to ask for cleaning product help?!

[CleaningChaos]

The short story is I don't know how to clean (depression, anxiety related). Everything gets cleaned with water, washing up liquid and a j-cloth. I'm looking around my house and it is a mess. I went to the supermarket and there are so many cleaning products I have no idea what I need! So if there is anyone who would like to help advise what should I use to clean?!

Kitchen - i have granite surfaces, chrome taps and a steel looking splash back on the hob and a ceramic white sink and drainer. Also have rough texture kitchen floor tiles.

Bathroom - I have a tiled shower with glass sliding door, large mirror, and standard type white sink, toilet and bath. chrome shower and tap fixings.

also got overwhelmed by the choice of sponges/clothes - what ones do i need?!

I appreciate this is very boring but I'm finally feeling well enough to start dealing with this and dont know where to start!

Bumping for you op. Hopefully someone will be along to help soon. Tbh, soapy water isn't the worst thing to use to clean with imo.

So much stuff out there I agree!
I have a dettol antibac spray (lemon) for the kitchen - j cloth.
A bathroom spray like Cif and a sponge.
Day to day that would be fine.

To clean, all you really need is hot soapy water and a good cloth or sponge. J cloths are like using paper. Use a microphone fibre cloth or hand sized sponge. (Those used for dishwashing are fine).
If you want a nice smell - just use an all purpose liquid cleaner such as flash. Dilute as per instructions and use in a spray bottle (in it the concentrate as it works out cheaper.
Always allow time for the product /hot soapy water to work and loosen the dirt. Use a clean, dry cloth to wipe over and dry the surface and remove the dirt. Repeat if needed.
If you can’t afford a micro fibre cloth or sponges. Use old clothes cut up into generous portions - remove scratchy bits like buttons/zips/glitter etc.
use a toilet bowl liquid for the bowl, the kink in the bottle makes it easier to apply, and the fluids cling, apply and leave for 10 mins before scrubbing the bowl and under the rim and bend. Flush.
supermarket product are marketed to entice you to buy, other than smell and the exception of bleach, nearly all the products use the same ingredients- it boils down to individual preference and brand loyalty.

keep bleach to toilets and sinks, be careful as it will stain and can be harmful to various materials- read the label carefully.

if you start at the ceiling and clean downwards and from the left of the door around the room, back to the door, you should not miss anything. Clean floors last.

Not microphone - I meant microfibre.

I should add - start small, don’t overwhelm yourself tackling it all in one day. Just start it one room, such as the bathroom.
Cleaning is a lot easier if items are put away and stuff you don’t need/want/broken is recycled/sold/binned. So you may need to think of storage solutions - but cardboard boxes will do fine and can be prettier covered in an old pillowcase or painted or covered in old scraps of wallpaper/magazines/brown wrapping paper. (Also kids can do this whilst you tidy up).

You don’t need any of the specialist sprays, it’s just a marketing gimmick to get people to waste their money. Your washing up liquid is good as it can cut through grease and contains soap.
I use a bicarbonate of soda paste for scrubbing things and diluted white vinegar as a spray (I don’t have granite though so double check it’s suitable for that - bicarb and vinegar are fine on everything in my house). I use a normal cotton cloth or a recycled sponge, and newspaper on mirrors.

Ecover surface cleaner for kitchen, it's great at cutting through grease and smells nice. Dettol or generic antibac spray for antibac duties.

I use Ozkleen Bath Power for the bathroom. Cleans our bath and chrome taps really easily, gets rid of soap scum and general muck. Also smells nice.

Good luck with it. Take it gently and concentrate on one bit at a time. Tidy away mess and then clean or your'll just be cleaning mess.

I get very overwhelmed by cleaning and I use a bottle of all purpose cleaning spray for surfaces, sink, tiles, etc. And bleach for the loo. I also dilute the bleach and put into a spray bottle for dirtier jobs. I have microfibre cloths for most jobs but I also have two of these type thingies www.poundwholesale.co.uk/buzz-dual-sided-antibacterial-cleaning-pad

Carpet messes cleaned with bowl of hot water and laundry powder.

Scrubdaddy and warm, soapy water will do everything. Bleach down the loo and in sink basis only.
White vinegar mixed with warm water will do a LOT! Essential oils added in for a nice smell if you so please.

I suspect you have issues with storage and organisation causing mess rather than cleaning, tidying is 80% of cleaning! The other 20% is hygienic.

Pink stuff is great for glass shower screens, kitchen sinks and anything that needs a slight abrasive action (it doesn't scratch).

I use microfibre cloths, a general spray cleaner (don't use separate bathroom/kitchen cleaners, just one all round one like stardrops), pink stuff, hot soapy water and bleach and this seems to cope with everything.

I only use 3 cleaning products fairy liquid, CIF cream cleaner and domestos OP. Blob of fairy on granite and wipe with microfibre cloth buff with dry cloth same with stainless steel CIF for bathroom with bleach in loo. My DD spends a fortune on different sprays aka Mrs Hinch lol 😂

I have a spray bottle of soap and water solution, a spray bottle of vinegar, and a shaker with baking soda. We also own a bottle of bleach, but it is used sparingly because of allergies.

Thank you all for replying and for not going 'WTF how can you not know this'!!

I'm getting there with organisation, have cleared out a load of stuff and got some new cupboards fitted. but yes there is still clutter to deal with.

So looks like a white vinegar/water in spray bottle would be good. bleach for the loo.

Shower screen door is very bad - almost opaque with water marks/soap scum - what's best for this?

I am going to start with the kitchen I think. maybe do half an hour in the morning and see how i feel.

feeling positive but nervous.

I dont want a show home but i'd like not be embarrassed when people come over.

Firstly, the granite. The worse thing you can use is soapy water. You need a proper granite spray and paper towels. Rejunvanata is a good granite spray and I always order in online. It has a tiny bit of sealant in it so keeping the surface like new rather than using fairy liquid or similar which breaks down the sealant over time on the porous stone causing it to become dulled and unpolished. Whenever I used fairy liquid on my granite, even a tiny bit on a cloth the granite immediately looked smeary and dull despite me polishing it with a microfibre cloth.

With regards to the shower doors, you probably need viakal to get the limescale off. They do a spray and a more concentrated one. Personally, I prefer the more concentrated one to break down if it's really bad and then use the spray on one for light treatments. Spray on, leave for about 5 mins and then polish off with a sponge cloth. The important thing is once you have it clean is to try and wipe off excess water once you have had a shower, tedious I know but it will help in the long run. A shower squegee is a good idea and then a polish with a microfibre cloth.

The best thing I have discovered recently is a copper cloth. They are small squares of literally copper in material and YOU MUST use them wet, but I have got encrusted limescale off chrome taps, shower screens, paint off windows, rust out of an aga etc. They are simply magical and I have just deep cleaned the most revolting house i moved into using one of these. They do not scratch glass or ceramics if you use them wet. I got loads of tiny paint splashes off a shower screen door using one and polished the metal side bars which were encrusted with limescale and paint splashes, it came up like new.

Also as a PP mentioned, pink stuff is really good for ceramic sinks, baths etc.

thank you. will look for a granite specific spray. have ordered microfibre cloths. will look at pink stuff too.

Vinegar works for limescale (which is what is causing the white marks on the shower screen). Or use a limescale spray like Viakal (or supermarket own brand). Be careful with limescale remover and don’t mix with any other cleaning products and keep the window open.