Cleaning Mistakes You Are Probably Making

Hello and welcome back. I'm here at Melissa's Amazing Maker to clean my space because I recently did a podcast and Melissa taught me that I've been

cleaning

wrong and that my whole life is a lie. Your whole life is alive. I told you? that I'm here, she's here to set the record straight and literally take out the dirt on how to actually get rid of the dirt, that was a little close, I thought that was good, that was poetic, that was poetic, so Melissa goes to share with us the Top 10 Cleaning Mistakes, starting with the one I've been telling you to make for the last 15 years.

Do you see how unpleasant that is? Yes, she was going to say why did you bring your used duster to my house like me. I don't need your dust planted in my house. Listen because this is the only one I had because they are expensive and I keep buying replacements. You know I talk about the Swiffer Duster all the time and how much I love it because it has an extendable wand and when I talked about this with you you embarrassed me oh my gosh I didn't change her she was really embarrassing no she was nice I'm sorry Why does this suck so bad?

Okay, so I feel the quality of this. Has it ever been broken? Have you ever had to replace it? I've had several, it's okay, but I use them a lot. Acceptable, no problem, you have to buy replacements for these all the time. I do it because look, it's gross, okay, so these products are designed. to be disposable they are designed to be replaced of course this is what in marketing is called the Razer and Blade method, they will sell you the razor so they can keep selling you a new blade all the time and it's like an annuity business. model, if you want, think about that, okay, but when we have this kind of flimsy product and I mean, I love Procter and Gamble, but I'm flying, I watch as she shakes out more

cleaning

for me to do later, boo.

I love Procter and Gamble. but you know I'm just not a fan of this product so one reason I don't like it is because you have to spend so much money to maintain this product that you should really only have to buy it once and secondly I I'm a big person you know against waste and disposable products, so I wouldn't recommend this if you wanted a good quality solution. Something you can do is grab a good quality mop stick you have if you like extendable things. I like it because it's extendable, straight ceilings and cobwebs, yes, so if you have a high quality mop group that you like, you can make what I call a ghost.

You're kind of sneaky. I'm not sneaky at all, but let me tell you. a microfiber cloth and a hair elastic, look at me, put this on Pinterest, this is what I call the dust ghost so then you can use your extendable stick exactly and then you can lift it up and you can remove the high dust. It even goes higher because you're actually using a real pole that's like yeah, extendable, not full and it's cheaper, yeah, it's cheaper because you're buying this one so you can wash it hundreds of times and then you can even do it. that with a flat or dowel shaped mop with a microfiber pad, okay, I know you may or may not know those

mistakes

and I knew this was a mistake because this is just spreading dust.

I look so pretty, this is Lumiere's girlfriend and that's where he should stop and start this technology made a lot of sense in the year 1600. It's April I just leave you my best love I don't want to know what you enjoy your apron what's your fitting room unfortunately no There's nothing about it right but honestly, this thing is just unstable and can't hold dust. Plus, they really are. I mean, there is a way to clean them, but who is doing that? Okay, we hate this, we hate this, and we hate this, so this. is the mistake this is the mistake the correction is to buy a good quality cleaning tool like if there is a microfiber cloth a microfiber mop I feel like the traps just the microfiber trap eats the dirt yes, microfiber has that electrostatic charge that, as you know, sucks the dirt straight is, I'm, I'm

making

a ghost, yeah, throw it right on my couch.

Okay, biggest mistake number one, let me know in the comments below if you're

making

it, let's jump to mistake number two. I knew it, it's okay, because always. I wanted to clean in the past, the first thing I did was go to the store and buy new cleaning products, so somehow I was going to solve the problem, yeah right, it would be like when I bought the rowing machine and now it's I'm going to solve the problem that I don't feel fit and it's collecting dust downstairs, yeah, or that we have to get organized, so we bought a bunch of containers and now we just have containers on top of our clutter, so you have to get organized. double the amount of stuff yes so we don't throw plastic in our mess and we don't throw cleaning products in our dirt yes you can actually throw very simple things in your dirt so you know I love homemade cleaning products made with plates. soap baking soda vinegar a little isopropyl alcohol a little cornstarch do you know how to beat all those things together you put them in spray bottles the labels do you know how to label I do it and I also like homemade cleaner because I feel almost like I was brewing and then I'm excited to use the mixture that I made, but I'm also very lazy, yeah, high five for being lazy, also very lazy here, so I like to have a product that I love.

