TweetMany tools are available to those wishing to grown their own fruit and vegetables using natural toxin-free methods. One method commonly used by organic farmers on a large scale and small allotment or backyard growers alike is crop rotation.
Crop rotation is a way of reducing pests and especially diseases in plants that is a long-term solution rather than a quick-fix for an infestation or infection. Crop rotation is a preventative measure rather than a cure or treatment. Basically, the principle of crop rotation is that any diseases or infections that might affect a plant linger in the soil. By moving Crop A to fresh soil, and moving Crop B, which isn’t affected by that particular bacterium, mildew or virus into Crop ‘s old soil, both Crop A and Crop B will be healthy and less disease-prone.
There’s another aspect to crop rotation which relates to soil health and available nutrients in the soil. Some crops are “heavy feeders” that require a lot of nutrients to do well. Others don’t need as much. And still others add nutrients into the soil. Plants in the third category are the legumes, which have beneficial bacteria living on their roots that take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil, where the nitrates become available for other plants.
Generally speaking, there are two things that a gardener London or grower has to bear in mind when rotating crops:
1. You should not sow plants of the same genus into the same patch of soil two plantings running. For example, if you have planted Patch A with brassicas in spring, you should not re-plant it with brassicas when re-sowing in early autumn/late summer.
2. Ideally, a patch should first be sown with legumes, then with heavy feeders and then with light feeders before beginning the cycle again.
However, canny gardeners also have to bear companion planting in mind, and remember which species are good companions. For example, if Patch A has been sown with carrots and onions (one of the best known pairings), it should not be re-sown with close relatives of either carrots or onions next time.
When you are first setting up a garden plot, it pays to divide the plot into sections (Patch A, Patch B, Patch C, etc.) and to draw a map of these. Then get out a pencil and plan each sowing so you can rotate. It can be a bit like doing one of those logic puzzles or Sudoku puzzles to make sure good companions stay together, crops are rotated properly and soil nutrients are catered for. After a while – maybe about two or three years of gardening – you will get into a pattern. This is your crop rotation pattern.
To make things easier, you can follow heavy feeder with heavy feeder if you lavish compost and other organic fertilizers into the patch in question. Naturally, perennial plants (berries, rhubarb, asparagus, perennial herbs and globe artichokes) stay put and are not part of the rotation. And don’t forget that a patch can lie fallow for a season growing a “green manure” of weeds that will be dug in later if things get really complicated.
Knowing some of the basic classification groups of common vegetables is an absolute must for crop rotation. Vegetables in the same classify should not be planted successively in the same plot.
Brassicas: cabbages, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, swede, kohlrabi, turnip, mustard and probably radish. Probably also includes bok choy. This genus also includes rapeseed (canola), but this isn’t usually grown in gardens or allotments.
Umbelliferae: carrots, parsnips, celery, parsley and possibly coriander. Also includes the poisonous weed hemlock.
Legumes: Peas and beans of all types
Solanaceae: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum. Also includes the poisonous weed nightshade.
Alliums: onions, leeks, garlic, spring onions, chives
Gourds: pumpkins, melons (if you’re lucky), zucchini (marrows), cucumbers
Beets: silver beet, beetroot
Grasses: ryegrass (used as a green manure), wheatgrass (a popular dietary supplement), sweet corn. Also rice and bamboo, but these aren’t likely to be grown in British backyards.
Some vegetables are “lone rangers” that, very conveniently, don’t seem to be related to much else, which is helpful. Lettuces, cress and nasturtiums fit into this category. Lettuces, in particular, are good plants to put in when you don’t know what else to grow in that plot.
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TweetYou can, of course, get your oil changed by the professional mechanics and put the problem elsewhere. But if you’re like most people who want to save a penny or two on car maintenance, changing your own oil is something you can do, no matter how cack-handed you are with a spanner.
