Sharing is Caring, Especially When It Comes to Cleaning

How to Keep Sand Out of Your House

July 8 by

Beach Sandals | Flat Rate Carpet BlogNothing is more refreshing than a weekend at the beach, but nothing is more annoying that having sand all over your home. Follow these few simple tricks and you won’t worry about bringing the beach home with you ever again.

Do your best to leave as much sand at the beach as possible. If you don’t bring it into the car, then it won’t make it back to your house. Make sure that you shake out all towels and beach clothing before heading home.

Invest in a small brush, like a paint brush, and brush off any beach toys before packing them away. Keep a dedicated bag for beach toys, and make sure you leave it in the garage or in an entryway closet.

Simply wiping sand off the body doesn’t work very well, especially on men. Instead use cornstarch or talcum powder. Rub the powder on your arms, legs, and um, other beachy areas, and watch how easily the sand slips right off.

Taking the extra time to clean up sand before you get into the home, will save you a summer of cleaning sand from every corner of the house.

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Save your Carpets from Summer

June 28 by

Girl on Carpet | Flat Rate BlogSummer is a fun time for lots of outdoor activities, but all that outdoor fun can be hard on your indoor carpets. Follow a few simple rules this summer and keep your carpets as good as new.

It’s great when the kids are outdoors playing, but when they come inside you’ll wind up with dirty footprints all over your carpets. Prevent the spread of outdoor dirt by keeping a shoe rack by the front and back door. Make sure kids know to remove shoes before coming into the house.

Kids aren’t the only people tracking dirt into the house. Adults should also be asked to remove shoes before coming inside. If you’re entertaining friends that won’t be comfortable removing their shoes, make sure you provide a doormat where guests can wipe their shoes before coming inside.

Rainy summer days mean the whole family will be stuck inside. Keeping drinks and snacks out of the carpeted areas of the house will prevent spills and crumbs from staining your carpets.

By following a few simple household rules, you’ll be able to extend the life of your carpets while keeping them in perfect condition.

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How to Clean a Cutting Board

June 24 by

Keeping a clean cutting board is one of the most important steps to kitchen safety. Kitchen counters have a smooth surface that’s easy to clean, but cutting boards have lots of tiny places for germs to hide.

To keep a cutting board clean, you need to do more than just rinse it with a little bit of soap. Fortunately, white vinegar is a great disinfectant and is much safer than using chlorine bleach.

Just mix a little bit of white vinegar with water, and generously cover the cutting board in the mixture. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes before rinsing the board and washing with soap and water.

Raw meat has lots of bacteria that can make your family sick, that’s why it’s a good idea to have a separate cutting board for meat. Unlike cutting boards that are only used for vegetables, meat cutting boards need to be sanitized after every use.

The same mixture of white vinegar and water will work to sanitize a meat cutting board, but make sure you also sanitize the counter area around where you’ve been cutting meat. Any invisible splatter could spread salmonella or e-coli.

A little extra effort to sanitize and clean your cutting boards will keep your family safe and your kitchen clean.

 

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How to Clean Mildew From Tile

June 7 by

Cleaning Gloves | Flat Rate Carpet BlogMildew, that gross, black smudge between the tiles in your bathroom, is a problem that every home faces. Mildew on your bathroom walls is unattractive, and is bad for your health. But don’t worry, with a little bleach and good old elbow grease, that mildew is as good as gone.

Start by scrubbing the mildew area with a tough brush with bristles. This loosens up the mildew from the walls.

Next mix a small amount of bleach with water in a spray bottle, a ratio of 10 parts water to one part bleach is good. Make sure the room is well ventilated, with doors and windows open and even the fan going. Then spray the bleach mixture on the walls and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

When you are done, rinse the walls with water and the mildew is gone.

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How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally

June 4 by

Ants | Flat Rate Carpet BlogGetting rid of ants can be a full time job. It seems like every time you get rid of one line of ants another one shows up. Bug repellents can work, but they also leave trails of poison all around your kitchen. Instead of buying expensive bug repellents, a few household items will help you get rid of your ant problem once and for all.

The number one top all purpose cleaner, white vinegar, also keeps away ants. Wiping down all surface areas with a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water wipes away the scent trails that ants use to get from place to place.

Another way to get rid of ants is to spread a line of baby powder, or plain talcum powder, where the ants are getting into your home. Theirs no fancy science behind this method, ants just hate talcum powder, and will stay away.

Certain spices and herbs have strong scents that repel ants. Leaving these spices in ant trouble spots will keep them from coming back. Some ant repelling spices are; cinnamon, chili, black and cayenne pepper, cloves, garlic and mint.

With these simple, all natural household items, you can win the war on ants.

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