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Former housekeeper shares things she would never use in a hotel room

After working as a housekeeper for many years, Tara knows a thing or two about hotel rooms. The former cleaner has made a frank admission about what goes on behind closed doors when cleaning and tidying hotel rooms for the next guests. “Hate to break it to you, things aren’t as clean as you think they are,” Tara said on her TikTok. She went on to list the things she would never use in hotel rooms after her years in the industry, beginning with basic kitchenware. “The first thing I would never ever use is the coffee pot or any of the glassware.” “Usually the housekeeper rinses these things out in the bathroom sink and dries them off with the same rag they clean the rest of the room with.” The next thing she avoids using or touching is the ice bucket. “A lot of times people just innocently use these as water dishes for their pets but then other times, people do much worse things to these buckets... and I don’t ever want to talk about that,” she said. She also advises travellers to remove the bedspread as soon as you check in to your hotel room. “Take that s*** off the bed the minute you walk in there and do not put it back on the bed,” she said. “They are so filthy, they only get washed once a year unless there’s a visible stain on them. “So unless someone has puked, bled, p***ed or s*** on them, they do not get washed for an entire year. “Seriously, I’ve seen some things.” In a follow-up video, she explained why parts of hotel rooms are neglected during the cleaning process. “You would actually get in trouble if you took too long to clean hotel rooms and you would get in trouble for backing up the laundry if you’re sending down too many bedspreads and blankets and things like that.” She added, “Totally depends on hotel, training, employee and management but I’m turned off for life because of what I’ve seen.” Image credits: TikTok

Travel Tips

5 vintage housekeeping hacks that work wonders

The expectations of managing a house have certainly changed since the ‘50s and ‘60s but that doesn’t mean we can’t utilise the tricks they learnt along the way. These housekeeping hacks were developed to save time and money. 1. Phone hack In 1953, Dorsey Connor shared a home hack in her book Gadgets Galore for women who only had one phone line. She recommended putting the phone on the ground in a dishpan when you move around the house so that you will be able to hear incoming call as the dishpan will amplify the noise of the ring. 2. Wet weather clean-up In 1957, one contributor to the Encyclopedia of Household Hints and Dollar Stretches suggested keeping a sponge by the back door on rainy days. When someone comes in the house with a dripping umbrella or wet shoes, the sponge can be used to immediately wipe the water. When the sponge needs cleaning, the book recommends soaking it in salt water. 3. Strategic accessories In 1962, Peg Bracken proposed to readers of The I Hate to Housekeep Book to get rid of unnecessary covers and rugs of any kind. She said that a rug in a room would just be another item to clean. “The reason you picked linoleum or vinyl instead of wall-to-wall carpeting was so you could wipe it up, remember?” she wrote. Peg urged readers not to buy toaster covers, shelf liners or throw rugs as they would double the cleaning. 4. Stretching food A problem that is as common today as it was decades ago is trying to stretch food when unexpected dinner guests show up. Peg recommends serving “things under things” to avoid this issue. By placing meat on top of potatoes or vegetables, gives the appearance that the plate is full. A dinner roll could be placed underneath a roast to catch the drippings. 5. Planning grocery shopping Author Marguerite Dodd found grocery shopping “needlessly consumed” a “great chunk of time”. She believed running to the shops to pick up only a handful of items was a waste of time. She recommended limiting shopping to once a week to pick up dairy, fruit and fresh vegetables. The rest of the items she said should come from a well-cultivated stash. Marguerite advised for meat to be bought monthly and stored in a freezer along with frozen vegetables. Do you use these vintage hacks? Let us know in the comments below.