I can use it on all surfaces yes for me that is dish soap and water straight a couple drops of dish soap use too much dish soap you actually have to rinse the surface and I like a no rinse product because , lazy girls, we don't do it. I don't want to rinse anything and you'll save money. I can't tell you how many times I've honestly decluttered people's houses and the messiest houses have the most cleaning supplies. That's interesting to me. I have never ordered but I love that Insight, have you ever counted? I should, but it's like under every sink there are like 472.

I also have an entire closet dedicated to cleaning supplies, let me put things out of the way so I can open the closet or buy multiple vacuum cleaners, mops, appliances and all that stuff, but never use them. and I think it's almost like a mess, when you have too many cleaning products, you feel overwhelmed and you don't know what to choose, so then you just say: I don't know which cleaning products are the best, so you don't clean. Yes, it's like going to a restaurant and getting a slimmer menu and then you can choose your things much easier.

The same goes for cleaning and you know I love that you said it's so much easier to do. You know you load your cart with whatever you need or your virtual cart, if you don't have one with you, you can load your belt loops if you want, yeah, yeah, and then you can use one or two products, a microfiber cloth and do your needs so stop going to the store to buy a bunch of cleaning supplies okay Cass the next mistake is how people clean hardwood and their laminate floors they buy steam mops and use too much liquid when they clean their floors, yes, yes, water is supposed to be bad, right, yes, like a little water.

I always call it a sneeze so on the hardwood floor you can use as a sneeze some amount of moisture on the floor and then use a flat head microfiber mop which is enough unless there is a spill on the floor or grease or oil or something like that, you're going to have to work a little bit harder, but you can spot Treat that stuff, otherwise it should be like a fine mist and then you can make a nice pattern with your dry dry mop and I love my spray mop, but I used to have a steamer and it had, as you know, vinyl. planks in the basement yeah and somehow it warped the glue and they all started lifting up and then I have laminate floors and the edges started bubbling and I know people ruined their hardwood floors too, they're bored now they're using too much water. so I want to tell you something.

I asked this question to Armstrong, which is a flooring manufacturing company that actually provided the floors that we have in this house when we were doing our Dream Home Renault series and they said, because I said, okay, why are they all there? I'm so obsessed with steam mops, what's the big deal? Can I use them in your apartment? They're like people are obsessed with them because it's exactly like your point above about Gadget. You know, you only bought the product to solve the problem, but they said so. It's up to the manufacturer of those tools to sell them and tell you they do a great job, but they're not the people who make the flooring, so you have competing needs here.

Here you have the flooring manufacturers who want you to use their products. and take good care of your floors the way they determine you should and then there are people who want to sell you steam mops and they will tell you it's perfectly safe, but it's not, steam mops don't ruin your floors. ok, but tiles are fine other than tile, don't use a steam wrap if you have hardwood or laminate, really the best option is a dowel shaped microfiber mop with a flat head, like you know the Maker Mop or like Libman has mops or whoever you prefer doesn't.

I don't really care, you know I love mine. I should buy a manufacturer mop and Melissa I'm embarrassed here I'm sure it's hands down the best way to clean the floor yeah okay so let me know if you're using an old school bucket and mop or if you're using a steamer, oh that's really bad, so big mistake number four is using very abrasive cleaners on bathtubs, tiles, and toilet seats. Oh okay I have to hear about the toilet seat but you are right abrasive products huge

mistakes

so I always say start low and then level up the cleaning product and the tool so again I always start with the dish soap and water, in the case of the toilet I will use something a little more powerful, true, but that's it.

I said I always test and I always recommend that you first test your product on a hidden area just to make sure it doesn't have any damage and the moment you notice damage stop and look for an alternative so if you have a tub of fiber glass or something you want to make sure that the product you're using says it's safe to use on that surface specifically let's talk about your toilet look what happened yeah so I sprayed it with a bleach spray and walked away which is good. for some things except a plastic toilet seat it actually ate the toilet seat so now it looks stained all like the stains are good it looks disgusting yeah I was trying to clean it but now it's It looks disgusting and I've heard this.