This isn’t an article about how to change your oil, though. You’ll have to go elsewhere for that. This is about what to do after you’ve changed the oil. We’ll also assume that you have managed to do everything without mishap and haven’t ended up with oil all over yourself, the engine and the driveway/garage floor. Your car is nicely topped up with oil, you’ve only got a little bit of oil on an old rag and your overalls (you were wearing these, weren’t you?) and all the old oil in an old roasting dish or an old ice cream container or three. Yes – now what are you going to do with that old oil?
What you aren’t going to do is tip that old oil down the drain. This is really irresponsible and damaging to the environment, making a film over the surface of the water and preventing oxygen getting to the aquatic plants and fish, not to mention the catastrophic effect on bird life. Don’t even start on the toxicity effects of old oil in the water system.
Nor do you want to try and dispose of the old oil in the regular way. Just stop and imagine for a moment what would happen if you poured old oil into a rubbish bag or dustbin… Fancy picking that up and tossing onto the back of a truck? No thanks!
It’s just as well, then, that many council-run tips and “resource recovery centres” have facilities where you can hand over your old oil. It is possible, by a process of filtering, to clean that old oil for re-use. For many people, this is the most convenient option, and it’s not a bad one.
However, you can keep hold of that oil for your own use. That oil still retains its lubricating properties and can be used for this. Used oil is perfect for keeping bicycle chains running nice and smooth. If applied carefully, old oil can be used to lubricate other equipment with moving parts – chainsaws? squeaky doors? wheelbarrows?
It is also possible to filter your own oil for reuse, according to some people. While this writer hasn’t personally tried this method, here are the instructions if you want to give it a go. After all, you’ve got nothing to lose! You’ll need two containers some bits of plastic tubing and a multi-filament double-braided rope. This method uses capillary action to clean the oil, and apparently, it takes a while to work!
First put the container of dirty oil on a bench or surface so that it will be higher than the second container, which will be for the clean oil – a box, a bench or an old chair will do. Thread the rope through the plastic tubing, leaving some of the rope dangling out each end. Pop one end of the rope in the dirty oil, somewhere near the bottom of the container and the other end dangling in the empty container below. The capillary action of the rope and gravity will siphon and filter the dirty oil, allowing clean oil to drip into the pan below. This process will need to be repeated several times, but you can speed the process up by using more than one rope at once. The ropes will be dirty at the end of this, so soak them in kerosene and let them dry before you try again.
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TweetChristmas is a wonderful time of year, especially if you have children. But if you are concerned about the state of the environment and the planet, Christmas isn’t all that wonderful. Just thinking about all that plastic, paper and so forth that goes into wrapping presents, sending cards, making cards, packaging gifts, decorating homes – and then going into the bin and the landfill – can make a green-minded person turn rather greenish. Short of not celebrating Christmas at all (and enduring Scrooge comments from co-workers, but worth considering if you don’t have family and/or religious reasons for celebrating this season), what can you do to make Christmas a bit greener? How about starting with the decorations?
Traditionally, Christmas decorations weren’t made out of plastic and tinsel but out of real, biodegradable greenery and paper – with maybe the odd candle here and there. Consider using not just a real Christmas tree rather than an artificial one, but also making wreaths out of traditional ivy (long trailing strands of ivy are easy to twist into a hoop), or even holly (if you can get hold of it). Real mistletoe is a bit harder to get hold of, but is much more environmentally friendly if you can get hold of it. Afterwards, these decorations can be composted, or dried and used as fuel in a fire (holly burns fiercely and can get a stubborn fire going to a roaring blaze quickly). Other potential decorations using natural materials include pine cones (a little spray paint to turn these gold or silver won’t hurt the environment much) or even shells, for a slightly different look.
Old fashioned pomanders made of oranges stuck with cloves and hung up with beautiful ribbons were once used as Christmas decorations, and they smell gorgeous. After Christmas, hang these in your wardrobe to deter moths and to subtly scent clothing.
Paper is biodegradable and recyclable, so if you like to have new decorations every year, crepe paper has a lot of possibilities beyond the more traditional streamers hanging from the roof or chains wrapping the tree. Also consider the potential of the ends of Christmas-themed wrapping paper that are too small for wrapping presents – are they big enough to make squares to make origami tree ornaments?
