1. Introduction

As a homeowner within this beautiful part of Australia, you will no doubt be doing your very best to keep your home looking its very best at all times.

However, it can sometimes become apparent that keeping a home ‘spotless’ from day to day can be no easy feat! The constant stream of fine summer dust which blows in off the northern plains and into every room in your home is only one of the various different environmental issues with which to contend. 

Then in the middle of winter, damp days and nights with water dripping from windows and doors, create the ideal breeding ground for black mold which can be not only bad for your carpets and hard floors but also highly detrimental to the health of your family members and their allergies.

But it truly doesn’t have to be a constant struggle for South Australian homeowners. In this article, we reveal the secrets to keeping your home clean while bringing you many benefits. Save money by preventing premature wear and tear on your carpets and hard floor surfaces, and improve the health of your family by removing allergens from seasonal cleaning.

Decreasing your mental load and stress caused by your cluttered home, and never having enough time to do all of the cleaning, and household maintenance required to keep your home clean and ready for use at all times, to help you to find more time to relax and enjoy your home and your weekends at the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Fleurieu Peninsula and other great locations around South Australia.

If you are wondering how to  clean your Adelaide home. while juggling your life between work, and family time and your precious time off for weekend getaways to the Barossa, the Fleurieu Peninsula and other parts of South Australia then you have come to the right place.

The 10 Most Effective Cleaning Methods To Keep Your Home Clean in South Australia. In this extensive guide brought to you by the experts at Gifted Hands Cleaning, we reveal the ultimate cleaning methodology broken down into 10 methods to effectively clean your home using the right cleaning tools and the best cleaning methods for each room and the different seasons of the year.

Reclaim your time, and give your home the transformation it deserves. Click on the following to take you straight to the areas that you need most assistance with.

3. Pre-Cleaning Preparation: Setting Up for Success

• At Gifted Hands Cleaning, we know that taking a few minutes to set up your cleaning before you start could save you hours of time and stress in the long run. Often the biggest mistake that homeowners make when it comes to cleaning is not preparing sufficiently before starting and not having the correct cleaning tools for the job. This can lead to a number of problems including becoming sidetracked, not completing cleaning of all the rooms in the house and eventually giving up altogether.

• You don’t have to hold a cupboard full of chemicals to clean your home professionally, however there are a few basic cleaning tools and supplies that you will need to clean your home effectively and give it that professional finish.

• Dust grabbing Microfiber Cloths (various colors): Being one of the driest places on earth in the winter and extremely dry in summer, Adelaide needs dust removed from all surfaces. Microfiber clothes are best at this job. Different colored cloths are best for different rooms to avoid cross contamination of bacteria and grime. For example blue for glass, yellow for bathrooms and green for kitchens.

• A HEPA-Filter Vacuum: This vacuum is specifically designed to pick up very fine dust mites and other allergens that may affect people with respiratory problems. Gifted Hands are able to use HEPA-filter vacuums for their cleaning because they collect all of the particles the vacuum picks up as opposed to recirculating them back into the air.

• A Good Quality Squeegee: This is one of those must haves when it comes to cleaning your windows as well as your glass shower screens and doors and will leave a brilliant streak free finish.

• Descaling Agents – Adelaide has very hard water and no matter how well you clean your taps and shower screens they often develop a white mineral buildup which is difficult to remove. Descaling agents are available or alternatively you can use a solution of heavy duty vinegar and water.

The Psychology of Cleaning: The Top-Down, Dry-to-Wet Method

Most professional cleaners adhere to a single golden rule when it comes to the cleaning of a room or area.In terms of working in a methodical way and revisiting an area or surface as required when cleaning the best way to clean is working from top to bottom and from left to right.

This means that when cleaning a room from top to bottom dirt and dust is stopped from being removed and then re-spread. Work from the ceiling of the room down to the floor. Start by cleaning any dust from ceiling fans and light fixtures as well as dust from the tops of pictures on the walls and high parts of shelves.The dust will then fall to the floor and can be swept, vacuumed or mopped as required.

Secondly, it is very important to note that you must clean dry before you begin to clean wet. This means that you must first carry out all of the dusting, sweeping and vacuuming before you start to use any cleaning products that contain water and use any mops. Should you begin to clean wet too soon, the dry dust will become mud and will most likely be even harder to clean than the initial dust. With the correct equipment and this method of systematic cleaning, you are already half way to becoming a great professional cleaner.

