I don’t know about you, but I hate cleaning. To be honest, I don’t know anyone that actually likes it. And I’m sorry, but if you’re the person that says you like to clean, I call your bluff. 😛 I think the better way to say that is that you like the end result of cleaning. That I’ll agree with. The end is the most rewarding part of cleaning. Not because the work is over, but because you can see where you put forth your effort. I get that. But for the most part, we all hate it and we all wish we could do it less.
Well, that’s what I’ve been working on perfecting. I’ve been working on spending less time cleaning, while still getting to the same end result. I don’t want to speed up cleaning just because I don’t like cleaning, but really for a lot of reasons. Obviously yes, the number one reason is because I hate cleaning, but also because sometimes I want to spend time doing something else. If it’s bad weather outside I don’t mind staying in doors and really putting the time into a deep cleaning, but when the weather is nice of course we want to get out and enjoy it! Sometimes a speed cleaning is necessary – parents coming to town, friends coming over, you name it. And sometimes you’ve just had enough of the grossness, but you also really want to go to bed – speed cleaning will help. 😛
So, without further ado, my 5 top tips to speed cleaning:
- Trash sweep. I start every speed cleaning session by walking through every room with a trash bag and throwing away anything that shouldn’t be there. Old magazines, newspapers, bottles and cans left behind by the hubs, etc…
- Clear off the counters. The kitchen counters, bathroom counters and other arm-level surfaces (i.e. – dining room table, end tables, dressers, etc…) all seem to collect things in piles. I have yet to figure out how or why this happens, but it does so those surfaces must be cleared. This usually means putting things things in the drawers or cabinets where they belong, which shouldn’t take too long.
- Everything in it’s place. Every room seems to collect items that don’t belong there, so I have a designated area, usually a box or laundry basket, that I have in each room so I move from one room to the next collecting items and putting them in their “place” in the room where they should belong. If I have time I’ll actually sort through things and put them where they go, but sometimes in a crunch, I’ll leave things in their box until I can get to it later.
- Keep your cleaning supplies in the room where they’ll be used. I have a small caddy in each room that contains all the items I need to give a quick scrubbing. While it may seem a little wasteful to have multiple tubs of lysol wipes and things like that, but I feel that it’s much more efficient than carting everything around or taking items from one room to another.
- Multitask the entire time. I get into a rhythm that allows me to clean the whole house in about an hour (sometimes an hour and a half) just by using the timer of the dishwasher. I typically begin the whole process by loading the dishwasher and pressing start. Once I do that, I have to beat the buzzer. 🙂 So then I throw in a load of laundry. If I put the load in on quick wash, I can wash and dry one load in the same time the dishwasher runs. So there I have two larger tasks going at one time. After the trash has been picked up and everything goes back in it’s place, I give it a quick wipe down with the supplies in the designated room, then run the vacuum cleaner. I have an awesome Dyson vacuum that allows me to vacuum the carpet, tile, and hardwood floor which obviously speeds up the process. Usually when I’m putting away the vacuum, the dryer stops and the dishwasher beeps and all that’s left is to put that last little bit away and I’m done!
Nothing here is that magical, it’s just that I’ve figured out how to best manage my time and to create small efficiencies in my process which is the key to being able to clean the whole house in under 90 minutes. 🙂
Do you have any tips or tricks that help you speed up your cleaning process?