Thursday 27 December 2012

How to clean those difficult nooks - Black & Decker India


This interesting article about problem areas that we might not even notice while cleaning our homes, made me think twice. This is probably true of most of our houses, that we don’t notice a lot of stuff just by virtue of seeing things everyday and taking them for granted. Here’s a list of ways in which we can make those difficult to notice and reach places cleaned more easily:

Vacuum nozzle: Though most of us have vacuum cleaners at home, we might not really have explored all the attachments well. So many places like channels of windows and gaps in the sofas can be cleaned using the nozzle attachment that helps to reach the gaps very easily.

Toothbrushes: From crevices in vessels that may have food stuck in them, to joints between tiles, the trusty old toothbrush comes to the rescue. It is a very handy thing to have around, and since toothbrushes are always replaced every few months, there will always be a couple of old ones around without going to much effort.

Baking soda: To keep chimney grills clean, you can just sprinkle them with baking soda, and pour some hot water over them which causes most of the oily residue to come out easily. For the remaining dirt, toothbrushes can be used to get them sparkling clean again.

Steam or hot water: Most stains can be cleaned using just boiling hot water or steam, without the addition of any chemicals at all. If at all the stain proves stubborn, easy kitchen items like baking soda or vinegar are enough to clean nearly all of them. This is why the steam mop is a very effective appliance for keeping floors clean.

Ear-buds: For areas like switchboards where you might need delicate cleaning, you can use soap solution or a thinner/nail polish remover in extreme cases along with an ear-bud for a controlled cleaning operation. Watch out though as thinner can erase any markings on the switches too.

Hope some of these tips are useful for your holiday cleaning to make your home ready to receive friends and family in the new year. Do check out our page for more appliances that can help make your cleaning tasks easier:
http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in

Monday 24 December 2012

5 Cleaning Activities your Kids can help with - Black & Decker India


Most parents know how tough it is to keep our homes clean with young children around. The best way to resolve this might be by encouraging them to help at small chores that help to make our cleaning activities easier. This will also make them more responsible and works better than any punishment to make them think twice about making a mess. Here are some that you can try:

Making their beds: From the time they are about 6 years old, kids are coordinated enough to try doing this activity. Initially it might need a bit of secret redoing from your side, but try to make it a habit from a young age that they make their beds as soon as they get out of them.

Putting things away: I was very impressed by the Montessori method where kids learn to take one activity at a time, and put it away on open shelves when they are done with it, and before taking the next one. Of course this is easier said than done at home, but with a lot of positive encouragement from your end, you will find kids learn to appreciate having a clear space to play in their room.

Dusting: Those were to do with clearing up after themselves, but as they grow a bit older you can try giving them small chores like dusting, usually just in their own rooms. Make sure that your child doesn't suffer from any dust allergies before trying out this chore.

Using the Washing Machine or Dryer: Kids love to help with small tasks such as loading washing powder in the washing machine, or helping to segregate coloured clothes and emptying the dryer. Keep young kids away from electrical outlets, but encourage them to help with tasks appropriate for their age level.
                                                                                                                    
Folding laundry: This can often seem like a huge task on days when you have a lot of things to do. If kids have a bit of free time, it can be fun for them to separate which piece belongs to whom, and try a bit of folding too for older kids.

Vacuuming: If you have a light device that is easy to use, you can ask your teens for a bit of occasional help. They will feel much wiser to see the dust bunnies that can form under the bed, and will definitely be more aware about crumbs falling on the floor the next time they eat something.

Hope these small tips help at your place during the festive season and the coming new year. Do check out our website for details of appliances that could help:


Friday 21 December 2012

Home Cleaning Resolutions for 2013 - Black & Decker


Each of us may have a different picture of what a clean home means. Usually it is related to a specific area or problem, for example in my case it is when my home is dust free. As one year comes to a close, and another begins, it’s resolution time again. Here are some home cleaning resolutions to help make our home a space for everyone to be comfortable in:

Set a schedule: It is very easy for tasks to build up, and finally leave us at a stage when we are wondering where to begin. The best way to deal with this is to have a schedule in place to clean one part of the house intensively each day. Another example is to do one load of laundry a day. Before you know it, your home will be spotless and your everyday cleaning need will only be some light dusting.

Reduce dependencies: We are all used to our maids so much, that we feel really helpless on days that they are not around. If we can reduce dependency on them by using appliances that make our job easier, then even the occasional absence will leave us with only a little work to catch up on.


Educate your kids early: Teach your kids to help with small chores starting with putting away their things after coming back from school or after play, and you will find your task becoming much simpler. We sometimes get so used to dealing with “end of the day” messes that we don’t think of changing the situation.

