Cleaning hardwood floors giving you a headache? Continue reading to learn more

Is it possible for hardwood floors to last for decades and still maintain its shine and beauty without being sanded refinished or painted with a new coat of varnish? You may be surprised but with regular proper care this is very possible.

Here are care tips for your hardwood kitchen floor.

• Make it a habit to vacuum your floor every week. It’s great that you vacuum your floor every now and then but when you have a hardwood floor it is ideal that you do this task at least once a week. Why? The fine grit in dust acts just like sandpaper and for sure it will slowly but surely wear out the finish of your wooden floor. Give your hardwood floor a good vacuuming to protect its finish and maintain its good appearance. It is best to use a brush attachment or one with a felt surface that will run along the wooden floor. Do not use an attachment with a rotating brush or a beater bar as this will scratch your floor’s finish. If you are not a vacuum person, a dust mop or a microfiber sweeper will do just fine.

• Be careful with your hairspray and furniture polish. Immediately wipe up hairspray or furniture polish that went on your wooden floor as this can make its finish cloudy. It is also best to spray the floor with a non-ammonia window cleaner for a more thorough clean up.

• Protect your floor from water. Do not let your floor get soaked up in rain water. Rain water can seep through your wooden floor and mess up its finish. Plus once water does seep through the wood it will create stains. If you know that it’s going to rain or if the skies are starting to look cloudy, start closing up your windows. If you have potted plants, put trays underneath them to serve as a catch basin. If you see water on your floor, wipe it up immediately.

• Clean up residue using a no-wax floor cleaner. Keep your no-floor wax cleaner handy. You want to be able to get it as quickly as possible to clean up little problems to prevent them from becoming a bigger headache. Spills and dirt should be wiped up immediately and then applied with the cleaner to get rid of any residue. Dirt can attract ground soil and let it in and through your wooden floor as well as damage the finish. Any liquid can ruin your floor’s finish or stain it.

• Get to know waxes and restorers before applying them on your floor. Waxes can be used to liven up your floor’s wax finish however if your surface finish is shellac, varnish or polyurethane, you should not use wax on it as this will make your floor too slippery and at the same time interfere with subsequent floor finishes. For polyurethane finish, a polish made specifically for this type of finish is what you should use. You can use a general-purpose floor restorer for other types of finish but ideally test it first on an area that’s quite hidden to see if it will cause peeling off.

• Keep the dirt out with long walk-off doormats. Prevention is always a key player in maintaining your hardwood floor. Place a walk-off doormat on your front door to prevent dirt from getting in.

• Place rugs in high-traffic areas. There are certain areas of your floor that would get walked on several times a day. This can eventually wear down your floor. Place throw rugs in areas that experience high-traffic but make sure that the rugs you use don’t have a backing such as vinyl or rubber as this will trap in humidity and stain your floor, damage the finish or even ruin the wood itself.

Follow these tips to keep your hardwood floor in tip top condition for many years!

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image via mrebert

Almost every household in the United States has a microwave and oven. These two appliances are great kitchen helpers however cleaning them up can be a bore and not to mention really difficult. But there are simple cleaning tricks that can make oven and microwave clean up easier. The easier a cleaning task gets the more enjoyable it becomes.

Quickest Microwave Cleanup

Everybody loves a shortcut on cleaning and here’s the quickest way to cleaning a microwave. Just throw a bunch of wet paper towels in your microwave and then let it run for 3 – 5 minutes on High. How does this work? The secret is the steam the wet paper towels produce when heated. The steam will make the grime in your microwave softer therefore easier to wipe away. Once the paper towels are cool you can just use them to wipe away the grime stuck on your oven’s interior.

The Secret to Cleaning Up a Grease Spill

Roast meat is very delicious and it is worth sweating over for until you realize just how labor intensive it is to clean up grease spill. But there is a cleaning technique that would have you roasting anytime you want without having to worry about grease spill. We’ll spill the secret to you. Salt! You’re reading this right. If grease spills in your oven while your meat is roasting, immediately sprinkle salt on the grease. Don’t let the grease bake before you’ve sprinkles salt on them or you’ll end up with a tough grease to clean out. Continue with your roasting and by cleaning time you’ll be surprised to see that the salt has turned the grease spill into nothing but a pile of ash. Now that’s very easy to remove.

