Children are a great source of joy, but also a great source of mess. Whether it’s cleaning up after a projectile vomit, removing a drawing from the wall or getting rid of food that’s as hard as cement, we’ve got the solutions for you.
| Incident: | ‘My toddler has just moved on from nappies. He’s going pretty well but sometimes he gets really excited, forgets there’s no nappy and pees. The problem is that the urine runs into his shoes and smells awful. Is there anything I can do?’ |
| Solution: | Dab the stain with some dry-cleaning fluid applied with a cotton ball. Then sprinkle talcum powder over the dry-cleaning fluid both inside and outside the shoe. Allow to dry and then brush. To neutralise the smell, put lemon juice on a cloth and wipe it over the shoes. Cloth and vinyl shoes can be washed in the washing machine or hand washed and dried in the sunshine. |
Every parent, including me, has a story about messy cots. Ideally, mattresses should be aired every day. This just involves removing the sheets, which you can hang over the side of the cot. It’s a good idea to stand the mattress on its end once a week and, if you can, place it in the sun. Sunshine is a fantastic killer of bacteria. Turn the mattress over when you return it to the cot. If you have any spills or stains, sponge them as quickly as possible and stand the mattress up to dry. Use a child-safe mattress protector that has a zipper rather than elastic to hold it.
Q: ‘My baby vomited in her cot. It went all over the sheets and all through the mattress,’ reports Kate. ‘She only drinks milk and eats vegetables but it’s incredible how much mess a small baby can produce. I’ve already scrubbed the surface of the mattress and it still smells. What can I do?’
| Problem: | Vomit on sheets. |
| What to use: | Lemon juice, water, spray pack. |
| How to apply: | If you can, put the mattress in the sun—this will dry it out and kill bacteria. Wash the sheets in the washing machine and dry them in the sun. To get rid of the smell, mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with 1 litre of water in a spray pack and spray it over the mattress. Leave in the sun to dry. |
Clean hard furnishings and hard toys with 1 teaspoon of tea-tree oil added to 1 litre of water in a spray bottle. Wipe it off with a cloth. Tea-tree is a great disinfectant and is non-toxic.
Wipe highchairs straight after using them and before the food sets. Mix a couple of drops of tea-tree oil with warm water and sponge clean. If you haven’t been able to clean before the Weetbix, rusks or arrowroot biscuits have become as hard as cement, place a sponge in hot water, wring it and then let it sit over the hardened food for 10 minutes. This will soften the food. Then clean it with tea-tree oil and water.
Most prams can be cleaned with water. Aluminium strollers need special care because they can become smell traps. Hose or scrub them with 1 teaspoon of detergent or tea-tree oil to 1 litre of water. Do this once a fortnight and then dry the pram in the sun. To clean canvas, mix 1 cup of salt in a bucket of water. Apply the solution and scrub with a nylon brush. Leave the pram in the sun until it’s dry, then brush the salt off. In case the stroller runs over some dog poo, run the wheels over a mat or use a damp cloth to wipe them before you go inside.
Wicker furniture should be cleaned with a mixture of 1 teaspoon of tea-tree oil to 1 litre of water. Apply with a soft brush. If the furniture is heavily painted, add ½ teaspoon of glycerine to the mix.
Children often drop small items like doll accessories or building blocks on their bedroom floor. An easy way to find them is to place either a T-shirt or flywire between the head and tube of the vacuum cleaner. When you vacuum, the item will become trapped and won’t go into the bag. Flywire is preferable because you can hear when the item hits it.
If you need to remove felt pen marks from the carpet, use dry-cleaning fluid applied with a cotton ball or cotton bud, depending on how big the stain is. Make sure you rub from the outside to the inside of the stain. Have a dry cloth or Slurpex to soak up the dry-cleaning fluid as you go to stop the carpet getting too wet.
Protect carpet in children’s rooms by laying down plastic carpet protectors on the floor. You can buy them by the metre at department stores. There are some specially designed for children, with colourful designs and without those nasty spikes.
