This post is sponsored by HomeRight. All opinions are 100% my own.
You guys know that we’re HomeRight Ambassadors, and that we’re HUGE fans of their SteamMachine Plus Steam Mop. We gave one away in January, and Amy showed us how you can use it to disinfect your house and kill flu germs {here}, and I showed you my horrifically dirty floors {here}.
Be sure to read to the end of this post, since as usual, there’s a giveaway!
It’s getting warm here in Savannah, so I’ve been throwing open the windows to air the house out, and getting started on my spring cleaning. You know that we have two rescued golden retrievers (who shed buckets of fur every single day) and that I live in the dustiest house ever, so this is truly an uphill battle and at times I despair. However, there is a method to my cleaning madness and things that I do in a particular order to make housecleaning with pets as streamlined as possible.
One of the many reasons that I love my SteamMachine Plus is that I prefer to clean without using harsh chemicals. My family is sensitive to them and our senior dog, Sunny, has crazy allergies that make him the most expensive dog alive, but that’s a story for another day. But even though I don’t want to be pouring bleach on everything, I still want to disinfect all of the surfaces in our house.
I’ve started putting a drop of essential oil in with the water and the house smells wonderful when I’m finished cleaning, which is great because otherwise things tend to smell like–you guessed it–dog!
Why I love my SteamMachine:
1. Uses tap water (inexpensive!)
2. Kills germs and dust mites
3. Chemical free cleaning for family with allergies and sensitivities.
Now, here’s how I spring clean my house, top to bottom, using my SteamMachine Plus.
My first step is to dust the room from the top to the bottom. Pet hair floats, but I’m always a little surprised when I find it on top of bookshelves and in chandeliers! By starting at the top, everything drifts down to the floor and I can sweep or vacuum it up. I also dust and vacuum my cold air return vents. If they’re really grimy, then I use the brush attachment on my SteamMachine to clean them. Even though I change our air filters twice a month, LOTS of dust still accumulates!
Pets are low to the ground, and I find that my baseboards are usually pretty dusty and dirty. Sunny demonstrates:
I use the brush attachment on my vacuum cleaner to get the worst of it up, and then I use the terry cloth bonnet on my SteamMachine Plus to get up what’s left.
I like to wash my curtains (the ones that are washable) in the rooms where the dogs spend time. I hang them to dry while they’re still damp, and then if the wrinkles don’t fall out on their own, I use the SteamMachine with the bonnet to steam them out:
I have white slipcovers in our living room, and they get washed at least once a month. On our furniture that isn’t slipcovered, though, I vacuum it and steam it (if the fabric permits) with a drop or two of essential oil in the water tank. Any spots can be steamed, too. An added bonus is that steam kills dust mites–yuck!
Harley has a bed and a crate, so in the spring I unzip the cover from his bed and throw it in the wash. His crate gets vacuumed out and I use the brush attachment on the SteamMachine to get up any spots or stains on the plastic mat inside. If you’d like to see how I slipcovered his GIANT dog crate, visit {this} post.
I’m not neglecting Sunny in this step, but he chooses just to sleep on the rug, which leads me to:
I vacuum pretty much every single day, and it still looks like I never do because goldens shed like mad. But then I roll up the rugs and realize that we live in filth, because this is what’s underneath:
That’s also why I prefer hard-surface flooring with a rug on top, because if that was carpet, I couldn’t roll it up and vacuum underneath it. Yuck!
My last cleaning step is to vacuum all the floors, and then use the SteamMachine to clean and disinfect them. The carpet glider attachment works great on rugs and carpets, and the regular terry pad (or the chenille one that you can get for free–see below) is my choice for hardwoods.
Aahh, better! Look at that shine!
Now that the house is clean, I can go outside and enjoy spring!
Here’s your chance to win your own HomeRight SteamMachine Plus Mop, and if you read to the bottom, I’ll also link to the other HomeRight Ambassadors who are giving them away right now, too, so you can increase your chances of winning.
And if you need one of these babies right now, you can buy one on Amazon:
Now through March 31st, if you buys a HomeRight SteamMachine Plus Steam Mop, you can fill out a rebate form for a free chenille mop pad {just click here or on the photo for details}.
If you want to increase your chances of winning, several other HomeRight ambassadors are also giving away SteamMachines this month:
My Repurposed Life
Good luck!
Disclaimer: we are HomeRight brand ambassadors, and every month we review a product and give one away. Although we are compensated for our time, all opinions are 100% our own. This post contains affiliate links; if you make a purchase after clicking through these links, we will earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise.
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