Keeping your accommodation clean

When we come to the UK, we not only have to develop our career by getting used to the NHS and progress but also do day to day things like cleaning, cooking and managing bills. 
In my home country, I had more house staff to help than there were actual people in the house - 1 gardener, 1 driver , 2 cleaning ladies, 2 cooks and we were 4 people in that house. When I came here, I realized I have to do everything on my own hence my wife and I decided to set a routine from day 1. It has been more than 5 years and we have not lost our minds (yet) and have been able to manage a clean, hygienic living with a toddler. 
As in the UK, there is not a lot of dust, you can do a full house clean once a week. 

                                      REGULAR ROUTINE 

I have a 3 bed house with a garage and garden. 

This is my routine:
1. Vacuum the whole house 
I have a Shark corded vacuum cleaner with extensions - so I vacuum the floor, carpet and then I vacuum the corners of the walls to get rid of any spider webs. I use the brush extension to clean the side skirts and any difficult to get into areas. 
I use the carpet brush extension to clean the carpet on the staircase. 
This takes a total of 20 minutes 

2. I then clean the bathrooms
I pour bleach into the toilets
I  use an antiseptic wet wipe ( like Dettol wipes) to wipe the toilet
I use Flash bathroom cleaning spray ( WITHOUT BLEACH) and spray on the sink , any soap/toothbrush holders, tub and shower room. 
I use a separate dishwashing brush ( which is only for this purpose- not for cleaning anything else) to clean any stains or marks 
If there is any sign of mold, I use Cillit Black Mould remover spray to clean that- I spray it and then leave it for a few minutes. 
I use Flash Magic eraser to clean the bathtub floor/shower room floor which may have stains that do not come off with the above method. 
I use our Bidet shower to wash the cleaned areas. 
I then wipe everything down with a microfiber cloth.
This takes a total of 30 minutes. 

3. Kitchen cleaning 
I use antiseptic wipes to wipe the kitchen floor every 2 days - as this is where things are spilt the most ( takes 5 minutes)
I use hob cleaning liquid to clean any stains on the hob - this has reduced a lot as we now have a Ninja Foodi 7 in 1  Cooker ( https://ninjacooking.co.uk/ ) and most of our cooking is done in this ( takes 10 minutes)
I clean the fridge every 2 to 4 months - we remove all the food, glass trays and I clean them in the sink using dish washing soap and then clean the inside of the fridge (takes 30 minutes)
Most fridge/ freezers have anti-frost systems so luckily, we do not have to de-frost them to remove the excess frost. 
I clean the kitchen counters after every meal/whenever we cook. 
I clean the exhaust hob every few months - you can buy degreaser sprays for that. It takes 20 minutes. 

4. Gardening 
My wife loves gardening and even though we live in a rented house, we spend a lot of time growing flowers and plants and maintaining the lawn. 
We cut the shrubs and prune the flowers, plants - once every month
I mow the lawn once a week - I have a corded lawn mower and it takes around 20 minutes to do the back garden, front garden and side lawn. 
We water the garden everyday if it is dry and sunny and then every 2 days if it is cloudy. As it is usually wet most of the time, we do not need to water it regularly. 
We have a Hozelock Hose Reel Cart With Hose Pipe which makes it very easy to water the plants and lawn and the pipe does not tangle. 
We regularly de-weed the garden using a deweeding tool and sometimes weed killer ( we avoid this as much as possible as we are worried that this can be harmful to our daughter and the domestic cats which love to come and socialize with us from time to time). The deweeding takes a substantial amount of time - upto an hour so we try to stay on top of it. 

5. Bed linen and towels 
We wash the bed linen and towels once a week - if it sunny, we hang it on the airer in the garden and it takes a few hours to dry. 

6. Sofa 
We have an IKEA sofa with removable zipped covers. We remove them and wash them - so far we have only done this once. I remove the cushions and vacuum the base of the sofa every 2 to 3 months. You find all sorts of things there with a toddler. 

7. Carpet 
We have a carpet cleaner spray and Dr Beckmann Carpet Cleaner Brush - I clean any stains immediately so the carpet stays clean. 

8. Difficult stains 
For difficult stains, the Pink Stuff is amazing - it works really well. I usually search on these groups as well and I always find a solution:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403853473266972/?ref=share
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CleaningHacksUK/?ref=share  

Other tips:
1. Keep your house well ventilated- this prevents the build up of mould. We open the bathroom windows after taking a shower and leave them open throughout the day. If you do not have any windows, you can get a dehumidifier ( Like Unibond Aero 360 Moisture Absorber) which absorbs excess moisture. You can also get an electric one- there are plenty of options. 
2. Have a routine - I have at least 2 days off a week and my 0900 to 1700/0800 to 1600 regular days are not that tiring so I :
- Do the vacuuming/lawn mowing when I come home from work , after taking a shower 
- Do the bathrooms on my day off as soon as I have breakfast. 
3. Once you do this on a regular basis, you get used to it. 
4. If you struggle, you can pay for cleaning services. They can be expensive but they are not unaffordable. You can easily afford it if you locum once a month and do not wish to overspend from your main earnings. 
5. Work together if you live with someone - I love cleaning ( yes, I am a bit mad and hence I love to vacuum, clean the bathrooms and mow the lawn). My wife does the gardening and cleans the kitchen counters after cooking. Even with my training post, I can easily manage this. 