4. Main Body: The 10 Ways

1. Start with a Ruthless, Room-by-Room Declutter

The biggest hurdle to a clean house is actually the clutter in your house. Trying to wipe down dirty mail covered into every nook and cranny on your benches, and then to be able to vacuum around all the laundry and kids toys that never get put away, is an enormous amount of stress and actually a lot of wasted time in the end, because the efficient way to clean would be cleanable surfaces.

Clutter on surfaces like mail, packaging, dirty laundry, children’s toys and play equipment are all too common in homes around Adelaide. When you have so much clutter on our surfaces it becomes difficult to carry out effective cleaning on a regular basis. The best way to clear clutter is to set up 3 large bins or boxes with the labels of Keep (1) Keep (Put Away), (2) Donate and (3) Trash. This simple step will instantly cut your cleaning time in half once you have cleared all your surfaces of clutter. Countertops, dining tables and bathroom vanities are common places to find large amounts of clutter that need to be addressed.

Required Tools: Garbage bags, storage baskets, a timer.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: While cleaning don’t let your Donate pile sit in the hallway for weeks. Pack it straight into the boot of your car. Adelaide is blessed with fantastic local charities like Vinnies, Salvos, and the RSPCA op shops across the suburbs from Marion to Modbury—drop your items off the very next time you drive past.

2. Tackle Dust Top-to-Bottom (Beating the SA Dry Spells)

Summer in South Australia can be a beautiful time with long dry days and hot temperatures. The problem for many people is that during these months the north winds bring a huge amount of fine dust that penetrates every nook and cranny of your home. So how to clean your Adelaide home during the peak of summer is the question for many allergy sufferers.

From top to bottom is the way to clean your Adelaide home . Start from the top with your extendable cobweb duster. Work your way through all the ceilings and include ceiling fans and even your air conditioning vents. From there move on to any picture frames, window sills and any of the floating shelves throughout your home. When it comes to the wiping down of the surfaces mentioned above for removing the dust, always use a dry or very slightly damp microfiber cloth (s). Feather dusters are not good to use as they simply flick the dust and send it everywhere to land again in the air to settle at a later time.

3 Essential Tools to Clean Your Adelaide Home: Extendable Cobweb Duster, High Quality Microfibre Cleaning Clothes & A Step Ladder.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: For persistent dust that attaches to ceiling fan blades, just pop an old pillowcase over the fan blade and pull back. All the dust is sucked into the center of the pillowcase – leaving your bed and floor carpets clean!

3. Deep Clean Carpets and Revitalize Hard Floors

The Challenge: Floors take a beating. From beach sand tracked in after a weekend at Glenelg or Henley Beach, to muddy paw prints during wet winters, your floors are the canvas of your home. Hardwood and floating floors look streaky when washed incorrectly, whereas carpets have embedded allergens that are deeply rooted within the carpet fibers.

First dry clean your carpets by vacuuming all of them slowly with overlapping strokes to ensure that all of the deeply embedded dirt is picked up by the HEPA filter. Then it’s time to deep clean your hardwood and other floating types of floors. First vacuum or sweep all of the floors to remove any debris. Then when you mop, use hot water and the bare minimum amount of floor cleaner possible. Many people make the mistake of using too much of a floor cleaner and then the sticky residue left on the floor attracts dirt faster than it would have otherwise.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: Hard floor streaks?? No heavy chemicals are needed. Here is an easy formula to eliminate grease on your floor for life using just hot water and a few household items! 1 cup water, 1 tbsp white vinegar and 1 single drop of Dish soap and SWISH and RINSE with a clean section of microfiber for amazing results! Reuse cleaning solution as needed to save time and floor chemicals!

4. Master the Kitchen Deep Clean

The kitchen: where we love it as the centre of our home but hate the messy dirty greasy grime that lurks within. The biggest of jobs for most is the oven/rangehood, but don’t be afraid to get stuck in here too.

The Step-by-Step Solution: Divide up your kitchen by rooms and then objects or surface types and tackle each one by one. So start with your Oven or your Range Hood first, Spray with a Heavy Duty Degreaser to allow it to penetrate the grime.

While this is working off travel to your Fridge, take out expired or unwanted food and give the shelves a good clean down with soapy warm water and a cloth, then move on to your cabinets on your upper walls by using your Flat Microfiber and pH Neutral Floor Cleaner to wipe away any greasy finger marks, Once you have cleaned around your Oven come back to it and use non scratch scouring sponges with baking soda and hot water to clean away any grime that had been allowed to penetrate into the surface of your oven.

