Did you know that research has shown that having a clean and tidy home is a great way to reduce daily stress? However, for many of us, cleaning in itself can be an anxiety-inducing activity. With this in mind, we’ve put together a short list of tips to help get a handle on this basic life skill.
Pace yourself
Start with the basics: kitchen, bath, and floors. Once you get that routine down, you can “level up” adding other areas in gradually, keeping things manageable as you become accustomed to each step up.
Another pro tip is to start with the least appealing or most intensive task in a room. In the kitchen, this might be the stove and/or oven. In the bath, the shower. Once you tackle that, the rest of the room will be a breeze.
Spread the wealth
Are there other family members living with you? Don’t try to do it all yourself – delegate tasks to other people in the home, including age appropriate tasks to the kids. The family that cleans together, stays together. Another option is to hire a housekeeper to come in periodically and lend a helping hand to deeper cleaning tasks or just to provide a welcome break.
Set your itinerary
Top to bottom, back to front of the room, clockwise, counter-clockwise, or even slices – pick a direction, pattern or path to methodically move through the room to make sure you don’t miss anything. Once you complete a section, you can just move on to the next without too much thought, and you’ll know where you are in the process. This can be particularly helpful for task counters or list checkers.
Put together a caddy with essential tools
Some suggestions:
- Microfiber cloths are the go-to cleaning tool recommended by most cleaning pros. Better than sponges and paper towels on most surfaces for dry or wet cleaning; they are also machine-washable and quick drying.
- Rubber and latex gloves – or nitrile gloves for people with sensitivities or allergies. These can make cleaning more tolerable, protecting your skin from the “yuck” of dirtier tasks as well as cleaning solutions and just plain water exposure.
- Activated charcoal. Although it is even better at absorbing and neutralizing odor than baking soda, it isn’t the best thing to be sprinkling onto your furniture as it can stain. However, you can stash little freshener bags filled with activated charcoal in corners of the room and/or your furniture.
Most people keep their cleaning products where they’ll be used – under the sink, in the laundry room, etc. Keep your tools – scrub brushes, cleaning cloths and sponges, etc. – in the relevant areas as well. You can streamline the process and consolidate storage space by keeping the things you need together.
Do’s and Don’ts
Do use HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaners. HEPA filtering prevents pollen and dust taken into the vacuum cleaner from being expelled in the exhaust of your machine. This is especially important for households with members who have respiratory ailments and allergies. Using a non-HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner basically defeats the purpose if it’s just going to spit that dust and pollen back out into your home.
Don’t mix manufactured cleaning products – this includes following up one cleaner with another. At the very least, some chemicals can cancel or neutralize each other resulting in either plain water or a different chemical that does nothing for your cleaning. At worst, you could potentially trigger a dangerous or toxic chemical reaction (i.e., corrosive, flammable, or even explosive).
Work smarter, not harder
Place a discreet rubbish bin outside the front door of your home. This gives you the opportunity to throw away trash BEFORE bringing it inside. One professional cleaning service has found this tip to be very helpful in helping many of their regular clients save time and reducing clutter.
Stay ahead of kitchen drudgery by cleaning the kitchen every day that you cook. You don’t have to give the whole kitchen the once over – just take care of the areas that you use on the daily. For instance, the sink, the refrigerator handle, the stove or oven, and the counters next to the stove. Keeping up with those areas while the dirt is fresh saves you having to put in the extra elbow grease while it hardens waiting for “cleaning day.”