1. To drastically shorten the amount of cleaning time and to make sure you don't miss a spot (literally), clean each room starting from the doorway right-to-left and top-to-bottom.
2. Keep all of your cleansers, small tools, and extra trash bags at your fingertips with a cleaning caddy.
3. Your cleaning kit should contain the following: toilet scrubber, antibacterial spray, all-purpose glass and surface spray, any specific polishes you need like wood or stainless steel, a large scrubber brush, a toothbrush or small scrubber brush, a rubber scraper, pumice stone, extra trash bags, a scrubber sponge for the kitchen, and another scrubber sponge inside a cup to be used in bathroom (the cup for rinsing shower walls).
4. You may be wondering why a pumice stone is on the list of cleaning supplies. It's a little trick we used to scrub hard water stains out of toilets.
5. A tool not everyone has but should really have is an extendable long-handle microfiber dusting wand. If you quickly run it over door frames, vents, ceiling fixtures, and molding, you'll never get a build-up of dust.
6. When deep cleaning a room, use your edging tool on your vacuum and use it along walls and furniture. It makes a big difference on how clean a room looks.
7. For caked on dust and dirt, give up the sprays and dry rags. Fill up a mop bucket with your cleaning solution and warm water and scrub surfaces before wiping dry.
8. Along with your cleaning caddy, carry three big trash bags from room to room - one for trash, one to carry lots of cleaning rags and a roll of paper towels, and one to put the dirty rags in.
9. For small bathrooms, don't even bother dragging your mop around. Simply soak a cleaning rag in water and your floor cleanser and get down on your hands and knees like Cinderella. In a small space, it's actually a lot quicker, and it gets the floor a lot cleaner than a traditional mop, especially in a bathroom where there is likely to be a lot of hair on the floor.
10. Every time you clean, pick one room to deep clean and rotate between different rooms each time (cleaning under furniture, using a brush attachment to vacuum curtains and sofas, wiping marks off walls and molding, wiping down blind, washing windows, etc) so that your home will always be caught up on those deep-cleaning chores.
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Thank you... oh thank you for the pumice stone tip!!! Now I have to go out and buy a pumice stone. Unfortunately that has to wait until the current "blizzard" has ended. Yup, spring isn't exactly right around the corner in these parts.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the tips!
You're welcome! I know, it's so freezing in Maryland this week despite the first day of Spring.
DeleteIt doesn't quite feel like spring when we're still buried in snow, and getting more on top of that....
ReplyDeleteWe were supposed to be done for the season but now we might get more this week...again. It's always just a light amount so I'd rather it just go ahead and warm up.
DeleteGreat tips. I especially like the start from the doorway, right to left, top to bottom. So often I come back into a room I've already cleaned and see missed spots. That ends now!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I have problems with dust and--yish--lots of bugs that come in and die, plus spiderwebs. My ceilings are 9 ft high--I need a ladder to get to everything!!!! I also used to get on my hands and knees, but the old knees aren't what they used to be. However, I may just have to do a few spots in my bathroom this spring.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your tips! I, also, am a cleaning geek. Not really about cleaning- more about how to make a home- but my mom used to unwrap all the bar soaps, put them in a bowl, and place them on a shelf in the linen closet. It perfumed the towels and linens! I thought that was clever- but I guess that's a different post- House Wifery!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! These make so much sense. Now, I need to get organized to actually start...
ReplyDelete