After that travel to your Bench Tops, sanitizing and then your Sinks which will require some scrubbing and your Rubbish Bins which just need to be emptied and put back in their place.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: For the microwave – place a microwave-safe bowl with one cup of water and a chopped lemon inside the microwave. Cook on high for 3-5 minutes or until the window steams up. Allow the door to remain closed for 5 minutes and then simply wipe down with a cloth to remove the softened grime.

5. Revamp the Bathroom & Banish Winter Mould

Winters in the Adelaide Hills and suburbs can be very damp. A poorly ventilated bathroom is a perfect breeding ground for black mold to grow in the grout lines and in the Silicone seal around the bathroom. This can become a serious health issue. The hard water in Adelaide can cause terrible limescale build up on Glass shower doors and on bathroom tapware.

Clean Grout: Use mould-killing gel or spray throughout grout lines. Leave to soak while cleaning other bathroom areas. Using grout brush, scrub grout lines until clean and repeat if necessary. Once cleaned, dry with a towel to prevent moisture build up. Clean Mirrors and Vanities: Using glass cleaner, wipe down all mirrors in the bathroom. Thoroughly clean and disinfect all areas of basins. Sanitise Toilet: Using toilet brush, thoroughly clean inside of bowl. Using toilet sanitiser and clean cloth, wipe down the entire toilet including seat, lid and behind toilet. Clean and Rinse 

Shower Glass: Using commercial descaler or 50/50 white vinegar and dish soap solution, spray down the entire shower glass. Using a non-scratch scrubber, thoroughly scrub the glass in the direction of the glass, removing any soap scum, mildew or hard water marks. Rinse the entire shower glass using warm water to remove all soap and cleaner. Using squeegee, squeeze the entire shower glass to dry and prevent water spots from re-forming.

Required Tools for this job: Grout brush, descaler/vinegar, squeegee, toilet brush and sanitizing spray for toilet and surfaces.

Prevention of the buildup and growth of mold and hard water marks in the bathroom is key in keeping your Adelaide home clean. We at Gifted Hands recommend the use of a squeegee in the shower after every use. A few seconds of your time each day can save you from scrubbing away at stubborn stains in the long run. Also, make sure to switch on the exhaust fan for at least 20 minutes after every use to remove the excess humidity from the air.

6. Refresh Your Window Tracks and Glass

Dirty windows are a problem in most parts of Australia but especially so in sunny South Australia. Bugs, dirt, hair and other debris get stuck in the window tracks and over time, especially after it has rained, can become a hard, solid substance that is almost impossible to remove.

Step 1: Clean Window Tracks – first empty dirt from the tracks using the crevice tool of your vacuum cleaner. Then sprinkle some baking soda into the tracks. Mix it with some white vinegar and let it fizz. Use an old toothbrush to rub away hard grime and wipe with a clean cloth to remove all residue. Now it is time to clean the windows using glass cleaner, lint-free microfiber cloths or squeegees and cleaning in an S shape from top to bottom.

The step by step and required tools to make your Window Tracks and Glass shine like new again are:

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: Clean your windows on an overcast day or early in the morning to avoid unsightly marks and streaks left by cleaning solution on a very hot and sunny day.

7. Disinfect High-Touch Areas for a Healthy Home

The Challenge: During cold and flu season, a visually clean home isn’t necessarily a hygienic home. Bacteria and viruses will live on surfaces that are touched by family members on a regular basis, and are typically found hidden amongst regular weekend cleaning.

Sanitise high touch-point items. Take a spray bottle of antibacterial sanitiser and some clean cloth and go around the home paying particular attention to the high traffic-touch-points: front door handles; inside door handles; light switches; fridge door handle; microwave buttons and keyboard; TV remotes; cupboard and drawer pulls. These areas harbor the most germs and dirt to stop the spread of cold and flu bugs.

Required Tools: Antibacterial wipes or a spray sanitiser and clean cloth.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: Don’t forget to sanitise personal items that travel with you from place to place. Sanitise your phone, laptop and car keys to prevent the spread of germs.

8. Don’t Forget the Alfresco and Outdoor Spaces

Adelaideans are obsessed with Outdoor Living. We love to make the most of the fantastic weather by throwing barbies and entertaining friends & family in our backyards & patios. It is so hard to keep these areas clean though with all the elements that dirt and bring in dirt & spiders etc to make webs.

Remove any cobwebs with an outdoor broom from the eaves, from lighting, and from corners of the patio and then use the broom to sweep the entire deck or pavers to remove any leaves and dirt that may have accumulated. Using warm soapy water, clean the outdoor dining table and chairs. Also, be sure to give the hotplate on your barbecue a thorough scrape and then degrease the exterior hood to ensure that it is ready for use for your next weekend barbecue.

