CLEANING: Cleaning Products You Cannot Live Without

We’ve heard of people playing loud music while they clean to help drown out the drudgery. In addition to that useful suggestion, here are some other reminders from me and other Filipino students abroad that will hopefully make the chore a bit more pleasant.

Cleaning Products You Cannot Live Without
1. All purpose cleaning solution (better if it says anti-bacterial)
2. Scrubbing sponge (for shower, tub)
3. Wiping sponge or basahan
4. Floor squeege
5. Gloves
6. Baking soda – to neutralize odors in the refrigerator, can also be used to clean the sink and tub
7. Dust buster or vacuum cleaner if you can afford it .

Quote: I love this product called Febreze—a cheater’s way to making things appear and smell cleaner than they really are (clothes, upholstery…) –Vanessa Go, New York University, Northwestern University, Columbia University

Cleaning Tips

Cleaning Safety Tips

1. Use gloves. You never know what kind of a reaction you will get from the cleaning solution’s chemicals.
2. Open windows when you clean. Cleaning solutions emit poisonous fumes.
3. Read the label of cleaning solutions.

Four Noble Truths of Cleaning

1. Clean as you go. If there is anything one should know about saving time when cleaning, it’s “clean as you go.” Unlike living at home, there is no one who will pick up after you. The grain of rice on the table or your sock on the floor will not magically disappear! Also, the longer one ignores the dirt the harder it is to remove.

2. Clean from top to bottom. Imagine that you have just mopped the floor and then realized that there are some grains of coffee on the kitchen counter. If you’re not careful, it might fall on the floor you’ve just cleaned. Clean from top to bottom.

3. Clean in straight lines. When you vacuum or wipe dust off a table, it is easier to clean in a straight line. In that way you don’t miss a spot. Why people in commercials clean in a circular motion, I don’t understand! You just end up spreading the dirt! Vacuum or wipe from one edge and then straight down and then begin at the edge beside the previous and continue on until you’re done. It also helps to use a surface cleaner. Just check to make sure that it’s made for the kind of surface your cleaning.

4. If you have roommates, have a cleaning schedule and stick to it! Often, misunderstandings between roommates start out when one notices that he or she is doing more chores than the other.

Cleaning the Kitchen and Bathroom

Kitchen

1. Put baking soda in the refrigerator to neutralize all the smells circulating there.
2. Wear an apron when you cook so you don’t have to change clothes every time something splashes on your sweater.
3. Clog the sink. If you are making a big meal or are baking and will use a lot of dishes, it will make it easier to clean the dishes and utensils if you let them soak in a sink half-full of water so the remaining food on the dishes will not harden. Remember, however, Noble Truth no. 1: Clean as you go! Try not to let the day pass without making sure those dishes that piled up are cleaned and put away.
4. Respect the earth and your host country’s recycling rules. Separate garbage as instructed.

Bathroom

1. Have separate sponges for the sink, the toilet and the tub.
2. Use after shower spray to prevent mildew in the shower.

Getting Rid of Household Smells

1. Open the window or turn on exhaust fan while you cook so the food smell is not trapped in your apartment
2. Use Fabreze Freshener – Great for removing smells! If you have pets, keep them away from the bottle or the sprayed area. The freshener contains strong chemicals.
3. Light incense or scented candles
4. Sprinkling baking soda on smelly area and vacuum after a period of time
5. Simmer vanilla or lemon extract in water over low heat. Don’t forget to turn off the burner before you leave!

Lia Uy-Tioco’s Tips for Hygienic Dorm Living

1. Going to the banyo: Have a plastic basket with all your shower and teeth stuff so you just bring one thing to the bathroom. Make sure it is a basket so the water can drip out. It's also best to wear tsinelas in the shower. Since it's a shared shower, there are no foot rugs and you don't want to have to bring one. Also, this lessens your chances of catching athlete’s foot or something gross. Undress in your room, put on a robe, and go into the bathroom with just your shower basket and towel. There usually is no dry space to leave your stuff. If there is a line, you have to wait your turn. After showering, make sure you rinse your stuff before putting back in basket.


