20 Cleanliness Tips To Keep Your House Spic And Span

What are good cleaning tips to drive away pests?

1. Remove all your clutter
2. Make a daily cleaning plan
3. Re arrange your home after throwing your clutter
4. Regularly take out your trash
5. Ask friends to help you clean your house
6. Organize your files
7. Have a spot in your house where you can dump daily things like keys and mail
8. Have a wide range cleaning materials
9. Wash all your dishes after using them
10. Remove standing water regularly and eliminate their sources
11. Clean hard-to-reach areas
12. Dust your appliances
13. Clean your floors
14. Properly clean the covers of your sofa
15. Use sunlight to kill germs
16. Make the effort to always clean the insides of fish bowls
17. Change and clean your curtains regularly
18. Always store leftovers properly
19. Clean your kitchen and materials of oil
20. Clean you cooking materials before using it

The number one factor that determines whether your house will be infested with pests or not is cleanliness. If your house is spic and span, free from any mess, clutter, or any other sign of dirt, then there’s a decreased risk that insects and rodents will flock to your house.

But if your house is littered with food crumbs, trash, or is basically untidy, then you can be sure that a pest invasion is nigh. Though pest control in the Philippines can deal with the condition over time, it’s also a nice practice to perform some good ‘ol fashioned house cleaning. Here are 20 cleanliness tips that’ll keep your house spic and span.

1. Clear Your House of All Things You Don’t Need

That teddy bear you had since you were a toddler? Get rid of it. The blanket you had since kindergarten? Out with it. Come to think of it, your old CD player, bicycle, basketball, baseball bat, and other items in your home that you no longer use should be discarded altogether. Don’t get sentimental. Make a list of everything you no longer need in your home and systematically clear them off your house.

2. Organize

Once you’ve gotten rid of all the unnecessary things in your home, it’s time to put things in order. Create a day-to-day, piecemeal plan on which area you’ll be cleaning first. That way, your cleaning routine will be systematic and organized.

3. Arrangement

With all the clutter out, re-organize everything in your home. Rearrange your furniture placement, utensils in your kitchen, clothes in your drawer, etc.

4. Take out Your Trash

Sounds simple enough, yes, but this is the easiest way you can keep pests away from your home. Pests are attracted to the smell of food; be it if they are on your table or inside the trash. It is actually better that they infest the bin outside than inside your home.

5. Call in Support

Two people cleaning a duplex is daunting, so ask help from some of your friends and family to help tidy up the place. You’ll find the work done much faster and more efficiently. Just be sure to repay everyone with soda and pizza afterwards.

6. Use Folders and Racks to Organize Files

These are key items that you need to keep your paper files arranged properly. Termites and rats are attracted to the paper, so be sure to maximize these organizing items.

7. Have a “Landing Strip”

A landing strip is a small portion of your home (usually right after your front door) where you can just dump stuff like keys, mail, etc., so you don’t leave them all over the place. A landing strip also helps you determine which items you need to keep and throw away.

8. Be Sure to Have These Devices

Vacuum cleaner, broom, mop, clean rags, toilet scrubbers, sponges, and air freshener, to name a few.

9. Wash All Dishes and Cutleries

Soiled plates and eating utensils attract pests like bees to honey. Don’t let that happen and makes sure that you immediately wash your plates after every meal.

10. Remove Standing Water

Standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They are a type of pest that can carry multiple fatal diseases. Thus, it should be a practice to dispose of standing water, which is commonly found in buckets in bathrooms and pots in the garden.

Also, regularly check for any leaks from your taps, pipes, or faulty drainage systems. These can form standing water in unexpected places.

11. Clean Hard-to-Reach Areas

Always clean ceilings and hard-to-reach walls and fans. These are places where spiders usually spin their webs.

12. Dust Your Appliance

Remove and clean films of dust surrounding your appliances. Some of these devices use the air around them to function such as the freezer. Thus, they need to be clean on the outside to lengthen its lifespan and maintain its functionality.

13. Carpets and Flooring

Vacuum your carpets regularly or dust them if possible to get rid of any eggs and pests that may be living in it. Try to do this daily.

While you’re at it, sweep and mop your non-carpet floors as well. Some diseases that pests transfer can be transmitted just by touching places they’ve passed through. By making sure that the floors are clean, you can keep your home safe as well.

14. Clean the Covers of Your Sofa

Remove the covers of your sofa or couch and clean them regularly. This is also to get the food crumbs that are already stuck inside it. Also, practice eating cleanly on your sofa to avoid such pest attraction.

15. Use the Sun

The sun can actually kill millions of germ particles. Open blinds whenever you can allow the rays help cleanse your home.

16. Fish Bowls

If you are taking care of fish, then make an effort to regularly clean their home to get rid of algae and to avoid attracting pests to the moisture.

17. Change the Curtains Regularly

Not only does it gather outside pollution all the time, but it is also a favorite hiding place for many pests.

18. Always Cover Food

If you have left some food like viand or snacks at the dining table, make sure that they are properly stored as failure to do so can lead to a cockroach infestation.

19. Oil in Food

When cooking, always try to use a cooker with a lid such as a pressure cooker. This will prevent the oil in food from accidentally popping out of the cooker and all over your kitchen. Of course, these will contain food remnants that pests will hunt down. For this same reason, you must always wash oil and grease away from your cooking materials.

20. Clean Other Cooking Materials

These include tools such as a chopping board, knives, and kitchen counters. It is especially important for you to clean them before usage because any potential contact pests have with these equipment can contaminate your food.

Key Takeaway

Follow these tips and do them regularly to ensure that no pest would want to call your home as theirs as well. But if they are already in your home, then these tips can keep you safe and help you to slowly drive them away.