Mother's Day is May 12^th, and the experts at MOLLY MAID suggest you surprise Mom by giving her a bouquet of flowers and by doing a bit of cleaning (of her most dreaded chores, the toilet). The best part is there's a quick and easy 'double duty' cleaning trick that you can use for both! All you need is a package of effervescent antacid tablets, such as Alka-Seltzer.

Shimmering Flower Vase

Once you have given your Mom flowers and a big hug, it's important to make sure you have a clean vase to put the flowers into. The Alka-Seltzer tablet will lift leftover bouquet residue from the bottom of a vase. Here's how:

1. Fill the vase with warm water
2. Add 1-2 tablets and let sit for a few minutes
3. Swish the water and rinse
4. Fill with fresh water and the bouquet of flowers, then put them somewhere you know Mom will enjoy them - maybe the kitchen table or the coffee table in the living room.

Sparkling Toilet

Cleaning the toilet is easy with Alka-Seltzer too:  

1. Pop 1-2 tablets into the toilet bowl and let the fizz attack stubborn stains for 10-15 minutes
2. Give a swish around with the toilet brush
3. Then flush - it's as simple as that!

Mom does so much for you all year round.  Mother's Day offers one special day to celebrate Mom for all her love and support, so what better gift than the gift of time for her to relax and take a break while you clean the house!  Before you start with the simple cleaning tips below, it's important to declutter: put clothes away, clean off countertops, take out the garbage and recycling, etc. Once you've taken care of that first step, follow the easy tips below:

1. How to get started - To tackle the tasks ahead for a sparkling clean home, assemble a bucket of supplies to clean the entire home (include an all-purpose cleaner, tile/grout cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, different colour microfibre cloths, etc.).  Having all these cleaning supplies at your fingertips will help speed up the housework and eliminate the opportunity to get sidetracked.

2. How to clean windows/mirrors - Make your windows and mirrors shine as bright as Mom's smile.  Add a drop of dish soap to a natural cleaning solution of white vinegar and water.  Spray the window and/or mirror, then dry with a microfibre cloth.  Learn more about the benefits of microfibre cloths in our previous blog post titled " Throw Away the Kitchen Sponge".

3. How to damp dust:

a. with a microfibre cloth - Dusting can instantly give a room the facelift it needs to spring back into its polished, put together state.  Spritz the microfibre cloth with water (the cloth should be just damp, not soaking wet).  Use the MOLLY MAID cleaning technique of dusting top to bottom, left to right to ensure dust won't fall in an area you've already cleaned.

b. for webs on walls and corners   - Clean those hard to reach areas for Mom so she doesn't have to.  Attach a slightly damp microfibre cloth to the end of a broom to reach high corners and between tight spaces that your hand isn't able to reach.

Now that you have the more time consuming tasks completed, watch for some more great cleaning tips tomorrow…