Cleaning tips and recommendations for cleaning products

My solution at my old house was to ask my home help to change the beds in both bedrooms, and I'd sleep in one for a week and then move to the other.

The spare room in the new house is tiny and where I keep my indoor wheelchair (and piles of other stuff that hasn't yet got a proper place), so I haven't yet decided whether or not I'm going to put a bed in there. But I'm not struggling to work with ME these days, so changing the bed isn't quite such an issue as it used to be – I can dedicate a day to it now!

 

My top duvet covet changing method - if you can't get someone else to do which is far better -

When handling the duvet I tend to roll it up as it makes for easier handling.

Make sure duvet cover is inside out.

Place it pattern or top side down on the bed and spread it out fully. Opening end at foot of bed.

Unroll duvet on top of the cover & match the sides up as best you can - no need to be really fussy.

Then, from the head of the bed down, roll up the duvet cover and the duvet together, towards the foot of the bed. Doesn't need to be very tightly rolled, just firmly.

When you get to the bottom, at the bottom corners of the duvet, one side at a time, pull the bottom corner of the duvet and the roll through.

As you look at the other side of the roll (the bed head side) you will see you can unfold/unroll the covered duvet back towards the head of the bed.

Continue on and your duvet will be unrolled in the cover, with the cover right side up and the right way out. Fasten the ends of the cover.

The big advantage is you're not lifting the weight of the duvet, or shaking it with the arms outstretched.

 

wow haha. I actually shared this tip on the ‘other forum’ years ago (maybe 9 years ago) with a link to a YouTube video. But I forgot how to do it years ago. It’s just reminded me haha

 

I know it's come up before. I remember describing it before too. Maybe elsewhere as you say @Hell..hath..no..fury...

It does make a difference. I can change a double duvet using this method & my winter duvet is one of those that clips together sets - a 3.5 tog with a 10 tog. So bulky.

I still have to do it in separate goes. Strip it (sometimes in one go, sometimes 2 or 3), then clean sheet on base, then pillow cases, then duvet cover.

It's also easier if the duvet opens all the way across the bottom, it can still be done if it doesn't though.

 

One thing I hated for years is that I would wash clothes, they would come out smelling fresh, then when I wore them my body heat would warm up the clothes, and a stale sweat smell would come off. There have been times throughout my life when I have thrown away clothes that were in good condition because I could never get rid of smells. No amount of washing or soaking would help. I always used fairly standard washing liquids and powders found in a typical supermarket - Bold, Ariel, Persil, Surf, supermarket own brand. I tried Bio and Non-bio. None of them made any difference.

I've found a product that I've been using for a couple of years now that does actually get rid of nasty smells including sweat, so I thought I'd pass it on. It helps to extend the life of my clothes and reduces waste.

HALO PROACTIVE SPORTS WASH LIQUID

Code:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALO-PROACTIVE-SPORTS-LIQUID-LITRE/dp/B003WGL0C6/ref=sr_1_1

It is sometimes sold on Amazon as single bottles and sometimes in a triple pack. I have found that when both options are offered that buying three singles can sometimes work out cheaper than buying a triple pack, so always check.

It can be used for any kinds of washing, and can also be helpful for doing pet related washing.

Another source for this product which I've also used is :

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/halo-proactive-sports-wash-laundry-detergent-1-litre

and I've just found that Sainsbury's sell it online (I haven't looked for it in a physical shop because of lockdown), and they are currently the cheapest I can find.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui...wder/halo-sports-laundry-liquid-1l-25-washes-

Some sports websites sell it too.

Prices vary quite a lot, so always shop around.

 

During the pandemic, as any UK resident will know, the cost of gas and electricity shot up by a tremendous amount, and it is going up yet again this month. As a result, when prices first rose, OH and I bought more clothes for use indoors and reduced the number of hours the heating was on by an immense amount. This has cut energy costs but as a result our house has become mouldy in a few places which is obviously unhealthy, horrible to look at, and takes a lot of effort to keep at bay. My bathroom is particularly bad, and we had a lot of black grout which took more elbow grease to get rid of than I had available to me.

OH and I went out yesterday to B&Q to spend yet more money on new (to us) cleaning products, for cleaning grout, mould, and limescale. OH started scrubbing the grout today and tried each of the products we bought in turn. The only one that actually did what it said on the bottle was the mould spray. The grout cleaner was utterly useless - I would give it 0 out of 10 - and the limescale remover would get 4 out of 10. But the mould spray was great.

I can't honestly say whether the mould spray was killing the mould, or removing the mould, or bleaching the mould. But in the end the grout looked better than it had in a very, very long time.

So, if anyone wants some help to get rid of mould with much less than the usual effort, this is the stuff we bought :

HG Mould Spray :

https://www.diy.com/search?term=HG+mould+spray

https://www.diy.com/departments/hg-...mover-0-5l-trigger-spray-bottle/136829_BQ.prd

There are three products called HG Mould Spray on the B&Q website and they vary in price. I'm not clear on why this is except one of them is a foam product and the other two are liquid. I bought the cheapest one (2nd link).

 

Have either of you got the energy to give the worst areas a towel dry after showers to stave off the worst of it and reduce the need to use stronger chemicals?

 

I would guess that OH could do this, but I doubt I have the energy very often. We don't actually have a working shower now, and have to use baths all the time. Getting in and out can be a bit difficult for me.

 

Getting in and out of baths is a nightmare, why is it so much harder than getting up off the floor? I’d imagine something related to the hot water..

 

Lime Lite

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/limelite-trigger-500ml

I think from My cleaner years ago (I assume - or maybe I bought it and forgot ? It’s one of those bottle I don’t know where it came from )

I haven’t had a bottle for a long time but don’t think I’ve found anything to compare since

this is for taps with great chunks of limes cake type thing - I’ve never thought of using that for tiles and rarely even in past years did them myself (‘we’ use one of the sprays that foam , but person doing it has to wear a mask even as it’s quite a strong scent in a small space)

 

Which type of robot vacuum? because I’ve eyed up ones on offer but have been warned there are lots that are a bit useless - I’d be interested in any recommendations

 

@“Hell

I gave up that way when I got bigger duvets and my arms got weaker. So anyone trying first time might want to be aware a heavy super king duvet might need to be tried only with great caution even if milder.

When I was more well and did my own I realised with the bigger quilt just feeding it in to the laid out cover was less exertion.

the hard but is getting it so there isn’t ’loose Cover’ in the middle at the top - I’ve never tried anything but wonder if there is anything clever like a special peg from places like Robert Dyas ?

on the sleeping bag level there now seem to be duvets (like American ones) that have a permanent cover/are washed ‘whole’ - but I’ve no idea what hell washing and drying those would be

I don’t do my own bed now but have a bed where the mattress sits on top of rather than inches ‘in’ the base which is a big difference for the person putting on the sheet and topper etc not lifting the mattress to get the corners round … but I know wonder whether anyone invented a clever ‘poker’ fir that yet ?

 

When I don’t have my cleaner I just use flat sheets under and over a duvet instead of changing the duvet cover