When you’re just getting used to living on your own, cleaning your entire home can suddenly seem overwhelming.
One moment, your house is squeaky clean, and the next thing you know, the busyness of life has wreaked havoc. It can feel like you’re trapped in an endless cycle of dirt and grime and chores.
However, by utilizing the right tips and tricks, cleaning is a breeze! Below, we’ll go over our top 10 best house cleaning tips and tricks for keeping your home spotless.
1. Clear the Clutter First
If we could give you one perfect spring cleaning tip, it would be to clear the clutter first.
When you clear the clutter from all the rooms in your house before going in for a deep clean, it will help ease your stress. Clearing all the junk first is an easier task that will get you in “cleaning mode.”
It also allows you to assess what needs to be dusted, vacuumed, or disinfected much easier, since you’ll be able to see every surface clearly.
2. Use the Right Products
We cannot stress enough the importance of having the right products for the job. Make sure the solutions you’re using are meant for the surfaces you’re cleaning, or you could end up with warped floors, stripped paint, streaky windows and mirrors, or worse.
3. Dust and Vacuum Before Disinfecting and Mopping
After decluttering, you always want to start with dry cleaning before moving on to wet cleaning. Removing loose dust, dirt, animal hair, and crumbs from surfaces first will prevent these materials from sticking together in cracks and corners and building up into a crust that is harder to clean.
4. Organize and Prioritize Your Tasks
If you list out your chores randomly on your to-do list, you may find yourself torn on where to start and how to get everything done in time.
Instead, prioritize your tasks. What needs to be cleaned today? What can be done tomorrow? Get the pressing things out of the way first so that you won’t be scrambling to finish them later.
If there are tasks that can be finished in the background, like running the washer, dryer, or dishwasher, go ahead and start those loads before you touch anything else. Make use of the time it takes for those machines to complete their cycles and complete other tasks.
You may even want to group your tasks by room or type so you can tackle related chunks of your list all at once instead of constantly switching from one unrelated task to another, which can quickly drain your energy.
5. Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin
This tip goes hand-in-hand with prioritization. We know your teachers in school told you never to procrastinate, and we agree. But sometimes, you have to let yourself rest and put off the less pressing tasks for tomorrow.
Allow yourself a break and don’t try to get everything done in a day when you already have other things going on. Pushing yourself too far can result in burnout, which will make it much harder to get everything done.
6. Use Gloves, Respirators, and Fans
For your safety, remember to wear gloves when disinfecting, not only to guard against bacteria, but also against harsh cleaning chemicals.
Make sure that your home has proper airflow and ventilation, or even use fans and wear a respirator to reduce exposure to potentially harmful fumes.
7. Listen to a Podcast or Music – Make Cleaning Fun!
This may sound like a strange tip for house cleaning, but popping in some earbuds and listening to your favorite playlist or a good podcast can help you transition from one activity to getting in “cleaning mode.”
Not many of us can just sit and listen to music or a podcast without doing something with our hands. Cleaning allows you to keep your body busy, while audio helps to keep your mind engaged and interested.
You may find that you have mental energy to devote to cleaning when there are just a few minutes left of your podcast episode and you just remembered you’ve been meaning to mop this week.
And if dancing is your thing, by all means, cut a rug! Anything that makes cleaning more fun is guaranteed to benefit both you and your home. Cleaning may even turn out to be your favorite way to blow of steam.
8. Clean During the Day
We’ve all been there—you decide to tidy up before heading to bed and sleep well knowing everything is nice and neat. But when you wake up in the morning and open the blinds, it’s another story. There are crumbs all over the table and floors, dust on the bookshelf, and cat hair on the couch! How could you have missed all of that?
In the natural light, you’ll see all the fine details you’ll miss in dimmer lighting. We always recommend cleaning during the day for this reason.
9. Know Which Chemicals Should Never Mix
You should always be aware of what chemicals you’re using to clean your house and never mix any products you don’t know are 100% safe to use together.
Here is a list of toxic and even deadly combinations:
- Ammonia and bleach create chloramine.
- Bleach and vinegar create chlorine gas.
- Bleach and rubbing alcohol create chloroform.
- Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide create peroxyacetic acid.
10. Always Ask for Help When You Need It
Don’t be afraid to delegate chores to your spouse and kids. The more hands, the better! Your kids will learn important life skills and responsibility. You can even make deep cleaning a weekly family event by blasting some music and having a cleaning dance party.
And if all else fails and your life is too chaotic to clean regularly, why not leave it to the professionals? Hiring a house cleaner or housekeeper will take all the pressure off your back to keep everything neat all the time.
They’ll treat your home with respect and possess all the skills, tools, and resources to get your place sparkling in no time. And if having a pro come on a regular basis isn’t within your budget, you can always hire a home cleaner just for special events.
Connect with local home cleaners in your area.
