When it comes to cleaning your house, knowing in advance which are the essential supplies is vitally important. However, as you might discover reading this article, not all of them are good for your house and more importantly not always the result they bring are worth the money you spent.

Always remember to read carefully the label of the products when you are at the store. Just because they have written ‘For All Purposes’ doesn’t guarantee that it won’t damage some surfaces. It’s known in fact that ammonia, a chemical sometimes present in some cleaning products, can harm plastic surfaces.

Many times what you need is just some mild soap and water.

If you want to know exactly what you will need to clean your house properly, start to think about all the surfaces and rooms you need to clean, from roof to floor.

Starting from the roof for instance, you almost certainly will need some rags to dust cobwebs from the corners, fan blades and shelves.

You might be wondering if the advertised super fancy dusters you see on TV are better then rags. Reality is that they are not worth the price most of the times. They certainly do a nice job, but you can get pretty much the same result with just some old rags.

If you want to invest few dollars on cleaning supplies, I recommend getting a good furniture polish. Your furniture in fact is probably the most expensive part of your house that you clean (as well as your carpets, maybe) so it’s worth getting some products designed for this purpose.

Another essential cleaning supply you will need is going to be window washing liquid. You might be also tempted to get specific paper towels for window cleaning. I recommend you first try using old newspaper with your washing liquid. It works amazingly well for me, and i save some money as well. I carry a paper bag in my kit where i store old newspaper and then i use them anytime i find myself cleaning the windows. When you’re done with your streak free windows, you can just throw them in the recycling bin.

Another essential product you will need is anti-bacterial spray. You will need this for delicate part of the house, such as your kitchen and your bathroom. Feel free to use it also in other parts of the house. The ones i mentioned are the ones i consider deserve more this type of treatment.

If your bathroom has some mildew or soap scum, specific products can be bought and used to address them in the best way. It’s worth buying them and having them on your general kit anyway, as you’ll never know when mildew can appear.

Regarding the floor, the essential supplies you will need are mop, bucket and floor cleaner. Of course you wouldn’t use these on carpets, For the latter, there are specific products and methods of cleaning that i addressed in other articles.

Don’t take the floor cleaning tools i described around the house too much, or you’re going to be tired too early. Instead, leave them together in a room and take them just when you need them.

The last supply I recommend you consider purchasing is a good rug freshener. These tend to absorb smells quite easily, and sometimes using a good freshener is enough as a quick fix, but it doesn’t address the cause of the smell, which is dirt. However, in emergency situations or when you don’t have time to clean it properly, the freshner can be a good solution.