Refreshing your home

Exploring a few smart strategies for cleaning your house

Brandpoint

With more of us spending time at home over the last few months, you’re probably noticing every bit of dust, pet hair and dirt accumulating on the floor and in nooks and crannies. And it’s harder than ever to keep up with regular cleaning while the whole family is together inside.

What are the best ways to focus your cleaning efforts, and how can you tackle tidying tasks with everyone underfoot?

Here are some tools and tips to keep your house - and home office, and home school - looking and feeling great.

1. Set regular cleaning times

Review everyone’s schedules and block out times for cleaning chores each week that are predictable. Enlist older kids to help out, or arrange for teens or your partner to involve younger kids in a backyard activity while you get to work indoors.

Make sure to leave enough time to get your tasks completed so you don’t feel rushed.

2. Look out to cleaner pastures

Nothing makes your outlook brighter than sparkling clean windows. For a fresh and natural approach, try a blend of equal amounts distilled vinegar and hot

Refreshing your home regularly not only helps improve your health by reducing allergens, but can also really lift your mood and outlook.

water to wash the windows, using a squeegee to dry with no streaking.

For hard-to-reach exterior windows, consider hiring out. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes when you have clean windows both inside and out.

3. Find easy-to-use tools that get the job done

For a quick and easy deep clean of floors, plus removal of pet hair and dust from chairs, sofas and even mattresses, check out the new LG CordZero Cordless Stick Vacuum with Kompressor. It delivers powerful suction that’s easy to maneuver plus it compresses the collected dirt, dust and pet hair in the bin so you don’t need to empty it as often. You can also empty the bin with less scattered dust, and its fivestep HEPA filtration system helps reduce allergens in

your home.

Turn on and change settings easily with a single touch (unlike other vacuums that require you to hold down the on button) and the adjustable wand length reduces strain for a more comfortable clean. Plus, LG’s CordZero vacuum’s portable charging stand lets you store and charge anywhere, without drilling holes into your wall. The vacuum has two quick-release batteries for up to 120 minutes of run time.

4. Consider rearranging the furniture

Sometimes your furniture is arranged the way it is because, well, hasn’t it always been that way? Clearing out bulky, little-used furniture or finding a better arrangement can really breathe new life into any room.

Before beginning the hard work of moving furniture around, however, first make a plan. Talk with family members to gather their input. Sketch out the room on paper or use an online room-arranging template to explore alternatives. This is the fun part that kids may enjoy. Let everyone brainstorm and don’t dismiss any ideas out of hand - they might actually work!

Consider the flow of traffic in and out of the room, if you have a focal point (like a picture window, TV or piano) and how you actually want to use the room. Get rid of pieces that serve no purpose and don’t look good in the room. Sometimes less really is more.

5. Launder or deep clean fabrics

If it’s been a while since you’ve done a deep clean, launder fabrics that are machine washable (like sofa covers or lightweight curtains) and use a steam cleaner for carpet and upholstery. Steam cleaning equipment can be rented if necessary.

Refreshing your home regularly not only helps improve your health by reducing allergens, but can also really lift your mood and outlook. Spending more time at home will be much more pleasant and enjoyable when you know your whole environment is fresh and clean.

One way to reap an abundance of vegetables from even a tiny garden is to keep planting throughout the growing season. Soon, you could be filling in new vegetables where you’ll have harvested onions or pulled spent pea or cucumber vines. Later, there’ll be space where corn, early beets or carrots have been harvested.

A good way to fill in land that opens up is with transplants. They’re less likely than seeds to get lost or neglected in the sea of vegetation in any garden this time of year. And since their first three to four weeks of growth takes place outside your garden, the harvest from transplants comes along that much sooner.

The first step is to sprout the seeds. I do this in a small seedling flat, a rectangular plastic container 2 to 3 inches deep, with sides 6 inches long by 4 inches wide. Any 2-to-3-inch deep container, such as a yogurt container or cut-off milk carton, would work if you punch holes in the bottom to let water drain out. Fill the container with potting soil, sow the seeds to the correct depth, firm the soil, then sit the container in a pan of water for 15 minutes, until moisture is drawn in from below. Covering the container with a pane of

Brandpoint