Cleaning expert reveals the most common cleaning mistake

Cleaning expert Lynsey Crombie has revealed the most common cleaning mistake she sees people make. And it could be making your home harder to clean.

Lynsey Crombie, also know as the Queen of Clean to her Instagram followers, exclusively told Ideal Home that one of the biggest mistakes she sees people make is using too much cleaning product.

The most common cleaning mistake

'It's a bit like makeup,' explains Lynsey. 'When you put your foundation on you don't really need too much, and you still get a really good result. If you use half a bottle of foundation, it's going to waste and will go everywhere. People make that same mistake when cleaning.'

'So when they're cleaning their floors, rather than reading the instructions and putting in a capful of product into a bowl of water, they try to use mostly product, which is bad,' she points out as an example.

'It is spending more money, it is wasteful,' explains Lynsey. 'And the overuse of products causes more cleaning because it creates stickiness. Your floors won't look clean because they'll have this sticky shine all over them.'

wooden flooring with white wall and floor cleaning mob

Lynsey explains that this goes for all surfaces. She reveals that she regularly gets asked by her followers how to fix problems caused by over-cleaning.

'It's something that I find crops up quite a lot,' she explains. 'People message me that they've cleaned their TV screen. They've sprayed it six times with Mr Sheen. Why?'

However, even Lynsey admits that she has fallen prey to this cleaning mistake. 'Years ago I was the same, just chuck it everywhere,' she admits. 'But you learn. I use to get really bad headaches from overuse of bleach. Then I reduced my bleach and I don't get them anymore.'

Luckily, this cleaning mistake is one of the easiest to overcome. According to Lynsey all you need to do to is read the instructions.

'The biggest thing you can do is read instructions,' says Lynsey. 'They're on the bottle for a reason. You don't buy a bottle in the supermarket and it's label-free, except for the brand name.'

'There are instructions and a caution label for a reason and we're supposed to follow those.'

'Be careful and wise with products,' says Lynsey.

Lynsey has just launched a range of cleaning tools with Addis. The range which includes her favourite super sponges and micro-fibre clothes are all colour-coded for specific jobs. A simple twist to make cleaning your home as straight-forward as possible.

Are you guilty of making this common cleaning mistake?

Rebecca Knight has been the Editor on the Ideal Home Website since 2025; previously, she was the Deputy Digital Editor from 2022. She has a Master's degree in magazine journalism from City, University of London and has been writing about homes and interiors for 7 years. Her expertise lies in DIY projects, home decor trends and spotting the latest high street homeware buys that are about to go viral. She bought her first home in London last year and is currently renovating it (on a budget).