Avoiding the use of harsh chemicals will not only benefit the environment, it can also benefit your health too!  Many cleaning products contain harsh chemicals but making effective, eco-friendly cleaning solutions at home is easy and cheap.

Carpets, for example, can be very successfully cleaned using natural products.  Carpets are often stained or damaged by spillages and catching any spills whilst they’re fresh will give you the best chance of removing the stain completely.  Lemon juice is brilliant for removing carpet stains caused by red wine, juices or tomatoes: rub the stain gently using a soft cloth and it should disappear like magic!  Salt is another great remedy for carpet stains; sprinkling salt over a red wine spillage can help to prevent a permanent stain.

There are many commercial carpet fresheners on the market but these tend to simply mask odours rather than getting rid of the smell.  Mixing two cups of baking soda with one cup of crushed lavender flowers is a wonderful, natural way to eliminate carpet odours.  Sprinkle this mixture onto the carpet, leave for 30 minutes and then vacuum.  Simple!

Vinegar is another very effective, natural cleaner.  Making a solution of equal parts vinegar and water and storing this in a spray bottle will give you a cleaning solution that you can use all around the home.  Vinegar is a fantastic disinfectant and deodorizer but should be tested on an inconspicuous area first.  Remember that undiluted vinegar is acidic and can eat away at delicate surfaces like tile grout.  Vinegar can be used all around the kitchen and bathroom to de-grease, remove stains and deodorise surfaces.

Baking soda is incredibly useful as a natural scourer and is great for scrubbing surfaces.  It can also be used as a de-odoriser: placing a box of baking soda in the fridge or freezer is a great way to remove stubborn smells.

So what are you waiting for?  Rather than reaching for those harsh chemicals when you’re cleaning, why not try a more natural alternative?

As with so many cleaning jobs, prevention is definitely the key to keeping cleaning time to the bare minimum!  We always recommend using door mats to trap dirt and prevent it from entering the office.  A door mat is a great way to encourage people to wipe their feet, removing the worst of any grit and rainwater.  An umbrella stand in the office reception is also a good idea to stop wet umbrellas from dripping all over the floor.

Moisture is one of the greatest enemies of a hardwood floor; water and mud can easily cause a hardwood floor to warp or stain.

No matter what you do your hardwood floor will still get dirty sooner or later!  So what is the best way to keep wood floors clean?  A thorough weekly sweep with a soft brush that wont scratch the floor’s finish.  It’s OK to use a vacuum cleaner on a hardwood floor but it’s very important that you don’t use a heavy vacuum cleaner as these can easily dent the wood.

Sweeping or vacuuming should also be combined with regular mopping.  The important thing to remember is that the mop must be  damp and not dripping wet.  Excess water will cause damage such as warping; any stains on the wood will be ‘set’ by the moisture.  An old-fashioned tip is to add vinegar to the water as this can help to cut through grime and grease.  Use white vinegar and remember to change the mopping water as soon as it becomes dirty.

Stubborn stains may need the services of a professional cleaning firm but with some regular TLC your hardwood floor should stay looking fantastic for many years to come.

In view of this we thought we’d pass on a few tips to  help you get started!

Firstly, why not think about which rooms you really need to clean.  You may be thinking that you need to tackle every single room in the house but faced with a huge task like this, even the most die-hard cleaner will feel put off.  Don’t bother cleaning the spare room, for example but really concentrate on the areas you ‘live’ in, for example the kitchen, living room and bathroom.  Cutting the cleaning down like this can make it seem so much more manageable.

De-clutter!  If you can be really ruthless and have a thorough clear-out you’ll find cleaning much easier.  Trying to keep the house clean around piles of CDs, books etc isn’t easy and having a home that is tidy and clutter-free will make it look cleaner before you’ve even had a chance to get your duster and mop out!

Recognise that you can achieve an awful lot of cleaning in just 15 minutes if you set your mind to it.  Although this tip might sound a little smug, just 15 minutes cleaning each day can keep your home looking really clean and should mean that you find you need to ‘deep’ clean less often.

Finally, if you find that you’re really lacking motivation, there’s nothing like inviting people over to give you a wake-up call to start cleaning!  The threat of visitors can get even the most reluctant of cleaners reaching for the hoover!  Start by giving the areas your visitors will see a thorough clean and then have a general tidy up and you’ll be ready to impress in no time!

