With Diwali just around the corner, the upcoming days are jam-packed with family gatherings, social get-togethers, and evenings of celebration with our loved ones. Cleaning our homes before Laxmi Puja forms an important part of the run up for Diwali.
As you plan the upcoming festivities with your friends and family, here are some tips from Monika Stuczen, Research Scientist in Microbiology, Dyson for a stress-free clean to maintain a cleaner and healthier home.
Tips before you start with the cleaning process:
Invest in the right tools
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to cleaning. Different types of surfaces and spaces around the home require different tools to ensure all the dust and debris is picked up and removed completely. Sweeping and dusting may make surfaces look clean, but it does not remove dust from the home. Instead, it merely agitates the dust, causing it to become airborne, only to settle somewhere else in the room.
- Invest in a Vacuum Cleaner – Cord-free vacuum cleaners make great cleaning tools as its versatile format means you don’t have to spend time getting the machine out from a cupboard, plugging it in and moving it around. They also have numerous attachments to ensure precise cleaning around tricky edges and hard-to-reach narrow spaces in your home.
- Use natural cleaning products – Many people are unaware that the cleaning products that promise to keep your home spotless are packed with allergen-causing chemicals such as formaldehyde. Choose organic and natural products this Diwali to ensure no potential serious problems occur for you and the environment.
Plan a cleaning schedule that works for you
With all the hassle that comes with Diwali cleaning, creating a cleaning schedule is one of the most important things you can do to keep your home clean and organised.
- Create a task checklist – First and foremost, break down each task individually to create a house cleaning schedule that efficiently works for you. Although this appears to be the simplest step, it is the most crucial. It feels great and motivates you to cross each item off the list. Take your time and be thorough.
- Prioritise areas which are used less. Begin with areas that are not used much and then move to the most frequented spaces as they are likely to get messy again quickly.
- Go room by room to avoid overwhelming yourself – You’ll exhaust yourself if you try to clean the entire place in one go. Not to mention that the work would be subpar, and you would be sore from all the strenuous labour. So, segment your house into, preferably, rooms, and clean them one at a time. Start planning at least a week in advance to ensure that you have enough time.
The cleaning process
Use masks and gloves
Dust particles are extremely small and light and the cleaning process may agitate accumulated dust causing them to become airborne, allowing allergens to enter your eyes, nose, and mouth, resulting in sneezing, and rubbing your eyes. It is best to clean your home while wearing a mask. If your skin reacts to allergens, make sure you wear a pair of gloves as a smart step to protect yourself from these allergens.
Instead of just cleaning, declutter
The initial step in cleaning your home for Diwali is to get rid of any clutter that you believe is no longer useful. Extra, unused, unwanted, and unnecessary items are to blame for making your home appear dirty and untidy. Donate, recycle, or throw away anything you haven’t used since the last Diwali, and you’ll have completed half of your work.
Top-to-bottom cleaning hack
Always clean your room from top to bottom so you capture any fallen airborne dust as you go. Begin by dusting the cobwebs and ceiling, then move to the walls, bookshelves and furniture. Clean your floor only at the end using the different cleaner heads depending on the type of floor.
- Clean the top-mounted appliances first. While they might be hard to reach, with the right vacuum cleaner attachment, you won’t leave any inch dirty. Don’t forget to switch off the appliances while cleaning them.
- Remove any wall-mounted items (photo frames, clocks) and vacuum the dust that has accumulated on the walls. Use the Dyson combi tool so that you don’t put any scratches on the items. Don’t forget to vacuum around any immovable furniture’s crevices (bookcases, televisions).
- Dust the walls with a vacuum with an advanced filtration system to ensure that the dust you are removing is trapped in the bin and not expelled back into the home. Dust on certain types of walls can also contribute to mould growth.
- Don’t forget about the curtains and blinds. If you can’t wash them, vacuum the dust away with the combi tool.
Neglected spots
Majority of people vacuum their floors regularly but overlook other areas such as mattresses, walls, and ceilings. We roughly spend one-third of our lives in our beds. It may look clean, but it can be a hotbed for millions of dust mites which could be impacting your well-being. Dust appears to be innocuous; it includes dust mites, bacteria, small insects, and other particles. They are unseen by the naked eye and are widely distributed throughout your home, including floors, sofas, and beds. Sitting on a sofa, for example, causes particles to float in the air, which can cause an allergic reaction. To make your cleaning ritual effective, don’t forget to clean the most neglected spaces such as mattresses, pet baskets and shelves.
Use an air purifier
Indoor air pollution is a commonly overlooked problem – from burning candles that may emit VOCs like formaldehyde, to combustion from cooking which releases gasses that are harmful to people’s well-being. Just like how it is imperative that people remove dust from their homes, removing these particles from the air is just as important.
Follow these hacks to make your home Diwali-ready!
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