Home & Garden

Experts reveal what you should clean daily, weekly and monthly

What's your cleaning personality? Do you tackle household chores on an as-needed basis, guided by nothing more than your own standards, or do you have a tried-and-true regimen for daily, weekly and monthly tasks? A team of experts in all things domestic from the UK-based Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI) have come up with a checklist to help us keep our cleaning under control, according to a report in the Daily Mail. Adhering to this schedule promises to keep us living in a civilised and sanitary home, without having to spend hours in rubber gloves splashing bleach around the place once the mess has built up. The GHI team identified certain tasks that should be done every day, not only to keep your place looking tidy but also to prevent the spread of germs. These jobs include washing the dishes, cleaning the toilet bowl, making the beds, putting clean clothes away and dirty clothes into the laundry basket. Once a week, you need to look after the vacuuming and dusting, swap out the bath towels and give the bathroom a clean, including washing the toothbrush holder (have you ever looked inside your toothbrush holder? You'll be shocked). The folks at the GHI would have us washing the windows once a month, along with vacuuming under the furniture, cleaning the blinds and washing (or shaking out) the doormat. Vacuuming the mattress, dry cleaning duvets, wiping down the inside of the fridge and cleaning the oven can be tackled every three to six months, as needed said the GHI. Once-a-year jobs include clearing the gutters, having the chimney swept and wiping lightbulbs. A GHI spokesperson told the Daily Mail, "Our cleaning experts are always being asked exactly how often we should clean things — from beds and curtains to hobs and toilets. "Frankly, housework can feel like a never-ending task, and nobody wants to overdo it. So we created a guide for what to clean when." Not everyone will agree with the schedule, as it seems to leave lifestyle unaccounted for. Surely a single working woman doesn't need to clean the toilet every day, while a home with a golden retriever will need to vacuum far more frequently than once a week. At the same time, many families now rely on help from a weekly cleaner, and appliances like robotic vacuums are becoming more commonplace. Some of the more onerous household chores, including oven cleaning and window washing, can be outsourced to independent contractors as needed. Research published by London-based retail analysts Mintel last year found that just one in three people have a set cleaning schedule. The rest – 62 per cent – say they clean when they have the time; and about four in ten – 42 per cent – say their aim is to do the job as quickly as humanly possible. Brand and Household Analyst at Mintel, Richard Hopping told the Daily Mail, 'The average amount of time that Brits report spending cleaning their home each week has fallen by half an hour in recent years.' The research showed that the average time per week was down from 4 hours and 39 minutes in 2014 to 4 hours and 7 minutes in 2016. Mr Hopping said, "The busy lives of today's consumers often get in the way of cleaning routines, which means that the majority clean when they have time rather than pre-planning in advance." The report also showed that women were still doing the heavy lifting when it comes to household chores. The average cleaning time for a woman was put at 4 hours and 51 minutes - about 90 minutes longer each week than a man. The Mintel study found cleaning the oven is the task people hate the most. Some 67 per cent of respondents rank it among their top three dislikes along with cleaning the toilet – 47 per cent - and windows – 41 per cent. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Related links: <a href="/news/news/2017/01/dirtiest-things-you-touch-every-day/">The 5 dirtiest things you touch every day</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/12/common-household-hazard-making-you-sick/">This common household hazard could be making you sick</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/11/5-natural-cleaning-tricks-that-really-work/">5 natural cleaning tricks that really work</a>

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Shocking confessions of real-life housekeepers

