Very few people love to clean, but we all have to do it sometimes or risk being the subject of an intervention on television. However, with a few tools, some reliable cleaners, and a competitive urge to improve your personal time, cleaning can become very satisfying... and almost fun.
Keep Up With a Few Daily Tasks
A little bit each day really helps. Things like making the beds, putting laundry and toys away. Wash the dishes and take out trash and recycling. Sweep something each day. You don't have to sweep all the floors everyday, but pick one each day.
Set Up a Schedule for Heavy Cleaning
If someone is at home during the week, an old-fashioned housekeeping schedule might work with Monday designated for washing and Tuesday devoted to ironing. Follow that with dusting and vacuuming on Wednesday, scrubbing and mopping on Thursday, and shopping on Friday. But if your household is too busy for that, and everything has to slide to one weekend day, then go all out and don't waste time!
Wear a Carpenter's Apron
Put cleaning cloths or paper towels in the big pockets; hang your duster on the belt and perhaps your favourite glass cleaner on the other side. This keeps your supplies on you.
Use a Cleaning Supplies Tray
Stock your tray with items like a lint roller for pet hair, a single-edge razor blade or paint scraper to lift goo, an old toothbrush to clean tile in the kitchen and washrooms and a furniture polish for wood surfaces. Add a small trash bag to your apron or the supplies tray. Or place a small trashcan in a central spot outside several rooms as you move through your home with the tray and your vacuum.
Try Natural Products First
There are all kinds of natural recipes out there - a simple search on Google or Pinterest will yield all kinds of idea. Here are a couple of our favourites:
- Pour 1 part vinegar and 1 part warm water into a spray bottle to clean windows and glass, and wipe with coffee filters for a lint-free shine.
- Baking soda and salt make a good scouring powder.
- Soak shower heads in undiluted vinegar periodically to remove lime deposits.
- Mix 50 ml of borax, 5 ml of ammonia, and 2 litres of warm water to make a wall cleaner.
- Lemon juice is great for many cleaning jobs, and bleach zaps the mold in showers and tubs.
Always remember though: do not mix bleach and ammonia! The combination produces a deadly vapour.
Remove the Dust
Sweep off the cobwebs, knock the dust down and vacuum it up. Don't spray a cleaner or pour furniture cleaner on any surface that's loaded with dust or dirt. That's not cleaning; that's making mud. Dust first, then shine.
Don't Clean It If It Isn't Dirty
Vertical surfaces in your kitchen probably aren't very dirty; the horizontal surfaces will need cleaning every time. Are there fingerprints on the front of a cabinet? Maybe you can get away with just removing the prints this week. Does the kitchen have open shelving? Try cleaning one shelf thoroughly each week. Clean the left side of the stovetop, then the right side as you go around the room.
Get In and Get Out
Enter a room, turn left and move counterclockwise to do the dusting. Enter again for vacuuming, or mopping the kitchen and washroom. Resist the urge to skip a spot because you'll come back to it later. You don't want to come back later.
Practice will personalize it for you. Once you cut out the time spent wandering around looking for things, and reduce the steps it takes to get the job done, you'll finish your cleaning and get back to the fun of life much faster.
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