In the months leading up to Christmas, consider the Christmas decoration potential of anything before you throw it out. Old data CDs (or music CDs that are too scratched to read) can be hung on the tree “as is” and add a nice iridescent shimmer, or else they can be cut into shapes (stars? snowflakes?) with a craft knife before being hung on the tree. Even things made out of foil (old coffee packets or chocolate wrappers) can be cut and twisted into ribbons, or made into the links of a paper chain.
If you buy ornaments rather than making them, don’t throw them out after Christmas is over, only to buy new ones the next year. Keep them – bringing the same ornaments out year after year is great for nostalgia and becomes part of a family Christmas tradition. Ornaments made by children definitely come into the “nostalgia” category – even if your teenager winces to see the wonky stars and angels they made at the age of five being hung on the tree, hang up those stars/angels anyway. Your teenager will remember it fondly later…
Make edible Christmas decorations – shaped gingerbread biscuits, sugar candy canes, popcorn strings and toffee apples (not to mention ordinary oranges) all look great on a tree and can be part of a “twelfth night” feast when you take the tree down – or eaten on Christmas Day itself.
Using real candles rather than electric “fairy lights”, as the fire risk of candles is rather high. The energy consumed by fairy lights is probably similar to the amount of paraffin (a petroleum-based substance) burned and carbon added to the atmosphere by candles. Beeswax candles can make a more eco-friendly decoration, but keep them off the tree. Instead, bore holes into a gnarly pine log big enough to take the candles and have a Yule Log, as they used to use in England before the Christmas tree idea was imported from Germany.
The ultimate in eco-friendly decorations is a live Christmas tree that you plant in your garden after Christmas – it’s a gift to the environment. Tell your garden cleaner London to look after it when he/she does the gardening.
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TweetI won’t bother asking for a show of hands for who’s stressed – I’d get a forest of hands. It would be more interesting to see who isn’t stressed these days. I know I am – alarm didn’t go off this morning, so I had a frantic flurry of trying to shower, get kids ready, get to work and eat all in a short space of time. And did I mention the laundry and the dishes and the broken night’s sleep thanks to an unwell child? Or the bills piling up, and the deadlines, and the…and the… and the….
Well, the first thing that you, I and everyone who’s feeling stressed should do is stop panicking. Worrying about the list of “To Dos” can make the To Dos themselves seem worse.
Next, step back. Is there anything on this list of stress beating tips that you can do? There should be at least one.
* Make an actual, physical To Do list. Cross or tick them off once you’ve done it. This gives you a satisfying feeling of completion. Things often seem more manageable once you write them down. And if you, like me, always seem to finish the day with that “I’ve worked all day and accomplished nothing,” feeling, you have your list as physical proof that you have indeed done something. I have seen a blackboard slate for writing To Do lists on which had the words “one more chore to do and then it’s gin and tonic time!” printed on it. While To Do lists are good for home and for work, maybe this one isn’t quite what you want to take to the office, though…
* Try aromatherapy. Lavender is supposed to be a good natural domestic cleaner nice and calming, and so is lemon. Lemon also has the advantage of being stimulating as well as relaxing. Neroli (another citrus based essential oil) is another that is supposed to calm and elevate at once. Dab oils on a hanky and sniff, use a burner, rub some on an unlit lightbulb so the scent is released when you turn the bulb on. Even if it doesn’t relax you totally, it will smell nice and that always helps.
* Allow yourself treats – little ones – that you can look forward to. Healthy, tasty food at regular intervals can be a good incentive or perk you can give yourself. Have a larger “thank goodness it’s Friday” treat of some description to celebrate the end of the working week.
* If you’re feeling worked up and frustrated, do some fairly aggressive exercise. In other words, if you want to take a sledgehammer to that damn computer for losing an important file or crashing AGAIN, wallop a punching bag instead. Or shadow box. You need to release the “fight or flight” hormones somehow.
