Portsmouth NHS cleaners reveal best ways to keep your home dirt and germ free

To help us do so several NHS cleaners working around Portsmouth have shared some of their top tips.

1. Cleaning the bathroom

To give bathroom tiles a great clean, put some bleach on a cotton bud and rub it along the grout in places where you see mould, suggests Charly Giles, a domestic assistant for NHS facilities in Portsmouth.

‘After a couple of minutes, rub another cotton bud along the grout to absorb the bleach and wipe away any mould residue and they’ll be as good as new,’ she says.

‘While you’re doing your bathroom spruce-up, pour some bicarbonate of soda down your sink plug hole and watch it quite literally bubble away all the dirt. It leaves your plug holes looking clean and even makes them smell really nice, getting rid of any bad bathroom smells – bonus!’

2. Cleaning the kitchen

Another domestic assistant for NHS facilities in Portsmouth, Colleen Brain, recommends using lemon juice in the kitchen.

She says: ‘It’s quick and easy, and loosens grease up before you clean, making your chores a lot easier.

‘As a nice bonus, lemon also makes your kitchen or bathroom smell inviting and fresh – no wonder so many cleaning products are lemon scented. It’s a great environmentally-friendly alternative to use the real thing when you can!’

And for cleaning the oven, simple soap and washing up liquid can work wonders, says Maureen Giles, a domestic at Werrington Health Centre in Peterborough.

‘If you’re like me and keep putting off cleaning your oven, just take out all the shelves, pop them in a shallow tray of soap, hot water and washing up liquid, and leave them for as long as you can. When you come to scrub them clean, the build-up just comes right off,’ she says.

3. Cleaning the living room

For hard-to-reach places behind sofas or cabinets, use a little hand brush to clean, suggests Dawn Cromack, a domestic assistant at Cleveland Health Centre.

And Kelly Barton from the Integrated Care System (ICS) South Cumbria & Lancashire, adds: ‘When you’re dusting, carry a spray bottle of water and spritz your brush to prevent dust from flying into the air or falling from high areas.’

4. Cleaning wooden furniture

Don’t forget to clean the wooden furniture in your home, says Lee Pearson, a general assistant at St Charles Hospital in London.

‘A lot of people often forget wood needs cleaning regularly too – dust and germs can collect there as we use and touch our furniture so often,’ he says.

SEE ALSO: More than 300 NHS workers in Portsmouth not vaccinated against Covid

‘I use mineral spirits on a simple microfibre cloth to remove the dirt and lift it off almost instantly, and then a little eco-friendly trick is to add some essential oil (I like lavender) to furniture polish to give it a final buff. It looks great and the oils smell wonderful for a long time. In winter, I like to use warm and homely essential oil scents like orange, clove and cinnamon in my cleaning – they make my home smell like Christmas.’

5. No need for harsh chemicals

Look for readily available cleaning ingredients in your home, suggests Piotr Kolenda, a domestic assistant for the NHS in Portsmouth.

He says: ‘There’s no need to use harsh chemicals if you have two of my favourite cleaners at hand – simple white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

‘These are fantastic for so many things, but I love using them to remove stubborn stains quickly. After a few minutes their smell goes away, so you’ll never even know they were used as cleaners – but the results are brilliant.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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