Cleaning can be a frustrating task and the faster you can get it done, the sooner you can do something more fun. Learning to speed up your cleaning without sacrificing the quality of your work is a great skill to master – especially in a busy family home!
Choosing the right products, getting into a pattern with your cleaning routine and encouraging your family to help can all reduce the amount of time you spend cleaning and ensure that you have a beautiful, clean house too.
Choosing the Right Cleaning Products
Acid is one of the most important elements of cleaning products as this cuts through the grease and can help to unblock drains too. If, like most households in the US, you have hard water, you should know that citric acid is essential in cleaning solutions for hard water as this softens the water, making it easier to reduce the effect of lime.
You can also make most of the cleaning products you need with acids, such as vinegar or citrus juice, baking soda and soap. The trick is to get the right combination for the problem at hand. Choosing the right acids can cut through grease really quickly and make cleaning it away much faster. You can also leave these products to soak without stinking the house out or toxifying the air.
Another way the right products can help is by letting the stand while you go about another task. There’s no point scrubbing at your hob if you can sprinkle baking soda and vinegar over it and leave it for a few minutes first to loosen burnt-on food. Sometimes, less effort is good!
Go Room By Room
Working through your house cleaning room by room is definitely the best way to tick everything off your checklist. Start by doing a general declutter and getting rid of any rubbish. Then, simply wipe down the surfaces and go around with the hoover or a mop depending on the surface.
In the kitchen, you should start by dealing with any dirty dishes and putting away clean plates. Then give all the surfaces a wipe down and clean the sink and taps. Always clean the bathroom last and use gloves that are specific to this room. A good way to keep your gloves separate is to use blue for the loo and pink for the sink!
While it’s easy to remember the big cleaning tasks like hoovering and wiping surfaces, it’s also worth remembering the smaller details. Dust the top of pictures and ornaments, wipe door handles and hoover hard to reach areas such as under the bed and sofa every so often. Light switches, remote controls and inside your bins are also commonly forgotten areas. You don’t need to do a deep clean every week but these little details will make all the difference.
Cheat as Much as You Can!
The less there is to clean, the less time you will have to spend cleaning. Getting rid of some of your clutter will save you a lot of time and make your home feel calmer and more peaceful too. But you don’t have to live in an empty box to benefit from a wide range of cleaning tricks of the trade.
A great trick to remember is putting newspaper on top of your cabinets – you won’t be able to see it but as dust settles, when you come to clean you can simply get rid of the newspaper and the dust with it. Another good trick to deal with dust and pet hair is to use a wet rubber glove to wipe over your soft furnishings. This will pick up the hair without using any products or risking the fabric.
A few simple house rules will also reduce your cleaning load. Asking everyone to take their shoes off at the door will stop mud in its tracks and putting your clothes away as soon as they are out of the wash will reduce clutter too. Another excellent rule to bring into your house is that everyone has at least one responsibility. For example, your younger children should be responsible for putting their toys away at the end of the day but older kids might be able to chip in through more practical chores.
Cleaning is a necessity but it doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. You can be speedy and effective when you use the right products and have a game plan. Now all you need to do is figure out how to persuade your family to help…
