Products and Tools You Need to Keep Your Home Pristine

Keeping your house clean is tough when you’re living a busy life. If there’s a family with kids involved, it’s even harder. But it’s also really important to keep things clean for everyone’s health and safety. We recommend you have a variety of cleaning essentials for home to make it convenient to keep your home clean without having to run out to the store to make it happen.

Everyday Cleaning Essentials: The Products We Recommend

Some of the products to keep on hand should cover the cleaning essentials basics; products that you can grab quickly when you only have a few minutes to straighten; while other products will be meant for deeper cleaning when you have a day to put the kids to work. Here are our suggestions.

• Disinfecting Wipes

Disinfecting wipes are fast and easy to grab when you’re in a rush but the kitchen counter or table is overdue for a wipe down, make sure the wipes you have state that they disinfect and sanitize as well to get the most bang for your buck. Be careful though--many will say they are flushable, but may be made of synthetic fibers and therefore, very bad to flush. However, some companies are now making compostable varieties. If the environment is important to you, read your labels.

• Glass Cleaning Sprays or Multi-Purpose Cleaner

Glass cleaning sprays and multi-purpose cleaners are great everyday cleaning essentials. It’s good to have a good glass cleaner for windows, mirrors, and any glass surface in your house. Be sure to clean windows on cloudy days, so the cleaner doesn’t get baked onto the glass by the heat of the sun. A multi-purpose cleaner will also be helpful when you want to do a deeper clean on the surfaces that you’ve touched with the disinfecting wipes. Some multi-purpose cleaners work on glass too, but read the labels as some may result in streaking.

• Surface-Specific Cleaners

You want to set aside some time periodically to do a deep cleaning, and will want to focus on those areas of your house that have surfaces that need extra care. Some surfaces in your home require different products, to prevent damaging them. For example, we do not recommend using diluted white vinegar to clean hardwood floors as the acid may cause the wood to dry out prematurely. Use cleaners that are gentle enough to protect wood and laminate flooring, while tough enough to get up the dirt that gets ground into them. The same applies to tile--abrasive products may scratch tile topcoats and leave your floors, backsplashes and bathroom walls looking dull.  

Cleaning Essentials Checklist: Tools Cleaning Experts Recommend

Having the right product for the right cleaning job is important, but you also need the right tools so the products can do their thing. Here are some tools you should have on your cleaning essentials checklist.  

• Microfiber Cloths

Microfiber cloths are one of the best, most eco-friendly tools to have in your house. Incredibly soft, these cloths will scrub away just about any dirt and grime and not scratch your surfaces. They are incredibly absorbent, and can be thrown in the laundry when you’re done. Not only can they be useful wet, but they can also be very effective for dusting, as they actually pick up dust rather than pushing it around. 

• Steam Cleaner

If you have any carpets, rugs, or even upholstery--and especially if you have pets or allergies--a steam cleaner should be one of your essentials for cleaning. Rather than renting one from a grocery store, that has been used hundreds of times in other people’s homes, for a fairly reasonable price, you have a steam cleaner of your own. The convenience of having it to keep up with dust and pet hair is worth the initial cost. At the very least, have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter on it, to maximize your cleaning efforts. 

• Dish Brush with a Scraper

As most pots and pans do better not being put in the dishwasher, it’s important to have the right tools to get them clean. A dish brush with a scraper on the other side is a cleaning essentials basic tool to have. A brush side will get the sides and bottom of the pan, the scraper will help you easily get rid of food that’s stuck to the bottom. To avoid scratching the surface of the pan, if there’s food stuck to it, give it a little soak in some hot water and a drop of soap to loosen it up before you take the brush or scraper to it. 

Home Cleaning Kit Essentials - Eco-Friendly Solutions

Being mindful of the environment is really important when you’re considering the everyday cleaning essentials you want to keep in your home. Thankfully, the number of products available on the market that are good for the environment and effective for cleaning your home seems to be growing by the day. Still, there are a couple of items you want to have readily available in your cleaning essentials box. They’re inexpensive, readily available, and harmless to pets and children.

• Baking Soda

There are numerous ways baking soda will help you keep your house clean. 

• • Sprinkle it on your carpet or rug and let it sit for a few minutes and then vacuum it up to get rid of odors trapped in the fibers.  
  • Make it into a paste with some hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar and scrub your grout with it to remove mildew stains.
  • Add it to laundry for a deodorizing boost.

• White vinegar

Any vinegar will have the acetic acid needed to produce an effective clean, but white vinegar has no color and therefore reduces the chances of stain. Here are just a few examples of uses for wine vinegar.

• • Descale your coffee maker with a solution of vinegar and water.
  • Remove hard water stains from your toilet, sink, and tub with white vinegar and a scrub brush.
  • Get rid of sticky residue from a bumper sticker or any sticker with some undiluted vinegar.

If you can keep up with basic cleaning throughout your house, when we come in to clean, we can focus on the tougher areas that you don’t have time to do. Having the right cleaning essentials for home will make cleaning easier for you, and make us more efficient at getting the rest of your house clean. But if you don’t have time for even the essentials, leave it to us, we’ll take care of you and your family.

Find Out More

You can find out more about You’ve Got Maids house cleaning services by visiting our website to get your free estimate, call us at (571) 732-2199, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

We are licensed, bonded, and insured, and all of our staff are fully trained and have successfully passed a 7-year background check. 

We follow COVID-19 protocols and all of our staff are fully vaccinated. 

Wondering about the cost for deep cleaning a house? Contact us. We’ll help you find the service package that’s right for your house. Let us focus on cleaning your home so you can focus on your life!