The Key Dos & Don’ts of Home Cleaning

There are people that are pretty regular about home maintenance and maybe even find it relaxing and enjoyable. However, due to how taxing keeping your home in shape can be and the fact that daily schedules can be very busy, many people struggle with house cleaning in Lacey, WA.

No matter which one you are, housekeeping is a thing you have to do, at least sometimes. In order to make it less burdensome if you find it hard, or just to offer additional tips if you’re the kind of person to enjoy it, the text ahead talks about important things to keep in mind about home maintenance.

What are the do and don’ts of cleaning?

Ahead are some very important tips related to keeping your home in perfect shape, sorted into short lists of dos and don’ts to help with the tasks you have ahead.

The dos

  • Follow safety tips: The most important thing is to stay safe while doing any kind of chores. Be careful about moving furniture and handling tools so as to not hurt yourself, but pay special attention to how you use products and solutions. Many of them can harm you if not used correctly, so always read labels and be careful.
  • Always start from the dirtiest rooms: This is both because the hardest task should never be left to be the last and because scrubbing the grimiest room the last will spread dirt around the house after it’s already been dealt with. Always start with the bathrooms and the kitchen, or clean your child’s messy room first, and finish with the rooms that aren’t as dirty.
  • Use the right tools and products: Not every product and tool is designed for every surface, and using the wrong kind can damage your furniture and appliances or be hazardous. That’s why you should do some research on the purpose, way of working, and some history of house maintenance products and tools.

The don’ts

  • Start without any plan: While a sudden energy kick can feel like just a jumpstart you need to start your home maintenance, doing so on a whim and without any planning will get you nowhere. As housekeeping isn’t a single task that can be done in fifteen minutes, having at least a vague plan is always a good idea.
  • Resort to quick fixes: It’s understandable if you are short on time and you decide to just give your kitchen sink a quick wipe instead of a thorough scrub this time. However, doing that all the time is never a solution. Have a plan of often and properly tidying up certain areas, and only use touch-ups in between.
  • Use the strongest agent for everything: Stronger products may clean all the dirt and disinfect, but they shouldn’t be used unless necessary. They also cause more damage to materials and health and more harm to the environment. If possible, you should always use products with a safer ingredient list.

Who are skilled professionals that can help me with house cleaning in Lacey, WA?

If you find keeping your house in shape hard or close to impossible, whether it’s because of the nature of the chores or you simply don’t have the time, it may be time to reach out to American Maid Service of Olympia. Per your request, a team of expert maids can come by and scrub your home until it’s spotless.

Whether it’s a short weekly job or a seasonal deep clean, we got you covered. Feel free to destress from a hard workday by spending a day at the Lacey Museum, and leaving the chores to professionals and our tried and effective methods that leave every client satisfied.

The Fun & Surprising History of Cleaning Products

With all the options you have available today, you likely don’t really think about how home maintenance looked decades and centuries ago. From cheap and effective agents to complex products and the ease of finding a Lacey, WA House Cleaning service to help you, house maintenance has never been easier.

But the history of housekeeping, especially that of how products came to be, is a rather interesting one. Read on more about how they came to be and what they looked like long ago.

What was the first ever cleaning product?

Soap is considered to be the first ever product. While today there seems to be a different product for every type of chore, it wasn’t always like that. Not long ago, soap was used just the same to wash your hands, wash your clothes, and effectively scrub your children’s rooms clean.

Due to how easy it is to make, there is no data on soap’s original inventors or the place of origin. The earliest record dates back almost three millennia ago. People made sand by mixing lye and oils or animal fats and then cooking the mixture.

This formula is not too different from how soap is made today, actually. Soap still makes a valuable substance even today, and many products contain it, back then it was the only one. People cleaned using tools, naturally available agents, and the tips on dos and don’ts of keeping your home clean which they learned from one another.

How did ancient people clean their homes?

It’s very natural for humans to want to keep themselves and their living spaces clean. It’s almost an instinct. This means humans as species have used all kinds of means to aid themselves in tidying up. Before modern products and tools, disinfectants, and even soap, what did people use to keep their homes nice and tidy?

Water

Even though soap is considered to be the first agent, water was around for way longer than that. Humans are greatly dependent on water, and that’s why we always sought to inhabit spaces close to water sources.

For many kinds of housekeeping, water is a pretty good aid. It removes a lot of dirt, and if combined with proper tools, is oftentimes all the help you’d need. People were aware of this a long time ago, and although the standards weren’t the same as today, they had a way of keeping their living spaces in good shape using just water.

Sand

Very much present in nature, sand is one of the oldest aids. It’s not chemically reactive, so it doesn’t really dissolve the dirt or kill germs, but it is abrasive. Due to this feature, it was used to scrub away grime and dirt from surfaces, and in that, it is pretty effective.

It was used to wash pretty much everything from hands to floors. Even though abrasive products can be damaging, the chemical stability it possesses makes sand very safe. 

Wood ash

Even before the discovery of soap, wood ash was used to clean, either dry or in the form of lye. Since people used direct fire both to cook and to heat up space, there was no scarcity of ash. Like sand, it is abrasive, but unlike it, it is chemically active.

It can be mixed with water to create a paste, or mixed with water and left to sit for a few days to create lye. Due to the natural properties which never got completely outdated, many people that care about ecology and prioritize safety when doing household chores still use wood ash today.

Who are the best and most professional Lacey, WA house cleaners?

If you’d rather spend your day off enjoying the nature of Olympic National Park than doing all those daunting housekeeping tasks, American Maid Service of Olympia is just a call away. 

With decades of experience and thousands of happy clients, we are sure to grant all your requests. We guarantee our expert cleaners will treat your home with extreme care and attention to detail. Reach out for more details!