Five products we'd never use in your home

We get asked, more than any other question: what do you use? The honest answer is that we use less than most cleaning companies, and we're careful about what we don't.

Here's the list of things you won't find in a Hausley caddy, and why.

Bleach, on any porous surface. Bleach is fine on a toilet bowl. It's not fine on grout, on stone, on wood, on coloured fabrics, or on the back of your enamel sink. It strips. It discolours. It lingers in fabric and skin. We use it only where it belongs.

Multi-surface sprays that contain citrus or lemon oil. The marketing says they're gentle. The acid content says otherwise. On stone, on hardwood, on certain plastics, citrus-based cleaners do slow damage. We use a pH-neutral all-purpose cleaner from Bio-D for almost everything you'd reach for a multi-surface spray for.

Air fresheners. Plug-ins, sprays, anything aerosolised. They don't clean. They cover. And the chemicals in them — phthalates, mostly — sit on every soft surface in the room for days. A clean home shouldn't need to smell like anything except clean. If a room needs deodorising, the answer is finding what's causing the smell, not masking it.

A clean home shouldn't need to smell like anything except clean.

Antibacterial wipes. They're convenient, and convenience has its place, but they're plastic, they're soaked in chemicals that don't need to be on most surfaces, and they create the impression of cleaning without actually cleaning much. A damp microfibre cloth with a tiny bit of soap does the same job for less waste.

Anything labelled "professional strength" that you can buy in a supermarket. It's marketing. Real professional-strength chemicals are sold by the litre to trade accounts and require training to use. The bottle on the shelf is the same formulation as the consumer one with a different label.

The shorter list — what we do use — is mostly Ecover, Bio-D, Method, white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, and microfibre. We're happy to use your products if you prefer. Just tell us what you'd like and we'll bring less of our own.