Review: Fantastic Services – professional cleaning

We’ve been without a cleaner for well over a year now. We’ve haphazardly tried to tackle this much hated chore by ourselves, but for some months now I’ve shuffled around the house trying not to look too carefully at the dusty corners and the dirty marks on the walls. A couple of times a year we like to properly blitz the place. One of those times is before the Christmas tree goes up. So this week we bit the bullet and booked a three-hour spruce up and scrub of our home from Fantastic Services.

Review: Fantastic Services - professional cleaning

It was ridiculously easy to book cleaning services through the Fantastic Services website. You just enter your details and what you need doing and the website comes up with a quote and a selection of time-slots for you to choose from. It’s as easy as that. If you get stuck there’s a live chat option too.

I have a large lounge and big kitchen to clean, as well as bedrooms and bathrooms, so I opted to have two cleaners come for a three-hour slot to properly blitz the place. This costs £78 but for a big deep clean it was really worth it.

I had a tidy up a declutter before the cleaners arrived. Having a seven-year old means my house often resembles a toy assault course, so I think it’s only polite to have a tidy up. There was no need for me to leave out any cleaning products or anything, they brought everything they needed with them.

Review: Fantastic Services - professional cleaning

The cleaners arrived bang on time and they were really lovely. I gave them a tour of the house, outlined what I needed them to do and I just left them to it. I sat working in my office as they cracked on with cleaning my house.

After the three hours were up I went to chat to them and have a look at how they’d got on. Everything I’d asked them to do they had done. They’d even cleaned things I’d stopped noticing; like my kitchen bin and that corner of my bedroom where all the spiders live. I think all cleaners are different and have slightly different things they like to focus on. We were very happy with their work and I think my house looked about 300% better for having them visit.

I think Fantastic Services offer a really easy to use, well priced service. For a one-off clean (which I had) it was £13 per person per hour. There were no booking fees or extras added on top and they brought their own cleaning products and equipment.

Review: Fantastic Services - professional cleaning

Fantastic Services offer a wide range of services including regular and one-off cleans; gardening and landscaping; pest control and handyman services. They’ll even get you a Christmas tree and decorate it for you! They’re really easy to book and pay for online. The cleaners they sent me were very professional and did a great job. I’ll be booking them again!

Here’s a FANTASTIC Discount Code for you to use! Use the code “HodgePodge10” to get £10 off your first booking. Does not apply to regular domestic cleaning and Christmas services. Cannot be combined with other deals and promotions. Min charges apply. Subject to availability and area coverage.

We received a complimentary clean from Fantastic Services in return for an honest review. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: Spring Cleaning with Bar Keepers Friend

I dislike cleaning but I like living in a nice clean house. When I clean I like to use things which will be quick and effective, leaving my kitchen and bathroom gleaming with minimal effort. I was sent a selection of cleaning products from Bar Keepers Friend to try out, so this weekend we set about cleaning our kitchen and bathroom to see if Bar Keepers Friend would help our house to sparkle.

Bar Keepers Friend was first launched in 1882 in America, where the story goes that in 1882 a chemist from Indianapolis noticed how clean and shiny his tarnished pot was after cooking rhubarb. Using an active ingredient that’s found in the plant he made a talcum smooth cleaner and sold it to the city’s taverns. It worked so well that it was called ‘Bar Keepers Friend’.

Bar Keepers Friend uses a blend of Oxalic Acid (found in rhubarb, parsley and chives) and a mineral base with surfactant to make one of the most popular cleaning brands in the UK.

bar keepers friend

We were sent the following products to try –

Bar Keepers Friend Stain Remover Powder: (250g, RRP: £2.99)
Bar Keepers Friend Power Cream – a superior cream formulation that “cleans where others fail”. For for cookware, kitchens and bathrooms (350ml, RRP: £2.99).
Bar Keepers Friend Power Spray – this easy-to-use format is for use in everyday cleaning situations, from kitchen and bathroom to stainless steel and glass (500ml RRP: £2.99).

Using the three products we tackled the kitchen and bathroom areas. We used the Bar Keepers Friend Power Spray in the kitchen, we cleaned the kitchen sink and hob with it and I was impressed with how shiny they were after use.

bar keepers friend

We didn’t have to deploy too much elbow grease either. They power spray cut through the dirt and with a little (and I mean a little) amount of buffing and soon the sink and hob were shining.

