Tips, Tricks, and Answers

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A Tidy Home Is More Appealing. When doing an emergency cleaning job for short-notice guests, you'll want to keep a few things in mind that will save you both work and time. You only need to clean the rooms that your guests will be entering, including one bathroom. You also only need to do a surface cleaning, organizing or hiding things that are at eye level or otherwise easily visible.

Clean Up Soot and Your Fireplace. These neat tricks allow you to easily remove soot and ash from the inner surfaces of your fireplace. If you add salt to your next fire, it will take the soot right off of your fireplace stone or bricks. A mixture of vinegar, ammonia, and water will make a great cleaner for your fireplace door, and if you place foil in the bottom of your fireplace, it will allow you to pick up your ashes with ease.

Cleaning Mini-Blinds. Mini-blinds are one of the hardest parts of the house to dust. For an easy solution, put a sock on each hand and use one hand to wash the blinds and one hand to dry them. To brighten up the cord, soak it in a bleach solution.

Cleaning Your Ceiling. Ceilings are often forgotten during spring cleaning. Here's how to quickly and easily clean your ceiling.

Removing Stains from Draperies. Draperies can make a room look beautiful, but they also absorb sunlight, dust, dirt, smoke, and grime. Make sure to vacuum your drapes once every six months or so to stop a build up of dust. Several preventative measures exist to keep your draperies looking good, but if they do get stained, most of the time you will have to turn to a professional cleaning service. If the draperies are water resistant, you can also try steam-cleaning them.

Removing Stains from Wood Furniture. Stains in wooden furniture can be treated to return the furniture back to its former beauty. Each stain needs certain chemicals and a particular treatment to remove the stain without damaging the wood. Follow all instructions to the letter to restore your furniture.

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