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We don’t want to throw cold water on your efforts to master faster cleaning techniques, but it would be silly for us not to pass on some of the safety lessons we have learned along the way.
It’s just nice to keep it that way — that’s all:
- Don’t back up without knowing who or what’s behind you. Get in the habit of looking over your shoulder while you’re standing still — then back up.
- Don’t bend over in front of a door. If it can swing toward you, someone could open it and knock you on the head with the door. If it can swing away from you, it doesn’t mean it’s safe. Someone could still walk through the doorway and run into you. If you must bend over in the vicinity of a door, stand off to one side. Or keep your hand on the doorknob, or block it with our foot so the door won’t open or just lock it.
- Be especially careful when you’re looking up as you’re working — for example, when foraging for spider webs on the ceiling. As in the case of backing up, stand still while you’re cleaning and check where you’re going before you take the next step.
- If you drop something made of glass, get out of the way. Neither a $5 fishbowl nor a $500 vase is worth getting cut by shards of glass.
- Be careful when reaching under sofa and chair cushions with your hands. The nerve endings in your fingers make it amazingly painful to discover pins, thumbtacks and razorblades by touch.
- Don’t play Spider-Man when washing windows. Clean windows are not worth getting yourself killed for. Do not hang out of windows while supporting your weight with one hand. While working on ladders do not reach beyond the center of gravity and do not step on the upper two ladder rungs.
- When cleaning tubs that have a buildup of soap scum, remember that this soap is going to be set loose when you wash the tub or shower walls. Stand outside when you can. Keep your tennis shoes on if you must step inside, and step on a layer of rags when possible to give you better footing.
- Is there anyone in the world who has not been told to avoid mixing ammonia and chlorine bleach? It’s simple chemistry: Ammonia releases chlorine gas from the liquid bleach, and chlorine gas is deadly. There are sneaky ways of mixing the two chemicals that you might not be aware of. Perhaps someone else had used ammonia on a surface and didn’t rinse it off well enough. If you come along afterward and apply bleach, you may be in trouble. At the first sign of a really nasty chlorine smell, get fresh air fast. A smart idea is simply not to use ammonia in the bathroom at all. Most of the time, bleach and other cleaning products take care of the demands of bathroom cleaning, so there’s no compelling reason even to take a chance of mixing ammonia and bleach. Another good reason to keep ammonia out of the bathroom is that many automatic bowl-cleaning products contain chlorine, and it would be easy to mix the two without realizing the hazard.
- Be very careful when spraying liquid cleaners in a confined area. We’re sure you’ve noticed by now that more than one retail product on grocery shelves is murder on your lungs. Keep a window open when using any strong-smelling cleaner and turn on the fan. Take a fresh-air break every now and again. You’re not being a wuss.
Wear rubber gloves at the slightest provocation. Your skin is worth it. If you find yourself debating about whether you should or not, it’s already time to put them on. - Hang pictures and mirrors with decent heavy-duty hangers, nails or screws. It’s amazing how many people hang such things with thumbtacks or pushpins, in flagrant defiance of gravity. There are many more sensible things to challenge than gravity. It’s right up there with death and taxes. This really does have to do with cleaning because you will have to clean these hanging items every once in a while without them falling off the wall.
- Don’t clean when you’re angry. Go punch a pillow (it really does work) or do a few pushups or take a few deep breaths — whatever you need to do. Objects just seem to fly out of hands when you’re thinking nasty thoughts about shameless hussies or your boss or the IRS or the transcendent unfairness of life in general.
Excerpted from Jeff Campbell's Spring Cleaning.
Save Your Shins and Other Needed Body Parts: Created on November 10th, 2003. Last Modified on January 21st, 2014
