Christmas should be filled with good food, family and magic. However, before the peace of Christmas can settle over you and your family, everything has to be in place. Other than having decorated your home, it’s also important to have a clean home! The thought of being able to give your family a safe, consistent and clean home is a gift in itself.
But what’s the best way to clean for Christmas? And even more important, how should you clean sustainably? The first step is to accept that it doesn't need to be a big deal! A little goes a long way, and even small, sustainable changes are better than nothing.
Sustainable cleaning
Tip nr. 1: Follow the recommended dose on cleaning products
One of the easiest ways to get started with a sustainable cleaning is by following the recommended dose. You might have grown up with the habit of ‘ the more the better’, but that’s not always true, at least not when it comes to cleaning products. True for both your daily cleaning products and your detergents is that at a certain amount of product you reach a tipping point, where more product doesn’t mean it makes it more clean. The excess product just ends up getting flushed out in the environment. This is why you shouldn’t use more than recommended - and often you can even use less! Especially with products like Humdakin’s, that are made as concentrates, you only need a small amount. For example, our Universal Cleaner is a concentrate, and you only need to put a teaspoon (5ml) in our spray bottle and mix with water (500 ml). This means that with one Universal Cleaner, you can refill a spray bottle up to 200 times!
Tip nr. 2: Use cloths made from organic cotton
There are many small changes you can make in your everyday life, that are more sustainable choices. Even though they don’t seem like a big deal, they still make a difference. An example of this could be choosing organic cotton cloths, tea towels etc. Cotton is a natural material and can be decomposed when you one day throw out the cloth, unlike cloths made of polyester or microplastic. Humdakin has chosen to only produce textiles, hereunder dish cloths, made from 100% organic cotton.
Tip nr. 3: Check your cleaning products
You often don’t give a second thought to the ingredients in your everyday products. Whether it’s cleaning products, soaps, lotions or whatever, there’s often some unnecessary ingredients in them. For example, harsh preservatives, chemical perfumes, parabens and hormone-disrupting chemicals are not necessary to get something clean. Check the back when buying a product and reflect on what it is you need it for. If it’s a product that will be in contact with your skin, it’s good to be critical towards the ingredients in it. 
Christmas cleaning
As soon as you have the sustainable cleaning products under control you can get started with a sustainable Christmas cleaning! There’s something magical about Christmas, but for many it can also be a stressful time of the year with cooking, wrapping and guests. Make it easier for yourself and keep clean instead of cleaning every once in a while. If you just spend 10 minutes every day cleaning off and wiping surfaces with universal cleaner, it will be easier to manage to clean before getting guests. During the Christmas month, there are some areas you should give even more attention to when cleaning.
Tip nr.1: Clean the oven
For many, food is their favorite part of Christmas, and we get that! However, it’s not that fun to prepare the big Christmas feast in a dirty oven. Us at Humdakin have an easy tip to how you can scrub the oven so it’s ready for Christmas. We use our dish soap because it effectively removes grime and smells lovely!
1. Remove all the baking trays in the oven and clean them individually. If they aren’t too dirty you can use the universal cleaner to wipe them off. If there's leftover residue or stains on the sheet, use warm water and our dish soap to wash it off with. Any stubborn residue can be removed by carefully scrubbing with steel wool or our wooden brush.
2. Make a mixture of warm water and dish soap. Use a dish cloth or wooden brush to scrub the inside of the oven. Use a new, clean cloth wrung in warm water and wipe after.
3. Don’t forget the glass, handles and buttons on the outside. For this you can use our universal cleaner, and follow up with glass spray to get it shining.
Tip nr. 2: Wash all the textiles in your living room
Most people spend a lot of time cozying up in the living room during the holiday season, watching Christmas movies. That’s why December is the perfect month to clean all your textiles in the living room. This includes both rugs, pillow covers and blankets. If you have a sofa you can remove all the cushions and vacuum it, and if you have a sofa made of textiles you can even spot clean it. Remember to check the washing guide on all the textiles before you wash them, and use mild detergents, such as Humdakin’s. When everything has been washed it will be even more lovely to have your whole family sit together in the living room!
Tip nr. 3: Pre-Christmas decoration cleaning
Christmas decorations are an important tradition if you celebrate Christmas. If you’re decorating the house, you might as well dust and wipe off at the same time! Before you place a decoration, you have to dust and wipe the whole surface with universal cleaner. It’s an easy and cozy way to get your shelves and tables clean, and if you listen to Christmas music at the same time you might even get in the Christmas spirit. Remember to do the same thing when you take all the decorations down again.
