It is fall time again and for many of us that means fall cleaning, but with the weather being so great, who wants to spend any longer cleaning on the weekend than you normally would on chores.  Here is some advice on swapping out your basic cleaning routines with deeper more strategic tasks:

♦ Skip your routine vacuuming and instead vacuum under the bed and/or couch.  Take area rugs outside and give them a vigorous shake.

♦ Let your regular kitchen cleaning go undone one week and clean out the fridge and/or pantry.

♦ Forgo cleaning the mirror for one week and instead clean the bathroom floor and toilet basin.

♦ Don’t bother cleaning the tub, instead clean grout or clean the shower head with vinegar.

♦ Throw the mattress cover and pillow shams in with your regular laundry or put off some laundry until next week and clean all of your linens.

♦ Leave the dust on the furniture for a week and wipe down baseboards.

These deep cleaning tasks will take no time, but are a good idea:

♦ Add vinegar to the bottom of an empty dishwasher and turn it on the energy save cycle.  Turn it off ½ way through and let it set at the bottom.  After a ½ hour (or more) resume the cycle and your dishwasher will be clean.

♦ Clean the washer by filling it with a cup of vinegar and a cup of baking soda.  Close the lid and let it agitate for a bit then leave it open for an hour (or overnight).  Close the lid and let it return to the normal cycle.  The cycle should use hot water and if your washer has this feature an extra rinse cycle.

♦ Add vinegar and an oxygen bleach (or if you are like me a bleach product) in the toilet basin, close the seat and let it sit overnight.

By swapping out your normal routine on alternate weeks, your regular chores get done and your house gets deep cleaned.  Plus you get to still enjoy the weekends.

The post Deep Cleaning Tips That Won’t Take All Weekend appeared first on White Oak Terrace Apartments Blog.

Cleaning your bathroom isn’t a chore most of us look forward to; here are some tips to making it easier giving you more time to have fun in and around your ??? apartment.

1. After you shower wipe down the faucets with a cloth and the tub with a squeegee. Be sure to use a cloth to wipe down corners and ledges where the squeegee won’t go.
2. Don’t forget to pull the shower curtain closed when not in use. This will prevent water from sitting in the folds.
3. Keep your toilet clean by using a bleach product or a white vinegar, flush the toilet and pour in (or spray) and leave overnight. Be sure to close the lid.  Scrub clean and flush.
4. Give the pipes a good cleaning by pourng ½ cup of backing soda down the drain, followed by ½ cup of vinegar. Allow the mixture to foam up and then pour boiling hot water down the drain.  This will wash out any clogs and help sanitize the drain.  Don’t forget the sink drain as well.
5. Keep disposable antibacterial wipes handy and wipe down faucets and the sink top each day.
6. Remove soap scum with a mixture of white vinegar and water. Many experts recommend getting the area warm before spraying by turning the shower on using hot water.
7. Remove bleach in grouts with a mixture of water and bleach (you can use oxygen bleach if you are concerned about chlorine bleach). The mixture is 10 parts water to one part bleach.  Let it sit and then brush with a grout brush or an old SOFT tooth brush.
8. Towels should be hung so that they dry completely.
9. Be sure to clean bacteria and mildew from bath toys using a vinegar and water solution. Don’t forget to clean bath sponges and wipe down your shampoos regularly.
10. Vacuum the bathroom floor before cleaning and use a two sided mop, one side being microfiber.

Follow these ten tips will help keep your apartment’s bathroom clean.

The post Bathroom Cleaning Tips for Your Encino Apartment appeared first on White Oak Terrace Apartments Blog.

• Dust shelves, blinds, vents, moldings, light fixtures — anything that creates dust.
• Wash your windows and wash them good!
• Clean window treatments as well.
• Flip your mattress, you should always do this every season!
• Change your winter bedding to a spring/summer bedding.
• Vacuum and shampoo your carpet, this should be done once a year.

The post Get Your Encino Apartment Ready for Spring appeared first on White Oak Terrace Apartments Blog.