Do you have house cleaning questions?

I've cleaned houses for 20 years and have tips and money saving ideas that might help. Let me know what you need to clean and I'll try to help. I can usually tell you what cleaners work best on most surfaces. I just thought that I'd like to give back to the fatwallet community. Feel free to send me a message and I'll get back to it as soon as I can. Have a great day.
Trish

Please feel free to leave any cleaning tip that you may have. We all could use some help sometimes.

Any good method of getting cat hair off of fabric couches? I have been using the lint rollers made of sticky paper, but I go through them pretty quick.

How do you get cat pee smell out of shoes, or canvas purses?

OT: How you recommend someone find and select an occasional house cleaner? (for about once per week).

BrianGa- I know the answer to your question! Take a facecloth and dampen it. Use the facecloth to swipe in one direction- pull off the hair, use it in the opposite direction - pull off the hair. if you have one of those microfiber cloths it works even better. No need to buy those sticky rollers unless you need your clothes swiped off just before you go out the door. PS. Take your cat outside and comb her hair "against the grain" and let the fur fly into the wind. I swear I get a grocery sack of hair off of one of mine- the other one very little. HTHS

My toilet overflowed, spilling water all over the carpet, whats the best way to clean that up? thanks!

lapm10 said: How do you get cat pee smell out of shoes, or canvas purses?
UrineOff. It's a great product.

BrianGa said: Any good method of getting cat hair off of fabric couches? I have been using the lint rollers made of sticky paper, but I go through them pretty quick.
If I didn't have 4 long haired cats I wouldn't need a housecleaner but I found a lint brush, the kind w/ sort of a velvet-y nap works ok. Sticky lint rollers are too $$$. Packing tape is cheaper. I pull the labels off of packages and use them on my clothes (how's that for cheap?).

BradMajors said: OT: How you recommend someone find and select an occasional house cleaner? (for about once per week).Ask a friend or neighbor for recommendations. Don't just call someone blindly. If you haven't had a house cleaner before, make sure you make a list of what's important to you.

What is the best product for cleaning the grout around bathtub and in-between tiles?

GreenQueen said: What is the best product for cleaning the grout around bathtub and in-between tiles?

Use tilex or if you want to go on the cheap, try 1 part Chlorine (chlorox or generic) bleach and 5 parts water in a spray bottle. Spray directly and let stand for 20 minutes. Repeat once if necessary and then rinse with plain cold water. The problem with bleach is the smell and fumes so you may want to run the exhaust (if you have one) or open a window in the bathroom.

momoman said: ToofanMail said: GreenQueen said: What is the best product for cleaning the grout around bathtub and in-between tiles?

Use tilex or if you want to go on the cheap, try 1 part Chlorine (chlorox or generic) bleach and 5 parts water in a spray bottle. Spray directly and let stand for 20 minutes. Repeat once if necessary and then rinse with plain cold water. The problem with bleach is the smell and fumes so you may want to run the exhaust (if you have one) or open a window in the bathroom.i have colored grout and off-white grout so i didn't want to use tilex or chlorine. i've tried edfred and other chemicals. i surfed the net and tried the suggestions such as steaming (i have a commercial wallpaper steamer and tried it), and scrubbing with an oxiclean paste, but surprisingly, i found that soaking the grout with kabloom for 20 mins then scrubbing with a brush restored the color of the grout. now i need to reseal my grout to keep it looking clean. I'm going to try this. In the past, I've made a paste of oxiclean and end up going through about 2 dozen toothbrushes cleaning the grout in my kitchen. Between spilled coffee and spaghetti sauce, the white grout on the floor (don't even ASK what I was thinking when I thought it was nice when we bought the house), the grout gets discolored easily. I think I have tilex too. Might spray some in one section tonight and see how it goes.

Great idea for a thread. Like someone else said above, please post the responses in this thread, so we can all benefit from them.

My bathtub/shower unit is fiberglass, and I have a really hard time keeping it clean due to my filthy hubby. I've been using Kaboom spray cleaner, but it still takes a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. Is there another product that would work better?

I have white marble floor in my kitchen (I know I know, cus we don't cook). It gets very dusty. We have applied a layer of sealant right after installation so it does help somewhat. But sometimes spills do happen from the fridge to the family room. What I want to know is what are the best cleaning agent(s) to use for marbles and granites (my countertops). Most cleaner has an exclusion on these two material.

kamic said: My toilet overflowed, spilling water all over the carpet, whats the best way to clean that up? thanks!
And replace that carpet with TILE!

And here's a tip I learned from our house cleaner lady...

When cleaning oven racks put them in a trashbag and spray them with over cleaner while in the bag.

You can take a shower scrub brush to help with the vinegar to remove it as well.
I just did this with my kitchen sink faucet and sprayer.

f1shstick said: What about dog smell on carpets?

I have found that vinegar is the absolute best deodorizer. A very light solution of vinegar water in your carpet shampooer and then shampoo as you would normally do with shampoo to leave a fresh clean scent.

FrugalFreak said: Please post answers to the questions here so we can refer back to them if needed in future. it would be a nice reference thread.

I'm trying. I still clean houses and need to work all day, but I do try to answer questions daily now. Thanks for suggesting.

sherry7 said: Great idea for a thread. Like someone else said above, please post the responses in this thread, so we can all benefit from them.

My bathtub/shower unit is fiberglass, and I have a really hard time keeping it clean due to my filthy hubby. I've been using Kaboom spray cleaner, but it still takes a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. Is there another product that would work better?

This 100% works wonders. Get a box of the fabric softner dryer sheets. Take one and put it under water till a little soapy stuff appears. Then wipe the soap residue and whatever else off. It really is amazing. I just did a thorough cleaning of my shower (glass and tile and floor).

buyonsale3 said: sherry7 said: Great idea for a thread. Like someone else said above, please post the responses in this thread, so we can all benefit from them.

My bathtub/shower unit is fiberglass, and I have a really hard time keeping it clean due to my filthy hubby. I've been using Kaboom spray cleaner, but it still takes a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. Is there another product that would work better?

This 100% works wonders. Get a box of the fabric softner dryer sheets. Take one and put it under water till a little soapy stuff appears. Then wipe the soap residue and whatever else off. It really is amazing. I just did a thorough cleaning of my shower (glass and tile and floor).

great tip!!

kamic said: My toilet overflowed, spilling water all over the carpet, whats the best way to clean that up? thanks!

If it was dirty water I would call someone in so that they can get rid of the bacteria. That's a job for a carpet cleaning pro. sorry I couldn't be more help with this one.

sherry7 said: Great idea for a thread. Like someone else said above, please post the responses in this thread, so we can all benefit from them.

My bathtub/shower unit is fiberglass, and I have a really hard time keeping it clean due to my filthy hubby. I've been using Kaboom spray cleaner, but it still takes a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. Is there another product that would work better?

Thanks for the compliment on the thread. Try either soft scrub or scrubbing bubbles. Both work great. There's a new scrubbing bubbles that works alot better than the older stuff. Hope that helps.

Based on what I've read you can try wetting the area and applying baking soda and let it sit until dry. You may have to do this several times depending on the age of the stain. For one person it pulled up an orange tan color. Another thing I read is exposure to sunlight will make the yellow disappear.