Required Tools: Stiff outdoor broom, soapy water, barbecue scraper, high-pressure hose (optional).

Gifted Hands Pro Tip: And don’t forget about those dull, mossy pavers that are hidden away in the shadier recesses of your outdoor area. If you have a tough cleaning job on your hands, get out your high pressure washer. And the best part is that it can all be done without the need for nasty chemicals!

9. Establish a Foolproof Maintenance Routine

The Challenge: You’ve spent hours doing a deep clean, but within four days the house is back to square one. Marathon weekend cleaning followed by chaotic weekend nights and exhausting weekdays of tired cleaning to try and keep up with the mess is not sustainable. So how do you clean your Adelaide home for maintenance?

Break down the cleaning into the amount of time you have each day, to spread out the bigger jobs of cleaning into smaller tasks. If you have 15 minutes each day to clean then put this into a checklist of daily tidying jobs. 

Wipe down kitchen benches after every dinner to stop food from becoming sticky, put a load of laundry on every morning to make sure that there is always a clean pair of socks to wear, spend 5 minutes each night to tidy up the living room to pick up toys and books that have been left on the floor.

Required Tools: A cleaning checklist or planner.

Gifted Hands Pro Tip – Habit stack cleaning. So while you brush your teeth, wipe down the bathroom basin, or empty the dishwasher while you have your morning coffee. These simple actions save so much time in the long run and have you stay on top of cleaning your home without feeling like you’re missing out on precious time with your family.

10. Know When to Call the Adelaide Professionals

Life has changed so much over the last few decades. There is so much more to life than just cleaning, especially when most people work long hours and are away from home for most of the day. It’s great to have a clean home and all but it shouldn’t cost you so much of your precious time. Time is money after all and there are so many better things to do with your time than scrubbing toilets and mopping floors.

The Step-by-Step Solution: Calculate the value of your time. If it takes 5 hours to clean your house and this would mean missing out on quality time with your family and friends or running yourself into the ground, then it is time to outsource the cleaning.

Professional cleaners have the proper equipment, experience and attention to detail to give your house a deep clean. Whether you need a big spring clean, an end of lease clean to get your bond back or even just a regular clean to keep your house clean every 2 weeks, it is worth it in the long run.

Required Tools: A phone or laptop to book!

The Gifted Hands Pro Tip is to choose local professionals who specialize in maintaining homes similar to your own. This means they will be well equipped to manage the specific type of dirt and grime which your home will accumulate as well as tackle any difficult cleaning tasks such as removing soap scum and hardness deposits from bathroom surfaces.

Gifted Hands Cleaning service can provide your Adelaide home with the deep cleaning service it needs using a range of strategies suited to houses similar to your own and can help to keep it in great condition between cleanings.

5. Seasonal Cleaning Guide for South Australia

Adapting Your Cleaning to Adelaide’s Four Seasons

Seasonal cleaning has to be flexible enough to tackle the biggest environmental issues of the season. South Australia’s Mediterranean climate with its dry warm summers and wet cool winters means that homes in Adelaide have to be cleaned in very different ways during summer and winter, and require a complete overhaul during autumn and spring.

Summer: Dust and Heat in Adelaide. Like to keep your home clean in the middle of summer in Adelaide? The two main enemies of the Adelaide home in summer are dust and pollen, and the hot northerlies that bring them. If you have an HEPA-filter vacuum, then use it.

Also, on very windy days, keep your windows shut. In the Adelaide Hills or outer suburbs of Adelaide, there is also the possibility of bushfire ash entering your home. Clean down your outdoor furniture regularly and wash your window screens to stop tree ash building up on them and then falling into your home. Heavy curtains and rugs can be washed in summer, as they will dry quickly in the intense dry heat.

Autumn: The Season of Transition It’s time to transition your house cleaning regime between the green of summer and the gray of winter. It is also time to prepare for winter wet weather. Clear your gutters of falling leaves to prevent damage to your home in the subsequent winter rains. Set up a functional space such as a mudroom or an entry way zone with doormats and a place to store things such as wet shoes and umbrellas to stop mud from spreading to the rest of the house.

Winter: Damp, Mould, and Carpet Cleaning Bring on the cold weather in South Australia, with cold fronts moving through bringing moisture in the air. And with the windows all shut to try to keep the warm air in, the air inside your home is sure to become humid, a breeding ground for mold. We recommend opening up and using exhaust fans as much as possible after showers to get the air to move and dry.

