kitchen counters around your stove with newspapers or paper grocery bags, cut open to extend them. (Always keep these papers away fro any heat source.)
For oven splatters from a pie or casserole bubbling over, sprinkle the stains with salt to keep the smoke down and to make your eventual cleanup job much easier.
To protect the fabric in kitchen chairs, which is always under assault, especially from kids dribbling oatmeal and ice cream, have the fabric laminated for easy wiping. If you have removable cushions on your chairs, have just one side laminated. The easy-wipe side is for everyday use, and other side is for special occasions. To find someone to laminate fabric for you, consult a fabric store or go through an interior designer.
expert advice
First Things First >
Apply products that keep surfaces from getting grimy only after you've thoroughly cleaned them, advises Anita Kelly, a staffer at the Merry Maids franchise in Thorndale,Pennsylvania. For instance, lemon oil work wonders in preventing soil buildup on shower doors, but you have to rid the doors of mildew, soap scum, and other gunk before applying it, Kelly says. The same goes for fabrics:
The spray-on fabric protectors that repel stains and spills also require that the fabric be clean before you apply the protectant.
Clear the Air
Your air circulation system is another supply labor-free way to keep dirt out of your home. Think about it: If you have ductwork for heating and cooling, sooner or later every molecule of air in your house must pass through this system.
Keep a nice, clean filter in there snagging the dust out of the air. Replace the filter at least twice a year to prevent that airborne grime from wafting all over the house. Switch filters as often as once a month if the filter collects lots of dust during the heating and cooling seasons.
If your ducts are clogged with dust and debris, or if you can see mold building up in there, call in a professional duct cleaner, who will clear everything out with a high-powered vacuum. (See later on) Your ducts may get particularly grimy if you've donw work that throws around a lot of dust (say, wood floor refinishing or remodeling), if your furnace malfunctions and throws soot around willy-nilly, or if you frequently use a fireplace or wood stove.
Make sure your windows and doors seal tightly. Some utility companies will inspect your home without charge to determine whether you have any cracks where heat or air-conditioning could be seeping out--which means that dirt could be creeping in through the same cracks.
Keep Tools Sharp--well, Clean Anyway
Worn-out cleaning tools-sponges, mops, squeegees, and such--are a waste of time. They make you work harder to get the job done. Dirty cleaning tools are worse, because they're downright counterproductive, smearing grime and germs all over the things you're trying to clean. Here's the lowdown on upkeep:
Wrestle Dirt to the Mat
Actually, what you want to do is stop the dirt in your tracks--specifically, on the soles of your shoes. Use doormats at every entrance to your home, inside and out.
Remember: Most of the grime in your home comes from the outside, the bulk of it hitchhiking in unnoticed on people's feet.
Choosing the right doormats will measurably curb the time you spend cleaning and chasing down dirt, says Sarah Smock, marketing director of Merry Maids Inc', a housecleaning business with franchises across the United States. The heavy-duty mats that retail stores, supermarkets, and hospitals use to keep dirt at bay are a terrific choice here. Typically called walk-off mats, they can be purchased in janitorial supply shops and home improvement stores. The name tells the tale here: They're called "walk-off" mats because people coming into the house walk across them, giving the dirt on their shoes the brush-off. Mats for outside your door are usually made of rubber- or vinyl
backed synthetic turf. (Astroturf is one popular brand.) Inside, walk-off mat choices come in nylon or olefin with either vinyl or rubber backing. The indoor variety is available in several dark, dirt-defying colors to coordinate with your decor, says Merry Maids'Smock. A walk-off mat should be long enough so that both of a person's feet walk across it before entering the house, and the width no wider than the door itself. The mat should never impede the door's movement, either.
Floor Mats are also a good idea near such high-traffic or spillprone spots as the kitchen sink, the refrigerator, the tub, and the toilet, says Mary Ellen Rymanski, who has cleaned houses in philadelphia suburbs for more than 20 years. "Cleanups are much easier when all you have to do is clean a mat instead of the floor," she advises. "Think of all the stuff gets dripped on the floor in front of the sink or the fridge, for instance."
Doormats need minimal maintenance. just haul them outside occasionally and give them a good shake and also give them a once-over with the vacuum cleaner now and then.