* Exercise anyway. A good walk is excellent exercise and you can calm down easily. But avoid the “gotta exercise to lose weight/get fitter or else” mentality, as this is also a source of stress. If you’re really exhausted, then you can skip an exercise session periodically and DON’T FEEL GUILTY about it. Make sure you have one rest day a week.
* Have a good breakfast. If you hit things full bore without eating properly, you’ll crash. You wouldn’t hit a long drive on the motorway without filling up with petrol, would you? The same applies for you. Even if you’re in a rush, this is important.
* Get enough sleep. They say that every hour of sleep you can get before midnight is worth two (or even four) after midnight. Always get up at the same time (I really must do something about that alarm clock) and if you need to catch up, then go to bed earlier rather than sleeping in.
* Use music. If you can sing along with it, all the better. If not, just enjoy it.
That’s another job to cross off my list. Now to award myself another cuppa for getting it done…
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TweetThey are usually called jewels and are classed with gemstones, but pearls are some of the few jewels that aren’t stones at all but a by-product of an organic process (amber is one of the other rare organic jewels). Pearls are usually formed by oysters, although a few other molluscs are used in commercial pearl farming, including the paua (abalone) of New Zealand, which produces hemispherical blue pearls. But no matter where your pearls come from, or what colour they are – whether they are natural pearls, freshwater pearls or cultured pearls – you will need to care for them differently from other precious stones. Because they are not stones.
Pearls are made from calcium carbonate crystals, and as calcium carbonate is alkaline, it is very susceptible to acids. Remember the legend about Cleopatra dissolving one of her pearl earrings in vinegar and drinking it in order to win a bet with Mark Antony about who could serve up the most expensive meal? It is plausible, so the first rule for looking after pearls is not to try cleaning them with vinegar or any other domestic cleaning product. Yes, vinegar is a gentle cleaner for nearly everything else, but not for pearls.
Popular wisdom states that pearls grow more lustrous if they are worn frequently – as if we need an excuse to wear pearls! This is because the skin and the natural oils in your skin act like the finest of chamois cloths to polish them gently. However, while a little bit of natural oil from the skin is good for them, too much is not. Pearls can also be damaged by perfumes, so when you put on your pearls, put them on last, after you have applied perfume and moisturizer. If you have pearl rings, remove the rings before washing your hands or dabbing on hand cream. As handwashing is important, it is probably best if pearl rings aren’t kept for everyday wear but for special occasions.
Pearls will need to be cleaned a little from time to time if they get a bit too much natural body oils on them, as this will eventually discolour them or even make them look grimy. To clean pearls, just wipe them gently with a soft, damp cloth. Never use a brush, and it’s probably best to stay well away from commercial jewellery cleaning products, unless they’re clearly labelled as being suitable for pearls. Water will not hurt pearls – they are produced by an aquatic creature, after all – so merely pat them dry before storing them away. Do not try to dry pearls with a hair dryer, in the sunlight or in front of a radiator, as in their “normal” state, they should contain some water. If they lose this natural moisture (about 2% of the total pearl’s weight), they will lose some of their lustre at best, and crack at worst.
Store pearls in their own separate case rather than letting them knock against harder jewellery. Pearls scratch easily.
Pearls are usually strung on a real string, as a metal chain would abrade and wear the pearl away. However, this string can become quite discoloured from use, especially as the fibre the string is made from takes a bit more to get it clean. Periodically, therefore, you will need to restring (or have restrung) your pearls. According to some sources, if you wear them weekly, you should get them restrung every second year, and if you wear them less often than this, every four years is recommended. Having said that, this writer’s grandmother never restrung her pearls, and today they’re still looking lovely and the string isn’t worn or grubby (I’m not sure how often Grandmother wore these pearls, though!).
If you have the time on your hands to restring your own pearls, have little knots in between each pearl so they don’t rub against each other at their weakest point – the drill hole. If you don’t have the time and patience to do this (I, for one, do not have the time to restring an opera-length pearl necklace (up to 90 cm long)) then take them to a jeweller. A good jeweller will also tell you if they actually need restringing if you’re not sure.