And there are times when bringing a dehumidifier into the problem room can help as well. Also with all the rain in winter is a great time to book a carpet deep cleaning. Not only will it get all of the dirt that has been tracked in during the wet weather, but it will also help to get your home back to a great smelling clean environment when you are stuck inside on those grey days.

Spring is the season of the traditional ‘Spring Clean’. Even though all cleaning is important, there is something very special about a thorough Spring Clean where you get to bring everything back to square one. Spring Clean your home with a thorough cleaning of your windows (both inside and outside) to allow the sunshine back in your home.

Use the season for deep cleaning the things in your home that you generally try to put off throughout the year. Give your oven a good clean to make sure it is ready for all the baking that you will be doing for all the functions held during the festive season. Remove all the furniture from the walls and give them a good vacuum with the crevice tool attached to the vacuum to get into all the corners and crevices that have collected dust and dirt throughout the year.

6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. The Most Efficient Way To Clean Your House The most efficient order to clean a house is to start from the top of the house going down to the bottom. Dry to wet surfaces. Start at the ceiling working your way down, and dust any objects that are afraid to fall.

After you’ve cleaned the whole house dry first then wet, you’ll finish cleaning all of the surfaces before any dry dust turns into a muddy mess on them. The dry surfaces are first- such as dusting, vacuuming, and sweeping- and then there are the wet- like counters which you would spray, and then bathrooms which you scrub and mop.

Q2: How often should I hire a professional cleaner in Adelaide? The frequency that you require professional cleaning of your home will depend on your individual circumstances. Busy families, households with pets and large homes with numerous rooms are typical of clients who require fortnightly cleaning. Those with smaller families, who live alone and / or in apartments may require cleaning on a monthly basis.

We highly recommend a thorough deep clean to be completed 2 times per year. These cleanings take place in spring and in autumn. This is the best time to clean hard to reach areas, deep clean carpets and give your home a thorough cleaning to remove any grime that may have built up over the seasons.

Q3: What are the best natural cleaning products to use? To keep your home clean and your family safe from toxic chemicals, you don’t need a wide array of costly natural cleaning products. The typical White vinegar is an excellent natural descaler, being able to remove the mineral deposit left in water by hard water such as calcium and lime from shower walls and doors, taps, chrome, bathroom fittings etc as well as removing soap scum.

Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a great and mild abrasive, useful for scrubbing to remove grease and grime from your grout as well as getting rid of really stubborn messes left in your oven without causing any damage.

Lemon juice is great for natural bleaching and degreasing. The majority of household cleaning products can be made from usual products found in most kitchens, thus proving to be cost effective and safe for use around children and domestic pets, successfully dealing with around 80% of cleaning jobs..

Q4: How to clean a home to prevent the presence of dust mites for people with allergies in Adelaide? There are many simple ways to minimize dust mites during our dry/ windy summer months and even more so during the heater months. The way to clean an Adelaide home in order to remove allergens is by using the vacuum with HEPA filters the most. Also by washing in hot water (above 60°C) all bedding on a weekly basis. Last but not least by keeping the humidity level of the indoors area to below 50% by using exhaust fans and/or dehumidifiers.

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7. Conclusion & Call to Action

Reclaim Your Weekends with Gifted Hands Cleaning

Maintaining a clean home can be a very fulfilling and rewarding task, however it can be very time-consuming and sometimes leave you feeling exhausted. Our ten steps to cleaning your Adelaide home will ensure that you are able to give your house a complete clean from top to bottom in an efficient manner and give you peace of mind knowing that you have a clean home.

At times life can be extremely busy. Many people feel that keeping a house clean should not mean spending their entire weekend in a house that has been left to get into a bit of disarray. This is where the experts can step in.

Now that you know how to clean your Adelaide home we know how much work it is and that is where our experienced, locally-based team at Gifted Hands Cleaning come in. We provide a quality, reliable cleaning service that is tailored to meet your individual needs. We do all of the hard work so you can return to your normal activities and enjoy the many things that South Australia has to offer.

We can do the hard work for you. Contact us today for a free no obligation quote for cleaning your Adelaide home. We are an Adelaide based cleaning company servicing Residential, Commercial and Government sectors all over Adelaide, providing the highest quality of cleaning services. Our passion for delivering an exceptional cleaning service ensures that every customer receives the highest level of service every time. Gifted Hands Cleaning, giving you more time to do the things you love in South Australia.