Cleaning your home can be a grueling process that can take up most of your time. But what if it doesn’t have to be as tedious and as time-consuming? In this article, we present you with 10 cleaning tips and secrets that you can try to cut your total cleaning time in half. No need to block off the whole day just to restore your home to its original sparkle and shine.
- Create a tried and tested cleaning system – The secret to a fast and efficient cleaning schedule begins with an effective system. Before you even start cleaning each room or corner in your home, make sure to have a gameplan. What should you wipe first? What needs the most dusting? What can be saved as last? If you are able to answer these questions ahead of the task, you can achieve maximum productivity with little to no time and effort wasted.
- Clean everything from top to bottom and left to right – Much of the act of cleaning involves dusting, wiping, mopping and scrubbing. These techniques can take a big chunk of your time but they can further extend their stay if you don’t know the proper way of doing them. With this in mind, make sure that you always stick to a consistent cleaning direction to get rid of dust, dirt, lint and other impurities effectively in no time. Afterwards, do a clean and thorough inspection of each item, corner or room to ensure that not a single dirt was spared.
- Make sure you have the right and complete set of cleaning tools – Cleaning something and pausing because you forgot to bring a mop or a microfiber cloth is a big time-killer. Before you even begin to start cleaning, make sure that every tool that you will need is beside you. To help you remember everything, create a cleaning tool checklist that you can refer to when preparing your battle armor. If you spot something missing, either improvise or rush off to the nearest supermarket or hardware to buy a replacement. Always remember: cutting your cleaning time in half can only be achieved with little to no delays!
- Always clean your appliances regularly – This goes without saying: keeping your appliances extra clean can go a long way in cutting your cleaning time in half. Since these machines are some of the most dust-friendly items in your home, wiping them regularly can split your total deep cleaning time in no time. From refrigerators to television sets to air conditioners, spare no appliance mercy and wipe them constantly! If you want to make sure they’re cleaned properly, you can always hire a professional refrigerator cleaning service, a part-time maid, or an aircon servicing cleaner.
- Eliminate dirty-smelling scents at all times – When left unchecked and uncleaned, foul-smelling odor at home can go out of hand and leave you with a bigger pile of tasks in your cleaning checklist. To make sure this never happens to you, always make sure every corner is clean and scent-free. Once you start catching wind of an unusual scent, work to find its source and clean it immediately with a disinfectant spray and an all-purpose cleaner.
- Declutter and organize regularly – Did you know that almost half of the total cleaning time can be due to a messy and unorganized space? From scattered books to piles of newspapers and magazines to children’s toys, clutter is the main enemy or cleaning. To work out a solution for this, make sure to have storage baskets in every corner of the room. Any item that needs organizing can be stuffed into these baskets for one easy fix.
- Ditch the phone or any distraction – If you want to cut your cleaning time in half, you’re going to have to do more than organizing, wiping and mopping. Yes, no texting and calling should also be thrown in the mix. We all know we use phones to communicate with family and friends, but doing this while you’re doing the task can only result in unnecessary breaks and pauses. To help you focus, place your phone somewhere out of sight or put it on silent mode.
- Care for your furniture every day – Wipe your furniture on a daily basis to prevent dust and lint from setting in the fabric. Get a feather duster or a portable handheld vacuum cleaner and clean every surface. If you have a handful of furniture pieces at home, it’s recommended that you go at them by category: from the living room, bed room, kitchen and even your porch area.
- Encourage everyone at home to be mindful of making any unnecessary mess – At the end of the day, getting the help and participation of everyone in the house is still your best best for a faster cleaning turnaround. If everyone does their part in keeping the home clean, you’ll have an easier and faster time of deeping cleaning the whole space!
- Prevention is still the best cleaning hack – Regular cleaning schedules and daily decluttering and organizing are two great ways to achieve faster cleaning times when tidying up your home. When coupled with the tips and hacks above, you can make sure that you will breeze through the entire cleaning process with little to no effort!
