24 Hour Spring Clean Challenge

Spring cleaning is a task I love and loathe in equal measure.  I love it because it is a sign of new beginnings, a clean and tidy house ready for the start of the spring season after the cold and dark winter months. A fresh start with a new uncluttered outlook and shiny, new disposition. But I also hate it, simply because of the enormity of the challenge.  Where do you even begin?  Where do you find the motivation to get up and start the monumental task?

This year, I have been challenged to take on the 24 hour Spring Clean Challenge.  The gauntlet has been laid to see if I can clean my house from top to bottom in just one day.  I love a good challenge, so this is exactly the motivation I need to get on my rubber gloves and blitz every room from my bedroom to the bathroom. They sent me the cleaning products I'd need, plus some wine to celebrate once the job was done.

Spring cleaning has a great hidden benefit too.  It burns calories!  So not only does my house get a good deep clean - I get a good work-out! Plus, if you get a good mood boosting playlist together, you can have some fun and get some moves a-busting while you do the dusting!  I blasted out a bit of Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell to get me in the mood for some hardcore cleaning action.


The Spring Cleaning Schedule

9.00 - Get prepared with a good breakfast to give you all the energy you need for the challenge ahead.

ROOM 1 - The Kitchen

9.30 - For many people, the oven is the most dreaded and the messiest household chore, but you can make light work of it by using a specialist oven cleaning product such as Oven Pride.  You simply place the shelves and trays into the bags provided with the product and then spread the remaining product around the inside of the oven. (Making sure you wear protective gloves!)  This is then left until the next morning.

When it comes to oven cleaning, I actually feel a little bit smug!  As vegetarians, we don't get any dripping animal fat or meat spatter and so my oven stays pretty clean, glass door and all...so this job isn't the worst task for me at all.

10.00 - Start the surface deep clean. Using an antibacterial spray wipe over all the surfaces and under all the appliances.  Making all the work surfaces germ-free clean helps keep the family safe from a whole range of nasty bacteria.

10.15 - Spray the sink, taps and draining board with antibacterial spray and Limelite, being sure to clean all the crevices.  Finish by pouring some bleach down the drain for a hygienically clean sink. Don't forget to clean the draining rack, they get really mucky!

10.30 - Using Erase Away magic erasers, erase all those dirty finger marks and smudges from the cupboard doors and appliances.  They work remarkably well and I even managed to shift some stubborn marks from the hob!

11.00 - It's time for a coffee and a healthy snack to restore energy levels.

11.15 - Now it's time to tackle the cupboards.  Chuck out long forgotten items that have been lurking in the depths of the cupboards. Make sure the items with the shortest dates are most accessible. Move the smallest things to the front. Donate any unwanted tins and packets to the local food bank.  Clean the shelves as you go, using anti-bacterial spray. It's so nice to have well organised, easily managed cupboards in the kitchen. Using plastic containers to store all the fiddly, little bits and bobs makes it easier to manage the contents!

ROOM 2  - The Bathroom

11.45 - Get ready to don those rubber gloves!  Spray the shower, bath, sink and plug with Limelite spray to remove limescale and prevent future build up.  Use antibacterial spray on all the other surfaces and finish with a good squirt of bleach around the toilet bowl. Throw out and recycle all those empty bottles of shower gel and cans of hairspray and check your make-up bag for any cosmetics that you've not used for months.  Make-up harbours germs and shouldn't be kept for too long.

The Limelite Active Gel and the spray clean incredibly well.  I was very impressed that the gel shifted the build up from around the taps and the plug.  I used the spray on my glass shower door and also on the shower head and both came up really clean.

12.15 - Time for a well deserved lunch break!

ROOM 3 - The Living Room

1.15 - You're half way there  - but now it's time to tackle what's under the sofa.  I once found half a slightly fossilised crumpet under mine, along with various pieces of LEGO, toy cars and some rogue Smarties!  I use a long handled broom to reach right under the couch.