When mats are really grimy, hose them down and scrub them with a squirt of dishwashing liquid in warm water. Rinse and allow them to thoroughly air-dry. Another method: Try a wet/dry vacuum or upholstery shampoo to freshen them. Make sure your mats are completely dry before you put them back on the floor. Moisture caught underneath the mats could damage your floors. When your mats get threadbare, replace them--worn mats don't do their job as well as new ones.
To reduce the dirt entering your house, limit the number of entrances that are used. This way, you'll cut down on the places where people and pets can track dirt in. And if most people enter your house through a mudroom with an easy-wipe floor, a ton of grime will never make it to first base in your abode.
An even better idea: Make your house a shoeless zone for everyone. Encourage family members, guests, and friends to shed their shoes just inside the entrance. Provide a decorative
basket or some other receptacle where people can stash their shoes. Keep some fresh "house" slippers on hand for guests--slippers that never set foot outside, so they'll be clean as can be.
Design Away Grime
It's not every day that you get to buy new furniture or redecorate the kitchen or bathrooom. But when you do, choose your surfaces wisely.
Easy-care decorating choices abound. For instance, there are a number of no-wax, no-refinish floors to choose from. For countertops in the kitchen or bathroom, you'll find that solid
surfaces--those that have few or no seams, don't have indentations, and are impervious to spills and marks--are remarkably easy to keep clean.
Over time, many drapes, curtains, and other window coverings become magnets for dust and cobwebs. Instead of dust-catching materials, choose fabrics treated with a stain-and-dust-resistant finish, or treat the fabric yourself with a product such as Scotchgard fabric protector, following package instructions.
To kidproof a child's bedroom, or the kitchen, use Benjamin Moore's AquaPearl paint (available at paint stores) on the walls. It may cost a tad more than other well-known brands,but the pigment will stand up much better to scrubbing, says Deborah Wiener, a Silver Spring. Maryland, interior designer who is known for her "real life" solutions. The paint was designed for use in hospitals, restaurants, and schools, so marker and crayon wipe right off of it.
Have you made a mess of a family room wall by taping and tacking children's artwork to it? You can have a full-wall gallery in your home without the eyesore. Just cover the wall in a magnetic paint (avialable in paint stores) and use magnets to post the work of your building Michelangelos.
Patterns and designs camouflage dirt and grime, whereas solid colors hide little. And don't forget your pets when you redecorate. If you have a black Labrador retriever or another dark-hired breed, for instance, light-colored surfaces may not be the wisest choice.
If concrete or mortar joints haven't been sealed, they can slough off bits of sand and concrete dust onto surrounding surfaces. To keep this grime at bay, use sealers such as Drylok Masonry Treatment and Drylok Concrete Protector, avialable at hardware stores and home improvement stores.
Cook Up Some Preventive Measures
When you have cooked a meal, your kitchen should not look like the food fight scene from Animal House.
To keep airbone grease and such away from counters, turn on the exhaust fan when you're cooking on the stovetop.
To cut down on jumping tomato sauce and other messes, use big pots and pans, with their lids. When you deep-fry, saute, or otherwise cook foods that spit, line kitchen counters around your stove with newspapers or paper grocery bags, cut open to extend them. (Always keep these papers away fro any heat source.)
For oven splatters from a pie or casserole bubbling over, sprinkle the stains with salt to keep the smoke down and to make your eventual cleanup job much easier.
To protect the fabric in kitchen chairs, which is always under assault, especially from kids dribbling oatmeal and ice cream, have the fabric laminated for easy wiping. If you have removable cushions on your chairs, have just one side laminated. The easy-wipe side is for everyday use, and other side is for special occasions. To find someone to laminate fabric for you, consult a fabric store or go through an interior designer.
expert advice
First Things First >
Apply products that keep surfaces from getting grimy only after you've thoroughly cleaned them, advises Anita Kelly, a staffer at the Merry Maids franchise in Thorndale,Pennsylvania. For instance, lemon oil work wonders in preventing soil buildup on shower doors, but you have to rid the doors of mildew, soap scum, and other gunk before applying it, Kelly says. The same goes for fabrics:
The spray-on fabric protectors that repel stains and spills also require that the fabric be clean before you apply the protectant.