A lot of times people like my toilet seat looks so bad it's actually because you're using abrasive cleaners that corrode the plastic so it's abrasive and then bleach would be corrosive so it burns yeah those are the two things that are happening there, whether using something. abrasive or corrosive, but toilet seats are one of those fun things where you have to use a pretty mild product to clean them and unless you have a lot of buildup on the toilet, you know you

probably

don't need anything more than a simple disinfectant bathroom cleaner yeah and I don't use bleach in the house so that's just me we can talk about that okay yeah can that be mistake number five?

I always thought my mom was old school, she liked to use bleach on everything and use Windex on things. This is what you shouldn't do: Don't mix bleach and ammonia, you don't like slush with anything, you can mix it with water if you're using it, but bleach is bleach that doesn't mix well with others, not my case. Cousin Tanya, if you're watching this, I'm going to throw you under the bus. She closed the bathroom door. She bleached everything. She used Windex. She had a hard time breathing. Do you know what chlorine gas produces? I don't know, almost done, no I know, I'm sorry Tanya, so those are silly ways to die.

There are so many stupid ways to die. Don't mix Windex and bleach or ammonia, no glass cleaner, yeah, vinegar too, really, yeah, so, um, there's a lot of stories that you

probably

can. Go to the Poison Control website and read all about them, but there are a lot of scary things that can happen with bleach, that's one of the reasons we stay away from it in the house. We don't have to do it just because my mom. Doesn't that mean she has to bleach everything? Yes, but my head smells like a swimming pool. Doing it right brings summer vibes, but only because our parents cleaned a certain way or with a certain product or a certain detergent or whatever. doesn't mean that's the best for us now technology has changed right Lumiere she's making fun of my duster there you're right I'm going to give up the bleach okay I'm going to give up the bleach that's a big mistake let me know if you also feel inspired to continue using bleach in the comments below, one of the first things I learned when I started cleaning professionally, which sounds crazy because you know me like your house is spotless.

It's fine, it's impeccable. One of the first. Nothing. Not the first thing I learned was that there wereI have to clean from top to bottom because the way I used to clean and this is the mistake is that I would clean here and then I wouldn't notice something there and see. something at that point there would be this shiny thing in the corner and then I would be like I was wasting my time all over the place and things up here would fall off and then I would have to go back to cleaning a surface and it's just I'm wasting my time.

I learned this from you because I was like oh the floor is dirty I have to vacuum and then I vacuumed and then I was like oh I should dust while I'm at it and now I have to come back - empty and now I'm ruthless like I'm a monster when I'm cleaning, I throw things on the floor because I know I'm going to vacuum the floor later, so it doesn't matter and in a way it gives you security, you're right. the floors like they're the last one and you know, you're right, all cleaning professionals do that for a reason, so why don't we follow that from top to bottom?

Yes, I always say that snow falls from top to bottom, just like dust. everything else, so just work with gravity, don't work against it honey, so don't vacuum first, vacuum last and then mop, obviously, after vacuuming the next one, this big mistake. I feel bad because I know my mother does this and she always taught me how to do it. I do this and I feel bad saying it, but she always told me to dust my furniture with a cloth or like a polish. Okay, can we talk about this? This is a mistake, so again I wanted to share that there have been many advances in cleaning technology. and also our furniture has changed the finishes, the materials, all that has changed so we have to readjust the way we clean things and the products and tools we use in my personal opinion and I would love to know what the messy audience is . think about this I just think furniture polish is something we can gladly walk down the cleaning aisle and never touch again, it smells good, but you know, maybe because I have cheap furniture but I find it has streaks on it and then you see fingerprints and then I can never, it's like I just dusted off The Neverending Story, yeah, yeah, for some reason, like an all-purpose cleaner, it's just gone and it's nice and I don't have to, yeah , okay, so I'll tell you why.

