Old socks make good mitts for cleaning difficult to clean places like wood work and ceilings.
Wall paper can be dusted by pinning a clean cloth to a broom and dusting from the ceiling toward the floor.
Art Gum erasers can remove pencil marks and non-greasy marks from wall paper.
If you have textured walls, you can use socks made of nylon or polyester instead of cotton. This will prevent pieces of fabric from hanging on the wall as you clean.
Don’t mix your cleaning chemicals. Ammonia and bleach mixed is especially dangerous.
Before beginning in a room, make sure you have a checklist made for that room, follow it and check off chores as you complete them.
Rust can be removed from stainless steel sinks with lighter fluid. Just rub the rust stains gently with a paper towel saturated with the fluid.
For a quick shine on stainless sinks, wipe down with rubbing alcohol.
White porcelain sinks can be bleached. Stopper the sink. Run a sink FULL of water. Add 1 cup bleach and allow to sit for several hours. Empty the sink.

Caring For Rugs
This week we will begin the preliminary Spring Cleaning activities with cleaning and/or laundering the rugs in our homes. Rugs are made of all kinds of materials, too many for me to list the cleaning instructions for each type. So, if you do not know how to clean the rugs in your home, get busy investigating all the different methods available and start cleaning those rugs! I will give you some rug basics for wool, cotton and polyester rugs.
All rugs do well with a good airing after they have been cleaned. Let your rugs air out while you are cleaning the rest of the room.

Wool Rugs

Wool rugs are usually expensive and need to be cared for precisely and carefully. Many of today’s wool rugs can be steam cleaned or cleaned with a home rug cleaning machine with no problems. If you are in doubt, don’t.

1) Vacuum the rug.
2) Take the rug outside and hang it over a swing set, fence or other sturdy site. Beat the rug on one side and then the other using something like a tennis racket.
3) Wash the rug according to the manufacturer’s instructions or if you know how to clean the rug clean it as you usually do.

Cotton Rugs
Cotton rugs, like rag rugs, can usually be tossed in the washer. If your rug is too big for that, think about taking it to the Laundromat where you can wash it in the oversized machine. Be sure to either vacuum your cotton rugs or to shake or beat them out well before washing them.

© 1995 Sylvia Britton