Recently I went into a public toilet, which smelled great and was just cleaned - both rather unusual. Upon further inspection however as I looked on the floor I saw blobs of wet hair. The place was mopped but not really cleaned. This got me thinking; that a lot of people, even some professional cleaners get the whole concept of cleaning wrong. Cleaning is not making something smell nice with some soapy water. Real cleaning is the removal of dirt, sounds so simple but it isn’t always done.

One of my favourite books on cleaning is, “the lost art of House Cleaning” by Jan M. Dougherty. It explains that it is useful to have a direction and a plan when cleaning a room. It is also best practice to start from the top and work our way down as the law of gravity also applies to dirt and dust.

Cleaning is one of the topics I discuss in the Home Organising course.

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As a first step dusters and vacuum cleaners are there to remove dry dirt which is relatively easy to remove. Once dust particles have come in contact with moisture or dirt has come in contact with oils it creates a film of dirt which isn’t easy to remove with a vacuum cleaner or a duster. It then needs to be cleaned as a second step in the more traditional sense with water and soap.

I use two different products in spray bottles; environmentally friendly dish wash soap (diluted with water) as it is gentle but still removes the oily layer. Vinegar is used on some surfaces to shine it after it has been cleaned by soap. All is done with either Terry Towelling (baby nappies as they are very good absorbers) and/or fiber optic cloths. Using this method you are assured your spaces are clean, but even with these tools we are still removing dirt so the clothes need to be washed and dried (via the laundry) after each cleaning session, otherwise, you are still moving around with wet dirt.