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TweetMost of us have heard that the three Rs of sustainable living are “reduce, reuse and recycle.” Paper and cardboard is one substance that most of us use very liberally and, all too often, throw out into the landfill. We should all recycle all our waste paper if possible.
Most of us know how to drop off our household (or office) waste paper at a council-run resource recovery centre or use a waste management London company to deal with it. It’s a very simple step we can all take to reduce the amount of waste going into our landfills and conserve resources.
But have you ever tried recycling your own paper? It can make a good hobby, especially if you enjoy paper crafts such as card-making or scrapbooking. It would also make a good craft activity for children during the school holidays or a long weekend when there’s nothing much to do.
To recycle your own paper, you will need old scrap paper (obviously), a sizeable tub (don’t use the bathtub – the cleanup job will be atrocious if you try this), warm water, and egg beater, a strainer frame, some sheets of cardboard, a sponge and some heavy weights (canned food? free weights? heavy books?) You probably have most of these in your home already, but a strainer frame is not quite so everyday. You can buy strainer frames in paper recycling kits, or you can make your own. You will need a rectangular frame (like an old picture frame with no back or glass). For a basic strainer frame, you can just stretch an old pair of pantyhose over the frame, but for a more durable frame you can reuse several times, then staple wire mesh or even net curtains to the frame, making sure that it is nice and tight.
You will also need a good creative imagination!
First of all, turn your old paper into pulp. Rip it up and put it into the tub. Then pour warm water over it and leave it to soak for an hour or even overnight to let the paper soften. Then use a beater to turn the soggy paper and water to a pulp – a paper puree, almost! You may need to add more water. Then take your strainer frame and scoop up a layer of pulp – you may need to swish it to and fro to get a nice even layer on the frame. When you have a good layer of pulp on the frame, lift it out and let the water drain out for a minute or so. Then invert the strainer onto a thick, dry sheet of cardboard. Soak out excess water with the sponge, then remove the strainer away slowly, rather like turning a cake out of a baking tin. Cover your new sheet of paper with another sheet of cardboard and weigh it down with one of the weights for 10 minutes or so. Then put the sheet of paper, still on the bottom piece of cardboard, by a heater or in direct sunlight to dry fully.
The sort of paper you use to make the pulp can determine the colour of the finished paper. Of course, you can always add things like scent or food colouring to the mix. To create textured papers, put something with a good 3D pattern on top of the paper before putting on the top sheet of cardboard and the weights.
The finished paper will have a rough, textured finish that makes it suitable for cards, letters or other places that fancy textured papers are used. Or just use it for shopping lists!
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TweetYou would think that drying the laundry was easier than washing it. After all, you don’t have to sort by light and dark, and very few things have special drying instructions. Well, for the most part, this is true. Most of the laundry can be dried all together without much thought. However, you have to choose your method of drying, and each method has its pros and cons.
The basic methods of drying clothing are: in a mechanical dryer (tumble dryer), drying flat, line drying and using a rack.
Mechanical dryers:
The advantages of using a mechanical dryer are that it is quick and it is reliable. If you need something washed and dried overnight or when it’s pouring with rain, a mechanical dryer can see you right. However, the disadvantages of using a mechanical dryer are that the clothes are prone to static created by the process, which allows them to pick up fluff and lint very easily; and the expense of running a dryer, as the consume quite a bit of power. Some delicate items do not respond well to being dried mechanically (e.g. woollens), and some items can be damaged by using too high a heat in the dryer. A friend of this writer once used a mechanical dryer (very carefully and in five-minute “batches”) to shrink a too-large woollen pullover so that it fitted her.
