Kim Woodburn, of Kim and Aggie fame joining us for lunchtime webchat between 12 and 1pm on Tuesday 22nd September.

[RachelMumsnet]

Kim, presenter of 'How Clean is Your house' will be joining us to answer your questions on cleaning and tidying and generally turning your house from pigsty to palace on Tuesday (22nd) lunchtime between 12 and 1pm. If you're unable to join us, then send your questions in to this thread.

[BethNoire]

Desperately need ideas for organisation please!. We're a busy family, both studying as well as a job, and have 4 small boys. Two have autism and no organisational skills whatsoever so just abandon things as they fall, or tip food off their plates. I can keep the place functionally hygienic but the washing is never entirely put away, or the toys so it often looks bad.

Simple dieas to organise things so that they are easier would be so appreciated thank you.

[GypsyMoth]

think so kerry!

[GypsyMoth]

need tips for cleaning windows....my glass is always streaky,and for cleaning silver jewellery effectively!!

[LuluMaman]

I adore Kim !!

2 questions:

do you do your hair like that every day, or do you ever wear it all long and swishy?

best tips for encouraging children aged 10 & 4 to tidy their rooms ! i am slowly losing the will to live doing it all, whilst they protest they did not make the mess and sit watching me grrrrrr.. although DS will hoover up for money !!

thank you xx

[Crumblemum]

My washing machine smells. Have potty training boy and weaning baby so the washing I put in is not lovely and spotless as it once was (oh when it was only the light grime of office wear)! It now has a mildewy smell. Have given a thorough clean and rinsed with bleach, but smell still remains. Help please

[Dumbledoresgirl]

Kim, I would like the definitive, guaranteed to work every time method for removing brown stains from below the waterline in a toilet bowl. Bleach or toilet cleaner combined with a good scrub sometimes lessens it a bit but then it builds up again. I want a sparkling look to my loo bowl!

Also, under the rim, what is the best way to get rid of that yellow crust other than using a toothbrush and removing a tiny bit each time?

Plus, while we are on the subject of loos, I have just had a brand new one fitted. What should be my routine for keeping it looking as clean and stainfree as it does now?

Thanks so much!

[NoahDear]

KIm
do you haev a hair piece or is it all your own

[NoahDear]

also why do oyu do all that " clean your skirting wiht an old tub of vasleine" stuff then you see you both getting out a carry thing full of cilit bang

[rubyslippers]

Kim - i heart you and your fluffy, diamante rubber gloves ...

Firstly, i live in a hard water area and everything is limescaly and streaky - taps, shower cubicles etc

i clean a lot but it still builds up. the shower screen has been cleaned today and it is still streaky

anything i can to prevent the build up?

also, why do my towels go grey? I wash at 60 degrees

TIA!

[kkleinman]

how do you remove cooking oil stains from clothing? i'm always getting splashed and ruined so many clothes. once heard something about talcum powder but i tried and it didn't do anything. also cooked tomato stains just won't go without bleach which only works on white clothes

thanks
kate and the kids

[LackaDAISYcal]

How do I get old uPVC window frames clean and fresh looking, short of replacing them with new?

I've tried various products advertised to make them "like new" again, but either they lie or else I'm not putting in enough elbow grease as they are still grey and streaky......my newly decorated rooms are being let down by the insides of the window frames.

[SerendipitousHarlot]

Oh I LOVE Kim!

Just wanted to say... fantastic book - and loved your appearance on Shooting Stars last night

[futurity]

How on earth do I get Blu Tak off an interior brick wall? (I mistakingly put posters up in the conservatory a few years ago for my son and didn't use my brain not thinking that Blu Tak and brick walls don't mix!). I've tried EVERYTHING and am now down to picking it off with a pin. Blu Tak website was no good..just said "we don't recommend using Blu Tak on a brick wall!"

[weebleswobble]

Have you ever been sick from the smell in the houses you go into on your programme? Now, I like a clean home, but not too neurotic about it, however, I'd take a match to some of the places you go into. I don't know how you stick your fingernails into loo goo....I suppose that's dedication to the job!!

[BornToFolk]

I love Kim!

Can she please tell me the best way of cleaning bare floorboards? Especially ones that have been very badly done and have gaps in between? I don't want to mop as the water would get down the gaps. Is sweeping/hoovering sufficient?

