There’s been a recent emphasis on the importance of cleaning—of course, we are in a pandemic caused by germs! However unfortunate times are, this has given people a lot of comfort in their previous fight for cleanliness. Suddenly, you are no longer considered germophobic, now people are impressed by the ability to keep a home clean and will even seek out tips on how to do the same. Here are a few essential tips for getting and keeping your home clean.
Set the scene
Just like cooking, before you start anything, you need to have mise en place, i.e., set up your ingredients and supplies. Standard supplies include bleach, dish/soap liquid, nice smelling liquids, rubber gloves, a scouring pad, a scrubbing brush, a broom, a mop and a mop bucket. You can have these things, but con sider also using an old toothbrush, degreaser and/or some sort of scouring liquid, e.g., Vex.
Other things you should be aware of are your clothing and ambiance. Your clothing should be something you don’t mind getting bleach on, in the event it does happen. Also, do not neglect shoes. Try to wear something like Crocs, since they don’t slip in water, but are great as an electric insulator. We don’t often think about getting shocked, but this happens when you’re dealing with a lot of water and potentially open electric wires. Shoes also help to protect your feet from broken glass. Yes, accidents happen, so preparedness is wise.
Our parents knew what they were doing when they woke us up to blaring music on Saturday mornings. It helps to announce to everyone in the house that cleaning is about to go down, but it also helps to set the tone of how you work. If you’re into podcasts, or audiobooks, consider using this time to catch up on them.
Section off the work
Getting started can be very daunting because you’re never sure of where to get started, especially if you’ve got a lot to do in every room. Start with one room at a time, this helps to keep you from feeling overwhelmed if you can’t finish for some reason. Try organizing your duties in one room, which should be the one that’s most frequently used. Maybe start in the bathroom, since that’s where people usually keep the laundry basket, and it’s the most used room aside from the bedroom. Also, it’s the room in the farthest part of the home, which makes it first in the order of operations.
Another thing to consider is what type of cleaning you’ll be doing. Are you just straightening up an already clean space, lightly cleaning a slightly messy space, actively cleaning a dirty space, or really deep cleaning and reorganizing. The different types of cleaning require different prep work. If you’re just straightening up a space that’s already clean, you may just need to walk around a bit and put things away. If you’re lightly cleaning that means you must pull out the old mop and broom, anything more than that requires preparing yourself for a few hours of work.
There’s an element of sectioning off where you apply it directly to the room. If you chose the bathroom, focus on small parts, like the shower, the toilet, the face basin etc. and apply the order of operations to that as well. Once you finish cleaning one part, it feels like a small victory, rather than just a drop in the bucket of what else needs to be done.
Start from the top and back
Productivity courses debunk the concept of multitasking. So, only focus on one thing at a time, unless two things can be done at the same time. This is where ‘seasoning’ surfaces comes into play, you can also let your washer and dryer run while surface grease and dirt are being broken down by your trusty chemicals.
Before getting started, walk through all rooms, look at the surfaces, and put things in their respective places. Things like clothes lying around can really add to clutter and make you think your work is much more than it really is.
Start with the space that’s dirtiest, or the one that’s farthest from your front door. As you remove clutter and clean, bring the debris to the door where the dirt will exit from. This is to avoid doubling back and cleaning a space that’s already been touched.
Order of operations also applies to how you clean. Look from the top of the room into a downward motion. Clean from the top down; there are few things more redundant than wiping dirt off a surface that was previously done. Think: top cabinets, walls, flat surfaces, bottom cabinets, floors.
Follow the instructions
This is very important: if a bottle has instructions, read them. Oftentimes, we dab on a chemical and wipe it off directly; sometimes we must let it marinate on the surface or object for a while, then wipe it off. The product may also need to be diluted, but we use it in its concentrated form. This will help not only with using less of the product, but with properly disinfecting and reducing risk of chemical inhalation.
Don’t be afraid to change it up
There’s more comfort in cleaning with tools and chemicals we know and like, but changing that up can really help. Once, I was trying to find my usual brand of bleach, but couldn’t find it, and I used another brand, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made yet. So, now I try out different products, just for a change of smell and perhaps to find a hidden gem.
Another thing you might experience is your scrubbing brush not reaching the corners, now you should try using an old toothbrush; you wil feel as if you've discovered fire. If it’s a very tight corner, pull out an old toothbrush and it really helps to get out hard-to-reach dirt.
Disinfect the cleaning things
This is the final step, and by now you should be filled with a sense of accomplished exhaustion. One thing you can do is disinfect your cleaning materials. If you’ve just used them to clean different parts of the house, you don’t want to have those same germs hanging out in the corner. Use some disinfectant to rinse your materials, like gloves, mop and broom, then place them outside in the sun to dry before placing them back into the respective storage spots.
Change your perspective
This is another tip you will pick up from experience, but if you think your home is clean from one angle, try looking at it from a different vantage point. Stand at a far corner of the house, where you usually wouldn’t and look at things that way. You’ll realize your eyes have gotten used to seeing things in one way, and you notice something still doesn’t look as clean as you’d want it, but shifting will solve that. If you only ever look at things face forward, you may never see the grime on the sides.
There’s a lot more to cleaning than these few tips, but they’re very solid ways to ensure your house is disinfected and how to minimize the cleaning time.
