It’s something we all need to do (at least on occasion), but cleaning doesn’t have to be an all-day chore. Fortunately, these simple tips will help streamline tasks to help you save time, while still cleaning effectively.
Keep Supplies Together
The number one rule for speed cleaning is to have quick and easy access to your tools and supplies. When it’s time to clean, it zaps all of your motivation when you have to hunt for needed supplies.
Consider creating a cleaning caddy for different areas of your home. You’ll always have your cleaning supplies right where you need them.
Pump Up the Music
Music can make a big difference in how quickly you’re able to clean. A good mix of songs for cleanup music is a playlist of high energy, fast moving songs that will make you feel great. Using music can help you to move more quickly, all while giving a feeling of fun to your chores (Just be sure to shut the blinds if your favorite tracks make you bust into dance moves that you don’t want the neighbors knowing you have!).
Start With Your Least Favorite Room
The room you always leave until last is the best one to start in. Procrastinating the rooms we hate cleaning will only make you feel worse when you’ve cleaned other rooms and realize what’s left.
Do the most difficult and annoying areas of your house at the beginning, when you are most motivated.
Once you accomplish the feeling of completing those tough areas, everything else will seem like a piece of cake.
Don’t Clean Just to Clean
It may sound silly, but don’t waste time cleaning things that don’t need to be cleaned. If your clean refrigerator is still relatively spotless from last week’s cleaning, then why bother moving everything around to clean it?
If you rarely use the downstairs bathroom, then it doesn’t need to be cleaned as often as the master bathroom. Don’t clean something just because it’s a scheduled day of cleaning. Clean the dirty things, and leave the rest alone until absolutely necessary.
Clean As You Go
When you see a mess, clean it up. We tell our families this all the time, but do we actually practice what we preach? This can be as simple as grabbing a handful of items that belong upstairs when we know we’re heading upstairs anyway. It also includes wiping up spills and splatters before they have the chance to set and harden. Rinse dishes as they are used to prevent difficult scrubbing later on. In short, cleaning as you go will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Don’t Overuse Cleaners
The knee-jerk reaction is to use as much cleaner as possible in an effort to get our home clean, but this can actually backfire. More soap can damage the surfaces in your home. It can also leave a residue that will attract dirt and dust like a magnet. Do yourself a favor and use just enough.
At the same time, realize that cleaners rarely work instantly. Give a cleaner some time to penetrate the dirt and grime. Then, instead of spending several minutes scrubbing, you’ll usually be able to just wipe the dirt away.
Work From Top to Bottom
Always start cleaning at the top of a surface, and work your way down. This allows you to avoid dripping cleaner, or settling dust over surfaces that have already been cleaned. There is nothing worse than dusting down an entire piece of furniture only to realize that you missed the very top. If you do the top, you’ll just have to redo everything else.
Go From Dry to Wet
Save yourself some work and effort and do your dry cleaning, dusting, and wiping down first. Next, move on to your wet cleaning. The more you can take care of with a dry cloth, the less streaking, spreading of dirt, and potential for spilling you’ll have. Wet cleaning may not even be necessary if you are able to dust or wipe down surfaces with a dry cloth.
Put Supplies Away
So that you’ll be ready for your next speed cleaning session, make sure that all of your tools are put away neatly.
Then they’ll be ready for you the next time you decide to speed clean. Also, proper storage of cleaning supplies means they will be in good shape the next time you want to clean.
