How to avoid problems.
Keeping your bedroom, bathroom and shared living areas clean and free of mess, will benefit you in many different ways. It will create a pleasant, hygienic and comfortable environment for you to live, socialise and study in.
This cleaning guide will hopefully help you achieve this!
It is important to remember that you may be living with people from different backgrounds and cultures and everyone has their own view of what is acceptable or how things should be done.
Get together with your flatmates and talk about how you are going to divide up the cleaning to make sure that everyone is doing their fair share.
This will cut out problems such as:
– Someone not doing their share
– One person making all the mess but never cleaning up
– One person spending lots of money on cleaning products for the whole flat.
Introduce a cleaning rota.
The communal areas are the responsibility of the whole flat, this includes keeping them clean and taking out the rubbish.
To stop any disagreements and your flat becoming dirty, it is fair that you all agree to take on equal share on the work. One of the easiest ways to do this is by a cleaning rota.
You will find a cleaning rota in your flat and board marker for you to fill in and divide the workload. This way you can make sure that a reasonable level of hygiene is maintained at all times.
Some examples of jobs you might put on your rota are:
– Taking the rubbish and recycling out.
– Vacuuming or mopping the floors.
– Cleaning the cooker, grill, hobs and oven.
Some important things to take into account when you are setting your rota up are:
– Some students will do more cooking than others.
– Some students may have more pressures than others.
– Some have part-time jobs or other commitments.
– Make sure it is fairly divided.
– Ensure that if someone is busy on a certain day, their workload is not set for a day they cannot do.
Please remember that if you are having issues with the level of cleanliness in the flat please contact the Accommodation Team for advice.
Tips on Cleaning
It is always handy to have a cleaning kit in your flat/house! Here are our suggested essentials:
– Washing up liquid
– Oven cleaner
– Toilet cleaner
– Floor cleaner
– Anti-bacterial cleaning spray
– Rubber gloves
– Cleaning cloths
– Clean up spills or marks as soon as they appear (if they are left for days they will take you longer to get them off)
– Keep cleaning products and equipment in easy-to-access places, rather than hiding them away .
– Soak stains before they set (this makes them easier to wipe away)
– Rotate chores weekly no one wants to be solely responsible for the smelliest jobs like taking the bins out!
– Kitchen surfaces. Encourage everyone to keep food and crockery in their own cupboards and not out on the surfaces—this makes cleaning easier
– Washing up. Don’t let dirty dishes pile up – it’s annoying for others and smelly.
– The fridge. Make it a rule that whoever is responsible for cleaning out the fridge has an unreserved right to chuck out anything mouldy or rotten for the sake of hygiene.
– The oven. Don’t skip this task, though you only really need to do it once a month. The same goes for the microwave – just be sure to mop up spills as soon as they happen.
- Rubbish. Make sure rubbish is taken out on a regular basis to avoid any problems.
– Vacuuming: Think about doing a quick whip round the common areas every time you clean your own room.
Do…
– Use proper cleaning products. Check the labelling on the package, always use the advised safety equipment and follow instructions.
– Store all cleaning products in a cool and dark cupboard.
– Change cloths regularly and wash in hot detergent. Harmful bacteria live in cleaning cloths and tea towels. Cloths can be washed in a washing machine. Also wash mop heads in very hot detergent.
– Use different cloths for different areas, for example, one cloth for the kitchen, a different cloth for the toilet, another one for the sink and wash basin.
Don’t…
– Mix chemicals– when you combine them they can be toxic.
– Use bleach or bleach based products because it can cause health problems. For example, if you suffer from asthma using bleach could cause breathing problems.
– Leave cloths and sponges in water—always wash after use and leave dry.
– Leave wet washing over radiators or heating as this is a health and safety risk and can cause damage to furnishings.
– Leave water on the floor when mopping. Sweep hard floors regularly and mop using all-purpose cleaner and a mop.
Micro-fibre cloth
Fridge/freezer All purpose cleaner Micro-fibre cloth
Cooking hob All purpose kitchen cleaner Non-scratch cleaning pad
and/or cloth
Oven Oven cleaner Scouring
pad and/or cloth
Oven grill shelves Oven cleaner Scouring pad
and/or cloth
Disinfecting bathroom, kitchen and rubbish bins
Disinfectant Cloth (never use the same cloth for bathroom, kitchen
and rubbish bins)
Microwave Washing up liquid Micro-fibre cloth