Baked-On Grates Cleaning Made Easy

Cast iron stovetop grates can be hard to clean when something has baked onto them. There is a trick that can make this tedious task a breeze. Curious to know the secret trick? Just wipe the grates with nontoxic oven cleaner. Place in your oven then simply wipe clean.

Tackling Burnt Food on Broiler Pans

If there is one thing that you don’t want to see on your broiler pans that would be burnt food. Cleaning this up can be a real pain. But of course there is always a way to clean up messes easier including burnt food on broiler pans. How? Heat the pan and then grab your box of laundry detergent and sprinkle some on the area with burnt food. Wet a few paper towels and use them to cover the detergent you just sprinkled on the pan. After 15 minutes remove the towels and start scraping and scrubbing to get the gunk off your pan. You’ll be surprised how easily the gunk comes off after using this trick.

These are just a few tricks that will help make cleaning your ovens a lot less tedious!

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If there’s one room in a family home that sees most of family member-made messes that would be the laundry room. Kids can create a mess in the laundry room with their toys and since new worn clothes are bound to get dirty at the end of each day, a pile up is inevitable. So how does one keep the laundry room clutter free, clean and in check?

In keeping any part of the home clean, one should remember that doing little work every single day goes a long long way. Here are some tips and tricks that can help you keep up with your laundry room.

A Load a Day

Most people assign a day to do the laundry. But if your family has a lot of members, assigning just one day for laundry can be tiring and in fact you’ll probably always be dreading your “Laundry Day”. Instead of having your laundry become a huge pile, why not make it a habit to do a load a day. Washing, drying and folding at the very least one load a day can save you from all the trouble of doing one HUGE pile of laundry just in one day. There will still be days that you’ll dread doing the one load a day task but you’ll soon realize that going for this practice instead of “Laundry Day” is easier and less tiring.

Welcome Help from Your Kids

You do not have to do everything in your home. You can let your kids help with tasks that they can easily carry out. Kids are usually always willing to help. They want to feel included so they usually try to insert themselves in tasks that you do. You can start teaching your kids early on to do tasks that are appropriate for their age. For example, teach your kids to put away toys in their rooms after playing with them, place their dirty clothes in the laundry basket and help out transferring laundry that has been washed to the dryer. As your kids start growing older, they can help with tasks that are more complicated. This is also one way for you and your kids to spend time together.

The Little Things Matter

You have to remember that when it comes to your laundry room, there are basic maintenance tasks that need to be carried out on a regular basis. They may be little things but they do matter and they matter a whole lot. Your washer and dryer for example need some regular maintaining. You need to clean out the dryer vent, empty the pump filter and so on. Make sure that you don’t forget to go through your storage areas to throw out products that are not needed anymore.

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By following these simple tips, you will find it easier keeping up with your laundry room.

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Is your kitchen looking dreary? You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars just to get your kitchen looking bright and lively. You just need to learn which parts of your kitchen can use a little tweaking.

Tweak Your Kitchen’s Window Treatments

Getting a new window treatment for your kitchen will give it an instant new look. This tweaking is easy on the budget and takes just a little time.

A Few Tips to Keep in Mind

• Opt for a roller-blind made of fabric. Choose one with a light and neutral tone so that light from outdoors can get in but at the same time your privacy is kept.
• For windows near the sink or near the stove, use a roller-blind in washable fabric since it’s bound to get grease and food stains. Have it in a color that is not too revealing of stains. You can also opt for venetian blinds (preferably timber or aluminum) since cleaning them is very easy and at the same time you have control on the light that’s coming in as well as your privacy. If you want your timber blinds to go together with the look of your kitchen, have it painted in a color that complements the kitchen walls and cabinets.

Give Your Kitchen a Fresh Coat (or Two) of Paint

A fresh coat of paint is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to give your kitchen a brand new look. You can paint just about every surface of your kitchen such as the flooring, cupboards and cabinets, counters and the ceiling. This will drive away the dreary look that your kitchen has been sporting and transform it to a lively and inviting space of the house.

