Oh, how you dread cleaning house. What should be a few hours of work nearly always turns into a full day. Many people feel that way about housecleaning, but it’s got to be done, and if you don’t watch it, it can quickly escalate out of control. A few minutes of dusting, for example, can turn into half an hour of cleaning out drawers and trying to get rid of stubborn water stains. If you start cleaning your house with the intention that you’ll be done in a few hours but always end up taking the entire day, don’t despair. With some organization, you can simplify your cleaning routine and spend far less time doing it.
The biggest time-waster when housecleaning is running back and forth to collect supplies. While you may need only a couple of products to clean the master bedroom, for example, you may need a number more to clean the kids’ bedrooms. Rather than run to the supply cabinet every time you need a new cleaning product and waste valuable time, collect all of your supplies together in a container that you can carry from room to room as you clean. If you have more than one floor in your home, consider creating a supply container for each floor. That way, you won’t have to haul the container up the stairs.
To save even more time, apply the same principle to brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners and other cleaning equipment. Obviously, you can’t carry the equipment with you as you clean, but you can store it in a closet that is easily accessible and use it in a more efficient way. With vacuuming, for example, you can tackle the chore after you have finished cleaning rather than do it room by room. You’ll only have to drag out the vacuum cleaner once, will switch outlets less and can finish the chore in one big sweep.
While you may save the sweeping, mopping and vacuuming for the end of your routine, you don’t want to do that with everything else. You may think you’re being more efficient by dusting the entire house rather than a room at a time, but the additional steps you take moving from room to room will prove otherwise. When housecleaning, attack one room at a time and move from top to bottom. Again, you won’t waste time running from room to room and you won’t find yourself cleaning surfaces twice as you would have if you moved from bottom to top.
As you clean each room, put things away. Don’t pick up something, take it to another room and drop it on the floor or a table. Chances are you will forget about it, especially if you have already cleaned that room, and it will sit there for a while. To save yourself valuable time and steps, throw everything that goes into other rooms in a basket and empty the basket as soon as you have finished cleaning the room.
In addition to putting things away when cleaning, make sure you tackle only what is necessary. Don’t scrub the hearth if it doesn’t need it or spend half an hour wiping down a wall when just a few quick swipes could have removed those sticky handprints in the corner. If you come upon something that requires deep cleaning, save that chore for another day when you have more time to devote to it. If you don’t, you will not only add to the time it will take you to clean house, but may feel so rushed that you end up not doing a good job.
These are just some of the steps you can take to be more organized and keep your cleaning routine simple. Remember, it is not necessary to have a spotless house, so don’t go nuts and stress yourself out trying to keep one. Instead, spend a few minutes each day picking things up and get rid of any clutter that will add to your cleaning. Then on the day when you do clean house, you won’t have as much to do, and by following the tips suggested, you will get it done faster.
terickson@projo.com
