We’re not going to lie, cleaning is possibly one of the most boring subjects we could talk about, or so we thought. There are some weird and bizarre cleaning facts that will pique the interest of even the biggest household slob.
GCC Facilities Management, experts in all things clean, brings you the following 13 bizarre cleaning facts. You can see a full range of their commercial cleaning services here: http://www.gccfm.com/commercial-cleaning-services/.
1. Burn, Baby, Burn
The only thing we can consider just as boring and arduous as cleaning it having to exercise. But did you know you can kill two birds with one stone? Light cleaning for 2 hours can burn 200 calories which is the equivalent to 34g of fried bacon! If you really get stuck in, you can burn up to 170 calories per hour, so if you’re looking to get that ‘summer body’ don’t go for a run, just grab the duster and get to it.
2. Ice-Clean
According to a study by Columbia and Yale Universities, Iceland is the cleanest nation in the world. Factors directly linked to air pollution and water sanitation were taken into account. Other countries that scored highly as Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia. The bottom scorers included Indian, Pakistan and Qatar mainly down to their high levels of air pollution.
3. A Woman’s Place?
It’s 2020, and women’s rights have made a huge progression over the last century, but it still looks like women are doing most of the housework. The average woman spends 12,896 hours in her lifetime doing household cleaning, while men average at a low 6,448 hours. That totals to women spending a year and a half of their lives cleaning. Men, take this as a not-so-subtle hint.
4. Mickey’s Dirty Secret
Disneyland is famous for being one of the cleanest amusement parks you will ever visit. But with so many visitors each year, it takes an army to keep the place well maintained. Disneyland California reported they wash an average of 285,000 pounds of laundry every day. That’s the equivalent of an average household doing one load of laundry every day for 52 years. Think that was already a lot, they also dry clean around 31,000 garments a day to make sure all cast members are fresh and professional.
5. God Save The Clean
Despite not being one of the cleanest nations, the British public is the most obsessed with cleaning services. Over 6 million Brits hire professional cleaning services for their own homes. This is put down to the factor that people are busy and the United Kingdom values their spare time, not wanting to waste it on household chores.
6. We Should Ketchup Soon
Ketchup is a staple in every food cupboard, but did you know it’s great for the cleaning cupboard too? Ketchup works as an amazing cleaner for tarnished silver and copper. The acidity mixed with sugar breaks down the oxidised metals and leave your items shining in only a few minutes.
7. What The Hellmann’s?
Ketchup isn’t the only weird foodstuff that can help with your chores. Mayonnaise works wonders for getting watermarks out of wood. So next time you get yelled at for not using a coaster, rectify your sins by grabbing the nearest jar. A spoonful left overnight then wiped down in the morning will leave your wooden furniture looking as good as new,
8. Keeping Up Appearances
Many of us may hire a professional cleaner for numerous reasons, we may be too busy to do so ourselves or we could be hosting a large event and need the place absolutely spotless for our guests. But 35% of us have admitted to cleaning and tidying up before the cleaner comes around, despite that being exactly what we hired them for!
9. Pillow Talk
We hope that anyone reading this knows the importance of frequently changing their bedsheets and pillow covers. But have you ever cleaned your actual pillows, you may want to after this. On average, 10% of your pillow’s weight is made up of dust mites and their droppings. Your mattress also contains between 100,00 and 1 million dust mites. Gross!
10. Sponge Cake
Were you aware you can cook a sponge? So maybe not for eating, but a kitchen sponge is a playground for bacteria. Replacing your sponge frequently helps reduce your risk of getting ill but it can be very wasteful. Pop your wet sponge in the microwave for 2 minutes and this will kill off any nasty bugs.
11. Don’t Leave the Lid Up
Many of you reading this may have experienced someone in our household telling us to put the toilet seat down. This isn’t just for the benefit of whoever uses it next, toilet seats were invented not just for comfort but also for hygiene. By closing the seat before you flush, you protect yourself from ‘toilet plumes’, this is the name for tiny particles of human waste they get sprayed into the air with each flush. Consider your toothbrush is stored so closely, maybe next time you won’t forget!
12. Breathe It In
You may think that using household products on a regular basis is good for you as you are killing germs around your home. If you aren’t using an eco-friendly product, the air quality inside your house could be up to 500% worse than outdoors. Considering we spend such a large portion of our time in our houses, it is worth making a change to our products.
13. Don’t Just Wash Your Mouth Out
Mouthwash can be an excellent floor cleaner. Using a capful for every gallon of water when you mop your floors can go a long way. Listerine originally developed its product as a surgical antiseptic but realized their target market was too niche. So in the hopes of driving sales, they marketed it as a floor cleaner and sales skyrocketed. Another bit of weird history, it was also branded as a cure for gonorrhea.