Whether you're revamping your home, planning a rebuild or renovation or simply want to care for your home a bit better, starting small and doing it right is always a good strategy.
Few things make a home feel more clean and tidy than sparkling floors and windows and learning to clean these properly is worth the effort.
Author of The Gaff Goddess and property portfolio developer Laura De Barra, joined Brendan Courtney on The Ray D'Arcy Show to share her tips, tricks and advice on flooring and windows for your home - and as it turns out, there's one combo that the expert returns to again and again for both.
With floors, start by thinking about the kind of flooring you have, be it solid or engineered wood, or laminate. "I find a lot of people just use too much moisture on them", she said.
"A lot of people clean with a soaking wet mop, you see a lot of that in a lot of trends online but the mop should be wrung out, it should be a very wrung out cloth." This is because a lot of types of flooring, she said, "hate moisture" which can warp them.
If you have a solid wood floor with an oil finish, De Barra noted that you need to use an oil based cleaner to clean the floor or else it strips the finish.
But that's if you're still using a mop, of course. De Barra added that many people have pivoted away from the traditional mop and are using vacuum cleaners that have a cleaning attachment instead.
For tiles, a steamer is a brilliant tool to invest in, as Brendan attested to. However, they are not to be used on wood or laminate, De Barra noted. "But it's perfect for tile and it would clean the grout really well, as well."
If you've mastered cleaning and buffing your wood floor to perfection, how should you protect it for the future? De Barra said it's all about the products you use on it.
"No matter what you have, never use any kind of harsh cleaner. A tiny bit of vinegar in water can help, but it is acidic so you don't want to use too much. Quite often you'll get a really good wood cleaner that's recommended with the brand you've bought."
This is where her winning homemade mixture for cleaning comes in. For a small spill, De Barra uses a "damp cloth with a bit of washing up liquid and warm water and not too much, and it'll just take it off because usually it's something that you'd wash off a plate that's just fallen in the kitchen anyway".
If you've got pets or children, avoid cleaners that have VOCs - volatile organic compounds - in them, instead choosing something more natural, she added.
For a "total reset" on your floor, De Barra suggested getting a microfibre cloth and scrubbing the floor with washing up liquid and water - but again, not too much.
When it comes to windows, De Barra suggested avoiding traditional window cleaners and sprays.
"What they usually are is just a product that basically reduces the surface tension on the glass as soon as possible so it dries really quickly and prevents streaking, but it can leave a layer that can attract more dust."
Instead, she uses - you guessed it - washing up liquid and water with a squeegee and a microfibre cover that attaches onto it.
"What I would do first is focus on cleaning the window, like, scrubbing it. So you dip it into the water and then I work in circular motions so I wash and scrub that window as if I'm cleaning, again, a plate or something like that. Then I will squeeze out the mop, you can use a microfibre cloth or whatever and wash down the window."
The trick, she said, is to do this in a figure 8 motion rather than up and down. "What you're doing is smoothly carrying the liquid all the way down and then I do a swipe with the cloth at the end. That will be dry in seconds, you're not using something that's leaving residue on it that's attracting more dust."
For more tips, listen back to the full interview above.
