As you must have heard, cleanliness is next to godliness. Physical cleanliness is not just about health and hygiene, but also the order and discipline around you.

To begin with, cleaning must be thorough; brushing it away under the carpet is certainly not the solution. Cleaning a home can be quite a daunting and tiring task, and it is hence always best to have a rough plan in mind.

Here are some practical ideas.

Appropriate cleaning materials are vital. Try to use the least abrasive ones to avoid damaging porcelain toilet bowls. Scrubbing too hard may cause grooves that become difficult to clean later. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions while using abrasive cleaners for your safety.

Before trying to get into corners and worrying about details, it is best to start with what you can see at first.

Clean from top to bottom, so that when you dust the edge of the ceilings and bookcases and the dirt settles on the floor, which should be swept last.

Establish your own system of cleaning — left to right or vice-versa.

Keep a big box and a dustbin close at hand. All the small items that you may find while cleaning and would like to keep can be put in the box, while the rest can be dumped in the dustbin.

Make sure that you keep your cleaning supplies in cabinets that can be locked and are out of children’s reach.

While rags are the most common choice for dusting, vacuum cleaners today come with appendages that can reach into the tightest corners, ceiling edges, fans and window sills.

Aromatherapy

This refers to the use of fragrant substances such as oils, lotions and inhalants. They can make you feel fresh the whole day and even get rid of all those bugs, insects and cockroaches in hidden corners.

Today, aromatherapy candles or a bag of aromatherapy pot-pourri are in demand for their calming and stimulating effects; they are quite effective as energisers, too. Make sure you are not allergic to any of the substances.

Essential oils get absorbed through our skin and can heal us by stimulating specific areas of our brain, whether they are mixed with bath water or used for massaging our body.

Here are some useful tips:

For fresh smelling clothes, throw two drops of bergamot, lavender, neroli, cedar wood, petit grain and sweet orange oils in the dryer.

Mix about six drops of lavender, lemongrass, citronella and peppermint oils in one cup of water to prepare a room spray that can rid us of mosquitoes, ants and cockroaches.

Pour a few drops of undiluted peppermint and spearmint oils near the living areas, edges of the ceiling and other holes to drive away mice and other bugs.

Mix lemon, bergamot, lavender, sweet orange, oregano and thyme oils and put eight to 10 drops in a litre of warm water to use as bathroom freshener. You can also use it as a cleaner by pouring two to three drops on a wet sponge.

Add two tablespoons of soap dissolved in two cups of boiling water to two cups of turpentine and one cup of melted natural beeswax and then add 10 drops of cedar wood, cypress or sandalwood oil to make furniture polish that can be used for all wood finishes.

Aromatherapy provides great solutions for the health of your plants and gardens. Prepare a spray by adding six to eight drops of a mixture of lavender and thyme oils into a gallon of water.

Thyme oil in water helps grow healthier cabbage and cauliflower while basil oil favours growth of broccoli, potatoes and tomatoes. Yarrow oil for cucumbers, chamomile for onions and carrot extract for lettuce are blessings for your kitchen garden.

(The author is an interior design consultant, specialising in the design of corporate and residential interiors. As a senior faculty member at a Calcutta institute, she has delivered lectures, guided research and conducted projects in the field of ‘Housing & Interior Design’ for over two decades. She can be contacted at kusumsmail@yahoo.com)