                           MOVING OUT OF YOUR ACCOMODATION 

Agencies and landlords can be very strict on end of tenancy cleaning and the state of the accommodation. 
If you have a regular cleaning routine as above, you should not have a problem. 
I have relocated 4 times ( 3 bed hospital accommodation when we came to the UK , 2 bed apartments in 3 cities ) and we have been given are full deposit back on 3 occasions - the last one was my fault - I removed some insect screens we had put on our windows last minute and the paint came off. I completely forgot to paint them. 

This is what we do:
1. Clean the whole house ( as part of our regular routine) 2 days before moving out. 
2. Switch off the fridge and open the doors of the fridge/freezer so that it is completely defrosted - we put an old cloth/towel on the floor to absorb any excess water.  
3. We then come back in a day or 2 after moving out with our vacuum cleaner, cleaning products and do a thorough cleaning of the whole house. If we live too far away and are unable to come, we do a thorough cleaning the day before moving out and then a quick vacuum on the day of moving out. 
4. We then take detailed pictures of the accommodation and handover the keys 
5. The agency inspects the accommodation and then returns our deposit which we had given when we signed the rental agreement.  

If the agency finds the accommodation dirty:
1. They will email you with pictures ( hence the importance of taking pictures upon moving in and right before you hand over the keys) 
2. They may give you 2 options:
- Clean it yourself 
- Let them take money from your deposit to hire someone to do it.
Unfortunately, labor here is very expensive and agencies tend to charge a reasonable amount for this so if possible, try to clean it on your own. If you do not have any option , then be prepared for the agency to use part of the deposit you paid earlier to fix whatever needs to be fixed. 


Tips:
1. Always take detailed pictures when you get the keys of your accommodation- mention any stains/marks/cracks in the inventory 
2. Clean your accommodation regularly during your tenancy
3. Clean it thoroughly when you move out 
4.  Take pictures of the accommodation when you have done the final clean and are about to hand over the keys.  
5. Take care of the property like it is your own. Leave it in the state you got it in. This always leaves a good impression on the agency and you get your deposit back in full. 
6. Do not think that if your friend/ colleague did not get their deposit back, you will not either and there is no point of giving the property back in the same clean condition you received it in. 
7. Do not leave a single empty box/ anything extra in the accommodation. 
8. You can hire a team of end of tenancy cleaning professionals who will do the same job for money - this can very from city to city however it is not unaffordable. 

I hope this post helps. 

A few helpful groups which help:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403853473266972/?ref=share
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CleaningHacksUK/?ref=share
https://www.facebook.com/groups/585686578447904/?ref=share
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1557896597805116/?ref=share


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My experience of applying for British Citizenship via naturalisation

Image
As you all might be aware, my wife and I received our ILR in March, 2021. I have shared the whole process here: All about ILR and getting a UK citizenship - an introduction: https://omarsguidelines.blogspot.com/2021/03/all-about-ilr-and-getting-uk.html We then decided to apply for naturalisation in March, 2022 - one year after we were granted our ILR.  STEPS:  1. Apply online  https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-indefinite-leave-to-remain/how-to-apply 2. Submit application after paying for it.  3. The UKVCAS team will email you once you have applied stating that they are going to assess your application to see if you can use the IDV app ( A phone application on which you upload all your documents, take your picture and this way do not need to attend a face to face biometrics appointment).  4. Once you get the email from the UKVCAS team that you can now download and sign-in to your IDV app, upload the necessary documents ( like you would do on the UKVCAS website...
Read more

My experience of buying a house

OUR TIMELINE  1. 11th March : Got a call from Barratts that the house we are interested in has been released  2. 12th March: Booked an appointment with a sales team  3. Reserved the house the same day  4. 14th March: contacted mortgage advisers , provided scanned documents via email.  5. 15th March: contacted Solicitors , provided scanned documents via email.  6.  22nd March - property surveyed by solicitors  7. 29th March - mortgage approved 8. 24th March - paid the 5% deposit to our solicitors and exchanged contracts 9. 11th May - Had a choices appointment to add options ( upgrade kitchen, flooring, carpets, etc) and paid 25% of the extra options we went for.  10. 18th August - had the first viewing of the house ( at this stage, the initial coat of paint was done) 11. 20th August - Booked a snagger: https://www.tonge-robinson.co.uk/ 12. Booked a second viewing of the house on the 18th of September to measure spaces for cupboards. We were al...
Read more

Table of contents

                    To open each post, kindly right click on the post and click on open in a new window/tab. Everything in the UK is online - Kindly check the official guidelines along with going through this blog. This is merely my experience and opinion. Google the details of the relevant teams and contact them directly if you are unable to find the official guidance. PRE PLAB: I am a medical student. What do I need to do to work in the NHS? https://omarsguidelines.blogspot.com/2021/09/i-am-medical-student-what-do-i-need-to.html An introduction to working in the NHS, UK. http://omarsguidelines.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-interactive-session-with-medical.html PLAB guideline for medical students http://omarsguidelines.blogspot.com/2015/05/plab-for-medical-students.html Checklist for future NHS doctors http://omarsguidelines.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/checklist-for-future-nhs-doctors.html My message to IMGs who are discouraged by other people to ...
Read more