You know how sometimes, you tell yourself you’re going to clean the entire house in, say, two hours. And then you get down to work – without any clear purpose or direction – only to realize, when you’re done, that it has taken you a whole day to deal with all the rooms. In other words, you’ve pretty much wasted your time, when you could’ve done everything a lot faster.
A while ago, cleaning the house used to take me ages. But these days, I’ve come up with a strategy that allows me to get everything done quickly and effectively. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m about to share it with you, so make sure that you follow these steps next time you’re cleaning. And by the way, their order is one of the most important things here!
Set yourself a time limit
The more time you allow yourself to spend on cleaning, the more time you’ll spend cleaning. However, if you set yourself a “deadline”, you are going to be more motivated to finish in a shorter space of time. Depending on how big your home is and how fast you are, you should be done in 30 minutes to an hour and a half, maximum.
Open the windows
Because you want some fresh air to get in, right? Also, there’s going to be a lot of dust in the air while you’re cleaning, so unless you want to start sneezing, you’re better off with your windows wide open.
Get a garbage bag
Preferably a big one, and go around the house, picking up all the trash that is lying around. Go through every room, and don’t think twice if you see a half-finished Snickers bar or anything else that you think may still be useful. It’s not, so off it goes. When you’re done with this step, put the bag – or bags, depending on the situation – outside. You’ll have to pick them up later.
All the dirty clothes
If you’re like me, you probably have some clothes that you have already worn lying around the house. This time, get your laundry basket and fill that baby up. If you want to save even more time, you should pop the dirty clothes in the washing machine already. By the time you’re done with cleaning the house, your clothes will be clean too.
All the dirty dishes
Unless you’re one of those really awesome people who clean their dishes right after they’ve finished their meal, then some of your rooms have their share of dirty dishes too. Well, do a walk-through and get all of them in the kitchen. If you have a dishwasher, now is the time to load it. If you don’t, you’ll have to do the dishes manually, so you’d better get started. When you’re done washing, it would be ideal if you could dry the dishes and put them away as soon as possible.
It’s dusting o’clock, baby!
For this step, you’re going to need two rags – one for wood, one for all the other surfaces. The one you’re going to use for wood should be sprayed with pledge, while the other one should just be dampened. You’ll have to go, once again, through all the rooms in your home, and dust the things that collect dust. In other words, pretty much everything. Make sure that you do this before vacuuming, though!
Kitchen and bathroom surfaces need special treatment
Sinks, counter tops, tubs, toilets, the stove and the microwave oven should be cleaned more thoroughly, with one of those multi-surface cleaners that we all know of. For easier access to all surfaces, put away all the miscellaneous items for a while. Cleaning the tub, for instance, is a lot easier, when your shampoo, conditioner and shower gel bottles aren’t lying around, don’t you think? Same goes for the kitchen.
It’s time for the vacuum cleaner to shine
After you’ve vacuumed the entire house, you will definitely feel like everything is shining. An extra tip would be to pay extra attention to high traffic areas, where you should go back and forth a few extra times.
Go around the house
Okay, now that you’re almost done, you should go around the house and see if there are any misplaced items or small details that you haven’t fixed yet. I’m talking about that book that you’ve already finished but is still on the night stand or those chairs that are out of place… You get what I’m saying.
Sit back and enjoy
Now that your house is clean, I can guarantee that you will feel much better than before. If it’s getting cold, you can close the windows. Also, you could light some scented candles for a classy touch.
