Spiders can be great. They eat insects and keep away the mosquitoes and flies. They can also be a bit creepy. For instance, when an eight-legged creepy crawler surprises you in the corner of your shower, it’s not exactly the most pleasant experience.

But I digress.

The real topic at hand here is about the magical cobweb. How does it appear? Where does it come from? And more importantly… how do you clean it?

First of all, what exactly is a cobweb?

A cobweb is actually an old, dusty spider’s web that has been abandoned by their former inhabitants.

What does it mean if you have cobwebs?

You have a new arachnid friend hanging around the nooks and crannies of your home. He’s probably perusing his way around the house, looking for new places to create a web to catch his next meal.

Why does it get so dirty?

The residual spider silk left behind is very sticky. This attracts pollen, dust and other remnants, making the cobweb grimy and creepy looking.

Running into a cobweb is usually unexpected and always unpleasant. Get rid of those cobwebs simply by using the extension nozzle on your vacuum to suck them up. Windows, doors, ceilings and corners are prime real estate for those daddy long legs to make a comfortable home.

If you don’t have a vacuum, a sock at the end of your broom will do just fine.

Prevention is key to keeping the cobwebs from forming in your home. Spiders taste with their legs (weird fact of the day) and will stay away from any room that has lemon, peppermint or eucalyptus within it.

Take a cotton ball and dab it with one of these essential oils. Place them in areas around your home to deter spiders from entering. If you can’t reach an area, spray the oils directly on the space to keep the spiders out.

It’s a simple solution and win-win situation: your house smells great and you end up keeping the creepy crawlers from making themselves at home!

It only takes a moment or two, but cleaning the blinds is one of the few tasks that we tend to forget about over time. It’s only when we come to realize that the dust and dirt is building up so much that even the sunlight is having trouble making its way through!

Regular dusting will keep the need for a deeper annual clean at a minimum; your house looks brighter (that sunshine does wonders to brighten up a room!) and the allergens that come along with the thick coating of dusty particles will diminish significantly.

Here are a few tips:

Microfiber cloth – These incredible little inventions are great for swiping away the dust.

Dip a clean cloth in a bowl of diluted vinegar and swipe your hand across the top and bottom of each slat.

Microfiber cloth also reduces static cling and decreases the dusty mess left behind.

Vacuum – After a quick swipe with a dry microfiber cloth, gently use the vacuum brush attachment to get rid of the excess dust and dirt.

Lemon Oil – If you have stain finished wood blinds, dilute some lemon oil with distilled water and spray the solution on the blinds. Using a microfiber cloth, gently wipe the oil and let dry. Not only does it clean your blinds, but they look shiny and new, and smell great too!

Detergent – Faux wood blinds and venetian blinds are less expensive and made of a hardier material. Remove excess dust with your vacuum brush attachment first. Then mix together a combination of warm water and a dab of mild detergent (such as Dawn). Dampen a microfiber cloth and wipe the top and bottom of each blind, then let air dry.

Word to the Wise: Excess moisture could warp your blinds and/or discolour your blinds, so don’t overdo it on the liquid. This includes water, detergent, oils, etc. If you’re working with any of these materials, simply dampen your cloth. That’s more than enough to get the job done.

Cleaning your blinds can be an easy task with these tips. So you have to stop and think to yourself: when’s the last time you ran a white cloth across your blinds?

It goes without saying that you want your house, your home, to be as clean as possible. It just feels and looks nicer, safer for your family and it’s inviting to all your guests. Now clean is one thing and using super harsh chemicals is another — what’s the point of cleaning with something that isn’t safe for you to smell, get on your skin or eyes? The point is that there is no point in doing that.

You could say that they’re known as the “essentials” of modern day cleaning.

Essential oils have made a huge impact in the health and wellness of many lives, cleaning included. They are added to natural cleaning ingredients such as baking soda, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and white vinegar to help maintain a fresh, sanitary environment.

Every essential oil is different, and depending on the mix and potency of the oil provide different components and strengths each task.

Here are a few essential oils and how you can benefit from using them in your home, your office, and in everyday life:

Lavender:

Lavender is a cleansing herb, with strong disinfecting components. It’s also known for its soothing properties and really nice smell.

• On its own, dilute lavender with distilled water and spray on your linens before bed to help you relax, for a better sleep.
• Add a few drops of lavender to vinegar for an antibacterial mix. Spray on floors, carpets and furniture.
• Put a few drops in homemade dish soap or to your laundry for a sweet, soothing smell.

Lemon:

• Mix together a cup of distilled water with a few drops of lemon to make a super effective cleaning combination spray for furniture, carpets and room spray.
• Harness its fresh scent and antibacterial elements: shake together a cup of baking soda and a few drops of lemon in a glass jar and sprinkle on your carpet before you vacuum.

Peppermint:

It’s cool, it’s invigorating and it’s a natural deodoriser.

• Create an air freshener that also deters ants and spiders from making their way into your home. Mix 10-15 drops of oil with a cup of distilled water in a spray bottle. Shake and spray along cracks, crannies and anywhere else the little critters are known to squeeze through.

Tea Tree (Melaleuca):

A multi-purpose germ, bacteria and virus deterrent, this essential oil is a mean, clean, germ-fighting machine.