De-clutter regularly: Do you have stuff stored up in the hope that you would be using it “some day”? Assess the things in your cupboards and lofts and give away or sell things that you don’t see yourself using for the next few years. This frees up space in your cupboards and in your homes, and also makes us think twice before buying new items.

Use the right tools: Whether for dusting or cleaning the floor, using the right tool or appliance is very important. Using something inappropriate only makes your job longer. Try out some new appliance once in a while and it might just surprise you.

At Black & Decker, we provide you a range of useful appliances to make your home cleaning needs easier. Do check out more details on our website:







Tuesday 18 December 2012

Gifting Ideas for the Festive Season - Black & Decker

We are nearly at the end of the year, and this is the time when a lot of festivities come and go. Sometimes, it can be really difficult when wondering what to gift somebody. Clothes or jewelry can get very repetitive, and it is also tough to assess the person’s likes and dislikes. This festive season, why not go a different route and check out these useful gifting ideas:


Cordless Screwdriver: Even for the small tasks at home, a screwdriver is something you always need to keep handy. Now there are a lot of powered versions available, which make your job much easier. Check out the A7073 Cordless Screwdriver Kit for an example - it runs on alkaline batteries and is ergonomically designed so that it is easy for anyone to use.
                                                                                                                           
Cordless Vacuums: For those small cleaning tasks, it can really be daunting to take out the large corded vacuum cleaner. At such times, it is great to have a smaller one around, which is also useful for cleaning in areas like cars, and sofa cushion edges. Especially for those sudden spills that always seem to happen when there are kids in the house, a handy model like the NV3603 Cordless Vacuum Dustbuster will get you a lot of good wishes.


Drill Kits: If you have friends or family who are interested in doing some small DIY tasks around the house, buy them a drill kit and they will hardly need any more tools to get started up. A model like the KRP12 Hammer Drill Kit includes a hammer drill, wrench, pliers and multiple drill bits and can prove invaluable to whomever you gift it to.

Steam mop: This revolutionary product can be a great way to provide that young family maker some freedom from her maid. We all know how difficult it can be when the maid does not turn up, and we need to do all the swabbing tasks by ourselves. With the steam mop, you will be gifting an easy way to get those sparkling floors, and it even gets rid of most of the bacteria using just steam.

Try it out this season, gift a useful appliance, and you might set a new trend among your family and friends. Do check out our website for more appliances and details:

Friday 14 December 2012

Introducing some lesser known tools - Black & Decker


Other than the usual set of tools and appliances that are usually quite well known, such as the vacuum or the drill kit, there are also a few less known ones that we do not hear of too much. You would be surprised once you hear of them, as they can be very useful for tasks around the house. Here’s a short look at some of them:

Pressure Washer: When it comes to cleaning your car or your garden area, nothing can beat the pressure washer. If you are concerned about the loss of water, it can actually conserve water compared to using a hose, as the mechanism allows you to control and spray only what is necessary. The force of the water also makes the cleaning more efficient so you will need less water in that way too. Black & Decker brings you a range of pressure washers, and you can choose the one that would suit your requirement.


Paint Roller: Try one of these to paint your wall the next time you need a repaint and you will never call any painters home again. The innovative RapidRoller from Black & Decker is even more efficient than using a standard roller with tray, as the paint is stored directly in the device and makes the entire process less messy and quicker.

Blower: A blower comes with different settings for different tasks, which makes it very versatile. It can be used for cleaning delicate devices like computer CPUs and also for clearing dry leaves from your garden. The B & D blower comes with a vacuum attachment too.

Car Polisher: If you thought that the car service centre was the only place you could go to for a polishing job, you will be pleasantly surprized to try the car polisher and see how easy it makes your job. It can be used to polish the car as well as other metal or painted surfaces with great results.

I hope this short introduction of the above tools was interesting enough to make you want to go and check them out at our stores. Please do see our website for more details of these products, as well as for a map with our store locations in India.






Thursday 13 December 2012

4 Handy Tools to Keep Around the House - Black & Decker


While we are still getting used to the idea of DIY for larger projects such as making our own furniture or painting a room, there are a lot of small jobs around the house that can be made easier by having the right tools. Did you ever feel when confronted by a simple task, that if only you had the right implement in hand, you could have easily done it yourself. This list will give you an idea on the 5 handy tools to keep around the house:

1.    Screwdriver: From the kitchen where those screws holding your saucepan handles keep getting mysteriously looser to the draw that looses a screw or nail once in a while, the screwdriver is the most necessary tool, and you cannot do without this one around the house. Black and Decker has a range of screwdrivers to meet your needs.

