Comments on: 5 Things You Probably Need To Clean

By: G.L.

G.L. — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:04:06 +0000

I work at a salon and all of our shampoo sinks are black. We use Armour-all (the car/chrome shine product) to wipe them out with a towel at the end of the night and it shines them up nicely.

By: Carpet Cleaning NY

Carpet Cleaning NY — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:24:34 +0000

I’ve got another one for you. I clean carpets for a living and I’m always surprised by home much dust collects on the baseboard moldings. I just started vacuuming up this dust for my clients but you’d be surprised at the rarity of a home with clean baseboard moldings.

By: Mom of three

Mom of three — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:21:30 +0000

A local maid left her paper in our mailbox of things she does and prices.

She dusts pictures, baseboards, vacuums or sweeps, straightens linens, wipes off counter tops and fronts of appliances.

Okay, well I need:
Pick toys up out of every room’s floors, clean toilets, wash laundry 24/7, bathe dog, change cat box, pick shoes up out of foyer and deposit in correct rooms, run dishwasher 3+ times a day, clean peanut butter off every downstairs surface and a few upstairs ones.

Personally if all I needed was my baseboards dusted, I would consider the place clean. Pictures don’t need dusting so often, it’s bad for the image. My appliances are fine, wash the freaking dishes! You are going to have a hard time vacuuming with those dirty clothes, shoes, dog toys, kid toys, blankets (kid and dog)… in the middle of the floor.
I did clean the fridge off this week and the tops of the doors. Got a new microfiber dust mitt. This thing is great for doing the tops of doors and it’s washable. Got it at Walmart for $2.50.
I clean our fridge on the inside weekly and the fronts of the appliances as well. Takes 5 minutes. Can’t see paying someone $60+ to do that.
I already clean these 5 places. Can’t stand fuzzy toilet paper rolls. LOL
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need Merry Maids, I need Alice.

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:19:51 +0000

I agree with the tall thing!! I do the fridge, faucets, tops of doors and pictures because I’m tall. I can see on top of things and behind faucets!

By: Keter

Keter — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:59:53 +0000

Recently on the Consumerist.com weblog, there was a discussion about how often to replace the baking soda in your refrigerator that morphed into a general discussion of refrigerator cleaning. It seemed that many under-30 readers didn’t understand the first thing about how to clean a ‘fridge.

I never fail to be amazed at how frequently people with spotless homes have refrigerators and microwaves that are absolute health hazards. But even the really clean ones forget this: the drain pan under the fridge. It is a breeding ground for nasty mold!

By: LoriW

LoriW — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:19:18 +0000

I’m tall – 6′ to 6′1″ in heels. And I can tell you: A lot of people don’t clean the top of their refrigerators. Eww.

One day my husband was watching me clean the house and he asked me, “why do you clean the door frames? They’re never dirty.”

“Oh.”

Bless his heart.

By: jag

jag — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Re: backs of faucets

Our faucet handles are white, and while I’ll clean behind them, I’d forget to clean the underside of the actual handles. Then they came a little unscrewed so the bottoms were on the top and ohmigod they were gross. So now I’m anal about cleaning all that too.

By: jim voorhies

jim voorhies — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:13:11 +0000

Tina, I think a better idea is hand the next tall person that comes along a dustrag and some Pledge or a swiffer sheet and have them clean the door frames as they go by.

By: Badbadivy

Badbadivy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:57:58 +0000

Megan- I could probably do a whole post on this. I once had a client that literally everything in his house was black. Well, not EVERYTHING, but every sink, every toilet, every appliance was black. When his cleaning time would come up, we’d draw straws to decide who was stuck with him.

Anyway, I don’t think black appliances can look good ALL the time. It’s just not possible, they get smudgey. But what worked best for us was cleaning with a 1-1 mixture of white vinegar and distilled water. It’s important that the water is distilled, because if the water is the least bit hard, it’ll leave spots.

Anyway, just spray and wipe. It’ll look good until the next time someone brushes against it or a cat walks by or, or, or.

Be glad you don’t have black sinks or toilets. Oh, man, the stories I can tell. Who in the heck wants BLACK toilets anyway? Oy.

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:50:16 +0000

Luckily I was conditioned by my mom to clean the backs of the faucets, but I am SO BAD about cleaning the crap hanging on my walls.

By the way, do you have any advice on how I can keep my black stove looking nice? Black appliances look great—in theory—but they are such a pain in the ass to clean.