One of the great issues with smoke is that it knows no boundaries. Spills tend to be confined to one area of the floor where they remain isolated. But smoke is not confined by gravity, and can find its way behind curtains and into small corners. Anything that absorbs smoke will tend to retain the smell. Removing the smell is both a matter of finding all the affected areas and of applying the right techniques.

Cigarette smoke-
– Liberally sprinkle carpets and furniture with baking soda. Curtains will have to be removed and washed. These can be treated with baking soda if necessary.
– It desired some lavender, vanilla or other scent can be added to the baking soda.
– Leave the baking soda on the surface for at least 24 to 48 hours.
– Sweep and then vacuum away the baking soda and dispose of it.
– Let the room air out for a day or two. Open windows and use fans.
Hard floors should be cleaned with diluted ammonia. Always keep areas ventilated when using ammonia.
Wipe down all other hard surfaces with diluted white vinegar.

Other Smoke
Other types of smoke tend to be more extreme that the smell of tobacco. Using baking soda sometimes works. Else, you can use a professional ozone generator.

Ozone generators break down the molecules that cause almost all odours, but they are unsafe for living creatures. If using an ozone generator the house should be left unoccupied. The house doors and windows should be shut, and any people or pets should leave the house while the ozone generator is left to work. After several hours the ozone generator should be deactivated and the house should be ventilated again. Any smell of smoke should be removed.

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Avoid:
2-butoxyethanol
This irritates eyes and damages red blood cells. It is quite deviously included in many green ‘environmentally friendly’ products.

Heavy Duty Oven Cleaners.
Perhaps there is a safe oven cleaning aerosol out there, but we have yet to find it. The chemicals in these cleaners are really corrosive, which is where their too-good-to-be-true cleaning properties come from. Do you really want to use these chemicals in the same oven where you cook your food?
Ovens can be cleaned with baking soda and vinegar; Google for advice. Cleaning spills as they occur, and frequently cleaning the oven in general, will make the oven cleaning task much easier.

Safety Goggle Products.
Anything that requires you to protect your eyes is probably too strong to be safely used. Find an alternative cleaner.

Mixing Products
Chemistry is complex and best left to those who have the right qualifications. It can literally be life threatening to mix ammonia with bleach or vinegar – the resulting gas is highly toxic.

General Problems.
Be rid of anything that might be causing irritation. Even if the effects seem to dissipate quickly the product is probably causing long term harm.

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This seems easy for some people and families, and a perpetual problem for others. There’s probably a large book to be written on the reasons and psychology behind this. But if clutter is an issue there are ways to massively improve the situation you are in.

Set some time aside to plan a compete change in the house. Think of ways to have rooms set our efficiently. Think of hotels and libraries, only you will live there.

Find the things that do need to be disposed of, and simply get rid of them. Old bathroom products, cosmetic and similar item in the kitchen need to go. 2 years is about the limit for anything of this nature. Then find any items that have been doubled up on- keep you good blender and coffee machine, and give the old ones away.

Find items that need to kept, but not out in the open. You can either box then for the attic of find space in the back of kitchen cupboards. If you have suitcases for annual travel you can use these for storage space.

Keep floors as clear as possible, and use storage space above your head. Bookshelves at head height don’t feel as intrusive as storages space at your feet, especially if they are half filled or contain a lot of decorations. If bookshelves do house a lot of books you may find you can store a second layer of books behind the first. Keep the front layer for neat books and matching box sets.

Use storage space under your tables, television, furniture …etc. Keep to surfaces clear or very sparse.

Light coloured furniture and walls help a feel more open, as do windows and natural light. Redecoration can make a room feel very different. What we see as untidy and dirty is occasionally just a drab look.

Do one room at a time; a bedroom is often a good starting point. Set aside a day and redo the whole room. Good results in one room can inspire you get the whole house up to the same standard.

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Before the New Carpet is installed.

• Find out if you have to move the furniture beforehand, or if the carpet installers are doing the moving. Even if the installers do perform this service you will probably have to empty clothes out of draws and wardrobes in order to make the furniture lighter.
• What is the situation with the old carpet? Will the installers dispose of it, and is there an extra fee for this. Perhaps the old carpet, or part of it, can be used for a spare room.
• Is the new carpet thicker than the old carpet? If so, there might be trouble with doors having sufficient clearance. It might be necessary to remove 1 few millimetres of the bottom of a door.
• Carpet rolls are large, but not continuous. Look at where seams might be, and discuss this with the installers. Some carpets hide seams almost perfectly. Other carpets need seams to be integrated into the overall house design. Seams in doorways look quite natural; seams in the middle of the room look like a mistake.
• See if the new carpet requires coasters to go under furniture legs.

