It’s all about how well you strategise your cleaning and plan your time.
We do not necessarily need to hire a part-time maid in order to clean our house. Yes, it is probably much more convenient to do so but doing it yourself can save a few bucks, so why not?
Cleaning a house can be very time consuming and if you’re an amateur cleaner, it can take up most of your day. Imagine spending every weekend cleaning when you could be spending it unwinding. One of the key steps for a fast and efficient house wipe down is strategic planning.
Believe it or not, you can clean an entire average sized house in an hour, but it takes work and focus!
You may wonder, what do I, the “lazy man’s guide” guy know about thorough cleaning? Well, you learn a lot from watching the pros. So, put on your rubber gloves and let’s get cleaning!
Start from the top
Why should we start at the top? You may ask. Well, for starters you don’t want to be dusting your ceiling after already sweeping the floor or you’ll end up having to clean the floor again. Remember, whatever goes up must come down.
Those hard to reach places such as the corners where the walls meet the ceiling, beams and rafters tend to collect dust and spider webs. Be sure to ready a ladder for this. It’ll come in handy for those who are fun sized to clean the ceiling fan.
Always keep your cleaning supplies within reach – imagine the hassle of going back and forth to the toilet or wherever you keep them. For those living in a double story house, this is the best way to strategize your cleaning: starting from all the rooms upstairs and working your way downstairs.
Wipe down furniture first
Now that you have finished dusting the ceiling and seeing all that dust that has fallen all around, aren’t you glad you didn’t start sweeping first?
For the same reason, we now move on to the furniture. Wiping down furniture with a damp cloth is recommended but if you are working with more woody products make sure to wipe it down with a dry one, or you may be faced with another problem – wood rot. You might not see the effect immediately, but you will face mouldy furniture later on.
Clean all bathrooms at once
Next, we have bathrooms. Since bathrooms are easy enough to clean, this is where we can probably take a little breather. Not!
Just like how we started cleaning the ceiling earlier, we should implement the same tactics to the bathroom as well. Starting from the top up.
Speaking through experience a soapy, wet floor can be a hazardous one, so let’s leave that one for last. Spray cleaning solutions on walls, toilet bowls and sinks and let the solution sit for about 10 minutes.
While waiting, move on to other chores
For real this time, this is where you can actually take a little breather. As you wait for your toilet cleaning solutions to work its magic, you can fill up this time doing other chores, such as changing the bedsheets, pillowcases, curtains and etc. You can even have a cup of hot beverage as well.
You might want to set a timer to keep on track. Once the timer goes off, you can move on to washing down the toilet and cleaning the toilet floors.
Next, tackle the kitchen
Moving on to the kitchen. Make sure to clean the dirty dishes before drying and stowing them into the dishrack, then you move on to the sink.
This would also be a good time to organise the kitchen and to clear out the fridge. You might find goods from 20 years ago hiding in the corner of your fridge that needs throwing away.
Use a combination of baking soda and water to help get rid of stubborn grease on the stove and countertop.
And finally, the floors
And now for the knockout round — the floors. But first, make sure to take out your trash and any other items that need disposal.
I highly recommend using two separate mops, one for the hall and bedroom areas and one for the kitchen. This is because sometimes spillage from the kitchen are absorbed by the mop and emit a foul-smelling odour.
Use a mixture of floor detergent and water for the first round of moping, and warm water for the second round of moping.
And there you have it! A squeaky-clean house in just one hour.