• Add about 10 drops of tea tree oil to diluted water in a spray bottle. Shake and spray throughout your home (inside and out) to deter lice and other uninvited pests from making an appearance.
• Combine tea tree oil, vinegar and distilled water to use on kitchen counters, sinks, and floors for a strong anti-bacterial cleaner.

These ideas are just a small example of what essential oils can do for your cleaning routine. Adding oils to your cleaning routine can have many benefits to keeping your home clean!

A clean house isn’t really a clean house unless the floor is spotless. The floor picks up everything that you bring in from outside, everything you drop when you’re cooking and everything else in between. Plus what if you have little ones? Your pets track in goodness knows what and if you have other little ones like babies and toddlers, you want floor really clean — like hospital clean.

The worst cleaning job in the entire house has got to be the toilet. If you live alone, it may not be that bad but if you have roommates or a medium to large family — yikes. Because everybody does their business in their, not just you and of course, you are the cleanest person on the face of the earth and everyone else is a crazed lunatic  when they use the facilities.

Stains, like it or not, are a part of life. No matter how careful you are, they will happen. Nobody wants to use harmful chemicals to get things clean and they might not even do the trick. There are simple every day things you can use to remove stains from carpet and upholstery. The name of the game is to blot and not rub when you attempt to remove a stain.

Keeping Up with Clean

You’ve scoured and vacuumed and washed and scrubbed your home from top to bottom, and now you want it to stay that way. Maintaining a clean home can seem like an arduous task, but with a few simple steps, it’ll take no time before you’ve figured out a daily routine!

By maintaining the clean and clutter in your home and office, it’s easier to establish an orderly environment. And you don’t have to spend hours a day cleaning.

Tidy Tasks

Make it a habit to clean as your go. Remember the saying, “a place for everything and everything in its place?” This applies to keeping your home tidy.
For example, start by taking a few minutes at the end of each activity to put items back where they belong. Having accessible storage is a great way to keep your space clean.

Drawers, shelves, baskets and clear storage bins can help make putting things away in their proper place so much easier.

Sanity Saver

Make a schedule to establish a cleaning agenda, and focus on only one or two tasks per day.

If you share the space with your family or roommates, sit down and make a schedule that involves everyone. It’s a positive way to make everyone accountable for cleaning up after themselves.

Having a designated cleaning time frame means there are set days to do particular housekeeping tasks.

For example:

• Monday: Vacuum living room and bedrooms
• Tuesday: Wipe down bathroom, do laundry
• Wednesday: Pay bills, make grocery shopping list
• Thursday: Go grocery shopping, dust and clean windows/mirrors
• Friday: Spray down bathtub, wipe down kitchen counters
• Saturday: Deep clean the house

The Dirty Truth

Remember, not everyone will have the same standards of cleanliness. What you think is clean may still be an utter mess to someone else. Talk about your standards of cleanliness and create a housekeeping schedule as per those guidelines.
A few minutes a day may be the only thing keeping you from maintaining a clean and clutter-free household!

Cleaning Power

Baking soda, vinegar and lemon. Cleaning with these three key ingredients is like taking the powers of three separate superheroes and combining them into one great big environmentally friendly caped crusader.

It is, literally, the world’s worst kept secret: Basic cleaning 101.

The combination of baking soda, vinegar and lemon is the ultimate team of cleaning green. These three products have so many things going for them: First, the fact that they’re non-toxic is a big positive. They can clean almost anything and everything, and each of these items are wallet friendly; they’re super inexpensive.

By themselves, each item has a strength of its own, but together, the possibilities are immense!

Baking Soda

Baking soda is probably the most diverse product of the three. Also known as bicarbonate, baking soda can be used everywhere; throughout the house and outdoors, to remove and keep away odours, scrub out stains without scratching the surface and even clean-up lawn furniture. It can also be used for cooking or baking, as the name suggests.

Lemon

Lemons are a great-smelling, non-toxic way to clean your home. Dilute fresh lemon juice with water in a spray bottle for an air freshener, or to clean countertops, walls and toilets. Lemon can be used to deodorise and clean the dishwasher, shower doors, and shine chrome faucets.

Vinegar

Vinegar is a natural, powerful and cheap option for cleaning up. Place a bowl of vinegar in a room overnight to get rid of any unpleasant odours. Clean windows with a mixture of vinegar and water, remove persistent stains from clothing, make your brights brighter in the wash.

Three-In-One

People were cleaning with these ingredients long before the fancy, sometimes harsh brand-name cleaning products were invented. With the power of cleaning staples like baking soda, lemon and vinegar, you are able to clean the whole house effectively and safely.

Kitchen/Bathroom Sink Cleaner and Deodoriser

• Sprinkle ½ cup baking soda in and around the drain
• Pour ½ cup vinegar down the drain
• Squeeze juice from ½ lemon into drain
• Let hot water rinse the ingredients for about one minute

Cleaning with these items could save you money. And your house will smell fresh because of it!

Removing toxic cleaning products to spring clean your home is the first step to spring green cleaning. Picking up environmentally friendly cleaning products goes a long way to ensure a fresh home environment. Eliminating toxic chemicals around your house is proven to help you sleep and concentrate better, as well as breathe cleaner air.