Spring clean your way to happiness!

Mr Town Talk tells you how...

"I might be old but I'm as sprightly as ever! And I look forward to a good old spring clean to lift my winter spirits. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction; it's as good for the mind as it is for the body.

If your home is in need of a top-to-toe spring clean but you're dreading getting started or simply don't know where to begin, here are my essential top tips and best sellers:

Homemade remedies V specialist products

"There are plenty of homemade remedies around for giving your home a spritz, usually involving copius amounts of lemon juice, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide or bicarbonate of soda! But do take care,  sometimes an off the shelf product is so much safer if you're unsure about what you're mixing. Plus a ready made product not only saves you space in the cleaning cupboard, it also brings a wonderful lasting scent to your home that home remedies just don't deliver.

"There are off the shelf products and then there is my Town Talk Original Household Cleaning Range. Mine doesn't contain nasty hazardous chemicals, phosphates or bleaches, but does provide a lot more 'omph' in the cleaning power department than most preparations. In fact, these are premium high performace products that have been carefully researched by my techinical manager. They're dreamy to look at and leave luscious lingering fragrances that make your home smell as fresh as an English country garden. This is a range I'm sure you'll be happy to leave out when the neighbours come to visit.

Remember outside as well as in
"If you have garden furniture now is the time to start thinking about wiping it down ready for warmer days. A swift squirt with my washing up liquid in some warm water will remove build up of grime or algae from rattan, plastic or metal furniture in a jiffy. The same solution works wonders on drain guards, drainpipes and gas/electricty meter covers that have a layer of accumulated winter dirt. Remember it's first impressions that last!"

Glass and windows

"Why spend time preparing your own concoctions when this product makes life a breeze? My Classic Tea Glass and Mirror Cleaner is a spray that works exceptionally well on shower screens to remove soap build-up and glass topped tables for fingerprint-free shine as well as windows and French doors if, for example, you have a pet that likes to add nose prints to the glass. The scent is divine; an enduring, delicate fragrance of tea leaves that wafts around wherever you choose to spray. Use neat and buff glass with a soft microfibre cloth and you'll be converted forever!"

Hard floors

"Most manufacturers try and push a multitude of different products for cleaning different types of floor covering, but in my vast experience I don't feel it's necessary. My Bitter Orange Floor Cleaner is fit for marble, slate, stone, polished concrete, wood, ceramic, teraccotta or even vinyl flooring for a non-slip finish. Just add a drop to a bucket of warm water and you'll banish dirt to vanishing point, leaving rooms and hallways alive with a zesty bitter orange fragrance.  Try it on outdoor decking too and see what a difference it can make."

Wooden furniture, work surfaces and chopping boards

"If your kitchen has a wooden worktop, or to revitalise a heavy duty wooden chopping board, then my Renowned Wooden Work Surface Wax is for you, and is one of my best sellers. Its unique blend of non-toxic ingredients makes it ideal for cleaning wooden chopping boards, butchers blocks, bowls and utensils - especially where the ‘end grain’ is exposed. It also brings a deep, long lasting shine to all fine quality wooden furniture including outdoor dining sets to get them ready for summer. In fact, wood simply loves it! As does the Daily Express when the paper recommended it in a spring cleaning feature."

"Fantastic product which I use all around the house Every one loves the hit of orange as they enter the house. Fragrance lasts well. Makes a great wood kitchen work top look heavenly." January 2016

All my products are available to buy direct online on my website www.towntalkpolish.com 

I hope you have hours of happy spring cleaning!
Mr Town Talk, The Polished Gentleman 

GOT A MOBILE PHONE OR TABLET? YOU NEED THIS

To those of us living in the fast, glossy, digital world there’s one thing we all need that would improve life no-end. When you’re next surfing the internet on your phone or tablet computer – especially if it’s a bright day – inspect the grime and fingerprints blighting your screens. If you had a suitable cloth to hand to remove all marks, leaving all devices crystal clear, that would surely be a splendid thing!

As the official cleaning and polishing expert, Mr. Town Talk, the Polished Gentleman, has an effective solution, since the result of using liquid cleaner, spray or water on your most treasured (and expensive) techno toys could be catastrophic. Buy a new pair of sunglasses or spectacles and you’d expect a quality cleaning cloth with your purchase. So why don’t we look after our most expensive possessions in the same way? In addition to improving hygiene levels of our most touched items, they’ll look so much better too.

Town Talk’s Brilliant Spectacle and Screen Anti-Smear Cleaning Cloth is the simple answer. This exceptionally fine little cleaning cloth is a miracle of 
versatility! Made from wonderfully 
soft microfibre material, it not only gives your spectacles 
a clear-as-daylight finish, it’s also brilliant at cleaning mobile phone screens, tablet devices, monitors, TV and computer displays, car windows, mirrors etc. In fact it will polish any smooth surface where there could be a build up of fingerprints, dust and grime, in a jiffy. 
All Town Talk cleaning and polishing cloths are made in Great Britain to tough British Retail Consortium Global Standards, so we’re confident they’re outstanding. What’s more, the Brilliant Spectacle and Anti-Smear Cleaning Cloth is washable - little wonder it’s so popular with bright young things everywhere. It’s an all-round winner!

