Bippity, Boppity Blitz! A Brief ByMansley Guide To Spring Cleaning

We spoke with our head of housekeeping to get the craftiest, most effective tips for keeping your home (or serviced apartment) as clean as a whistle.

Unless you belong to a very specific personality type, cleaning the home is not considered to be a ‘fun’ activity. This poses a problem when cleaning season coincides with a particularly engrossing series of Married At First Sight Australia (we trusted you, Dan). If you want to minimise time spent scrubbing and maximise time spent luxuriating, you’ll need a few expert tips – hold onto your feather dusters, here’s our brief guide to spring cleaning the ByMansley way.

Divide & Conquer

A job shared is a job halved, as they say. That’s why we’ve built a network of professional housekeeping staff to ensure that every nook, cranny and brass-tinted doorknob is kept to an impeccable standard. You may not have your own team, but enlisting the help of even one other person can make a huge difference to the workload. If they need convincing, just offer a small incentive, preferably something sugar-coated and edible.

Simplify Your Cleaning Products

There are literally millions of cleaning products all vying for your hygienic attention. It’s important, then, to pinpoint the key players – this will prevent storage cupboard cramming, save you money and may even help protect the environment.

Tools:

A magic sponge. When you have impossible stains, it helps to have a touch of magic – these sponges work by reacting with water, forming a microstructure as hard as glass and acting like (very fine) sandpaper on surfaces. Perfect for dirt and grime.

A toothbrush. For miniature details, it’s tough to beat the bristles of a toothbrush. We know, there’s something deeply unsettling about using the same utensil to scrub sink grime as you would your molars, but it works! All we recommend is that you keep your dental and home cleaning brushes separate… very separate.

A cotton cloth. Microfiber is all the rage right now and for good reason – it’s great for dust and is even believed to protect against viruses. That said, it’s also derived from petroleum, so, if you want to stay eco-healthy, you’re better off with recycled cotton. See: old t-shirts, pillow cases or ugly curtains.

A spray bottle. As you most likely already know, the modern cleaning zeitgeist is all about spraying stuff. What stuff you’ll be spraying, however, is a point of conversation. That’s why we recommend purchasing a handful of empty bottles, so you can later decide which concoctions are best suited for your potentially non-refundable furniture.

Solutions:

Water. No splitting the atom with this one, but it’s amazing how many of us overlook H2O in our quest to render a room spotless. When it comes to floors, aim for a hot (not boiling) temperature, then switch to cold for when you need to dilute other cleaning products.

White vinegar. Vinegar is the ultimate all-purpose, all-natural cleaning substance, specifically the colourless, white variety. It works just as well on windows, microwaves, tiles, stoves and dishwashers as it does on your caesar salad. For the right composition, balance one cup of vinegar with one cup of distilled water.

Lemons. With 5% acid, lemon juice is nature’s citric solution for mould and odours. Squeeze one into your spray bottle and scrub black mould immediately after application for quick results. Alternatively, you could cut and soak a few in a bowl of water to deodorise a room, dustbin or fridge, then use what’s left for your celebratory margaritas.

Baking soda. Do you smell that? It’s not the whiff of a fresh bloomer, nor the aroma of blueberry muffins… no, it’s the smell of opportunity. The opportunity to effectively scrub surfaces of grease, water stains, smells and more using the semi-mystical power of baking soda. The white stuff works great on sinks, drains and ovens mixed in with hydrogen peroxide or you can mix it with vinegar to clear out drains.

Decluttering

Post-Christmas, the house is often brimming with things we don’t need or that have outworn their use – insurance coupons, holey socks, last night’s takeaway (actually, that might still be good) – you get the picture. Decluttering, then, often requires a herculean effort, complete with scheduling, allocated boxes and spreadsheets. Yes, spreadsheets, we’re serious.

- - Scheduling. The decluttering process takes time, and that means you need to find the time to get things done. Scheduling a time and date in your calendar is a surefire way to ensure you don’t procrastinate and actually get cracking.
  - Delegation. Delegating rooms to days and people to rooms will help compartmentalise the decluttering process and make everything a bit less daunting. It may be that one room takes one day and so forth – by breaking things up, you’ll get more done and feel more rewarded in the process!
  - Organisation. Knowing who’s doing what and which items are due to go where ahead of time can save you countless hours of confusion and stress in the future. Okay, it might sound like overkill, but an excel doc can really help when it comes to keeping track of things and getting your team singing from the same (spread)sheet.
  - Boxes. Your best friends, your worst enemies – boxes are the literal building blocks that make up a clean home empire. Establish a labelling system ahead of time and be sure to keep one spare for any ‘maybe’ items that you’re unsure about throwing out.

Upkeep

Ah, home clean home. Behold your new domain of sparkling faucets, pristine tiling, spotless fabrics and appreciative/beleaguered subjects. Glorious, isn’t it? Just remember one thing – it’s easier to keep clean than to reclean. With a regular, weekly approach to upkeep, you can better avoid future dirt build-ups, mould damage and immovable stains. Keeping a rota will help ensure everyone is doing their bit and no room goes neglected. Who knows, with a good attitude, there might not be a need for a spring clean next year!

For more impeccable taste, terrible humour and truly exclusive exposés, subscribe to our newsletter or check back next Monday for the next weekly blog post.

Mansley Serviced Apartments are a collection of chic and stylish serviced luxury apartments available to rent in the UK’s most prestigious locations, including Mayfair, Kensington, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and the Scottish Highlands. Escape with us, at: www.bymansley.com

Image by Pexels