Keeping House : Cleaning

My mother cleaned houses for a living while I was growing up, and I went with her from time to time. So when it comes to most housework I really don't mind doing it in my own house, and I learned so much about cleaning things from her.

Things that I feel are important for cleaning

• Windex (I like the Kitchen and Glass cleaner) - Good for windows, mirrors, and getting mirror-like surfaces to shine without streaking
• Clorox Clean-Up - I use this for most of my cleaning, it's good stuff, includes bleach
• Household Bleach - Very important!
• Goo Gone - I was skeptical at first, but this stuff is really great at getting annoying goo left by tape or glue
• Kitchen/Bathroom Floor Cleaner - I'm not committed to any specific brand name, I tend to buy whatever is on sale.
• Mop - I just have a regular old replacable sponge mop
• Paper Towels, or a pile of rags - Right now I use paper towels to clean, but that's just because I don't have enough rags to go around, my mother swore by using rags (bleached in the wash after each use) for her cleaning business
• Sponges with scrubby pad on one side - Although a lot of people scream at the use of any sponges, I found that there are some uses for them, especially their scrubby pad.
• Scrubbing Bubbles - Good for cleaning the bathtub, pretty good at removing soap scum and hard water stains

Chores: Daily - It might seem hard to keep up with cleaning each day, but spending a half hour doing quick chores after work can make your home a whole lot nicer to live in.

• Clean out dishwasher
• Sweep kitchen floor
• Clean coffee maker
• Make bed
• Vacuum where needed
• Scoop out cat box

Chores: Weekly - I find that picking a certain time each week to do these helps me keep up with it better (saturday morning perhaps).

• Clean Bathroom
• Clean Kitchen
• Mop Floors (sometimes bi-weekly)
• Completely change cat box (sometimes bi-weekly)
• Complete dusting
• Complete vacuuming
• Laundry

Removing mold and mildew from painted bathroom walls

When we moved into our current house, the bathroom had mold spots all around the ceiling. I tried all sorts of things to clean it up, windex, scrubbing bubbles, bleach cleaner, 1:4 bleach:water mixture. Nothing was working to completely remove the mold spots to my liking.

Solution: I ended up using a very strong bleach & hot water mixture, something like 2 parts bleach, and one part water. I put gloves on, and I'd suggest goggles or glasses (I wear glasses anyway). Then carefully, with a sponge with scrubby pad on one side, start scrubbing the walls. Make sure not to let the sponge soak in the strong solution for too long (it will fall apart), and make sure to thoroughly rinse the walls off with pure water as soon as the mold and mildew stains are gone, to avoid damaging your paint. Above all, be careful! This was a "last resort" for me.

Preventative: If this happens, it's recommended that you repaint your bathroom with a mold or mildew resistant paint. The paint I've seen in most stores is called Perma-White, which you can probably pick up at a home improvement store. This is what I'll be using when we repaint our bathroom in the near future.