The very best way to keep your office upholstery clean is prevention!  Eating your desk will quickly lead to a build up of dirt, grease and crumbs so taking time out to eat lunch away from the office is the best plan.  Fabric upholstery can be kept looking good if it is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner on a regular basis.  Most vacuum cleaners have an attachment specially designed for use on upholstery – it’ll be the one with brushes on!  The brushes on the attachment are designed to loosen dust and dirt which makes it much easier to keep the fabric clean.  If your seating has any loose cushions, make sure you hoover underneath – you’ll be amazed at how many crumbs you find!

Stubborn stains can be removed with a general purpose spot cleaner – there are loads on the market and most are pretty effective, just follow the instructions on the packet.  Remember that stains should always be blotted and never rubbed – rubbing simply sets the stain and can damage cloth fibres in the process.

We sometimes use our own home-made spot cleaner which is made by mixing 1/4 cup of laundry soap with warm water.  This mixture should be applied to the stain with a clean cloth or sponge – blot the stain gently and then rinse using clean water.  The damp area can then be blotted dry with a clean towel.  It’s always a good idea to test your cleaning solution on an inconspicuous area first.

Fresh spills and stains should be tackled immediately with a clean towel to absorb as much of the spill as possible.  Often this will remove the stain altogether.

When you’re planning new seating seating for an office reception area, meeting room or waiting room a sensible option is to go for leather seating as this is one of the easiest to keep clean.

A window cleaning squeegee is the probably the most important window cleaning tool: used to remove excess water and cleaning solution from the glass, a good-quality squeegee (avoid cheap ones at all costs as chances are they won’t be up to the job) is an essential piece of window cleaning kit.

A scrubbing wand does exactly as the name implies – used for scrubbing stubborn dirt from windows, a scrubbing wand has a removable, lint-free cover that is dipped into the cleaning solution.
Having a good-quality window scraper is also very important.

Professional window scrapers which have been especially designed for the job with scrape off really stubborn dirt without scratching or damaging the glass beneath.  Razor blades or knives should never be used for cleaning windows!

Finally having some window cleaning towels to hand is important for finishing off the job.  These towels aren’t, in fact, used for cleaning the glass as that part of the job is done by the scrubbing wand, but are used for wiping up excess streaks of water that might be left by the squeegee.

Good luck and happy window cleaning!

So, what’s the best way to keep your computer clean?  Computers in home offices tend to need more frequent cleaning than those in offices.  We recommend cleaning home computers every couple of months whilst those in offices can usually get away with being cleaning less frequently – twice a year is often sufficient.

Computer cleaning kits are available but we’ve found that most aspects of computer cleaning can be carried out with basic cleaning equipment that you’ll have around the home or office anyway.  However, those aerosol air cleaning sprays can be very useful for really deep-cleaning keyboards but we’ll cover that later!

The outside casing of computer monitors and hard drives can be easily cleaned by wiping gently with a lint-free cloth that has been slightly dampened with water.  Obviously you need to avoid the use of very wet cloths or harsh solvents and detergents.  Any really tough stains can be tackled with a couple of drops of detergent on the cloth but be careful not to use any abrasive cleaners as these will scratch the plastic.

Computers and monitors have all kinds of vents and holes; dusting these carefully is a great way to maintain the ventilation of your computer, allowing sufficient airflow to keep the internal components cool and working well.  When computer vents become with dust the machine can easily overheat which can be very bad news indeed!

It’s important to remember to never spray water or any other cleaners directly onto your computer.  If you do need to use a spray it’s much safer to spray onto a cloth and to use any liquids sparingly. Vacuum cleaners can be used to clean the outside of computers but go carefully and never, ever vacuum any internal components as these can be easily damaged.  Although this might sound obvious: make sure you turn your computer off before you clean it!

What about cleaning keyboards?  Here’s a scary statistic for you: a survey carried out by Which? in 2008 found that many computer keyboards are dirtier than the average keyboard!  That’s a pretty disgusting thought!  With this in mind, it’s important to know how to keep a keyboard clean.

Start by turning off your computer.  Once you’ve done this you should pick up your keyboard and give it a good shake to loosen debris.  If you’re feeling confident it is possible to remove the keys from a keyboard although this must never be attempted on a laptop or membrane keyboard.  If you do take off the keys, the keyboard can be cleaned with a soft cloth that has been sprayed with a small amount of anti-bacterial detergent.  If you don’t want to go so far as removing the keys, it’s still possible to successfully clean a keyboard using cotton buds sprayed with anti-bac spray.  As with all computer cleaning it’s important to be gently and avoid excess liquids.

