Getting ready for Valentine's Day special meal

So you’ve got this amazing romantic dinner planned for the love of your life – or maybe you love of right now. You want to make it impressive so you need to pull out all the stops.

You’ve managed to get all your crockery and cutlery cleaned up. Now it’s time to look at your table linen. Nothing says, “I made an effort” quite like clean crisp white linens.

To get it really clean, first check it see if there are any dirty marks that did not come out in the last wash. If there are some stains, I like to use Blendwell Chemicals Oxygen Bleach. All you do is you put a scoop of Oxygen Bleach into a bucket filled with water and level the linen to soak. I often leave mine to soak for a day or two for really stubborn stains. It works wonders.

Then it’s time to machine wash. Here I like to use Enviro Wash. This cleaning product is eco-friendly and does not contain any phosphates (which can pollute water ways). It is a concentrated and high quality washing powder with the added benefit of being green. One to two scoops on a quick wash – keeping the temperature low should do the trick. Remember, you got all the stains out with the Oxygen Bleach soak so an ordinary wash will do. By doing a quick, low temperature wash you are able to be more earth conscious and use less energy. Save the planet every step of the way!

After the wash, hang out neatly on the washing line. Avoid getting creases and you will have less ironing to do later. Once dry, get out the iron and the ironing board and make it look fabulous. By the time you lay your table, it will look like one from a five star restaurant and your loved one will be so impressed!

For more information about the cleaning products recommended here please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a massive range of cleaning chemicals in Midrand, South Africa. Our factory is ISO9001 approved and we are your best local cleaning chemical manufacturer and wholesaler.

Tips for Cleaning with Little Children

Now that the school holidays are upon us, the mess in my house has certainly increased. I’m not prepared to do this alone. My kids are the ones making the extra mess so they are going to help clean up – even the little ones.

I’ve been talking to each of my children about what I expect them to clean up and they have their own list of duties. They seem to be taking pride in what they do and are eager to do it well. Of course, there are lazy moments but I’m really proud of the job they’re doing.

As your child gets more duties they should continue to do their previous chores as well. This list will grow with age.

Here’s a list of the jobs for 4-5 year old children:

• Make own bed – duvet
• Prepare own simple breakfast or lunch (like cereal or sandwich) and clear away after
• Empty laundry baskets and sort into light and dark loads
• Empty small bins around the house
• Help with vacuuming, sweeping and dusting
• Clean kitchen counters with cloth and spray
• Clean bathroom sink
• Help fold laundry – small towels, etc
• Take clothes out of the washing machine and put into basket and pass items for hanging on the washing line.
• Mop laminate floors with spray and flat mop.
• Use dust buster for cleaning small spills

I find that making specific times for chores makes it easier to do. It is simply part of the routine and there is less resistance. For example, when you get dresses, you should make your bed and after breakfast sort the laundry. Once an activity has started it’s going to be a lot harder to get your kids attention.

For more information on cleaning and cleaning products, please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a massive range of cleaning products for all industries. We are the best local wholesaler of cleaning products in the Midrand area.

What are Hazard Symbols and what do they mean?

When you receive a MSDS from Blendwell Chemicals you can expect towards the end of the document to see a small diagram in the hazard symbol section. This hazard symbol will give you information regarding how safe or dangerous the cleaning product could be to the user and the environment. This hazard symbol is created based on the information on the finished product. Although the cleaning chemical may contain hazardous components, the finished product may not necessarily carry the same hazard warning.

Some products are safe and they will not need to carry a hazard symbol.

If a cleaning product is classified as an irritant it will mean that this cleaning chemical can cause irritation if the product comes into contact with skin, eyes, hands and lungs. The cleaning product does not have to be an irritant on all areas but simply on one of them in a significant way.

Another hazard symbol that looks almost the same is for harmful products. You will notice that the little “I” in the corner of the irritant hazard symbol is missing. The harmful hazard symbol can refer to the cleaning chemical being harmful to the environment or it being harmful to people either by ingestion or contact.

The Corrosive hazard symbol will appear for a cleaning chemical that will cause burns and serious damage to the skin, lungs or eyes. If this hazard symbol appears on your cleaning product, please handle with care. It will be very important that you use safety gear when handling this product. It is always important to use safety gear but with this hazard symbol on your cleaning product, you could cause permanent damage if you allow any carelessness when handling this product.