<a href="http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/">GoodHousekeeping</a> asked real-life housekeepers and cleaners to reveal the strangest and funniest things they’ve experienced on a job. And we must say, these confessions are truly bizarre! “A pet goat drove me to quit.” – A full-time house cleaner from Centennial, Colorado “Two months after I started working for this millionaire, she got a goat – in addition to her 10 giant dogs. The dogs had access to the entire house. Soon enough, she started feeling bad about leaving the goat outside, so she started letting it sleep in her bed along with the dogs. I would go four times a week (for at least six hours a day) and spend the entire time just cleaning up after the animals. The goat peed on everything. It got to a point that was just too much. I cleaned everything with such attention to detail and she'd go back hours later – after the dogs and goat had been through again – and complain that I wasn't doing a good job. After a year, I had to drop her as a client.” “I thought I was working for a serial killer.” – A full-time organiser from Los Altos, California “A client asked me to set up a filing system with crazy category names such as 'easiest way to kill someone without being traced,' 'types of murder weapons,' and 'types of poisons.' At first I was horrified; then I found out that this client is a successful mystery writer.” “You get blamed for everything.” – A full-time house cleaner from Bethesda, Maryland "After working for nearly eight months for this one family, the wife accused me of breaking her mini blinds. I reminded her that they had been broken since I started, but she didn't believe me. She said I had to pay for new ones or she was going to dock my pay. I said it was unfair but she didn't care – she fired me on the spot." “You get the most ridiculous jobs.” – A full-time organiser from Columbus, Ohio "My very first client asked me to wash the paperclips we were using. We were organising a home office that hadn't been used for a while and everything was covered in dust. She, understandably, didn't want to use the dusty paperclips, and simply brushing them off or getting new ones was not an option for her." "If you leave it out, we'll look at it." – A full-time house cleaner from Cherry Hill, New Jersey "I know for a fact that some of my co-workers try on the clients' clothes if they're left alone in the house. Some other cleaners always help themselves to food or even alcohol. Plus, there's just general snooping. If you leave important papers laying around, most of us are going to look to see how much you charge on your credit card, what you owe on your mortgage, or what your bank statement looks like." Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/08/things-in-your-kitchen-you-should-clear-out-right-now/">10 things in your kitchen you should clear out right now</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/07/why-we-should-keep-up-with-the-washing-up/">Why we should keep up with the washing up</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/07/why-you-should-never-make-your-bed/">Why you should never make your bed</a>

News

Former housekeeper to the Queen reveals her secrets

If anybody can teach you how to make a bed fit for royalty, it would be the Queen’s former housekeeper. Barbara Allred, who was head housekeeper at Sandringham for a decade, now tutors at The English Manner, which trains butlers and housekeepers for billionaires, celebrities and aristocracy. Allred (left) tells The Daily Mail, “When you're working for the top, standards have to be 110 per cent, not just 100 per cent.” So what domestic secrets can the former housekeeper reveal? For sparkling bathroom thrones <ul> <li>To remove lime scale build-up on chrome taps, apply a paste of 2 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar. Use a toothbrush or cotton bud to clean difficult areas, and a bottle brush to clean plugholes.</li> <li>Keep a sponge and rubber gloves dedicated to the toilet - and manually clean under the rim of the bowl.</li> <li>Don’t use bleach as it takes the shine off porcelain. To remove mildew or mould, mix equal parts lemon juice and baking powder into a paste, leave on for two hours, and then rinse off. Toilet paper should roll from the front. Fold the end into a point to show the bathroom has been cleaned.</li> </ul> For crisply folded towels <ul> <li>Lay the towel flat, then fold it in three, lengthwise, before hanging on the towel rail.</li> <li>If you're folding them away in the cupboard, fold them in three again (or four, for large bath towels.) Stack towels, neatly, with the fold towards you, with towels of one size in a single section.</li> </ul> For a table setting fit for a royal <ul> <li>Set one place setting first to ensure you're happy with it. Then place each main course plate on the table. All plates should be equidistant.</li> <li>Each main course plate should be an inch from the edge of the table, as should the bottom of the cutlery. The side plate should be at ten o'clock in relation to the main plate. Glasses are at two o'clock.</li> <li>The red wine glass is traditionally larger, and to the right. The white wine glass is smaller, to its left.</li> <li>The sweet fork and spoon are normally positioned at the top of the main plate.</li> <li>A tablecloth is optional.</li> <li>Polish cutlery, and clean glasses without touching the rim - use your left hand to cradle the bowl; never twist the bowl when washing or drying the inside of a glass.</li> </ul> For a dust-free house <ul> <li>Start from the ceiling, from the left, so you can be methodical. Use a cobweb brush for ceilings.</li> <li>A squeezed out damp cloth is best for ornaments. If it's dry, you're just pushing dust around - you need the dust to adhere to the cloth.</li> <li>For antique picture frames, use a soft hogshair brush - one for wood and another for metal.</li> <li>Dust furniture with a very tightly squeezed out soft cloth. Never spray wood directly - spray the cloth. The same rule applies to cleaning windows.</li> </ul> For silver that shines <ul> <li>Don’t use a toothbrush if the silver is intricately wrought - use cotton buds.</li> <li>Then wash the item in warm water and liquid detergent, and dry. Use a soft, lint-free cloth to buff it - it’s the buffing that makes the difference.</li> </ul> Source: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3358717/How-run-house-fit-Queen-Plates-inch-table-edge-Taps-sparkle-like-crown-jewels-former-royal-housekeeper-reveals-secrets.html" target="_blank">The DailyMail</a> Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/at-home/2015/10/things-you-shouldnt-put-in-the-dishwasher/"></a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2015/12/diy-christmas-decorating-ideas/">13 easy-peasy Christmas decorating ideas</a> <a href="/lifestyle/at-home/2015/10/things-you-shouldnt-put-in-the-dishwasher/"></a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2015/12/diy-christmas-decorating-ideas/">More great vintage household tricks from the 1900s</a> <a href="/lifestyle/at-home/2015/10/things-you-shouldnt-put-in-the-dishwasher/"></a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2015/12/vacuum-cleaning-tricks/">Vacuum cleaning tricks you’ll want to know about</a>