Keep your bath basked in a space in your room where it can dry easily and away from your electronics and schoolbooks. Dress-up in your room and make sure you have a space to hang your towel to dry. After the first week you'll figure out what time is good to go into the shower so you don't have a half a dozen students waiting for you to get out of the shower.

2. Food in room. You can usually have a microwave in your room or even a hot pot. Some even allow you to bring a small ref. This is good so if you’re the type to have breakfast or coffee while dressing in the morning, you can do it. I suggest you keep all food in air-tight tupperware like containers to avoid mice and other pests. Keep food all together in a corner of your room. Don't put your drinks or anything that may drip near your books or computer.


If you are throwing food into your trashcan, empty immediately so your room doesn't smell.

3. Common kitchen. If you are putting anything in the ref, LABEL WELL and put in Tupperware. People have different definitions of cleanliness, so there might be opened cans and food on plates with no covers in the ref. You'll just have to deal with that and make sure nothing spills on your food. Same goes when you are using the shared cookware. Not everyone cleans well, so might want to have your own pans and plates that you keep in your room. Like the banyo, you should put these in a movable plastic crate that you can carry back and forth from your room to the kitchen.

Toilet Trivia (Bathroom facts and stories about shower situations)

1. The advantage in Japan is that they give away tissue everywhere! Its a form of advertising. For women who have difficulty with the Eastern toilet (squat ones), it’s best to wear a skirt so that you just bundle it up and squat! - Joan Tiu, Sophia University, Tokyo

2. The wonderful thing about shared bathrooms in Britain is that they were not too often used by most of my European dormmates, at least in the way that I was used to. For the most part, I really never had to wait in line to take a shower even though there were five of us sharing a single shower. The typical bathroom is truly that -- a bathroom -- a room with a large bathtub and faucet, and no overhead shower.

I did get my first glimpse of bathroom culture shock, or more aptly, my bathroom naivete, when I was made to wait for the shower for the first time late one Saturday morning. I needed to catch the bus to London that morning and I was irritated to find myself waiting more than twenty minutes to use the shower. The moment I heard the bathroom door open, I ran out from my room, just to see the bathroom door slam shut and lock itself in front of me. Given that my room was but a few steps from the bathroom, I could not imagine how anyone could have gotten into the shower ahead of me. Upset, I asked my dormmate who had just finished his bath who got into the shower in front of me. When he said it was his girlfriend, I realized for the first time that not all people bathe by themselves. Though I was able to finally shower ten minutes later, I could not help but still feel dirty, and at the same time feel so alone. - Robby Galang, Oxford University, Oxford

3. The one thing I couldn't quite stand was the co-ed bathroom. I knew it was going to be an interesting experience the moment I went to orientation: The dorm proctors warned all of us NOT to have sex in the shower stalls. Patay! Over the course of the year, the daily bathroom encounters became worse, e.g., shaved facial hair was perpetually present in the sink...and there were days when [shock-of-shocks!], personal items were left in the toilet for the next user to clean up. Yuck! - Michael Campos, University of San Diego, Harvard Divinity School, US

4. There are a couple of things that I like about our communal bathroom. 1) My floormates and I didn’t have to clean it. Someone came and cleaned it twice a day! 2) Since all of us at our floor had different schedules and classes we hardly got to interact with one another. Bumping into my floormates at the dorm while brushing our teeth or washing our faces was a good way to make friends. – Cecille Capistrano, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

5. If vacationing or studying in Europe, you might need some change for the bathroom, in French, "La Toilette." Never say "La Salle de Bain," that means an actual shower and bathtub-a literal bathroom, so in the Louvre, you do not want to be asking for that. In museums, bathrooms are free, but on the street, depending on what street corner, you have to pay to get into washrooms.

6. In Rome, though the bathroom is somewhat clean, and can cost a price, they are hard to find. It is best to go in the hotel, or the apartment, and then do your errands. A restaurant will also have a clean bathroom, but it depends what kind of restaurant. By the way, if you are studying in Rome, some places offer rooms for students with shared bathrooms. Other apartments, if they have bathrooms, are annoyingly small.