How to Determine Which Cleaning Product is Right For the Job
There are such a range of varied cleaning products on sale that it can often be hard to choose the correct one for the cleaning jobs you have around the house. Using a general product may simplify things but often will not achieve the best results.
Step 1
Get to know your surfaces. Every house has a multitude of surfaces that need cleaning. Walls, floors, carpets, kitchen tops and tiled areas all ideally need different products. Find out what your home is made of. Different products will be suitable for different types of paint for instance, and the variety of flooring makes each ones cleaning needs unique. Once you know what surfaces you are cleaning you can select the perfect product. Don’t guess.
Step 2
Identify the dirt. All areas have different dirt to tackle, and knowing what you are up against will allow you to get the right product for the job. Grease needs different treatment than mildew and mould. Household dust reacts differently to yard dirt, and stains are all different requiring different products. If you can’t identify something you need to clean easily, then go to the next step and test.
Step 3
Test a small patch. If in any doubt, read the instructions on a product carefully, then using it as directed test a small patch of the area or item you want to clean. Try to find a spot where it will not be too noticeable if the product turns out to be unsuitable. If testing several different products, take extra special care to remove one completely before trying another, or test a different area. Some cleaning products can be dangerous when mixed indiscriminately.
Step 4
Know the usage that your surface or item receives. We all know to clean kitchens in a manner safe for food preparation and storage, and bathrooms and toilets in a way suitable for their use. Other areas however are less well understood and often incorrectly or pointlessly cleaned. For example there is little point in bleaching an outdoor step in order to kill bacteria. You most likely will only walk on it and re-infect it instantly, and waging war on common outdoor bacteria is not something you will win. While you may want to remove grease from a kitchen unit and thus a detergent may be suitable, you want the surface also germ free so a combined product is likely to be better.
Conclusion
Don’t despair if your cleaning product cupboard is full of a million different items, a little thought and research will allow you to keep just those that are necessary, and to use the right product each time.