[MamaG]

1. I have a blue streak on my bath where a tap was left dripping for 2 1/2 weeks ( at DH). How can I get rid of it?

1. Also, whats the best way to clean a yukky oven (not stainless steel, that black stuff on a Stoves oven)?

1. Where do you get your fancy rubber gloves from?

Thank you!

[Cathcarter]

Please could I echo Dumbledoresgirl's question about brown marks below the waterline of a loo. I've tried denture tablets, loo cleaner and nothing seems to work. Same with under the rim of the loo to remove brown marks. I have a toddler and can't get the yukky marks off.

Secondly, I live in a hard water area and the shower screen has deeply ingrained water marks. I have tried vinegara and lots of products and it looks as though they've come out when wet but when it dries they reapper. Please help!

Also, I'm a cleaner and my hand get really, really dry. What hand cream/treatmens does she use to keep her hands tip top, please!

[tearinghairout]

Ooh Kim, how would you like to settle a long-running Domestic? It concerns - predictably - the up/down loo seat, but from a hygiene point of view:

My dear husband leaves the lid up when he flushes. I reckon that this ejects millions of urine-laden (and worse!) droplets all over the bathroom, including onto the toothbrushes, which are quite close.

DH says this is rubbish, and lid-up or lid- down makes no difference.

So who is right, please?

[Housemum]

Another vote for:

loo cleaning, the ring around the water line

watermarks on glass, and build up on tiles (we have a water softener but still the tiles feel "coated"

cathcarter - have you tried Dermaguard? I bought it online, saw an ad in a knitting mag as my hands were so dry they kept catching the wool.

Ovens - tips for the glass door. Our oven burns off the inside dirt (pyrolitic lining), I soak the racks in biological powder then scrub them with Brillo, but what's best for the inside glass door?

Will anything ever get the greyness off the edges of a cream carpet? I vacuum with the nozzle, but there is a persistent grey edge to the room. The guy who did the wooden floors said that it was where draughts blew dust up through the floorboards so would always be there?

Wooden floors (engineered wood not laminate or "real" wood) - tips for cleaning, and best sort of vacuum to use? Since having these I've realised just how much dust a family of five creates - presumably it just hid in the carpet before but we have dust bunnies everywhere if I turn my back!

Embarassed-to-admit-I-don't-know, but how do you clean a kitchen floor and what's best sort of mop? I use flash and a super-mop, but feel that after a couple of swipes, surely I must just be moving dirty water around. Am I supposed to do it again after with clean water? Or empty the bucket 2 or 3 times?

Loved the "cleaning bible" book by the way, particularly the stories interspersed with the chapters. You've certainly lived in some interesting homes.

[Ladyrattles]

How do you clean a sticker off a window?

I've tried washing up liquid, terps, vinegar, and scratching it with a coin, but I seem to have made it look much worse. It was an old support the lifeboat one that was on when I moved in.

Thanks
Carnie Pollock
Mum of 3, York UK

[Indith]

Dumbledore and Cath I use mild (is that the word?) sandpaper for build up in the loo. Twas a Kim and Aggie tip My loo is so shiny and you should have seen it a few weeks ago when we bought this house

I would like to know how to get rid of the smell from carpet if bicarb and 2 good cleans with a Vax have failed as along with the house we seem to have purchased an odd poo like smell on a small patch of living room carpet!

Also, I use bicarb as an abraisive to clean limescale etc off the bath, tiles and shower screen. It works very well (screen was opaque when we got here) but I do find that even with a rub down every day streaks of limescale start to build up again within a few days, is there an easier way than having to get the bicarbv out again? Vinegar just doesn't seem to cut through it.

[badbadbadCappy]

oooh I love a good cleaning thread

I shall be here I hope, bunking off work

How do you clean grout off tiles that has been there for ages because your mother-in-law came round and did it for you because she felt you couldn't possibly do it right yourself and then left a load of grout still on in a far corner that she couldn't reach and she didn't tell you and which then got dirtier and dirtier and you didn't notice it was there because the grout and the tiles were both white?

This is just a theoretical situation of course

also builder's cementy-like stuff that fell into the loo and stuck to the bottom

[badbadbadCappy]

oh and any clever ways of cleaning the outside of windows that are too far up for a window cleaner to go?