Furniture wax is designed for wood for wood, if it is varnished solid wood furniture with a highly polished finish, you can use furniture wax, so it has a very specific Target type of furniture, so I'm looking at my room here and there. There are pretty much no surfaces I would use it on here like my ears would, but I think it's plastic, I don't know, so for some reason I feel like it's solid, but I'm wondering why it doesn't work, so let's talk. about what furniture polish is okay, it's like a silicone oil mix, that kind of thing, so you spray it on and it's on the street, it's streaky, it leaves a smooth finish, that's what you're doing right and then you do it What happens is that you build. put it layer upon layer upon layer to get this patchy unevenness, it also doesn't absorb so you touch it now you have fingerprints on it so in my opinion don't use it what I do instead I use a microfiber cloth a bit. of that dish soap and water and that's how I polish all my wood and all my furniture and they look beautiful and you know, if the furniture needs to be revived or rejuvenated, that's when I would go ahead and buy like a real you. you know, like oil based, yes, like a nutritious, yes, like something good, yes, you know, like for my cutting board, for example, I have a special oil for cutting boards, so if my table needed something you don't need, I would use something like that, no. a good piece of furniture, we don't commit, it has to go, it just has to die, let it die, it's the whole category like furniture polish, goodbye, big mistake, one of the mistakes I see people make is that they take out the paper paper towel to clean things that could be cleaned with a proper cleaning cloth such as a microfiber cloth, windows, mirrors and paper towels, yes I don't use paper towels much but when I do I don't know why I grab them , it's because we think we have to do it right, the paper towel is very convenient, I mean, it's on a roll, it's on the counter, you can grab it, it's specifically designed to be easy to use, but it leaves lint everywhere and it leaves streaks, it does, and the thing is, it's designed. again to be a unique product, so when we think about the intent of the product or the tool that we are using, you know a flat weave microfiber cloth that is specifically designed to clean a mirror and leave a streak-free finish so it is lint-free , it's a lint-free cloth, it doesn't leave streaks, it can lift dirt, it's designed specifically for that job, yes, and I guess paper towels are designed to absorb, so you're just absorbing the cleanliness. that's all they do absorbing and then there's nothing left to clean up, that's right, and the material they're made of is by nature plentiful so it leaves lint behind, so we're just wasting product and making money, that's bad for the environment and it's bad for the environment we use paper towels in the house but we use them in moderation, right, so microfiber, microfiber, it's all this is what you're saying, but a different type, like a flat weave for Mirror and Glass. and like the soft one to remove dust because electro catches it yes electric I'm going I'm going to work I don't know yes I think you know what makes sense I get it you get it we all get it I did it I don't know until you said it, but I love it that stinks exactly or like a big vacuum cleaner.

I love it, yes, paper towels, no, microfiber, yes, when I professionally cleaned people's homes, I always saw the toilet brush sitting like a thick little toilet bowl. brush holder and that liquid that accumulates. I mean, we know what lives in the liquid, but the other thing is that it can also create odors and is generally unappealing unless you're fighting with someone and then you're just wondering why. Is it pink because it looks like it should be pretty, but it isn't? So my bath brush has a little bit of sticky water on it and then it's pink, okay, okay, I'm going to tell you about the pink.

I'm going to tell you, is it bad? because I don't want to know that all the toilet brushes in my house are pink, that's bad, okay, hit me, hit me, okay, so the problem is not allowing the toilet bowl brush to drip and dry anything that's left wet in the bathroom. Is it going to grow or not, no, it's actually a bacteria, so the pink and orange substance in your bathroom is a bacteria that thrives in warm, humid environments like your bathroom and once it's there it's impossible to get rid of it, so you have to continue. clean, you have to continue dehumidifying the space so we can talk about that, but yeah, in your bathroom, letting the toilet brush dry, okay, it's the easiest thing to do, you spin the toilet, you clean it and then you just do it.

I've seen you do it so many times in your videos and I'm like a lazy person and I throw it back at the pink, purulent bacteria that is the headline yes, I know I've been doing that I don't know podcast I wish I could explain it to you I'm going to stop, okay, okay, so the pink things, then the pink things are harmless, okay, I don't like it, don't put your hand in it, yeah, lick, don't do that. I'm not saying that, okay, but what? What I'm saying is that it's not going to kill you if it's just in your presence, but it's easy to get rid of, so what you need to do to keep it as bait is fan it out, so turn on the fan during showers at least 30 minutes after. of the showers. or open the windows, whatever you have to do, hang the towels to dry, drip dry the toilet brush, run the toilet brush, clean the shower with a squeegee and do everything you can to remove the moisture as quickly as possible because you say like pink.

