Golden Rules of Cleaning…Things your Mom Never Taught You!
Have you ever found yourself cleaning your house, only to realize, ‘Oh, I should’ve wiped the counters before sweeping the floor!’ Efficient cleaning is crucial if you want to maximize your time. Cleaning is a necessary chore, but there’s no need to waste more time on it than necessary. Follow these straightforward and memorable guidelines to boost your cleaning efficiency at home. Avoid redoing tasks unnecessarily. These are simple concepts, but they can greatly improve your cleaning routine.
Vacuum your way out of the room
I openly admit that I belong to the group of individuals who take immense pleasure in vacuuming their carpets in straight, orderly lines. It’s inexplicably satisfying to me. However, there’s an undeniable sense of achievement that accompanies the moment when you gaze back into a room you’ve just meticulously cleaned! Strategically vacuuming your way out of a room enables you to experience and appreciate that sense of accomplishment. The bed is neatly made, clothes no longer clutter the floor, the room has been diligently dusted, and the carpets have been meticulously vacuumed. This vacuuming process imparts a polished appearance to the room, which truly makes all the difference.
Clean Spills Up Immediately
This one seems to be a no-brainer, but yet we sometimes fail to do this one–myself included! It’s going to take you 10x the effort to scrub dried-on spaghetti sauce off of the backsplash rather than just easily wiping it off with a damp rag immediately after it’s spilled. If you have kids… juice is one of the worst things to clean up when it gets spilled! But it’s SO much easier to wipe it up when it’s wet than to have to scrub it off of the floor when it’s dry and sticky. Steam mops are the best for this, by the way. Check out my Steam Mop recommendation in my post: Amazon’s 15 Top-Rated, Must-Have Cleaning Products That Make Your Life Easier)
Do Your Hardest Tasks First
In our daily lives, we often delay tackling the most challenging tasks, hoping they will somehow vanish into thin air. I’m guilty of this myself! However, when we relegate these difficult endeavors to the end of the day, our energy levels have significantly waned compared to the morning. Consequently, these tasks remain unfinished. Sound familiar? It certainly does to me. I encourage you to take on a challenge tomorrow: prioritize the most dreaded or daunting task at the very beginning of your day! You’ve got the capability to conquer it!
Do it Right or do it Twice
Consistently conveying this message to my children is a habit of mine. It’s a simple concept: you possess the power to make a choice. You can opt for the path of doing a task correctly, accomplishing it thoroughly on the initial attempt, or you can choose to do a hasty, incomplete job, which inevitably leads to having to redo it later. Therefore, I strongly advise prioritizing the completion of tasks with precision from the outset. This piece of advice is especially valuable when guiding your children in learning how to clean, as it will ultimately save you a significant amount of time.
Clean from Top to Bottom
Sometimes I forget this rule and sweep the kitchen floor, only to remember that I haven’t wiped the counters yet. Then when I wipe the counters, I get crumbs all over the floor! Can you relate? Please tell me I’m not the only one. Another time I cleaned the bathroom sink and counters only to look up and realize how badly the lights needed to be dusted. So I crawl up onto the counter, dust the lights, and then realize that there is a fresh layer of dust and gunk on the bathroom counters I cleaned 5 minutes ago. If you start at the top and work your way down, you increase your efficiency and don’t waste your precious time!
Clean from Cleanest to Dirtiest
In line with the previous point, it’s worth noting that the dirtiest area in your home tends to be the floors. Gravity plays a significant role in this process as crumbs, dust, and dirt continuously settle on the ground. Consider this: using the same cleaning cloth to wipe up a spill on the floor and then cleaning the kitchen counter with it is akin to cleaning with an extremely dirty rag and expecting the surface to become pristine. Clearly, that’s not a recipe for success. Therefore, it’s advisable to always start cleaning from the cleanest areas. This practice also has the added benefit of reducing the number of rags you need, which is a big win for your laundry workload.
I hope you’ve found a couple of useful tips that will enhance your cleaning efficiency at home. While cleaning may not be the most enjoyable task, mastering efficient techniques allows us to return to the things we love sooner.