Drying flat:
This involves placing the item to be dried on a flat surface (obviously) and placing it somewhere warm. It’s best if the “something flat” is slotted so excess water can drip away and air can circulate under the item. The advantage of this method is that it is perfect for delicate items, especially woollens, as it does not stretch, pull or damage the fibres, allowing the garment to keep its shape. The disadvantage of this method is that it is very slow, and it is not recommended for the majority of items washed (can you imagine drying a king-sized sheet flat?). However, the majority of items do not need to be dried flat. Items that need to be dried flat should be handwashed gently without wringing, and they should not be placed in front of a radiator or (in some cases) in direct sunshine to protect the fabric. Drying flat need not be done indoors – in the past, items were often dried flat over a hedge – drying flat over a lavender or rosemary bush can subtly scent the item, but be careful with snags.
Line drying:
This method involves pegging the items to a stretched out wire or rope located outside (usually). Designs of washing line vary from a basic rope strung between two poles – or even between two windows – to rotary lines that look like giant metal spider-webs. The advantages of this method are that it is free (no energy consumption), clothes do not pick up static and often have fewer creases and wrinkles (apart from peg marks). The disadvantages of line drying are that it is weather-dependent and can be unreliable in the notoriously fickle British climate, and that woollen items can be stretched by being hung up, and items made of silk or lace can be damaged by the pegs. Strong winds can blow items off the line, and some items on washing lines are a target for burglars, especially lacy lingerie. Never leave underwear on the line overnight, just in case.
Washing lines can be strung up inside, and this protects them from the vagaries of climate and gives more protection against theft. However, this can make the room the clothes are strung up in rather damp and humid, so a dehumidifier may be needed (or open the window). Line drying indoor is slower than outdoor drying. A series of lines strung indoors is sometimes called a “Chinese laundry”, although it is a matter of debate whether this term is a tribute to Chinese ingenuity (comparable to “French fry”) or a racist slur referring to the bad old Colonial days when Asians were household skivvies/slaves.
Drying racks:
These are similar to washing lines, except pegs are not used and the items are draped over the bars of the rack. The rack is sometimes called a clotheshorse. You or your domestic cleaning London lady can place the rack outside or inside, and they are often used on balconies in upstairs flats, providing security and fresh air. The advantages of drying on a rack are that it is free (no energy costs) and is not dependent on weather. The disadvantages of this method are that it is often slower (especially if the rack is indoors), and some larger items have to be folded several times to fit onto a rack – sheets, for example.
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TweetThe American politician and educational reformer Horace Mann once said “a home without books is like a room without windows.” And it’s true. Literacy is one of the blessings of Western civilisation – and all civilisations, as a matter of fact. I always like looking at people’s books when visiting (scanning the titles, I mean, not getting them out and having a read), as this gives a glimpse into what people are interested in.
Your own home library is a bit more daunting. How do you organise it? How do you avoid the all too common problem of spending ages scanning a row of spines looking for one particular title without having a clue which shelf it is on – and probably missing the title in the first pass over the shelves.
Start the process of looking at the shelves. A common mistake is to buy a bookshelf that has many rows of shelves but these shelves are only big enough to accommodate paperbacks. If you try to start a filing system for your home library with small shelves, your system will be sent into chaos by books that are too big to fit in the shelves. Get a generous set of shelves capable of taking A4 portrait sized books, as this will hold most books, and have one separate place for “outsized” books – usually atlases.
Now take all the books you own and start sorting them into piles. Resist all temptation to start reading them – a hard ask. Having a friend on-hand to keep you focussed helps. If you are the sort of person who buys large amounts of “classic titles” with elegant matching hardcover bindings, I am afraid that I am going to be horribly unsympathetic. I am going to tell you to get rid of the ones you don’t actually read. Yes, I know they look impressive all lined up in order, but you aren’t fooling anyone into thinking you’re a well-read intellectual just by having all the titles there nicely lined up and pristine.
Everyone knows that you can buy these “classic titles” in bulk. It’s more impressive if you have well-thumbed copies.
