Dear Home Ec 101,
How do you clean ceiling fans? I’m especially wanting to know how you manage to clean them without dust bunnies falling down onto the furniture.
Signed,
A fan of fans
Ivy says:
I suppose, theoretically, if you cleaned your ceiling fans constantly that there’d never be any little bits of dust falling off when you clean them. I, however, only remember to clean my ceiling fans every once in awhile, usually if I happen to be looking up when the fan is off. Or during spring and fall cleaning. So yes, I feel your pain about dust going everywhere when you clean the ceiling fan.
My old way of cleaning ceiling fans is to put some old pantyhose on the end of a broom and go from there. But when I worked as a professional maid, I was introduced to the wonder of lambswool dusters, and I got one immediately and never looked back. But that still doesn’t address the main problem- those weird snakes of dust that come tumbling down everywhere.
This was another trick I learned while working as a maid. Start in the master bedroom. Peel off all the bedding but the fitted bottom sheet. Get the comforter or coverlet out of the way and put the top sheet in the laundry (might as well take care of 2 chores at once, right?) Then just dust the fan, one blade at a time toward the sheet. This way all the dust comes down onto the sheet and not the floor.
Then take the sheet into any other room you’re cleaning and use it to catch the dust bunnies. Before you put it in the laundry, make sure to take it outside and shake it out- that dust is really dirty and you don’t really want that in your washing machine. Then just wash the sheet and put fresh sheets on the bed in your master bedroom.
Pretty simple, eh?
Tags: Family Room · Living Area
Ivy says:
My mom always said there’s something very spiritual about washing your windows. Her theory on this is that the windows are they eyes of your home and by washing the windows, you’re opening up those eyes to let the sun shine in. It’s a newish year, and if you’re an American, we have a brand spanking new President. It’s a good time to wash your windows and bring in the new.
Now, it might be too cold where you live to wash your windows outside, but you can certainly do a bang-up job on the insides of the windows, at least. A lot of people swear by vinegar and newspaper to wash their windows, but I personally like some Windex (or the generic kind, most likely) and a blue shop towel. No matter what method you use, just get it done. That way, next time someone mentions they don’t know the last time they washed their windows, you can say you, in fact, DO know when you washed your windows. Day after inaguration day. Easy peasy.
Tags: Living Area
Dear Home Ec 101,
I recently purchased a sofa and loveseat from a lovely couple who listed the furniture on a popular online auction site. The set appeared to be in great shape, and I got the furniture for what appeared to be a bargain. When I got them in place in my basement rec room, I noticed a horrible odor of cigarette smoke emanating from both pieces of furniture. They are upholstered pieces with foam cushions. Do you have any idea how I can get rid of the cigarette smell?
Fondly and Fetidly,
Smokey Lonesome in Couchville
Ivy says:
Cigarette smoke is one of the most devilish odors ever. I remember when I bought my new house and issued the edict that there would be no smoking in the new house for any reason, my grandmother (who wasn’t even a smoker) thought I was being snotty. “I’m not being snotty,” I told her, “I’m protecting my investment.”
The funny thing is, cigarette smoke is about a million times easier to get out of walls, than it is to get out of couches. You can pile Kilz on the walls, but you can’t Kilz a couch, sadly. With a couch, it’s going to take some work.
If you have a carpet and upholstery cleaner, good deal. Use it to clean the couch with a mixture of about half vinegar and half water. You may have to do this several times to get the full effect. Using a nice smelling cleaner (preferably one that’s meant for kid and pet odors, which seems to work fairly well) between each vinegar cleaning will keep your couch from smelling like “feminine cleansing products.”
If you don’t have one, my suggestion is to have it professionally cleaned. Normally, I’d have you rent a Rug Doctor to clean something, but cigarette smoke is so hard to remove, you’d have to rent it so many times, it would be cheaper to get it done professionally. Make sure you get a company that has “satisfaction guaranteed” so if it’s not completely clean, you can call them and have them come back out to do the job again. But make sure you let the company know when you first have them out that you are trying to remove cigarette smoke smell so they can use the best products for the job.
Happy couch surfing!
Tags: Living Area · Odor
Dear Home Ec 101,
My two year old has started potty training. She’s very good at taking off her clothes and getting naked, not so good yet at actually making it to the potty on time. So, I was wondering if you had any brilliant tips for cleaning toddler poop out of carpet? I do not have a wet/dry vacuum or steam cleaner or anything else fancy. Do I need to get some special cleaning product for this job?
Thanks,
Na-Na-Na-Na-Poo-Poo-Head
Ivy says:
I have three cats, a dog, and three kids. If there’s anything I know better than cleaning poo off the floor, I don’t know what it is. Now, if it’s of the solid variety, no problem. Pick up the solid stuff and spray a little Nature’s Miracle (expensive, but the best) or Kids N Pets (less expensive, pretty good, but not as fabulous as Nature’s Miracle) on the area, go on with day.
It’s when it’s the not-so-solid variety that it’s kind of a problem. This is the very reason I have mostly laminate floors, I despise cleaning up this kind of poo. Anyway, get a couple of paper towels. Scrape up as much poo as you can. Then get out the Nature’s Miracle or Kids N Pets and SOAK the area. Then take either a nice thick rag (This is why I cloth diapered my kids. I have the best rags in town.) or else some paper towels and BLOT the area up. If it doesn’t all come out at first, repeat the process.
Have..er…fun.
Submit your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com
Tags: Body Fluids · Carpet · Living Area · Spills and Stains
Ivy says:
Our fabulous commenter Bramble asked:
How exactly does one dust the wall? Do you dust the entire wall with a dust cloth? Do you wash it?
This, of course, varies depending on how big your walls are and how dirty your walls are. My preferred method is to use a wool duster with an extension handle. The wool picks up dust very well and since it has an extension handle, you’ll be able to reach just about everywhere. (Unless your walls are as tall as mine, then you’ll need a ladder.)
Now, for really dirty walls, it depends on the type of paint that is on your walls. If you have satin or semigloss, just use a damp rag to wash down the walls. I like a little Pine Sol in a bucket of water. To me, nothing smells like “clean” more than Pine Sol, a throwback to my childhood or something. With flat paint, it’s a bit different. I’m tempted to tell you to repaint with satin or semigloss, but naturally not everyone can do that. The alternative is using a dry sponge like this. For what those sponges cost though, I’d try to clean the walls with a wooly duster first, or perhaps gently washing them with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
There ya go, Bramble! More than you ever wanted to know about cleaning walls!
Tags: Dust · Living Area · Walls