News

Confessions of the housekeepers of the rich

Good Housekeeping asked cleaning professionals to reveal their craziest and funniest stories. Employees of the rich and successful, these housekeepers revealed some serious dirt. "I know for a fact that some of my coworkers try on the clients' clothes if they're left alone in the house. Some other cleaners always help themselves to food or even alcohol. Plus, there's just general snooping. If you leave important papers laying around, most of us are going to look to see how much you charge on your credit card, what you owe on your mortgage, or what your bank statement looks like." – A full-time house cleaner from Cherry Hill, New Jersey "I've had husbands outright flirt with me. Some have even offered me money — clearly hinting that they'd hope to get something in return. I've had guys hire me and then call me to ask me out. I do consider myself an attractive woman, I just didn't realize how desperate some guys are." – A full-time house cleaner from Lawrence, Kansas "Two months after I started working for this millionaire, she got a goat — in addition to her 10 giant dogs. The dogs had access to the entire house. Soon enough, she started feeling bad about leaving the goat outside, so she started letting it sleep in her bed along with the dogs. I would go four times a week (for at least six hours a day) and spend the entire time just cleaning up after the animals. The goat peed on everything. It got to a point that was just too much. I cleaned everything with such attention to detail and she'd go back hours later — after the dogs and goat had been through again — and complain that I wasn't doing a good job. After a year, I had to drop her as a client." – A full-time house cleaner from Centennial, Colorado "A client asked me to set up a filing system with crazy category names such as 'easiest way to kill someone without being traced,' 'types of murder weapons,' and 'types of poisons.' At first I was horrified; then I found out that this client is a successful mystery writer." – A full-time organizer from Los Altos, California "After working for nearly eight months for this one family, the wife accused me of breaking her mini blinds. I reminded her that they had been broken since I started, but she didn't believe me. She said I had to pay for new ones or she was going to dock my pay. I said it was unfair but she didn't care — she fired me on the spot." – A full-time house cleaner from Bethesda, Maryland

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Former housekeeper shares things she would never use in a hotel room

5 vintage housekeeping hacks that work wonders

Experts reveal what you should clean daily, weekly and monthly

Shocking confessions of real-life housekeepers

Former housekeeper to the Queen reveals her secrets

Confessions of the housekeepers of the rich