How-to video offers quick cleaning tips

GUIDE: The tutorial includes directions for mopping, making a bed and doing laundry.

01:00 AM PDT on Saturday, September 6, 2003

By KIMBERLY PRENDERGAST / The Press-Enterprise

As a former house manager for some very wealthy Los Angelenos, Laurie Kilpatrick knows tricks to the housecleaning trade.

Want wrinkle-free clothes, but hate to iron? Of course, who doesn't? How about hospital corners? They look great, but do you need someone to show you how to make them?

Kilpatrick can.

Whether you're moving into your first apartment or you're a professional housecleaner, Kilpatrick's video "Miss Laurie's Smart Guide to House Cleaning" can answer most housekeeping questions.

Tips such as cleaning the inside of a refrigerator with diluted bleach or vinegar to wipe out odor and mold are sprinkled throughout the video.

Short and sweet, that's how Kilpatrick describes the 35-minute tape.

"The biggest thing was I didn't want it to be overwhelming," she said in a phone interview. "We didn't want it to look like a bad infomercial."

The first in what Kilpatrick hopes will be a series of how-to tapes is easy to watch. Miss Laurie offers some sound advice without taking herself too seriously.

"If you’re cleaning your own house, you can clean it in a monkey suit or your lucky underwear," she declares in the video.

She tells viewers how to clean shower tracks and how to mop correctly using two buckets -- one for clean water and the other for rinsing.

"Why wash the floor with dirty water?" she asks.

Like any other job, cleaning requires the right tools. Kilpatrick suggests packing everything into one tote that can be carried from room-to-room. It will save time by preventing backtracking.

The tape also provides basic laundry training. Hot water cleans the best but causes color to fade. Miss Laurie suggests using warm or cold water to keep colors bright.

Still wondering how to keep clothes wrinkle-free without ironing? Never let them sit in the dryer, Kilpatrick said, and most importantly don't forget to shake.

"The wrinkles will start to fall off," she said. "If you run your hands over the fabric, slightly pressing down, you can remove more wrinkles. Then you don't have to iron it."

Reach Kimberly Prendergast at (909) 368-9567 or kprendergast@pe.com