Editor’s note: This content is sponsored by Domex and was produced by BrandRap, the sales and marketing arm of Rappler. No member of the news and editorial team participated in the production of this piece.

As a kid, I would often see my parents busy cleaning the sink, the floor, or the toilet. I didn’t understand why. It would just get dirty again so why bother? I thought while comfortably watching cartoons from our couch. 

Now that I’m married and my husband and I have to look after ourselves, I finally get it. I went from hating my cleaning chores to can’t help but declutter, wipe surfaces, and sweep the floor. One time, I woke up from a nightmare that our bedroom had been cluttered with garbage, lots of it. My husband had to comfort me and remind me: “It’s okay. It’s clean, it’s clean.” I’ve become a neat freak myself.

A clean home just makes you feel extra inspired to go through everyday life. It’s true that we’ll never understand the things that our parents do until we become adults ourselves. We, kids, must have been a handful for them to want to clean our house that much. 

Learning the art of efficient cleaning

We were lucky that as kids, our parents didn’t force us to do many chores. But there were times that I would watch them clean and see them concoct what I now know as proxy cleaners. They would mix water, detergent, and bleach in a bucket of water and use it to scrub the toilet and floors. 

Since this was how I thought it was done, I tried making this concoction myself when my husband and I first had to deep clean our toilet. I used a mop and wiped the tiles with my proxy cleaner. The result was a soapy, slippery, dangerous mess. Walking – or crawling, actually – on the floor to scrub the tiles was like an episode in a Japanese variety show. 

We had to rinse the floor with water over and over to wipe off the soapy surface. I wasn’t even sure if we were able to really deep clean because the stains and even some of the gunk were still there. 

Just when I thought I got married when I wasn’t ready yet, my husband suggested we try using Domex Ultra Thick Bleach. It had a reputation of being a miracle product that I used to see in commercials as a kid but my parents weren’t too keen on buying. 

He taught me how to use it. Just pour it on the surface we wanted to clean, let it sit for about 30 minutes or so, then rinse with water. For surfaces with extra tough stains, all we needed was to lightly scrub them and then the stubborn stains actually disappeared. It was like watching one of those mesmerizing deep cleaning videos on Facebook but this time it was happening right before my eyes. I was so amazed by how easy it was to clean our sink, floors, and toilet bowl using Domex Ultra Thick Bleach.

I understand how some might think it’s a luxury to add another product to the grocery list when you can just double the role of existing ones. But if you think about the time, effort, and energy you can save by using the right product, that might even be more valuable than the money you spent on it. You can spend that extra time either finishing your work tasks, bonding with your family, or just on yourself. 

Building new habits

This is a reminder that we don’t need to inherit every habit that our parents pass on to us. We live in different times and we’re lucky that as time passes, we get introduced to more efficient ways of doing things. And one of them is cleaning. 

If there are more efficient ways to clean or do our chores, I’m sure our parents won’t mind if we decide to build our own. There are many other ways we can make sure that our parents live in us. First is by taking to heart the values and principles they taught us to become better adults. Second is by actually spending time with them. 

Thanks to your efficient ways of cleaning, you now have more time to schedule a visit or a call with mommy and daddy. If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. – Rappler.com 

Start cleaning efficiently! Buy Domex Ultra Thick Bleach on Shopee, Lazada, or any supermarket.