Tweak Your Cupboard Doors

Are your cupboards outdated and in need of some good perking up? Don’t think that the only solution is to replace them. Doing so is costly and time consuming. You can easily give your cupboards a new look by having the doors relined in a modern material. Timber laminates are widely available. Its glossy finish will surely liven up your cupboards. If you are bold enough for an industrial kitchen look, have your cupboard doors re-cladded in stainless steel. You can also just simply have the old cupboard doors replaced with new ones.

Give Those Handles Some Loving

Cabinet handles may seem a very small part of your kitchen that many homeowners think that they are often not noticed. This is actually not true. Those handles can give the kitchen an instant makeover. Try replacing your old cabinet handles with new ones. You have plenty of styles and materials to choose from. You’ll immediately notice just how different how your kitchen looks and feels with just this minor tweaking.

Your Lighting

Your lighting can do wonders to your kitchen. You should keep in mind that your lighting scheme must be practical or functional. The areas where you chop, dice, slice or simply the areas where you work should be well-lit. Shadows should also be at least avoided in these areas.

Lighting Tips

• Clip-on or strip lights can be placed beneath your wall cabinets.
• For your island you can have hanging pendant lights in place.
• Your dishwasher or sink can use some good lighting. Have one installed just above the sink or dishwasher.

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“Don’t let the bed bugs bite”. We may often mention this when we say good night but the only way for bed bugs not to bite you when you lay on your bed is to not have them there in the first place.

Consider yourself lucky if you have never dealt with bug infestation on your bed. This is something that you would not want to ever deal with. Bed bugs are horrible creatures. These creepy crawlers hide in your bed and beddings during the day and come out at night to feast on your blood while you snooze. Things will be worse for you if you have an allergic reaction to their bites. You can wake up feeling very itchy and having rashes and or welts all over your body. Certainly this is very uncomfortable.

If you want to make sure that your bed stays bug free, follow these  simple tips.

Your Furniture Buying Habits

• Avoid bringing used furniture into your home. Used furniture may be a good buy but if they come with these creepy crawlers, you can end up spending thousands of dollars just to get rid of these horrid creatures as well as treating the bites and the discomfort they bring. It may be tempting to take old furniture out on the street that seem to be still in good condition or may just need a few tweaks here and there to be in good working order but the risk of them having bugs is quite high.

• If you did buy used furniture, remember to inspect it thoroughly and give it a good and hard cleaning. As an extra precaution, it is ideal to spray them with a non-toxic bug spray before you bring them into your home.

Traveling Habits

• Whether your travels are for business or pleasure, always check the bed and beddings for signs of bugs. The simplest way to find out if your bed and beddings have bugs in them is by looking at the linen as well as the mattress. If you see blood spots and or dark marks on them, this is an indication that these bloodsucking creepy crawlers are present.

• Before you unpack and place your clothes and other belongings in the closets and drawers, give them a thorough inspection first. Because of their tiny size, these creatures can snatch on to things and travel a long distance. They can end up in closets and drawers of hotels, clothes and eventually make it all the way to your home and in your bed where they can multiply and start an infestation.

By following these simple tips, you can avoid having to deal with bed bug infestation. Hope you get a good night sleep always.

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Some stains are just plain too stubborn that no matter how much we scrub and scrub some more they just won’t go away. Stubborn stains can get really frustrating and annoying. If you have been driven to the end of your wits by stains that just won’t go away, you have come to the right place. In this post, we’ll show you solutions that will wipe out the most common stains  that are seemingly impossible to get rid of.

Notorious Stubborn Stains

• Ink – You won’t have anymore scrubbing battle with ink stain using this solution. To remove ink stain, go through your hair styling kit and grab your hair spray. Start spraying the ink with hairspray until it becomes soaked. Let it dry first. While waiting for it to dry, start making a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water. Once the ink-stained material has dried up, brush it with your mixture of vinegar and water. Using clean water rinse it then wash like your regular laundry.

• Hair dye – If you dye your hair at home, you probably have dealt with the problem of getting hair dye stains on your clothes. How do you get rid of hair dye stain? The solution is pretty simple. You need to first prepare a mixture of detergent and white vinegar then a second mixture of bleach and hydrogen peroxide. First off, scrub the hair dye stain with your mixture of detergent and white vinegar then rub the stain with your bleach and hydrogen peroxide. YOu can now have it laundered as usual.

• Red Wine Spill – If you happen to spill red wine on your table linen or your clothes, immediately grab your salt shaker and start pouring salt on the stain.  Be sure to rub the salt in real good. Once done rinse it with cold water. It is ideal to wash the stained linen or clothes as soon as possible.

• Lipstick Stain – Lipstick stain can be really hard to get rid of. But here is a simple solution. With pure lemon juice and salt, use a sponge to get this solution in the stained area. Let the lipstick stained item bake out in the sun to dry.

• Rust – To get rid of rust stain, you will need lemon juice and salt. Rub them on the stain and let the rust-stained item bake under the sun up until the stain is no longer present.

• Ketchup and Barbecue Sauce – Barbecue parties are great. You might have enjoyed the barbecues and burgers too much what with all the ketchup and barbecue stains on your clothes.  Wondering how you can make this foodie mess on your clothes disappear? You will need talcum powder and just a few drops of dishwashing liquid.  With your talcum powder, sprinkle the stained area and then give it a firm press into the fabric. This is so the powder gets to absorb the grease. Once done apply just a few drops of the dishwashing liquid soap then have the item laundered as usual.

Try out these stain solutions and you’ll see just how effective they are!

What are some notoriously hard stains you’ve encountered, and how did you get rid of them?

Post in the comments below to let us know!

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Busy parents may find it hard to keep their home clean and organized. With all the time they spend working, by the time they get home, they may not have the energy to pick up their children’s clutter, dust things off and clean up. This scenario is all but too familiar. Parents would usually spend all of the weekend cleaning and organizing the house and by the time they are done, they are already too tired to do anything else including spending time and playing with the children.

Getting Your Home Organized Won’t Happen Overnight

So how do you get your home clean and organized without sacrificing precious time with your children? One key to a clean and organized home is getting to understand that things won’t happen overnight. Think of it this way. Your home did not get this disorganized in just one night. It took many days and nights for your home to get into such a messy and cluttered state so don’t expect that everything will get cleaned and arranged properly in just  night  that is unless you have a fairy godmother who would just wave her magic wand and fix everything pronto!

Do a Task for 15 Minutes a Day

The next step is to allot at most 15 minutes each day for cleaning or organizing task. You should also assign days for these different tasks.

Here’s an example:

• Monday: De-clutter – Clutter happens when unlike items get mixed up. Start with separating unlike items and keeping the same items together. This will help you avoid having a big pile up that you need to constantly sort through. Remember to be patient and limit your time to just 15 minutes. You’ll be surprised one day that you no longer have anything to de-clutter.

• Tuesday: Clear the Floor – Usually the mess on the floor starts with just one item. As the days go by, numerous items are already scattered on the floor creating an obstacle course which makes it a challenge for you to get from one part of the home to another.

• Wednesday and Thursday: Sweep or Vacuum – 15 minutes may not be enough to sweep or vacuum the entire home. But don’t be tempted to add on the minutes. Finish sweeping or vacuuming whichever part of the home you can within 15 minutes. Then do another 15 minutes of sweeping or vacuuming the next day.

• Friday: Organize the Kitchen Cupboard – Sort out your cupboard. Group things together. Place whatever condiments you use often at the frontline so you do not have to dig through the entire content of your kitchen cupboard once you need them.

By doing a task 15 minutes a day, you’ll soon have a clutter-free and organized home without getting too stressed out or too tired in the process.

It’s a Team Effort

Keeping your home clean and organized is a team effort. You and your other half must work together. You should also get your kids involved.

Teach Your Kids to Pack Up Their Toys after Playing

You need to have a bin for your kids’ toys and have the bin placed in a low shelf that they can get to easily. You need to teach your children to clean up after their mess at a very early age and encourage them to do their part in keeping the home organized.

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After being cooped up inside all winter long, we can now finally open our windows, let the breeze in and enjoy warmer and colorful days. The blooms are out, the sky is blue, there is melody in the air and everywhere we look, our eyes are flooded with bright beautiful colors. Finally, spring has sprung!

For many the spring season means more time outdoors, fun outdoor activities, vacations and of course, spring cleaning. Spring time signifies a new life awakening, a new start. And we all want to start clean don’t we? This may just be the reason why almost everyone does spring cleaning.

Because you want to get cleaning, we have some helpful tips here for you!

The Nightmare which is Organizing Your Closet

Many find this chore really tasking with some even skipping this part. The key to having your entire home organized is organizing your closet first. Organizing your closet will usually mean getting rid of stuff that you don’t use anymore. For some this will be very challenging. To make things easier for you to rid of your closet of the things you do not use anymore, donate them to charitable organizations or you can sell them and earn a little extra. Once you’ve taken care of ridding your closet of the things you no longer need, move on to organizing the things left.

So how do you organize the items in your closet?

The simplest way to do it is by following your dressing routine in the morning and having a color scheme. This way your closet will be more pleasant to look at and you’ll have an easier time with your daily dressing routine.

Caring for Stainless Steel

We all want to keep our stainless steel clean and gleaming. To keep them bright and clean, have a can of aerosol spray that is wax-based, handy. Just spray a light mist of the wax-based spray on your stainless steel and use a clean and lint-free cloth in wiping out the mist. Do this at least once or twice a week. Remember not to spray too much as this will make things greasy. Don’t use anything that is abrasive in cleaning your stainless steel surface as this will only result to scratches which you would not want to happen.

Cleaning Your Painted Walls

Are your walls starting to look dirty? If they are, just grab your sponge or a clean cloth and a bucket of water then start scrubbing out the dirt. If the dirt is beyond water and sponge/cloth scrubbing, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid in your water and start scrubbing away again. If this still doesn’t work, apply the dishwashing liquid directly into your sponge/cloth or apply the soap directly on the stain then give your arms a good scrubbing exercise. Remember to rinse your walls with plain water once you are done.

Hope these tips help you out in your spring cleaning!

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Is your kitchen looking dreary? You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars just to get your kitchen looking bright and lively. You just need to learn which parts of your kitchen can use a little tweaking.

Tweak Your Kitchen’s Window Treatments

Getting a new window treatment for your kitchen will give it an instant new look. This tweaking is easy on the budget and takes just a little time.

A Few Tips to Keep in Mind

• Opt for a roller-blind made of fabric. Choose one with a light and neutral tone so that light from outdoors can get in but at the same time your privacy is kept.
• For windows near the sink or near the stove, use a roller-blind in washable fabric since it’s bound to get grease and food stains. Have it in a color that is not too revealing of stains. You can also opt for venetian blinds (preferably timber or aluminum) since cleaning them is very easy and at the same time you have control on the light that’s coming in as well as your privacy. If you want your timber blinds to go together with the look of your kitchen, have it painted in a color that complements the kitchen walls and cabinets.

Give Your Kitchen a Fresh Coat (or Two) of Paint

A fresh coat of paint is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to give your kitchen a brand new look. You can paint just about every surface of your kitchen such as the flooring, cupboards and cabinets, counters and the ceiling. This will drive away the dreary look that your kitchen has been sporting and transform it to a lively and inviting space of the house.

Tweak Your Cupboard Doors

Are your cupboards outdated and in need of some good perking up? Don’t think that the only solution is to replace them. Doing so is costly and time consuming. You can easily give your cupboards a new look by having the doors relined in a modern material. Timber laminates are widely available. Its glossy finish will surely liven up your cupboards. If you are bold enough for an industrial kitchen look, have your cupboard doors re-cladded in stainless steel. You can also just simply have the old cupboard doors replaced with new ones.

Give Those Handles Some Loving

Cabinet handles may seem a very small part of your kitchen that many homeowners think that they are often not noticed. This is actually not true. Those handles can give the kitchen an instant makeover. Try replacing your old cabinet handles with new ones. You have plenty of styles and materials to choose from. You’ll immediately notice just how different how your kitchen looks and feels with just this minor tweaking.

Your Lighting

Your lighting can do wonders to your kitchen. You should keep in mind that your lighting scheme must be practical or functional. The areas where you chop, dice, slice or simply the areas where you work should be well-lit. Shadows should also be at least avoided in these areas.

Lighting Tips

• Clip-on or strip lights can be placed beneath your wall cabinets.
• For your island you can have hanging pendant lights in place.
• Your dishwasher or sink can use some good lighting. Have one installed just above the sink or dishwasher.

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