Avoiding eating whilst sitting at your desk is one of the easiest ways to help keep your computer clean.  Even if you think you’re not making a mess, the number of small crumbs and bits of food debris that can fall onto the computer and into the keyboard is mind boggling!

Having a really clean computer sitting on your desk can help to make the whole office feel cleaner and fresher!  Why not have a go at cleaning yours – maybe as part as a whole office spring clean?

We suggest taking a long hard look at your office and immediate working area: do you have to hand the things you use every day or is your desk covered in items you hardly ever use?  If you find you seem to have mounds of paper on your desk it’s time to think about improving your filing system.  All you really need on your desk is a computer, phone, pens and anything you’re working on at the time.  This makes it much easier to keep your desk looking clean.

Next it’s time to take a look at the office as a whole.  If you can see un-filed papers, over-flowing bins, dirty coffee cups and dead plants it’s definitely time to get to work on tidying up!  If you get rid of as much mess and clutter as possible your office will immediately start to feel cleaner.  Having a really good sort out should also help to make you feel more organised and a little less stressed in the process! One of our top tips is to have a quick tidy up at the end of each day!

Once you’ve de-cluttered you should find that it’s much easier to tackle any cleaning that needs to be done.  This is a great opportunity to move out the furniture and vacuum behind and clean any awkward areas that are normally too tricky to reach.

Cleaning window blinds can be one of the trickiest office cleaning jobs.   Try not to let blinds get too dirty as they really are a pain to clean if dirt and grime is allowed to build up.  Keeping on top of keeping blinds clean should be a regular job as they do become dirty surprisingly quickly.

We find the best way to give blinds a quick clean is to pull them down (or across – depending on the type of blinds you have) as far as they will go and then methodically sweep across the blind with an anti-static dusting cloth, working from the top to the bottom.
If you find that your blinds have become very dusty, we suggest putting an old cotton sock over your hand and using this like a glove to clean each blind slat individually.  You could even try spraying the sock with an anti-static cleaning spray; there are some great ones available that have been specifically designed for the job.  Simple!

Many people are put off the idea of spring cleaning as it sounds too much like a scrub-athon! However there are a few simple things you can do though to make your home or office look and feel clean and fresh.

Start by opening the windows: although it might be chilly outside, flinging the windows wide open for a little while each day can make a room smell better. Move large pieces of furniture and dust behind them – you don’t have to move everything in one go – just one item a day (or once a week if that sounds too much!), dust behind with either a duster or the vacuum cleaner.

Nowadays there’s no need to spend hours meticulously dusting every single small item as there are some great dusters on the market which have been designed to ingeniously attract dust, saving you lots of work in the process. Many vacuum cleaners have dusting attachments – use this and you’ll save yourself hours. Don’t forget that using your vacuum cleaner is a quick way to clean curtains and blinds; use the dusting attachment carefully and your window fittings will soon look as good as new!

Remember that the insides of windows can get very mucky over the winter. We think one of the easiest ways to clean windows is to wipe the glass with a soapy solution and then remove excess water with a squeegee, wiping the blade after each wipe with a mircofibre cloth.

Mould can quickly build up on surfaces during cold weather. Now’s a good time to check around for any mouldy patches – behind heavy furniture is often a problem area – and clean off any mould using a specialist mould removing cleaner. Remember to test on fabric or paintwork on an inconspicuous area first. Plenty of ventilation is a good way to keep on top of mould so get those windows open!

Finally why not think about arranging to have your carpets professionally cleaned? A dirty carpet can make a whole room feel grimy so having them really thoroughly cleaned at least once a year is a sensible plan to keep them look at their best.

Further announcements will be will be posted on many more pending office cleaning contracts that are due for renewals before February 2012.

One of the many comments that has recently been mentioned on many occasions is that Cleanserv staff are continually been praised for there reliability and consistency of cleaning services provided and this is one of the main reasons clients are renewing contracts year after year even in a tough climate as we are all experiencing currently clients are getting consistent value provided by Cleanserv Ltd backed by our 100% guarantees and monitoring systems both parties are extremely happy.

Happy  Office cleaning Leeds!!