I’m the original cleaning guru – my five easy tips will leave your house spotless says Kim Woodburn
SHE’S the original “Queen of Clean” who shot to fame two decades ago on TV’s How Clean Is Your House?
And straight-talking Kim Woodburn, famed for her sharp tongue and telly rows, says she learnt how to clean the hard way, unlike many modern-day cleaning influencers.
And Kim, 80, has other criticisms.
She says: “I do not like the way that some cleaners, including Mrs Hinch, appear to copy what I wrote in my books and say it’s their tip.
“There’s many, many things: Putting baking soda down the sink with salt and vinegar and boiling water so that the U-bend gets thoroughly cleaned and smells lovely . . . it’s my tip.”
Baking soda has been used as a cleaning agent since Victorian times and hundreds of blogs and websites discuss the merits of using the salt, vinegar and baking soda combination to clean pipes . . . it is not clear exactly when the hack was “invented”.
READ MORE ON KIM WOODBURN
Kim adds: “People say to me: ‘They (other cleanfluencers) copy you’ and they do.
“I’m not strung out about it.
“Anybody can make a living, lovey, and there’s room for more than one cleaner.”
With the cleaning industry worth an annual £55bn to the UK economy, it’s no surprise cleaning influencers have been mopping up millions by helping us bust the dust.
Most read in The Sun
But Kim says it took years for her to learn her trade.
She says: “I went to stately homes on cleaning courses . . . they charge you for it and it took six weeks to learn how to put the drapes away, the silks, the satins, how to store this, that and the other.
“I went to all of those, I passed my health and safety, I’ve cleaned big mansions that I worked in and I know how to clean art.
“I’ve learned the hard way, have these people?”
Kim adds she is “not getting at Mrs Hinch” — Sophie Hinchcliffe, 32, who has 4.5 million Instagram followers.
Kim says: “I’d say good luck to you — but please put your own ideas down.
“And if I find they’re good, I’d gladly say ‘Mrs Hinch or Mrs so-and-so did a marvellous tip I’ve never heard of’. I’d give them credit.
“Good luck to them but don’t use my ideas.”
With many years of experience cleaning some of the country’s filthiest houses, Kim feels she has earned her stripes, and has hordes of cleaning hacks to show for it.
She says: “I’ll clean silver in two minutes with baking soda, no need to spend hours polishing it. I can clean copper with salt and vinegar.
“I experiment . . . so I’ll take some Colman’s mustard and think ‘What can I do?’ Mustard is very good for cleaning your breadboard.”
No-nonsense Kim also says there’s no excuse for messy houses.
She says: “These people are bone idle, and turn their backs on absolute filth.
“People who have mucky houses can be nice people, they’re not nasty, they’re just dirty b******s.”
Kim adds: “When you think of today, we’re jolly lucky.
“When I was a young girl, we didn’t have washing machines, we used to wash over the sink with a bar of soap.
“We didn’t have a bath – we used to pin an aluminium bath with a nail to the garden wall and bring it in once a week to boil buckets of water on the old gas stove then we’d have our bath one night a week.
“When you think now we’ve got running water and wonderful vacuums . . . we’ve never had it so good.
“When you hear people say — and I don’t understand this — ‘I’ve got THIS much washing to do, it’s up the wall.’
“You don’t do the washing any more, the machine does.”
Kim believes everyone should be able to afford cleaning products and has launched 15 affordable products in her Poundland cleaning range.
“I like them all,” she says. “I’m a very proud person. I could never bear to bring something out that wasn’t absolutely wonderful because I don’t want anybody shouting to me in the street, ‘You know that window cleaner? It’s crap!’
“It would ruin my pride. I’m so proud. I’m the cleaning queen.”
Kim is particularly delighted with her pink — the whole range is pink, naturally — rubber gloves.
She says: “I made sure they’re tough.
Read More on The Sun
“The ones I wear on television are lathered with feathers, but you couldn’t put them in the washing up bowl my love, you’d be dripping feathers.
“These are as tough as old boots.”
- The New Original Cleaning Queen range, by Kim Woodburn, is available exclusively at Poundland stores.
KIM'S TIPS
FRESHEN up your home and make cleaning a doddle with some of Kim’s quick and easy tips.
VINEGAR FOR STICKY FINGERS: Make a vinegar solution of a pint of warm water and an eighth of a pint of white vinegar. Use on mirrors with a lint-free cloth then buff with a scrunched-up piece of newspaper to shine.
WET FEATHER DUSTING: Wet your hand and run it along a feather duster to make it slightly damp to pick up dust without it spreading. Leave to dry then shake it out before re-using.
CLEAN OVENS WITH OLD TOWELS: Cut old towels into strips and dip in some warm soapy water with a bit of bicarbonate of soda to clean the oven.
SKIP THE WASHING-UP SPONGE: They’re unhygienic so try a flat sponge or a washing-up brush which can go in the dishwasher for a deep clean.
GET RID OF CARPET ODOURS WITH BICARB: If carpets are smelling stale sprinkle on bicarbonate of soda, rub in with your fingers and leave for an hour before hoovering.