How Clean is your Home by Heather Hilder on December 23, 2020 “How Clean is your Home?” Social Anxiety at Christmas The rules on lockdown are chopping and changing like the weather. But whatever happens, especially this Christmas, the cleanliness of our homes will play a big part in our health. Sadly, people are experiencing social anxiety in their homes due to the extra pressure. It has never been more important to ask ‘How Clean is your Home’ this Christmas?’ Social distancing considerations and household bubbles means an almost continuous game of musical chairs. Still, buyers are flocking by night and day to the shops, clearing shelves, in an attempt to celebrate the Festive Season as best they can. We all want to bring some joy into what has been a tough nine months for all of us. But germs and viruses will ruin our Christmas and New Year and potentially prolong lockdown as the R-number increases. Let’s Talk ‘Clean’ Cleanliness is next to godliness – and keeping our household and guests safe puts extra pressure on us as hosts. No guest is going to thank you for salmonella or e-coli food poisoning this Christmas! Even worse is ‘Covid-19’ or a variant thereof. My guest on the latest episode of my radio show ‘Let’s Talk Property’ knows all about the dangers lurking on our kitchen surfaces, in our bathrooms, and throughout our homes. TV Star, Aggie Mackenzie of ‘How Clean is your House’ gives me her tips for Christmas cleanliness. She insists that we absolutely must continue hand-washing, mask-wearing, and social distancing. Christmas at Home “It’s a very… well, it’s so kind of obvious that it’s a very different Christmas this year. And the rules have changed! Actually, what are the risks that we’re willing to take? Aggie begins. We’re getting excited about Christmas, but having extra anxiety piled on us, not only from a shopping and serving food perspective, but from the cleaning perspective too. I asked Aggie whether we were feeling more pressure by opening up our homes to family and friends – making us increasingly anxious? Aggie explained the research commissioned by Fogfan revealing: a quarter of Brits are nervous about having family in their homes over Christmas 62% will not be using cleaning products that will kill Covid on the surfaces 60% will be deep cleaning their kitchen; 50% the lounge before family arrive 2021 here we come, but we want to celebrate Christmas as best we can before we get there. Government guidelines over households mixing over the festive period keep changing too. Many Brits are feeling under pressure to open up their homes to family and friends. However, this is making us feel doubly anxious. Desperate to see loved ones, sorely missed, the research has also revealed that 1:4 adults in the UK feel nervous about social gatherings during the festive period. Clean Home Aggie described a product which could reassure visitors who are rightly anxious about catching the virus. As a result, this offers a reduction in anxiety. “From a home-cleaning perspective, Fog.fan, I think, is a complete game changer. I’ve had lots of inquiries from people about getting clean for Christmas, and anxiety. Fog Fan has been used in public places like airports and shopping centres and dental surgeries for like 20 years to keep the air clean. It can also be used in the home and office. You can find more details and FAQs at Fog.fan. You add a couple of little drops of FanFog Orange to your humidifier. It’s a lovely citrusy scent. And I don’t know, who doesn’t like citrus? It’s not strong, just fresh and clean.” Aggie’s Top Three Cleaning Tips Christmas is only 2 days away. Can Aggie give me some last minute tips for cleaning over the festive period? Aggie’s Top 3 Cleaning Tips for the festive period: 1. Spilled red wine on that clean carpet: You’ll need loads of soda water at hand. Get down on your hands and knees with a clean, white towel, loads of soda water, and then you work from the outside in. So just keep patting, dabbing the stained with clean parts of the towel. Keep changing. And eventually, if you act quickly, all that red wine will come out. 2. Candle wax and grease on your festive tablecloth: Use a scraper, pick off the grease. And then you’re left with that greasy spot. So take your iron, warm it up, and then get some brown paper or a piece of kitchen roll. Place it on the stain on the tablecloth and then iron on top of that. Then you’ll see all the grease will come out of the tablecloth onto the piece of paper. And just kind of move around the piece of paper a little bit to take a clean spot again, and soon the grease will come out of the tablecloth. 3. Unwanted ‘bathroom’ odours It’s the Festive Season! Everyone’s drinking, eating too much. Has someone left a nasty present for the next person? Just ‘strike a light’ – keep a box of matches at a high spot in the bathroom (out of reach of small children). The sulphur immediately cuts right through any bad odours. So now you have real Christmas cleaning advice from ‘How Clean is Your House’ expert Aggie Mackenzie! Of course once the festive season is over, Aggie’s advice works on any numerous occasions. You can listen to my chat with Aggie Mackenzie – click here Let’s Talk Property with Aggie Mackenzie. Have you read my blog about festive scams? Wishing you a Safe & Merry Christmas.
