Cleaning 101: How to get rid of Mildews

Are you also annoyed and troublesome seeing mildews on your clothes, leather bags and belts, shoes, and clothes?  This fungus can stain paper, cloth, leather and could even bring more harm to our health.

Mildews accumulate due to dust and moisture from high humidity.  They grew more in darkness and damp places with stagnant air inside the house.

In the first five years of my housekeeping and homemaking, I always encounter this problem yet I do not know really how to get rid of them. They keep on coming back after a few weeks. Just as always my mom is ever ready to help and rescue

As experienced, molds grow rapidly during wet weather, as much as possible we must try to control the dampness inside our homes.  Here are tips on how I get rid of them

• Dust regularly.
• Air circulation and movement is very important to removing moisture. I had exhaust fans installed which I think helped a lot. 
• I have learned that cool air holds less moisture than warm air, so I agreed in installing air conditioning systems in our bedrooms. The cool air removes the moisture by taking up warm air, thus cool dry air is circulating back into the room. 
• I also use a dehumidifier/air ionizer in our bedroom, as I’ve already discussed in my previous post

• Closets must be well dried, poorly ventilated closets get damp and musty especially on rainy weather. Open closed doors and drawers occasionally to allow clean air in. 
• The heat from a 60-100 watt bulb lampshade can be helpful to dry the closet fully during closet clean-ups, I use it instead of an electric fan.  But before I heat the closet, I spray disinfectant solution first.

• It is very important to clean up and remove any sign of mildew at once to prevent it from spreading to other items or you might regret, because it could damage the item beyond repair. 
• I put silica gel and damp trap in my closets and drawers, it absorbs moisture. Silica gels are the small pouch that you will see inside the box of your newly purchased shoes or bags.

Now, how do I remove mildews?

• With leather belts and bags, I just wipe it with a microfiber cloth wrung out in a solution of one part rubbing alcohol to one cup of water then dry it thoroughly. 
• Clothes, I use laundry detergents and chlorine bleach.  You can buy chlorine bleach for colored clothes in the supermarkets. 
• Shoes, I do the cleaning outside the house, rubber shoes are washed then hanged (not on direct sunlight), while I vacuum the leather shoes then the same procedure is done as with leather belts and bags before putting on an instant wax shine. 
• Leather car upholstery and inside car, wash the car mats, then vacuum the inside of the car.  Next is to wipe the upholsteries and dashboard with the solution, dry it thoroughly, leave the doors open for a while  to assure that it’s completely dried.