The Toxic hazard symbol is one that is used for cleaning products that are poisonous when ingested, breathed in or with direct contact. It can also refer to a cleaning product that is known to cause cancer or other illnesses. This product must be handled with the utmost care.

The Environmental Hazard is for a chemical that will do serious damage to the environment including water. This cleaning product will require careful disposal.

Flammable cleaning products will carry this hazard symbol. These cleaning products will require special storage in a proper flame resistant cupboard or room.

Blendwell Chemicals will supply you with the information you need to handle your cleaning products safely. For more information on the cleaning products available from Blendwell Chemicals, please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals is the best local cleaning chemical manufacturer and wholesaler in Johannesburg. We are your partner in cleaning.

4 Key Elements of Cleaning Faster and Easier

No matter what you’re going to clean you will need to know a little bit about how to clean. Sure, you may not need to know all the rules for cleaning to get the job done but knowing and applying the rules will help save you time, effort and money too.

Anything that requires cleaning needs more than one element to be cleaned. Certain items will require all four elements to be considered and adjusted.

THERMAL ENERGY means that heat may be required for cleaning to be optimum. Some items, often where they are greasy, will need heat to support cleaning. Think of cleaning and oven or grill.

CHEMICAL ENERGY is the actual cleaning chemical used to clean. Using the right cleaning product at the right dilution will definitely make cleaning easier. More is not always better. In fact, there are some cleaning products, like dishwashing liquid, where using more cleaning chemical makes it harder to get your items clean.

MECHINICAL ENERGY is the energy that you or a machine uses to clean. This is the actual wiping motion when you clean a countertop or scrubbing when cleaning the paving bricks outside.

The final element is time. Some cleaning requires extended contact time so you may apply the cleaners and then wait for 20 minutes before starting to clean (this would allow for chemical energy to do the hard work for you). But all cleaning requires time even if it is only a couple of seconds contact time.

The equation of cleaning is:

CLEANING = (CHEMICAL ENERGY + MECHANICAL ENERGY + THERMAL ENERGY) X TIME

For more information on cleaning please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer of cleaning products in Johannesburg South Africa. We are the best local wholesaler of cleaning products.

Now you are ready to get going with cleaning your car

Start with checking the headlining. Hopefully all is in order here. A quick vacuum will not go amiss. If there are dirty patches you should use a product like Blendwell Chemicals Carpet Shampoo. Here you’ll use the foam to clean any dirty patches so that the area is not left wet.

Then clean the fascia and dashboard.  It’s usually easier to have a cleaning product like Blendwell Chemicals Wac GP Cleaner. This all-purpose cleaner is ideally diluted into a spray bottle and then sprayed onto all the areas to be cleaned and wiped with a clean cloth. When I last cleaned my car, I cleaned with diluted Eco-Lyte DG Cleaner. It was brilliant on the milkshake that had spilt the day before and I had not had a chance to clean up. Because it had been so hot the mess had dried up. I sprayed the green cleaner and a quick wipe later and it was all cleaned up. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had imagined. Here are my before and after photo’s:

After cleaning the fascia and dashboard, you can move onto Silicone Cleaner to shine up these plastic surfaces. Please be careful not to over use a silicon product on the steering wheel or gear lever as you don’t want these areas to be slippery.

Cleaning the seats of your car will often require some spot cleaning. I recommend that you first do some vacuuming of the seats before you apply any cleaners to the seats. Whatever you happen to be cleaning, a great tip to follow is always clean dry before wet. Once the dust and dirt has been lifted by the vacuum, you can move onto cleaning with cleaning chemicals. For fabric seats, you could use the Carpet Shampoo if you are planning to clean the whole seat or you can opt for Wac GP Cleaner if there are just one or two spots that need cleaning.  The Carpets can be cleaned in the same way.

If your car has leather seats, you will want to use Blendwell Chemicals Leather Cleaner and Leather Polish. These two cleaning products are designed to work together to bring out the best of your leather seats.

For more information on cleaning your car, please visit www.blendwell.co.za/Car_Cleaning. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures all their cleaning products in Johannesburg, South Africa. We are your best local wholesaler of cleaning products