It's hard to get rid of the pink stuff. It's hard to get rid of the pink stuff. They can be cleaned. It's okay, but they'll be back as soon as it feels like they're in a little tropical destination. I mean, it's nice, but it has to go. Yes. It's not pretty and it needs to go away just because it's pink doesn't mean it's pretty. I really like the pink Melissa, but not the pink bacteria that grows in my bathroom, okay, so I feel like I've learned not to make the latest cleaning mistake. this from you, but I see this on Tick Tock and I like the variations of what's happening, why are they putting out a whole fabulous product and then a whole set of shaving cream and then baking soda and then throwing it down the toilet and we've already talked about the poison control issues so I don't know, people are doing it to get views.

Listen, we're both in the social media business, we understand that when times get desperate people do crazy things and bathrooms are disgusting, but I think throwing seven dollars worth of cleaners in the trash seven that's like 25 but no, it's absolutely unnecessary, that's the mistake, okay, it's not unnecessary to overuse the product and frankly, it's unnecessary and wrong to put the product on a surface and wipe it off immediately, okay, so I've learned this from you, no we just spray and wipe like we spray and wipe we let the product do the work yeah because we're lazy yeah okay so when you use too much product you're wasting money and you actually have to work harder.

Let Me Explain: If I put three times the amount of baking soda in my sink to clean it, then I have to spend more time rinsing it thoroughly and then the baking soda leaves that fine dust that it really leaves if I use too much, say dish soap. To clean my floor well, now my floor is sticky, so I have to work harder and clean my floor to get rid of the stickiness, that's why the amount of Goldilocks product is always what you should follow or a recipe tested by someone I know and trust who might be wearing a green and white shirt.

I don't know. The other thing I would say about putting your product on a surface is that when you apply it to a surface you want to let it sit and do its job. We said we are lazy, but not bleach, but no, of course, not bleach. We don't use bleach in this house, but what you would do is put the product in any type of product other than something like bleach, and this is it. Of course, after you have read the package carefully, you want to let the product sit, the liquid in the product will start to break down any sticky substance on the surface, it just loosens the gunk if there is a soap component. your product, the surfactant in it, will lift that dirt onto this Earth, so science, yes, I'm getting science here because this is important, thank you, let me, let me, let me get more nerdy, if it's an enzyme, then the enzyme cleaning is going to start breaking down whatever it is, you have to try to clean it, it literally digests it for you, it eats it, it eats it, like if someone gave you a pizza and told you if you could eat it in 30 seconds, no you could do it. do whatever you want, that's so brilliant that your cleaners literally eat the dirt and you have to give them time to finish their food and you're disinfectant, I mean if you want to get really micro about it, like it's a disinfectant. work you spray it on the surface the disinfectant product has to disappear then you have to tear the envelope of the cell we all know that because of the covid please and thank you right you have to expose it to the air that doesn't happen to you I know it takes a few minutes, that's why it is that when you read the product label and it tells you how long the product should sit and you follow the product instructions, you will be absolutely masterful and you will be lazy.

Yeah, okay, so we. We let use less product and let it sit longer yeah yeah like she's so good she's like the more you know like a scientist around here I'm excited to clean my house No I'm lying did I just get you excited? to clean your house, I'm more excited than before to start talking to you about cleaning the house because we have to do it, man, and why, to me, it's successful, let's just do it right, if we have to do it, let's do it right, stop. waste money, time and effort that we don't have to do, yes, and only do it once a week.

I love you, thank you very much. I hope you loved these huge cleaning mistakes and learned something. I have learned something. A legit scientific genius and I feel inspired to clean up. Thank you all so much for watching. Be sure to visit Melissa Maker and learn all the amazing tricks from it. I'll put the link below and see you around. guys, next time, hey guys, thank you so much to those of you who stayed until the end, working with Melissa was amazing and her husband Chad. I forgot how fun it is to do old school YouTube collabs.

We used to call them collaborations like collaborations where I got together with another YouTuber and they made a video together, so that was fun. Now Melissa lives about three and a half hours away from me, so I was able to do it in person, but I think I also want to do collaborations with other YouTubers, whether it's helping them. organize her space or I don't know, just do an old school collaboration with them, so II'd love to hear from the comments below about a YouTuber you think I could collaborate with and I'll reach out to them and also let you know your favorite YouTubers.

I love learning about new channels I didn't know about and meeting new people who also create content, so let me know in the comments below who you think would be great to do a surprise makeover for Maybe. on YouTube or just hang out with them and make a video together. I appreciate your help and thank you very much for watching. I'll see you next time.