Another common problem with children is the accidental, or deliberate, placement of stickers on furniture or the wall. These can be removed with a small quantity of detergent and hot water in a spray bottle. Spray the solution over the sticker then place a clingwrap square over the top and leave for a few minutes. The sticker will come off with the clingwrap and can be re-stuck where it was supposed to go.
Crayon is very difficult to remove from walls. Use a pencil eraser dampened in a bowl of soapy water and rub it over the crayon. The wax in the crayon will roll off in balls. If the mark is really bad put some bicarb on a damp cotton bud and wipe the mark. Try not to rub outside the crayon mark because it could make the walls go shiny. If it’s a large area, use an old toothbrush.
Wash baby bottles with cold water first to get rid of any remaining milk. Give them a good scrub with a bottlebrush then put them in sterilising solution. The steriliser can give teats a cloudy look. Always rinse sterilising solution with boiled water, particularly with bottles and eating utensils. No baby likes the taste of swimming pool water! The easiest way to fix the awful taste is to rub salt over the cloudy bits and then rinse in boiled water. They’re still sterile and the teats stay in better condition.
If you use cloth nappies, clean them with two separate buckets. Fill Bucket 1 with a nappy soak. Fill Bucket 2 with hot water and 1 teaspoon of tea-tree oil. Shake the solids from the nappy into the toilet, rinse, then put it in Bucket 1. Leave it for 12 hours then swap the nappy to Bucket 2. Leave it for 20 minutes then put it in the washing machine. Use hot water in the washing machine and, depending on the size of the load, add 1 teaspoon to half a cup of vinegar to the rinse water. Dry in the sun if possible. If you have to use the dryer, iron the nappies afterwards to kill any bacteria. Bucket 2 and the vinegar clears the soap residue that often causes nappy rash. If your baby has a rash, rub it with paw paw cream. It’s a good idea to use nappy liners as well. Nappy rash in newborns is often caused by plastic pilchers. Invest in old-fashioned woollen flannel pilchers or fluffies for the first 3 months.
To soften baby clothes, put vinegar in the rinse cycle of the washing machine to remove the soap residue.
Put labels on children’s drawers to help them learn how to put clothes away. Include a picture and the name of the clothes to help them.
Q: ‘I’ve been storing baby clothes in the cupboard for the past four years,’ says Petra. ‘I need to use them again but they’ve gone yellow. Can I get the yellow out?’
| Problem: | Yellow marks on clothes. |
| What to use: | Napisan, bucket, water, acid-free paper. |
| How to apply: | The yellow marks are age stains. Add 3/4 of a capful of Napisan to a 7-litre bucket of warm water and soak overnight. And next time you’re packing the clothes away, put a piece of acid-free paper in between each layer of clothing. Age stains come from acid fumes in plastic bags, cardboard boxes or shelving. |
I’m a big fan of the ‘clutter bucket’. Each child (or adult) has their own bucket in a different colour. All their things that become scattered around the house can be collected with the bucket. I also suggest creating your own toy storage out of old cardboard boxes. Spray the boxes with insecticide first, because insects are attracted to cardboard, then paint them. Label them with the name and a picture of what goes into the box so your kids learn to associate the words with the item. It also makes putting toys away a fun activity.
Hang stuffed toys along a line. Get a piece of clothesline twine or cotton sash twine and put plastic pegs along it. Hang the line from shelving units and peg the toys on one after another. Kids love doing this themselves.
Plastic sewing boxes or fishing boxes are great for storing little things like dolly’s accessories or nuts and bolts from building sets.
Wash wooden toys in mild detergent and water but never soak them or the timber will swell. Remove pen marks from wood with dry-cleaning fluid and from plastic with glycerine, both applied with a cotton ball.
Read the label to find out how to clean stuffed toys. If you’re unsure, vacuum regularly and sponge the surface with tea-tree oil and water to get rid of dust mites.
Plastic toys can be cleaned and sterilised with a mixture of tea-tree oil, glycerine and water.
Fix dolly’s hair by combing glycerine through it.
Repair torn pages from books with micropore, which is a fine cotton tape used in bandaging. Micropore is thin enough to read through and doesn’t leave yellow lines like sticky tape.
Use a professional cleaner for special or antique toys.