The first step when sorting books is to get rid of what you don’t read, never will read and can’t face the prospect of reading. They are taking up space. Be ruthless. However, every home should have at least one good dictionary and a world atlas, plus the books that are a source of the best-known quotes and other words of wisdom. For typical British culture, this means Shakespeare, the Bible and a good book of classic poems, but other cultures will probably have their own classic works to add in here. An encyclopaedia (or set of encyclopaedia volumes) is another should-have, but the internet and public libraries make good substitutes.
Also get rid of any duplicate copies of books. However, I can confess to having several copies of each of the Chronicles of Narnia (four of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe), and I have found this has been good, because my children can follow along in their copies if I’m reading aloud to them. But try to avoid this – tricky, though, if you have book-giving relatives.
Then put things back on the shelves. Copy the local library and separate fiction from non-fiction. Some people like to shelve fiction alphabetically by author, but this system is very hard to maintain. Libraries, after all, have people who have the job of shelving books several times a day. Shelving them by genre is better – some libraries are starting to do this. Children’s books should also go by themselves – you don’t want to wade through Golden Books and Dr Suess while hunting for Terry Pratchett or Jane Eyre.
Non-fiction books should also be sorted by topic. You can follow the Dewy system if you can remember it and have a good inner librarian, but you don’t have to. The method used in our house roughly follows a university’s faculties: broad divisions into Arts, Science and Business (and, in our house, Practical/Manual), with subdivisions. For example, Arts is split into poetry, language (the dictionary goes here), non-English languages, religion and history/classics (myths, however, are filed under fiction). Science is split into maths, medicine, geography (travel guides go here, but the atlas is outsized), zoology (animals), botany (plants). Practical includes things like car manuals, woodwork manuals, children’s activity books and the like, but cookbooks go in the kitchen where they are used. Yes, it’s debateable whether gardening manuals go under Science – botany or Practical – garden cleaning London, but at least there’s only two places it can be, which is better than having to look everywhere.
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TweetCleaning a toilet or a commode is definitely not the best of tasks to do, its no fun at all, then again someone has to do it and if you got to do it then better do it correct.
Often we presume a “clean looking” toilet as “healthy clean” which can be a big hazard to your and your family’s health. Most of us spend maximum time cleaning the bowl of the commode, probably because that is the largest and most obvious part of the commode and a clean looking bowl gives you the impression that you have cleaned your commode well. The fact we all know is that we use the seat and seat cover but not really the bowl, because when you use the commode your skin/body actually comes in direct contact with the seating area of the commode. It can be tricky to ensure that you clean your toilet properly; the TV advertisements most of the time show the toilet cleaning products used for the bowl and it’s surprising how we form the mental images of what a clean toilet should like from the TV commercials.
At times we also resort to quick fixes like using the tank cleaners but then remember that the tank cleaners will only clean the tank water and not the commode. Thus the starting point to clean up your toilet is to get one fact straight that there is no real alternative to scrubbing the dirt away. Of course there are different ways of doing it and if you know the right method then you will end up doing this domestic cleaning London job in lesser time and with lesser distaste for it.
Here are some of the toilet and commode-cleaning products that you need to make a list of and keep it handy.
The toilet cleaning agent or the toilet cleanser, a goggle or the glasses to protect your eyes from the cleansers, sprays, chemicals, bleach etc, Stiff bristle brush, some paper towels to clean outside of commode area like the lid, seat, the handles etc, the spray bottle to mix the cleanser, rubber gloves to protect your hands from the germs and grim etc. Bear in mind that you should not use sponge for cleaning the toilet, the sponges absorb all the dirt and it will then spread to every area you rub it on the parts of commode. Moreover you run the risk of the same sponge being used for some other purposes by someone else, of course this would happen either accidentally or by someone who isn’t aware of the fact that it has been used for cleaning the commode.
Once you have all the material in the list handy, get started with the cleaning. First step would be to clean all that is visible on the seat, the tank etc with the paper towel. Flush the commode and then put some toilet cleanser around and under the rim. Wear your eye protection gear and start brushing the bowl, under the rim, lid and the exterior of the bowl and then put the lid down and flush it.
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