Cleaning Tips and Materials for the Pinoy Home

Whether we clean our own home or someone else do it for us, there are always some instances that you still do a “Google search” to get help make that certain spot squeaky clean. However, most of the results in Google come up coming from American, Canadian or British authors, suggesting some materials that are not available day by day in a typical Filipino household. Philippines could possibly be the most “western country” in Southeast Asia, but there are products that are not simply available here. Coffee grounds for smell? You use 3-in-1 or get your kapeng barako (or cappuccino) in the local coffee shop. Lemons? Expensive. There are also cleaning brands not available locally and let’s not even start by cleaning toilet bowls and shower using organic materials. If you have the money and want to do the cleaning yourself, you can try buying “cleaning reagents” from the grocery or try that UK product section in an SM supermarket. But if you have the money but doesn’t want to get down and dirty, you can always give us a call.

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Vinegar (Sukang puti)

This is like the McGyver of cleaning and Bonnie and Clyde when partnered with baking soda. Just take note that you will need a gallon of it, not just a bottle of Datu Puti from Aling Nena’s store on the corner. Place some viniger in a pail, dump in your toothbrush, stainless cooking utensils, shower and bidet heads, and your stainless spoon and forks. Leave it for an hour and do a little brushing, then they are all clean! Place some in a spray bottle and spray on walls to remove molds and mildews, spray on faucets with hard water stains, leave for a few minutes, and then rinse and you got all of them almost good as new.

Baking Soda

Like vinegar, this can make cleaning wonders, but there’s a secret to make it more effective – using it with warm water (not lukewarm). Mix 1 part water and 1 part baking soda and you can remove stove grimes and stains, grill grimes, oven stains and all sorts of grimes. Add vinegar (slowly to avoid making a strong reaction) and place some on tile groutes, refrigerator stains, grimy or oily cabinet doors, and the bottom part of cooking utensils. Leave it for an hour and then scrub a little. It’s powder form is a great deodorizer as well.

Coke

Probably one of the few cleaning solutions that you can actually drink (but of course in moderation); dump a litter of coke (or pepsi, it doesn’t matter) in your water stained toilet bowl and leave it for 1 hour before flushing. You can also do the same with the bathroom tiles if you have confirmed that the stains are from hard water. Rinse after flushing and you will have a toilet bowl as good as new. It is also effective in wash basins (lababo) – plug the drain using the usual rubber or metal plugs, fill the wash basin with coke, leave it for an hour and then drain and rinse.

After a day’s cleaning using these items, you might ask “Well, our home looks clean but it smells like vinegar or paksiw”. Once the vinegar dries out, its odor will dissipate as well. The most important thing about using these day to day items is having a lot of patience. These too are chemicals, but not as harsh and harmful as detergents or bleach, and they need time in order be very effective. If you are still having problems with hard to clean areas in your home, or simply doesn’t have the time, contact our trusted, reliable and professional cleaning service and get your home clean today.

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