24 - Wednesday, March 25, 1998 — North Shore News BEAUTIEUL HOME. of dust is no spring weakling 0 pounds Julie Cosgrave Contributing Writer IN the spring we want to do more than shake out the mats and throw out the cat. We want to fling open the windows (after thoroughly cleaning them) and let the sun shine in (on freshly cleaned floors and wood- work.) Where to begin, though? There was a time when spring-cleaning meant carry- ing rugs, drapes and furniture covers outdoors, where they were beaten, swept, bleached and exposed to the reviving benefits of fresh air and sun- shine. Homemakers took this rite of spring seriously and for - good reason. Winter’s inevitable harvest of staleness and dirt may be a Rerle different now than it was in the days before central heating and vacuum cleaners. We don’t have the mess cre- ated by months of soot and smoke, but our weather-tight homes may be even more dusty and’ less fresh than those drafty houses of yore. One estimate is that the average home collects over 40 pounds of dust each year — no matter how meticulous a housekeeper you might be. So, ladies and gentlemen: start your vacuum cleaners. But before you do, set aside a good block of time for your big clean-up. Leslie Haines, owner of a Molly Maid franchise in Toronto advises that a truce spring cleaning may take two days. “A crew of two of our cleaners may spend six to eight hours on a spring clean- ing job,” she says. “A home- owner doing it will need two days. If they are packing away clothes and storing boxes, add another day.” Where do you begin? “Our crew would begin at the furthest reaches of a house,” says Haines. While the crew divides into a “wet” cleaner and a “dry” cleaner, with onc beginning in the furthest bathroom and one in the fur- thest bedroom, if you're on your own, simply begin at the top and work down. A true spring cleaning by the professionals involves lots of heavy work. Furniture is moved, appli- ances are cleaned behind and beneath, and bathrooms and kitchens are degreased and de-scaled. That’s your goal for a really clean house. In your bedrooms you will wane to clean baseboards and spot clean walls. To clean the tracks in alu- minum frame windows or sliding doors, first vacuum, then clean with a grout brush available at hardware and building supply stores. Either take down drapes and shake outside or vacuum them while hanying. Vacuum chairs and mattresses. Dust everything down to et rid of cobwebs and dust unnies that have been hiber- nating in vour house all win- ter. Closet floors need a thor- ough going-over. Haines says 2 ?ependable all-purpose cleanser can be whipped up in tec kitchen. Simply add two capruls of vinegar and a smali amount (a quick squirt or evo) of dish liquid to a quarter bucke: of warm water. “This is environmentally friendly and works on just about everything,” — says Haines. Use your bucket of clean- er on mirrors, glass and walls and even on wood furniture. A cotton diaper is the perfect tool for drying and polishing, Haines says. Using this all-purpose cleaner on wood furniture gets the dust on the cloth and not into the air of your clean room. Make sure your clean- ing cloth is just damp. Avoid waxes and polishes on tables and other furniture, Haines advises. “Ire may look nice at first, but it builds up toa bunch of gunk,” she says, “Over time you may need to have the fur- niture stripped to get it clean.” If there are greasy hand- prints on walls in children’s rooms or the bathroom you may need. a de-greaser as well. Look for this on vour product’s label. Bathrooms don't need to smell like ammonia or bleach to be really clean. While soap scum and lime deposits do need the application of a de- sealer (check che Jabel on your cleaning product) after you've cleared that away, use a cream-type cleanser on a regular basis. “We think that strong smelling things are really working but they aren’r nec- essarily,” says Haines. “For something to really disinfect, for instance, it would have to stand for 30 minutes.” If you want to clean the blinds, sct them to soak in the tub the night before you begin your cleaning project. Then you"ll only need to wipe them off and hang to dry, rather than scrubbing for hours on cleaning day. Use the overnight soaking method for lots of cleaning projects, including oven racks, Throw rubber bath mats in the washer and the stove fan cover in the dishwasher. “There are a lot of things you don’t need to scrub away ar,” says Haines. Find a floor stripper vou won't need to scrub away at, if vou plan to clean down to the very bones of your bath- rooms and kitchen. To strip floors without searing your lungs or breaking your back, look for a mild-smefling, hard-working stripper such as those available at janitorial supply houses. In the kitchen you may “need your de-scaling and de- greasing cleansers if it’s been a while since this area was thoroughly cleaned. To mainrain the kitchen once you've finished the spring thing, use a mild glass clean- er. Don’t forget ta move the fridge and stove, cleaning both the unseen areas of the appliances and the area around them. Vacuum coils and other dust magnets. : Many of your light fix- tures can be in the dishwash- er while you are cleaning. When you're finished clean- ing, they’re ready to go back up. - Why not just sell the house and start over? Seriously, even if you have no intention of moving, why not pretend that the moving truck is on its way? This does several things. It will make you set a schedule for your spring clean-up and it will make you throw away lots of nasty things that you don’t want to “pack”. The bonus is that you get a shiny “new” house to live in. You may actually feel as if vou've moved to a new house. Realtors understand what constitutes a clean and well- ordered house. They print up lists and tips for their clients that offer words to the wise on the merits of a sparkling clean house. ReMax realtors give weuld-be home-sellers a tip sheet chat advises not just standard cleaning, but repairs to leaky faucets and sticking or creaking doors and cup- hoards. Clean closets and “liberated” garages and stor- age arcas are on the list as well. If you decide char ‘this spring vou will take the extra cleaning day to really “de- junk,” think in terms of the spacious place that realtors find casy to sell. Uneluttered and well- organized may mean more than cleaning and putting things back. Once vour house is clean you may not want to put “stuff” back into it. Get rid of it, or consider renting a stor- age place for the boxes and miscellancous treasures that are cluttering up your life. After all, the new credo among decorators and self- help authors is “simplify, sim- plity.” To maintain vour “new” house, until spring cleaning rolls around once morc, heed Leslie Haines’ — advice: Concentrate on one room at “. a time when you do a weekly * cleaning, giving it a little extra attention, wiping down baseboards and cleaning fin- gerprints; the following week give another room a little extra TLC. If you can’t whistle while you work - play Mozart. Loud. Remind yourself whar cleanliness is next to. If that doesn’t do the trick, think of the recent French study rhar found some women equate the joy of house cleaning to the joy of sex. Men studied didn’t get the same pleasure. Go figure. 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