2022 has arrived, and it’s time to start thinking about Spring Cleaning your home! But do you know why you should do Spring Cleaning? Or how you can make your chores so much easier? If not, don’t worry—read on to learn everything you need to know about Spring Cleaning, including the history and origins of the tradition, as well as some foolproof ways to avoid doing too much (or any) cleaning this season. 

(Spring Cleaning Sale and Free Printable Cleaning checklist at the end of the article!)

1. Why Do I Need To Do Spring Cleaning?

Apart from forming good habits and making your parents happy, Spring Cleaning is a vital aspect to starting the New Year. Your home houses plenty of germs, toxins, bacteria, and other creepy crawlies you would rather not know exist! 

What’s more, seasonal weather would make this a great time to give your home a proper scrub down. With it being very wet from November to February, there is bound to be plenty of mould hiding. Come March to May, the weather becomes very hot, giving all sorts of other bacteria the perfect conditions to fester.

What’s more, it has been suggested that a clean and decluttered space leads to better mental health and focus.

2. History & Origins Of Spring Cleaning

The term “Spring Cleaning” dates back at least as far as 1849, when it appeared in a novel by British novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. He wrote, “The house must be put into thorough spring-cleaning; and I propose that we shut up shop altogether for a fortnight, and go away somewhere into the country”. 

While the origins are not entirely clear and varies from culture to culture( some speculate it may have originated as far back as Ancient Persia), it is commonly believed that Spring Cleaning came as a celebration of the end of Winter. Houses were given a thorough clean before spending summer months out and about so as to enjoy fresh air and better living conditions. 

3. How Long Does it Take To Complete A Home Spring Clean

On average, it can take about four days for two people to clean a 5-bedroom HDB flat. While this may seem long, we are accounting for chores that include deep cleaning of every nook and cranny in the house. 

We recommend breaking up those four days into two weekends so you don’t feel like you’re cramming everything into one busy week. Two full weekends also give you time to deep clean separate rooms (such as bedrooms, bathrooms, or kitchens), which requires more than just surface scrubbing. 

Before you get to it, be sure that you are adopting good cleaning habits first from this article! You don’t want to end up spreading more germs and dirt.

3. Things To Consider
As the saying goes: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Here is a basic breakdown on what to consider:

4. Step Checklist For Spring Cleaning
Don’t want to rack your brain around every single thing to clean? We got you covered! Click HERE for a printable to-do list.

Congratulations on making it this far! It means that you really care for your home and the people living in it. To give you a good head start, we are having a Spring Cleaning Sale from now until 31st Jan with up to 50% OFF storewide! Here’s to a great year ahead! SHOP NOW!

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From cleaning tools, laundry items to kitchen accessories, Leifheit has got all you need to make life at home easier. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more tips, tricks, and exclusive deals!

Before the holidays arrive, it’s time to prepare your home and yourself! If you want to be prepared for this Christmas and Holiday Season, we have outlined 3 things that will help you clean and organize your home so that everyone can have fun this Christmas. These tips are not just helpful before the holidays arrive, but they can be useful year-round to keep your home neat, tidy and looking its best! Enjoy!

In preparing your home for the holiday season, it’s important to get rid of clutter that could easily overwhelm you. Start by removing everything from your closets and drawers, then sort through it all and get rid of clothes you haven’t worn in a year or items that don’t fit anymore. 

As it’s the season of giving, we recommend that you donate these clothes to charity! You should also stow away any extra things lying around the house (this is especially so if you are expecting kids to visit your home).

We have plenty of cleaning checklists and articles that you can find here. If you are looking for the right cleaning tools, you're in luck as we are running our Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale from 20th to 30th November!

3. Prepare Some Recipes

In addition to all of your cleaning, cooking is an important part of making your home ready for guests. Use this time to check for dietary preferences. This should be easy since it’s Christmas time—there are plenty of holiday recipes online (on top of that, since there is a limited number of guests allowed to homes, you don't have to worry too much). If you don’t know any cookbooks by heart, just type a few into Google and pick out a few that look good!