2.    Drill Kit: When you need to put up that small shelf, or even just a new portrait on the wall, a home drill kit is an amazing set to have around. You will feel very empowered to not need to wait on the carpenter for every small task, and once you start doing this, you might start attempting those tougher looking DIY ideas too.
      
3.     Mop: We are not referring to the usual plain old mop that requires you to bend and stretch a bit too much, not to mention makes it really hard to reach those under-the-bed places. Once you check out a product like our intelligent steam mop, you will never want to use anything else. It uses just water to clean up your floors of dirt and bacteria, and even has settings for different types of floors.

4.     Vacuum cleaner: For those corners that no dust cloth can reach, as well as areas like blinds that are otherwise very difficult to clean, having a vacuum cleaner will make your task much faster and easier. There is a range of vacuum cleaners available and you can choose the one best suited for your needs.

Please do visit us and check out the products yourself before making up your mind. Our personnel will be happy to assist you – here’s a map of where you can find our stores in India. For further details, please visit our website at: http://india.stanleyblackanddecker.com



Friday 7 December 2012

5 Useful Gardening Tips for Winter - Black & Decker, India


If you have a kitchen garden, you might already know that winter in India can be a great time for gardening, if you are not subject to extreme temperatures. In extreme cold, your only hope of growing something might be if you have an enclosed area like a greenhouse. In other places too, it can be an interesting experience to prepare your garden for the winter climate, and here are some tips:

1.     Grow according to the season: There are a lot of options for winter vegetables, starting from greens like lettuce and herbs, to a variety of vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. All these do very well in limited sunlight and love the cool weather, so you should get very good results.

2.     Collect leaves for mulch: Autumn and winter is the time when leaves fall in plenty from the neighbourhood trees, and collecting these is a great way to make use of them for mulch later in summer. This way you are saving a lot of trash from the roads, not to mention using rich matter that nature has provided for you instead of it getting burnt and going waste.

3.     Establish a cleaning routine: All the falling leaves, including those falling from your own plants, can make a mess of your garden space very soon. Regular cleaning, at least once a week, is an absolute necessity at this time of the year. Make use of a strong vacuum cleaner for this task, and you won’t find it too difficult.
4.    Composting: From your kitchen waste, to all the dried leaves from your garden, all of it can be turned into rich organic material, going right back to enriching your soil. Start and promote composting as a practice in every home, and you will be amazed at the reduction in waste going out of your home.

5.    Pest control: This always has to be an ongoing routine in any garden, but winter can be a time for a lot of pests to get comfortable on your plants. Look out for aphids, especially at the bottom of the leaves, and use an organic pesticide like a neem spray regularly until you see a reduction in the problem.

At Black & Decker, we offer you a range of gardening tools, from grass trimmers and cutters, to lawn movers. Check out more details on our website: http://www.india.stanleyblackanddecker.com


Tuesday 4 December 2012

5 Easy Ways to Brighten up your Living Space - Black & Decker


There comes a time when you look around you, and wonder why your living space is looking so boring and drab. Well, that means it’s time for a makeover, and there are simple ways to do this without needing to spend a fortune on it. Here’s a short list to get you started:

Paint a wall: The easiest way to brighten up a space is to paint one of the walls in an accent colour, such as a bright orange or red. Choose a wall that receives some light else it might darken your space, and see the difference. With the right tools such as a good roller, you can even do this yourself within the space of a single day.

Hang a piece of art: You can use a piece of art, or even a family portrait to draw focus to one part of the room that also helps to brighten up the space. Another way to go about it would be to use a lot of smaller photos for a photo wall, instead of one large frame.
Bring in the plants: Indoor plants are a great way to add a splash of colour to the room, along with purifying the air inside your home as well. Do some research to check which plants would do well in the amount of light you receive, and most of these will flourish with minimal care.

Dash of colour: Instead of one complete wall, you could decided to add smaller splashes of colour by using décor pieces such as throw cushions, or a colourful vase. Even a differently coloured stool or table will do the trick equally well.

Add some space: If your space is crowded up with furniture, it will look cluttered and drab. Try to keep only what is necessary with a few foldable or light pieces that can be taken out of storage when additional seating may be required. You can also add a large mirror on one of the walls which helps in the perception of space.

All that is needed for most of these simple ideas, is a little bit of imagination, and a good set of tools. Do check out our paint roller and drill kits from Black & Decker, which will make your job much easier. More details at our website: