Is your pet making you sick?

Apart from leaving hair all over the house and adding to your dust problem, pets are also constantly shredding dander, the old skin scales which, like dead human skin cells, provide extra fodder for the festing mites. Dogs and cats are the most common sources of animal allergens, but almost any furry or feathered friend, from hamsters to budgies, can trigger allergies.

1. If you are sensitive to animal dander, wear an allergy-proof face mask when grooming animals and while vacuuming. If possible delegate the task to some one else.
2. If you have pets, keep bedroom doors closed. Don't let them wander into the bedroom. Definitely don't let pets share your bed. Inevitably they will shed hair and skin particles which will exacerbate allergic reactions.
3. Thoroughly vacuum pet bedding daily and anywhere else your pet spends time. Allowing pets to sit on soft furnishings creates extra work.
4. Keep litter trays, bedding and cages in a well-ventilated room or area.
5. If possible, let your pet outside for part of the day. Take bird and hamster cages outdoors when the weather is fine. This will help keep the levels of animal dander, and the smell, down. Your pet will appreciate the change of scene too.
6. After touching or playing with pets always wash your hands, and wash clothes in the hottest wash the care instructions will allow.

Top tips for a clean and safe kitchen

The kitchen can be a very hazardous area, one where a multitude of sins can easy happen. There's a lot going on in here, with cooking, eating and laundry. The kitchen is the heart of the home, so don't give it a coronary!

1. Remove unnecessary clutter from surfaces. Discard or store appliances and gadgets that you don't use anymore.
2. Follow food storage tips.
3. Keep you fridge clean and tidy. Before you do your weekly shop remove the contents, discarding old food and cleaning shelves and racks.
4. Wipe your hob each time you use it. Wipe down the surfaces of the oven after each use. It will be much easier to keep it clean that way.
5. Wipe up spillages in your microwave whenever they occur.
6. Use a bin with a lid to keep smells at bay and flies out. Empty it as soon as it smells, even if it's not full. Wash and disinfect once a week.
7. Wipe surfaces down before and after preparing food.
8. Change the dishcloth you wipe surfaces with every day.
9. Use two chopping boards, one for raw meat, a separate once for vegetables.
10. Don't leave dirty crockery and pans to fester where they can attract harmful bacteria.
11. Keep sink and drainer clean and tidy.
12. Keep kitchen floors free from debris and grease by sweeping and washing regularly.
13. If you have pets, don't leave their dirt food dishes out of meals as they will attract flies and, potentially, rodents.
14. Cat-litter trays should not be kept in the kitchen. If possible a bathroom, hall or lobby is a better spot.
15. Don't leave damp or dirty laundry festering in the washing machine or drier, and avoid sorting dirty laundry on food preparation surfaces.

Food storage

Don't buy too much food - why buy food you can't eat? It's not cheap, you know. Don't over-stock on fruit and vegetables either, they will rapidly ripen and attract flies. Flies love to lay their eggs in rotting vegetables and fruit, so keep a regular eye on your vegetable rack and fruit bowl too. Be fastidious in your cupboards - you've got eyes, you know when you cupboards are dirty, dear. You don't want to larder beetles and moths moving in to devour your food. Keeping dried foods in those super stack-able heavy plastic containers is a wonderful way to keeping them out. Here are some handy tips to avoid sharing your meals with a whole host of unwanted guests.

1. Don't allow fruit kept in bowls to become over-ripe. It will attract fruit flies.
2. Keep an eye on your vegetables. Discard rotten ones, as they will cause others to rot quickly too.
3. Check the contents of the fridge every couple of days. You're always popping in for milk, so have a nose round. Discard foods that are past their best.
4. Keep raw meats on the bottom shelf as that they can't drip and contaminate foods below.
5. Cooked meats should always be stored above raw meats.
6. Know your cupboards. Go through food cupboards every couple of months, wiping the shelves and discarding food that has passed its best-before date. Dry the shelves thoroughly before bringing the older stocks to the front, putting newer to the back.
7. Keep flour, nuts, biscuits, rice, past and other dries foods in tightly sealed glass or heavy plastic containers to stop pantry-pest beetles and moths getting inside.
8. Don't leave foodstuffs out on work surfaces after preparing meals.