You could also check out some fun food experiments in our articles here and here!

The holidays are an exciting time of year, but if you’re not prepared, they can also be stressful. Don’t get too busy hosting guests that you forget to make time for family! Whether or not it’s a party (or parties) at your place, it always pays off to try out new recipes with friends and family over holiday gatherings.

Share the article with your friends and family if the tips sounds useful!

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From cleaning tools, laundry items to kitchen accessories, Leifheit has got all you need to make life at home easier. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more tips, tricks, and exclusive deals!

Surprisingly, kitchens and not bathrooms are the dirtiest part of the house. With consumables prepped and cooked in the space, the kitchen should always be spick and span. In this article, we will list down several things you should take note of to ensure that your kitchen stays sanitary.

1. Avoid Washing Raw Meat

You should not wash or rinse poultry, beef, pork, lamb or any other raw meat. You may think that washing the raw meat will rinse germs off the meat, clean it, and make it safer for consumption. However, rinsing meat or poultry will cause a higher chance of cross-contamination and food-borne illnesses. The washed off bacteria will contaminate the sink and the countertop through the water droplets. Making your kitchen dirty, although not visibly.

Rather than rinsing or washing the meat and poultry, it is better to pat them dry using a kitchen towel.

2. Different Cutting Boards For Different Uses

After cutting raw meat or poultry, ensure that you are not using the same cutting board to cut other food products. Having different cutting boards will help prevent cross-contamination as raw meat juices should not be mixed with cooked or ready-to-eat food such as fruits, salads or bread. It would be best to have at least 2 different cutting boards, one for meat and poultry and another for fresh produce. Purchase colour coded cutting boards to remember each cutting boards’ usage easily.

Keep in mind to change your cutting board when it has scratches, and deep cracks as bacteria that live there will not be washed away even if you scrub the cutting board.

3. Organise Your Refrigerator

Almost every kitchen has a refrigerator. With it being a place where most of our food are stored, refrigerators should be kept clean. To organise your refrigerator, divide the compartments into cooked food, dairy, and raw meat and poultry.

Cooked food should be placed in the top most shelf, dairy in the shelf below it, and raw meat and poultry at the most bottom shelf. It is best to put a tray under the raw meats and poultry to prevent leaking raw juices. Vegetables and fruits should be placed inside the drawer.

4. Change Your Sponge Regularly

Kitchen sponges are the ideal breeding place for bacteria. With the sponge cleaning grime and never really drying properly, bacteria is bound to be found in them. Although there are ways to clean the sponges, such as by microwaving  or boiling it, the methods are not effective in killing the bacteria completely and will not eliminate 100% of the bacteria in the sponge. It would be best and safer to change your kitchen sponge every week.

If you find the tips useful, share the article with your family and friends!

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From cleaning tools, laundry items to kitchen accessories, Leifheit has got all you need to make life at home easier.

Aside from having a clear view of the scenery and basking under the warm and bright sunlight comfortably, there are other reasons why you should clean your windows. Read on to find out why! We will also let you know about the different window cleaning tools and some things to note when cleaning windows.

1. Why Should You Clean Your Windows

• Natural Light

With work from home becoming a norm, being cooped up in the house all day long may get suffocating. To decrease the feeling of suffocation, keep your windows clean so that the dirt will not block the sunlight from streaming into the room. Exposure to sunlight will cause the brain to release a higher amount of serotonin, a hormone which is related to keeping a person focused and boosting their mood. Thus, with a bright room full of natural light, you will feel a rise in your mood, and possibly your productivity too.

• Dirt, Dust and Grime

Accumulated dirt, grime, and dust on windows may also cause moulds to form due to rain and condensation and gather dust mites. Both of which may cause allergic reactions. To decrease condensation, you can open the windows for a few minutes to ventilate the room and circulate the air. Good ventilation will also decrease the risk of exposure to viruses as ventilating prevents virus aerosols from gathering.