Room Preparation

• Vacuum the old carpet. Old carpets will tend to put dust and fibre into the air when moved. The more you can minimalize this the better.
• If you are doing any other decorations, such as painting, fitting ceiling lights, decorating railing or wallpapering, this should be done before the new carpet is being installed.
• Try to keep the room at a regular temperature. Materials can contract and expand with heat and cold. Issues are rare, but it is best if the carpet does not expand or contract after installation.

Installation

• When the room has had the carpet and underlay removed be sure the underlying floor is thoroughly vacuumed. This will be your only chance to clean this for many years to come.
• Inspect the carpet as it goes in. If there is a fault it is best to discover it now.
• If you haven’t already looked at stain proofing/scotch guarding, now is about the best time to do it.
• Ventilate the room for several days to be rid of the formaldehyde and ‘new carpet smell’. Leave windows open and let a fan run in the room. It helps to have indoor plants in the room to absorb the formaldehyde. Consider keeping the plants permanently in the room to help with indoor air quality.

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Suitcases might suffer wear if you are a frequent traveller, or they might accumulate dust if you only ever take an annual vacation.  A few rough edges might add character to a case, and maybe even deter the thieves; but there is something appealing about setting off on holiday with a neat case that is packed in a tidy manner, even if will be a cluttered mess by the time you return.

• Empty the case. And keep hold of the foreign coins and other treasures you find left forgotten in the many pockets. Many lost cufflinks and earing are found this way.
• Vacuuming with a brush attachment is usually a good start. Vacuuming the inside, where socks and underwear go, is important if you want to avoid mysterious itching later on.
• Try gently rubbing down the surface with a damp cloth. Use a small amount of diluted soap if necessary, but test on an inconspicuous part of the bag first.

Leather Bags

Use saddle soap or anything formulated for leather. Avoid getting leather actually wet, though a damp cloth is usually ok.

Hard surfaces

Hard cases can be cleaned with mild sprays. Wipe off quickly and remove residue with a damp cloth.

Melamine erasers (Magic eraser) can remove many scuff marks, but they can also scratch some soft surfaces. Test on an inconspicuous area.

Soft Cloth Bags

These are probably too big for the washing machine and risky as zips will damage the machine’s insides. Washing in a laundry sink is often a good option. Use some mild soap and rinse afterward.

DO NOT WASH CLOTH IF THE WATER WILL DAMAGE CARDBOARD STIFFENERS.

Always let the bag thoroughly dry before being stored or used.

If the inside of the bag has any odour try some bicarbonate of soda on the surface. Leave it for a day or two and the vacuum. Use a lavender sachet or something similar when storing the bag for any period of time. Anything used to deodorize sock draws will probably be good here.

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• Rub the furniture with a clean cloth. Some people like microfiber cloths for this. Ay dust left on the surface will ruin the wax finish.
• Add wax to a clean microfiber cloth (not one used for the dusting!). Apply the wax thinly in small areas using circular motions. Avoid thick layers as they will look poor when dried. You need not need to follow the patterns of the wood grain
• Wax should take about 20 minutes to dry, depending on the moisture in the air. Check an inconspicuous area of the furniture; the wax should not be tacky.
• When dry, buff the wax with a very soft cloth, the softer the better. Simply buff in a circular motion. When the surface does not get any shinier, you can stop.
• Wooden furniture works well with ‘paste wax’ or ‘finishing wax’, though other waxes will indicate if they are appropriate for wood.

Where necessary, use cushions, doilies or other materials to prevent the furniture from being scratched.

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• Clean cast iron pot and pans with salt. Iron cookware is seasoned with oil before first being used. Cleaning with salt means this seasoning/cure is not ruined and need not be reapplied.
• Clothes irons can also be cleaned with salt.
• The tracks on sliding doors and windows can be cleaned with vinegar.
• A mattress can be cleaned with baking soda. Sprinkle it on the mattress and leave it for several hours. Then vacuum. A mattress protector and an UV light wand are also recommended.
• Venetian blinds can be cleaned with an old sock. Put the sock on you hand like a glove and run the slats of the blind between your thumb and first finger. Add a little vinegar if you wish.
• Clean light globes and fittings with a soft paintbrush.
• Bicarbonate of soda, made into a paste, will clean many surfaces, including wooden doors and bench tops.
• Clean a showerhead with vinegar in a plastic bag. Fill the bag partway with white vinegar, and then tie it so that the showerhead is soaking in the liquid. Leave this for a few hours, and then rinse with cold water for a minute or two.
• Canned air (an aerosol can) is useful for cleaning tight corners and hard to reach places.
• Wax paper can clean faucets.
• Cream of tartar is good for cleaning stainless steel items like toasters.
• Affix a cloth to a chopstick or wooden spoon to clean between dual layers of glass.

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