Add a capful of fabric conditioner to a bucket of water, rinse the mop in it, then squeeze dry and leave till the next use.

It’ll always be lovely and soft.

It seems a good idea when new…then it’s an absolute bind to keep it looking good.

The surface will scratch easily so protective coasters and cloths are a good idea. Clean smears with a damp cloth wrung out in warm soapy water and buff dry.

Any chips or scratches can sometimes be filed down with the finest grade of sandpaper.

Put about a cup of soda crystals (DriPak, about £1 from most supermarkets) in 500ml warm water and just rub away – soon the fat will dissolve.

You’d think with that sort of power, they would be toxic. Not so: they contain no harmful chemicals, enzymes or phosphates – plus they’re totally biodegradable.

 Adopt the mantra: ‘One in, one out’. For every new item you bring into your home, look for one existing one you can either throw or recycle.

As a nation we love our pets, but sometimes their hairs on the sofa and chairs can be a real pain. If you don’t want to be constantly vacuuming them up, a quick inbetween solution is to don a pair of rubber gloves, run your hands quickly under the tap and take them over the hairs, from one side of the sofa to the other. The hair will obediently be pushed along by the rubber gloves, then all you do is gather up the clumps and put them in the bin.

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.