2. How To Clean Your Windows

Newspapers are a classic window cleaning tool. With their high level of absorbancy, newspapers will leave your windows squeaky clean. However, there is a chance of the ink bleeding and getting onto your hands—leaving you with stained hands for days. Make sure to wear gloves if you want to clean the windows with newspaper.

Microfibre cloths are soft and absorbent. It is perfect for window cleaning as it will not leave marks and streaks. However, wiping down hard-to-reach areas such as window corners and tall windows will be difficult and maybe, even dangerous. 

The squeegee is a commonly used window cleaning tool. Cleaning detergents are sprayed on the surface, and a squeegee is used to remove the cleaning fluid. With a suitable cleaning detergent and squeegee, you are left with a streak-free window. A downside to using a squeegee, however, is the cleaning detergent’s dripping mess.

Alternatively, you can purchase window vacuums that function like a squeegee sans the dripping mess. With their automatic suction function, the vacuum sucks the cleaning detergent into their water tank. Then, all you have to do is pour out the dirty water stored in the tank into the sink.

3. Things To Take Note Of When Cleaning Windows

Source: Klim Musalimov on Unsplash

• Clean your windows when the weather is downcast and cloudy outside. Sunlight will cause the cleaning solution to dry up and leave streaks on the windows. 
• Clean the window frames and window grills too. Use a vacuum, a brush or a damp cloth to clear the dust and cobwebs that have gathered. 
• Be careful when you are cleaning external windows. Cleaning external windows is a dangerous task. Either use a magnetic window cleaner or have professional window cleaners clean for you.

Share this article with your friends and family to let them know more about window cleaning! 

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When mops are mentioned, what may come to mind is a piece of cloth, a rag or a manual mop. However, with technological advances, several different types of zhnged up mops are available, and we are here to give a brief run-through of their selling points. If you are about to purchase a new mop but are unsure which to get, this article is for you. 

1. Steam Mops

Steam mops kill 99.9% of germs on the floor using heat and without any chemicals. The mop is perfect for households with pets or children, as the floor surfaces are chemical-free, making it safe for those who frequently sit on the floor. Depending on the brand, the steam mop may have an adjustable steam output function. This function allows the steam mop to be adjusted to different temperatures and clean different floor surfaces.

Note that surfaces such as unsealed floors cannot use steam mops. For tough stains such as grease or ink, you will need to crank up the heat to remove them. It is, therefore, best to purchase a steam mop that has an adjustable steam output function. To find out more about steam mops, you can check out this article. 

P.S. Leifheit’s steam mop comes with a carpet glider; professional carpet cleaning just got a lot easier.

2. Spin Mops

Spin mops have a similar look to standard classic mops; however, their additional functions ease the mopping process. It is much cleaner and easier to clean the mop head as you do not have to bend over and touch the mop head to clean it. Simply put the mop head onto the spin bucket, and depending on the mop bucket model, pump or pedal to wring the mop and get rid of the accumulated dirt.

3. Spray Mops

Spray mops have a water tank attached to the mop, which can be easily refilled with water or cleaning solutions. Mopping is more convenient using a spray mop as you do not have to head back or bring around a bucket constantly. With their compact design, spray mops are perfect for quick and in-between cleaning. 

4. Press Mops

Press mops can be said to be a combination of spin and rectangular mops. With its rectangular shape, it can easily clean hard to reach corners with precision. However, unlike regular rectangular shaped mops, press mops do not require the user to bend down and touch the mop head to wring and clean it. 

If you use Leifheit’s press mop, you can simply use your foot to detach the mop cloth and have it cleaned.

Head on over to cart out once you have decided on a mop. Leifheit is holding a 20% storewide discount until 13 June 2021!

Share the article with your friends and family to increase their mop knowledge!

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