Clear the Air
Your air circulation system is another supply labor-free way to keep dirt out of your home. Think about it: If you have ductwork for heating and cooling, sooner or later every molecule of air in your house must pass through this system.
Keep a nice, clean filter in there snagging the dust out of the air. Replace the filter at least twice a year to prevent that airborne grime from wafting all over the house. Switch filters as often as once a month if the filter collects lots of dust during the heating and cooling seasons.
If your ducts are clogged with dust and debris, or if you can see mold building up in there, call in a professional duct cleaner, who will clear everything out with a high-powered vacuum. (See later on) Your ducts may get particularly grimy if you've donw work that throws around a lot of dust (say, wood floor refinishing or remodeling), if your furnace malfunctions and throws soot around willy-nilly, or if you frequently use a fireplace or wood stove.
Make sure your windows and doors seal tightly. Some utility companies will inspect your home without charge to determine whether you have any cracks where heat or air-conditioning could be seeping out--which means that dirt could be creeping in through the same cracks.
Keep Tools Sharp--well, Clean Anyway
Worn-out cleaning tools-sponges, mops, squeegees, and such--are a waste of time. They make you work harder to get the job done. Dirty cleaning tools are worse, because they're downright counterproductive, smearing grime and germs all over the things you're trying to clean. Here's the lowdown on upkeep:
- Pitch cleaning tools when they look chewed up and tired.
- Regularly launder cleaning rags in your washing machine, using detergent, hot water, and 1/2 cup of white vinegar or a scoop of oxygen-boosting additive, such as Oxiclean, to freshen their scent.
- Wash cellulose sponges--those sometimes nasty repositories of germs and offending odors--in the washing machine or in the top rack of your dishwasher.
- Replace the bag in your vacuum cleaner at least once a month--more often if you have pets that shed. Vacuum bags need air inside to suck properly, so be sure to change them when they are two-thirds full. Keep those vacuum brushes clean, too.
Try a Closed-Door Policy
Dirt just likes to travel. It's happiest when it can roam freely all over your home, hiding in those nooks and crannies where it's the most labor-intensive to find and remove.
So stop dirt at the borders. That is, habitually keep your doors, drawers, cabinets, closets, and other barriers closed. This will keep dirt out in the open, where vacuum cleaners and cleaning cloths will be able to deal with it more readily.
If you're working on a messy, dust-producing project in the house, keep the doors to the room you're working in closed. Better yet, hang protective plastic across the door and any air vents to confine the dust to one room.
Periodically wash screens and other dirt-trapping window coverings (plantation shutters, miniblinds, and the like) to keep dirt subdued. Remember that dirt loves company and acts as a magnet for more.
Smart Pet Tricks
Keeping your dogs and cats clean will reduce the amount of dirt they can bring into your house, These preventive maintenance tips will help:
Dirt just likes to travel. It's happiest when it can roam freely all over your home, hiding in those nooks and crannies where it's the most labor-intensive to find and remove.
So stop dirt at the borders. That is, habitually keep your doors, drawers, cabinets, closets, and other barriers closed. This will keep dirt out in the open, where vacuum cleaners and cleaning cloths will be able to deal with it more readily.
If you're working on a messy, dust-producing project in the house, keep the doors to the room you're working in closed. Better yet, hang protective plastic across the door and any air vents to confine the dust to one room.
Periodically wash screens and other dirt-trapping window coverings (plantation shutters, miniblinds, and the like) to keep dirt subdued. Remember that dirt loves company and acts as a magnet for more.
Smart Pet Tricks
Keeping your dogs and cats clean will reduce the amount of dirt they can bring into your house, These preventive maintenance tips will help:
- Station a clean rag by the door that your pet uses so that muddy, wet paws and claws can be wiped off before your beloved animal makes unsightly tracks through the house.
- Once a week, take your dog outside and give its fur a good going-over with the type of brush recommended for its coat. Do this well away from the house, so that the tufts won't tumble inside.
- The miracle way to lift pet hair from furniture and other surfaces? Wipe with a damp sponge or cloth, and the hair will gather in clumps. An alternative: Use of those special rubber brushes with nubs on it that is intended for grooming cats (available at pet stores).
- Nothing beats your vacuum cleaner or a powerful handheld vacuum for pulling pet hair out of your rugs and carpets.
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