Everyone likes a clean house, but houses just don’t stay clean as long as we all wish they would. There is no avoiding it, a clean house will inevitably get dirty, entropy is a universal law after all. Well, we have five simple tips that will keep your Cape Cod house a little cleaner throughout the year and inhibit entropy’s progress.
#1 – Get a good door mat/mats. Consider a door mat as your house’s last line of defense between it and dirt & sand being tracked in from outside, particularly with the sandy soils of Cape Cod. If you have hardwood floors without a lot of area rugs, then a good doormat is a must! As Cape Cod, sand can to a number on your floors. In our opinion, the best doormats are made from coconut fibers or other similar organic materials. They have an excellent course surface, their tight weave traps dirt, are biodegradable and are ok to walk barefoot on (likely a frequent occurrence at your Cape Cod house ;)). The worst door mats are the plastic ones that are similar to Astroturf. These do not capture dirt very well allowing it to be tracked in. They are plastic, and the worst offenders bear a close kinship to punji sticks, let’s just say they produce the occasional ouch!
#2 – Get a boot brush. This follows the same theme as the doormats. Removing dirt from footwear before someone enters the house, will help keep it cleaner. While boot brushes are more useful in the winter, if you or someone in your household likes to wear goloshes when it rains, work boots, generally if someone wears any type of boot a boot brush is still useful throughout the year.
#3 – Put pantry pest traps in… you guessed it your pantries! Besides helping to protect your food from pantry pests, the traps will reduce the total number of bugs in your house. This has the side benefit of reducing the number of spiders residing in your home by limiting the size of their potential food sources.
#4 – Use that green thumb. Did you know certain plants help improve indoor air quality by trapping particulates and certain common toxins? Some examples of beneficial plants are Aloe, spider plants, snake plants, and peace lilies, all of which are easy to maintain. Besides, having a few Aloe plants in your house will enable you to soothe that sunburn you got when you fell asleep at the beach. You know, that one that has you hoping that no one gives you a pat on the back, or at least that they will stick to the proverbial ones.
#5 – Wash your linens regularly. Did you know that much of the dust in your house is shedded skin? Ewwwe right? Well, guess where it is concentrated the most, bingo! The bed! So wash your sheets, blankets, and pillow cases regularly. We recommend using pillow protectors on your pillows and cleaning those as well. Shedded skin is the primary food for dust mites, which can contribute to asthmatic reactions and allergies. The rest requires regular vacuuming so give us a call if you would like a hand!
*#6 – Why six when I said five and what’s up with the star? Well, this one doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone, just those that own pets, specifically cats and dogs. Its quite simple really, just brush your pets regularly especially during the spring when they are shedding. Not only will this reduce the amount of hair they shed in your house but they will likely love you a little more for it. Personally, the writer of this has a yellow lab, and she’s a shedding machine. Optimally in the spring and summer, she gets brushed every other day and at a slightly longer interval in the winter. While she still sheds in the house, the abundance of dog hair is much reduced and by brushing her it’s possible to wear the occasional piece of black clothing.