You were brought up to make your bed neatly every morning, right?

Well, it’s not the best idea because with all the nighttime sweating (each of us loses around a pint a night, more in the heat of summer) and the warm, moist atmosphere, dust mites will happily breed in their millions. And if you’re wheezy or asthmatic, their faeces could easily trigger a nasty asthma attack.

Much healthier to freeze them out, so pull the covers right back in the morning, open the windows and allow the bed to air.

When did you last wash your pillows? You can be sure that a fair proportion of a pillow’s weight is made up of skin scales, dandruff, sweat, saliva and goodness knows what else!

While the sun’s shining, get those pillows (two at a time) in the washing machine (check the care label first) and out on the line.

Feather-filled pillows need to dry quickly, otherwise if they hang about damp for a few days the feathers will develop mould and your good work will be undone. If the rain’s back on, stick in the tumble dryer with a few white tennis balls to stop the filling clumping.

And always better to cover them with pillow protectors to protect from soiling. You’ll sleep a lot sounder now…

Lilies are so lovely, but those stamens can be a nightmare if you accidentally brush past and get your clothes caught against them. Whatever you do, do not rub at the pollen! All that happens is you’ll be pushing the strong dye into the fibres (and it’s always your smartest white cotton blouse, isn’t it?). The only answer is to take a piece of sticky tape, keep pressing very lightly over the stain and renewing the tape until every last particle is gone from the surface.

Yellowing happens when a white garment is exposed to direct sunlight for a long time (the UV from the sunlight degrades the brightener in the fabric). To reverse this, try rewashing in detergent containing optical brighteners or brightening agents, such as Ariel, within a full load using the recommended dose and at the hottest temperature on the label. If you hang your washing on the line, keep the whites away from direct sunlight and take inside as soon as they’re dry.

The reason is because we’re all washing too often at low temperatures or always using the quick cycle.

Bacteria, which produce gases that give off a bad smell, will survive a 30 degree wash, so when the water drains away, the bacteria are left behind to build up and grow in number inside the machine, hence the nasty niffs (and eventually black mould on the seal).

The answer?

Do a ‘maintenance wash’: throw a cup of clear vinegar into the empty drum and run the machine on the hottest wash.

Thereafter, make sure you do a 60 degree wash once a week, particularly for towels and cotton sheets. Sweet smells guaranteed from now on.

Are you sharing your kitchen with an army of ants right now? They love sweet things to take back to the nest to feed the queen and babies. They won’t spread disease, but they’re annoying nonetheless. The easiest way to deal with them is to find the source (look for small piles of earth pellets or check out the ants’ route) and pour some boiling water over. Follow up with a few puffs from an insecticidal powder (check it treats ants). If you don’t like the idea of killing them, a sprinkling of cayenne, scented talc or peppermint oil along the skirting boards near the outside door should send them next door!

Always use separate cleaning cloths for the bathroom so there’s no chance for germs to cross-contaminate any other room. After every use, wash and dry cloths – don’t leave them scrunched up behind the taps.

Get everyone to use their own towel and facecloth – no sharing – as infections, especially skin problems, can spread quickly.

There are many different ways of cleaning the loo pan, but a brush is my least favourite – they give me the heebie-jeebies. I much prefer to put on my ‘bathroom’ rubber gloves, sprinkle around some disinfectant, rub away with some kitchen paper (don’t forget under the rim…scary what you can find there!), then stick this in the bin outside (never flush away kitchen roll or baby wipes – they can easily block your loo).  

And don’t forget to wipe the handle!

If you don’t have an extractor fan, try to open the window as much as possible after a shower or bath for a good airflow. If you’re having a bath, run the cold tap first, followed by the hot, which will reduce steam (safer, too, if children are around). For a mouldy shower curtain, machine-wash on a wool cycle with a capful of bleach added to the drawer; rehang straight from the machine.

There’s no need to resort to expensive, strong products to attack limescale. Much better to stick to homemade remedies, which are just as effective, and a lot cheaper. If your chrome showerhead is caked with scale, unscrew it, and steep overnight in a bowl containing half clear vinegar and half warm water. In the morning the scale will flake off and the head will only need a little rub with a cloth. Note: don’t use on special metal finishes, as vinegar can damage. For scale in an enamel bath or porcelain sink, dampen a pumice stone and rub away at the mark. Don’t worry about scratching: the pumice is hard enough to deal with the scale but soft enough not to damage the surfaces

Next time you’re at a friend’s house and need to go for a sit-down in the smallest room, first lay down about 3-4 sheets of loo paper on top of the water. Then you can freely go into action in the secure knowledge that, post-flush, there will be no stains left behind because everything will have landed on the paper! (That tip is courtesy of my younger son.)