Frugal Cleaning

EVERY once in a while the Marigolds and the feather duster come out at my home at Chez Disarray.

And yes, I am talking about spring-cleaning, not some weird practice for which certain men pay good money in Soho.

I do occasionally get caught up in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) because my house needs a good clean and tidy.

It’s then that I am particularly susceptible to all those advertisements on television, convinced that I must spend good money on something that promises me “one squirt and the dirt is gone”. One squirt, ten minutes of scrubbing, nine minutes of swearing and the dirt is gone, would be more accurate.

I have in the past spent a fortune on cleaning products, which admittedly all did a good enough job, before realising that cheaper alternatives are just as effective. So here are a few of my best cheapo cleaning tips:

1. A teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth works as well as expensive cream cleaners.

2. Use vinegar for cleaning glass. It cuts through grease brilliantly. Use half vinegar and half water in an old spray bottle, put in a jar and dip in a clean cloth.

3. Essential oils are great for general cleaning too and very economical as you need so little. A couple of drops of tea tree oil on a damp cloth will disinfect surfaces.

4. Forget the proprietary clothes whiteners . Add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to your washing powder. Incidentally, you can cut down on the recommended amount of soap powder - at least by half if your clothes are grubby rather than dirty.

5. Here’s a great (and cheap) carpet stain remover: Mix white vinegar and baking soda together to form a paste. Then, work the paste into the carpet stain with an old toothbrush, or something similar. Allow the paste to dry; then vacuum up the baking soda, and the stain should be gone. Some stains may need to be treated more than once.

6. Vinegar comes into its own again in the loo. Pour a couple cups of vinegar into the toilet before bed, swish it with a toilet brush in the morning, and flush. This will sanitise your toilet and remove stubborn hard water stains.

7. And it’s vinegar again for the microwave. Fill a microwave-safe bowl with a mixture of half vinegar and half water, and put in on high for two minutes. Then, dip a sponge into the vinegar-water (be careful it’s not too hot) solution, and use it to wipe the food off of the walls of the microwave. It’ll wipe away easily.

8. Lemon juice is great for cleaning brass and copper. Mix to a paste with baking soda and rub on. Clean off and polish with a dry cloth.

9. The best tip, of course, is never to let anything get too dirty or stained in the first place. Then you will need minimal products and elbow grease to get everything clean and sparkling again.

If you have any cleaning tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Tips of the day

Bizarre tip of the day:

Always reverse into parking spaces. Tim Shallcross, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, says drivers can save 40p a day by doing this. Beginning a trip by reversing out of a parking space burns up more fuel because a cold engine uses more petrol than a hot one. When a driver parks he probably has to do a few manoeuvres. “It’s much better to do that with a warm engine using thimblefuls of fuel rather than a cold engine using bucketloads,” he says.

Sensible tip of the day:

Instead of using expensive cream cleaners use a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth - it works just as well.

Picture: Advanced motorist Mike Hill reverses into a parking space.