5 Tips for Cleaning Silver Cutlery

Meet Mr Town Talk, The Polished British Gentleman, whose knowledge and experience of cleaning and polishing fine jewellery, precious metals and household items is second to none.

MR TOWN TALK, IN CONVERSATION...

"I've been lucky enough to attend and host fine dinner parties. If you're like me, you'll want to use your finest cutlery at such events; nothing sparkles as impressively as a well-dressed dining table!

Cleaning and protecting your precious silver cutlery doesn't have to be a chore; dirt can be put in its place and treasured possessions maintained with minimum fuss, time and effort - and a few simple rules.

Of course looking after your cutlery with some straightforward measures will ensure you have many years' faithful service, life-long lustre and a valuable heirloom for the family!

Here are my rules I advise you follow:

1) WASHING AND CLEANING SILVER CUTLERY

Since time immemorial, the acids present in a number of foods have had a nasty habit of pitting silverware. Cutlery and salt cellars are particularly vulnerable. I recommend you always wash and rinse items immediately after use.

If you really want to look after your silver cutlery, by far the best option is to use a special silver-cleaning product. My Excellent Anti-Tarnish Silver Foam is designed to be used over the sink and will remove food, clean and polish all in one!

Should you really wish to put your silver cutlery in the dishwasher then there are a few points to remember. Most silver is dishwasher safe but it's important remember that liquid dishwasher detergents are always preferable to any other kinds. Never put stainless steel and silver cutlery in the dishwasher at the same time. If you do, your silver cutlery will turn black or develop unsightly spots that are terribly hard to remove. Be sure to remove your silver before the machine starts its drying cycle and dry each item by hand to prevent water spotting. Remember silver is a soft metal that’s easily scratched or damaged and can be tarnished by other metals. If you're in any doubt I find a simple rinse with a mild soap and warm water in a plastic washing up bowl, followed by a gentle buffing with a soft cloth works wonders!

2) THINGS TO AVOID

I implore you not to wear rubber gloves to wash and handle your silver cutlery. Rubber gloves contain sulphur, which reacts with the silver and creates more tarnish. Take care when drying too, avoiding brand-new linen cloths as the starch in them is, surprisingly, too abrasive. Choose a lovely soft cloth and dry cutlery immediately after washing to prevent it developing water stains. Under no circumstances should you ever let your silverware come into contact with bleach. It will leave a permanent, ugly stain that you’ll never see the back of.

3) OFFER A LITTLE LOVE AND A GENTLE TOUCH

Believe it or not, silver is a relatively soft metal, softer than, for example, Stainless Steel or Copper, and so does not require the same hard abrasives to clean it - and you really won't want to scratch such beautiful items! Using the right products means you can enjoy smooth surfaces instead of ones covered in scratches which will be hard to obliterate.

4) CARE AND PROTECT

You’ll often find it’s only the tines, or prongs of your forks that become tarnished. But, if you dip the tines into my Silver Cutlery Rinse for just a moment or two, then buff them up with one of my Silver Polishing Cloths, you’ll get a wonderful result. Choose your silver cleaner carefully - many on the market are remarkably abrasive. Mine have been used in the best households in the land for over 120 years and have stood the test of time.

5) STORE SENSIBLY

I'm sure you're not the kind to toss your fine cutlery into the nearest drawer, heaven forbid; it's worth considering what happens to silver while it sits patiently waiting for its next dinner party engagement. Careful, here comes the science:

Silver has the ability to combine with other elements in the air, such as sulphur. When this occurs, a new compound forms on the surface of the silver, which we all know as "tarnish". Tarnishing is a natural process for silver, but the industrial pollutants found in today’s atmosphere, and traces of sulphur from gas appliances such as cookers, fires and boilers, can speed up its formation.

To protect your precious silver cutlery from the elements I recommend three things, i) Avoid storing silver on wooden surfaces as the wood often contains acids that react to the metal, ii) Never use rubber bands when you wrap silver for storage, even over a layer of tissue or plastic, because they contain substances that can tarnish the metal, iii) Store cutlery in specially designed Silver Cutlery Storage Rolls. Mine are super soft and impregnated with a secret anti-tarnish ingredient which protects the silver to keep it super sparkly.

Finally, remember that the easiest way to prevent tarnish developing on your silver cutlery is to use it regularly. Any excuse for a party I say! Cheerio!"


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Mr Town Talk’s Gleaming Polished World was established in Lancashire, Great Britain in 1895, to supply the finest Polishes, Cleaners and Accessories for Silver, Gold and Precious Metal Jewellery, Cutlery and Cutlery Storage. More recently, Mr Town Talk’s range of unparalleled products has been expanded to include Household Cleaners and Laundry Requisites.