I have a leather sofa and have found that baby wipes do an excellent job of cleaning it. If you have a fabric sofa, you can hoover it and plump up the cushions. Give the TV stand and the DVD player, Sky+ Box, games consoles etc a good dusting. They attract so much dust!

The Hallway

1.45 - Get the kids involved by challenging them to remove marks from the walls using an Erase Away eraser. They love to help, and if pointed in the right direction can be pretty useful for the task in hand.

ROOM 4 - The Bedroom

2.00 - The biggest challenge in  my bedroom is my wardrobe.  It's stuffed with clothing in sizes 12 through to 18, with some items that haven't seen the light of day since before the millennium!  Spring cleaning is a great opportunity for a brutal clear out.  If you haven't worn in it 12 months, you are unlikely to ever wear it!  So chuck it out...and donate it to the local charity shop.  They benefit from your generous donation and your wardrobe no longer resembles the entrance to Narnia!

3.00 - Take a break...it's almost over!

3.15 - Vacuum all carpets and floorspace.  Shift the furniture to get underneath and eliminate all those dust bunnies that have been gathering.  Use the vacuum cleaner hose in the corners of the ceiling to get rid of any lurking cobwebs. You can't keep making the excuse that you are nurturing them for next Halloween!

3.45 - Dust the remaining furniture and freshen up any non-wood surfaces with anti-bacterial spray. Give the light switches and door handles a quick clean too, they can get so mucky!

4.15 -  With your house looking clean and tidy, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You will have burned an estimated 800 calories so why not treat yourself to a glass of wine and a takeaway (after all your oven is out of action until you finish cleaning it by wiping away the Oven Pride and rinsing the shelves at 9.00 in the morning, completing the 24 hour spring clean challenge!)

Make Your Home Sparkle With A Clean, Green Conscience

A  new eco-friendly cleaning range Naturally Powered has been launched which  allows you to clean with exceptional results while caring for the environment.  With cleaning, laundry and washing up products available, they make every household task greener.  Plant-based cleaning ingredients such as coconut, potato, corn and wheat are used instead of using chemicals derived from fossil fuels. Combination technology mixes small quantities of different ingredients to work together in a highly effective way.  The manufacture of the products supports the cultivation and production of ecological GreenPalm certified palm oil and encourages sustainability.

The range aims to create as little waste as possible, coming in lightweight, 100% recycled bottles.  Laundry detergents have been developed to be used at low temperatures and the range is made with a concentrated dosage to reduce the environmental impact. However, there has been no compromise on the quality of the products.  In tests they have scored on a par or better than the leading brands.  This means your house will be as clean as your environmental conscience by choosing Naturally Powered products!

I was sent a selection of the products to try and have been testing their effectiveness in my household chores.

Antibacterial Multi-Surface Spray 500ml (RRP: £1.80)  This colourless spray kills 99.9% of nasty bacteria and leaves surfaces taint free.  It gives peace of mind, keeping surfaces germ-freee and clean. It is perfect to spray onto Freddy's potty to keep it hygienically clean.

All-in-One Citrus Toilet Gel 750ml (RRP: £1.50)  This lemon scented gel cleans, disinfects, freshens and removes limescale from the toilet.  The consistency is good and leaves the toilet looking spotless with a quick scrub.  It kills 99.9% of bacteria which is very important with a toddler who is toilet training.

Concentrated Lemon Washing-Up Liquid 500ml (RRP: £1.25)  This is the product I used the most, with the plates, cups, cutlery and pans from feeding a family of five to wash up!  The lemon scented, thick liquid goes a long way.  It foams up well and shifts grease with ease.  It was every bit as good as my usual brand.

Concentrated Non-Bio Laundry Powder 800g (RRP £3.50) This is a powerful cleaning detergent and works well at low temperatures.  It contains enough for 13 washes.  You don't need a lot of the concentrated powder to wash a load of laundry.

Fabric Conditioner Morning Breeze 750ml (RRP: £1.50) This leaves clothes super soft, fragranced and fresh.  It is also kind to the skin so suitable for my little ones' clothing.  Again, it performed as well as my usual leading brand.

