One of the luxuries that I enjoy the most is travel. And because of my work and my husband’s work, we have the opportunity to stay in some beautiful hotels around the world. These hotels are typically very clean and all “spit and polish” with gleaming brass railings, fixtures, and windows. That’s why they are so attractive – all that sparkle.
I had always wondered what it is about a hotel kind of clean and why a hotel often looks so sparkling clean as opposed to a typical home. The first thing that came to mind is that hotels know their cleaning because they do it every single day. So, they know quite a bit about keeping their environs and rooms looking clean and sparkling. Besides the usual making of beds, vacuuming, scrubbing, and dusting, there is one final thing that hotels do that most homeowners don’t think about -- and that’s polishing.
Yes, polishing is the “final act” in cleaning. It often gets overlooked in the cleaning process. For instance, a tub faucet might be scrubbed with cleaner, then rinsed, and then forgotten during the typical home-style cleaning. A hotel maid, however, would take the final step and wipe the faucet off with a soft cloth to make the faucet sparkle and free of water spots. Likewise, counters seem to gleam in hotels, and again, after cleaning, they are often polished with a soft cloth to make them sparkle.
Cleaning is great, but take the extra step after cleaning and polish. When wiping off counters to clean them, come back with a clean, soft cloth and polish the counters to remove the tell-tale marks of cleaning that a sponge leaves behind. Polish lamps, mirrors, plumbing fixtures and anything that benefits from a polished finish. And while you’re at it, wipe down doors, door handles, and lighting fixtures to remove fingerprints and smudges. Polishing and wiping is the one little extra step takes your housework from plain ol’ clean to a sparkling, five-star hotel clean.
Cleaning and polishing
Use whatever kind of cloth you like best for cleaning. I prefer to use either clean white dishtowels that serve many purposes in general housekeeping or microfiber. Microfiber really shines metal, glass, and other hard surfaces and is the cleaning cloth I recommend (and use) for all surfaces and any kind of cleaning. Select good quality microfiber for the best cleaning results.
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Calender -- the calendar that helps you end the power struggle with your house. Keeping a clean home is about knowing what to clean when. Virtually everything that needs to be cleaned is on this calendar in a year-round cleaning schedule that helps you keep your house clean easier and faster. Click here for more information.