Hubs used the Bar Keepers Friend Stain Remover Powder on the kitchen floor. There were a couple of stubborn marks from some crafting we’d been doing in the kitchen (don’t ask) and they needed a bit of focussed attention rather than a waft over with my damp mop. The stain remover is a powder you sprinkle onto a damp cloth. I have to say we were both very impressed at how quickly the stain lifted from the floor and the shine it left afterwards. I can tell why this is their “original and best” product.

Lastly we had a go at the bathroom with the Bar Keepers Friend Power Cream. This was a white cream which we used with a damp cloth, cleaning all the nooks and crannies in and around the taps and in the basin and bath. I was really impressed at how bright and sparkly everything was afterwards. It’s so lovely I’m loathe to let the boys back into the bathroom again.

Bar Keepers Friend removes stubborn stains and cuts through mineral deposits, oil and grease, rust stains and everyday grime on stainless steel, tiles, ceramic, glass, plastic, chrome, brass, copper and other surfaces too.

I liked Bar Keepers Friend, I think it’s a fantastic range of products, especially for those times when your cleaning needs an extra boost and a bit of a stain lifting supercharge. I was genuinely surprised when those crafting marks came off the kitchen floor and both the kitchen sink and the bathroom were gleaming. I couldn’t fault it. I’ll be looking at rhubarb in an entirely different way from now on.

Bar Keepers Friend is available in Robert Dyas, B&Q, Lakeland, John Lewis, Waitrose, Ocado and a range of independent retailers. For more information visit the Bar Keepers Friend website.

Review: Spring Cleaning with Astonish

This weekend the sun streamed through the windows and I saw my house properly in the warm glow of daylight for the first time in months. I like many others felt the urge to give everywhere a good scrub. I suspect I was not alone, up and down my road husbands were cutting the grass whilst their wives were hanging out line after line of washing, taking rugs outside for a good shake and polishing windows. It’s that time of year where everyone feels the need to have a spring clean.

Years ago I was less cautious about the chemicals I used around the house, I didn’t really care as long as the house was clean, but these days I’m a little more careful, I have the small boy to worry about as well as an asthmatic husband, and I try not to use cleaning products which make me catch my breath.

Astonish has a full range of products, which are all Vegetarian Society Approved, to help you clean your home from top to bottom. Better still, many of the products in the range have an RRP of just £1, so you can clean your house and not break the bank too.

We were sent some Astonish cleaning products to try out, including the new All in 1 Dishwasher Tablets, Oven & Cookware Cleaner, Grease Off Spray & Wipe, Antibacterial Cleanser and Grout & Tile Cleaner.

Astonish

The antibacterial cleaner is brilliant, often these kind of cleaners have a strong smell so we don’t buy them again, but this had virtually no smell and cleaned the kitchen surfaces really well. I’d happily use this multipurpose product all over the house again.

The Grease Off Spray & Wipe was so good on the hob. I know I should wipe it down every day, but it probably gets a scrub once a week, sometimes I have to really give it some elbow grease, but this lifted the burnt on bits and left my hob clean and shiny with very little effort at all.

I loved the Grout & Tile Cleaner, my bathroom grout has started to get a bit grubby and difficult to clean. This is easy to use, just spray it on and leave for 10 minutes, then go back and give it a rub with a cloth and it comes up almost like new. More stubborn bits of grout might need a second application, but it couldn’t be easier to use. Although we didn’t review it, we’ve been using the Astonish Mould & Mildew Remover for years and it’s fantastic for sorting out mould on bathroom sealants and very grubby tiles.

Hubs who is in charge of the dishwasher tried out the new All in 1 Dishwasher Tablets, they are formulated to remove even the toughest dried on stains including tea, coffee, dried sauces and gravy. They have a built in salt and rinse aid and they don’t contain Phosphates, so the product is kinder to the environment. They are also really good value (I’ve found them online for £2.99 for 40 dishwasher tablets).

He’s tried a lot of different brands of dishwasher tablets and he was very happy with these, the glasses were sparkly and there were no dried on bits left on the cutlery or dishes. We would definitely buy these again. It’s nice to be using a brand name product for a budget price.

Astonish

I used to think cleaning products were all the same, but they’re not (years of cleaning have taught me something at least). These products from Astonish don’t smell so bad that you can taste them in the air, they’re pleasant to use and they do the job well. They’re not expensive, with an average RRP of £1, having a clean house won’t cost the earth. I’m glad I’ve got these Astonish products in my spring cleaning armoury, I’ll be looking out for them in the future.

You can find out more about Astonish on their website. Astonish cleaning products are available from a wide range of retailers.