All the products were good, nothing negative to report at all. They perform so well you wouldn't guess they were eco!  The pricing is very good and you are not paying a huge premium to do your bit for the environment.  They are a unique, innovative and ecological essential for every home.  It feels good knowing they are kind on the planet, allowing each of us to easily make one small change for the sake of the environment.

The products are available on their website naturally-powered.com or from Tesco stores nationwide.

*I received some samples to test but received no compensation for this post.*

Spring Cleaning the Natural & Clean Way

Natural & Clean are cleaning specialists who offer a wide range of innovative and environmentally friendly travel, pet and household cleaning products, to make our homes fresh, clean and odour free.

With Spring Cleaning season fast approaching, and with us about to put our house on the market, I was very pleased to be sent a selection of these products to test out.  The company ethos is to create, distribute and sell the finest quality cleaning products that respect the Earth.  The products do not contain any animal based products and are not tested on animals.  Made without harsh chemicals, they are also kind to those of us who live in the house being cleaned, which is really important when you have children.

The Natural & Clean range includes carpet and upholstery cleaning products.  I was particularly pleased to receive these as our beige stairway and hall carpet is looking slightly worse for wear and would benefit from a good clean.

The Dry Carpet Cleaner is a really innovative product.  Millions of tiny sponge like granules absorb dirt when agitated into the carpet.  The pack comes with a brush to work it into the pile.  The granules absorb dirt from the carpet fibres and change colour.  They can then be simply vacuumed away.  It is very easy to use and leaves the carpet smelling fresh and looking cleaner.  Knowing there is nothing unnatural in the product is very reassuring with a toddler in the house.  The cleaner looks a lot like damp sand, which goes to work straight away.  After about 10 minutes you can hoover it up.  The carpet definitely looks better for the treatment and looks less aged.  It currently costs £5.19 for a 500g pouch.

The Spot Remover Spray targets tough spots and spills directly.  Made with high quality natural ingredients means it is free from solvents, bleach or phosphates.  To use, you spray onto an absorbent cloth and rub over the spill.  It is even suitable on wool.  The  discolouration is lifted from the carpet.  It is an effective and safe way to tackle stains.  I tried it on a muddy print on my stair carpet and it lifted a lot of the discolouration very quickly and easily.  I'll be targeting more of my carpet with this later, and hopefully make it look much cleaner for any prospective buyers!  There are also Spot Remover Wipes for extra convenience. They are effective on coffee, tea, food grease, pet accidents, soft drinks etc and can be used on most fabrics. With messy kids, these are a must have!  The wipes foam up when you use them, but quickly dry to a powder meaning there is no sticky residue.  Each wipe goes a long way so one would tackle a spill effectively.  Both the spray and 25 pack of wipes each cost £3.43.

The Bin Deodoriser is a powerful formulation which attacks the cause of unwanted odours, neutralising and removing them.  You simply spray it onto offending areas such as the kitchen bin, wheelie bins, cat litter trays, nappy bins or waste disposal units.  You can also spray the internal surfaces of bins after each bag change to keep them smelling fresh.  Powerful active microbes neutralise the pong instantly.  I was really impressed by this product.  It didn't mask the stink with an artificial fragrance, it made the smell disappear.  It is safe for pets and people so you don't have to worry about harsh chemicals in your home.  It is just £3.39 for a 300ml trigger spray bottle.  It is perfect for freshening up every bin in the house.  I wish I'd had this when Fred was still in nappies because they made the bin reek! 

All the products have performed really effectively.  The packaging has good information and clear instructions for each product's use.  I love that they are environmentally friendly, not tested on animals and safe.  I was impressed to find a brand that does not compromise on its company ethos or the quality of its products!  I'd recommend taking a look online for the full range of pet, baby, travel and household cleaning products.

You can purchase directly from the Natural and Clean website and orders over £50 are free.

*I received samples to test but no compensation was received.*