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New Zealand Van Lines Move Consultants have spent most of their professional life working with countless families and individuals who are in the process of moving. Organizing your stuff, letting of some possessions, packing and moving forward to a new home will always be a challenging task. Organizing your "stuff", even if you are not involved with a move, can be overwhelming. 

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Most of us do not live in an orderly, minimalistic dwelling with everything in its place. We lead very busy lives and our possessions, debris and papers begin to hold us hostage inside our homes. We feel we can never sell our homes because we can never find time to sort through everything that needs to done to move on. New Zealand Van Lines can give your systems, resources and checklists and other suggestions to help make your move to Australia as stress-free as possible. It is not easy to maintain this level of orderliness.

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Monthly Cleaning Routines

Now don't go thinking we've gone all obsessive here, dear. This isn't about getting down the calendar and marking off great lists of tasks on the first of each month. These are just the little extra things. It would be daft to do them every day or week, why waste your time? But every now and then again your home will be cleaner if you tick off some of these extra things. Do you know what I do? I love watching television, but some nights I have a look and I think 'Well, there's nothing on'. So I think to myself, 'I'll just go and clean a room I haven't done for a while.' Try it - come the end of the evening you feel so good you haven't wasted your time watching a load of rubbish - and you've got a lovely clean room.

1. Clean windows, inside and out.
2. Launder under bedding, mattress covers and pillow protectors.
3. Turn mattresses (at least every other month)
4. Sort through cupboards and drawers regularly, discarding things you don't use.
5. Vacuum areas you normally neglect - under the bed, curtains, cobwebs in high corners.
6. Clean lamps and lampshades.
7. Polish wooden furniture. 
8. Polish mirrors, including frames.
9. Wax floors after washing them.
10. Thoroughly clean inside the oven.
11. Dust blinds, door tops and picture rails. 

Weekly Cleaning Routines 

Of course there are some jobs you don't need to do every day. That doesn't mean you have to save them up all for a mammoth cleaning blitz at the end of the week. Oh please, get a system or you'll be in one heck of a mess. Do a couple of these things along with your daily routine and you'll never spend a whole day cleaning again.

1. Change the bedlinen (twice weekly is best in hot weather)
2. Change bath and shower towels two or three times weekly.
3. Vacuum carpets and floors.
4. Wash or mop all hard floors.
5. Dust the surfaces (if you're pressed for time, dusting will always wait - dust doesn't smell but toilets always do).
6. Wipe finger prints from door handles and light switches (do this as you go round, it only takes a second and keeps germs away).
7. Thoroughly clean the bathroom: toilet, sink, shower, tiles, toothbrush holders, mirrors and floor.
8. Attend to the areas of the kitchen not covered by daily routines: wipe cupboard doors, splashbacks, oven, microwave, fridge, windows, and rinse and disinfect rubbish bins.
9. Iron the laundry. 

Daily Cleaning Routine

If you try to do the following little tasks every day they will soon become second nature, and won't even notice you're doing them. A couple of minutes here, a few seconds there, and you'll soon wonder what all the fuss was about.

1. Pull back the bedcovers to air while you shower and breakfast. Open the window: this will reduce humidity and limit the number of dust mites.
2. Keep the kitchen clean and tidy. Wash up after each meal, and keep surfaces clean.
3. Change dishclothes and tea towels daily.
4. Vacuum or sweep the kitchen floor.
5. Keep sinks clean and hand towels fresh.
6. Keep toilets scrupulously clean.
7. Return things to their place so clutter doesn't build up.
8. Consider nominating days for laundry: e.g. Saturday for bedlinen, Monday for towels, Tuesday for coloureds, Thursday for whites. Hang laundry up to dry to make ironing easier.