Practice, practice makes perfect. And when it comes to professional cleaners, it is no different. These individuals who spend most of their time cleaning other people's property have developed very key skills and tricks when it comes to ensuring the cleanliness of their own homes. So, we caught up with a number of them and compiled the tips and tricks they faithfully follow.
This article will be beneficial to anyone who is looking to improve cleanliness and organization in their home – especially for those of us who work long work shifts and never seem to have the time to clean our homes.
1. Follow the 2-Minute Rule
The two-minute rule in cleaning states that: if it takes less than two minutes to complete, do it instantly. This is how you avoid piling up messes and chores.
How to: Find out the cleaning tasks that take you under two minutes to complete. Then train yourself always to handle them immediately. Here is a list of cleaning tasks that take less than two minutes to start you off:
- Wiping down the bathroom sink and any other surface after every use
- Running a squeegee across your bathroom walls to dry them after showering and prevent mildew stains
- Wiping down your brewer after every use
2. Parent Yourself When It Comes to The Chores You Hate
Everybody has a chore they dislike doing, but you have to get it done either way. A trick you can use to ensure you always do chores you dislike is to make having fun a contingent upon completing a disliked chore. This is what it means to parent yourself.
How to: Start by identifying the chores that you dislike then identify the activities you enjoy doing the most. Let’s say you really dislike putting clean laundry away but enjoy catching an episode of your favorite show. Parent yourself by ensuring that you only watch your favorite show after you finish putting the laundry away. You will be shocked how motivated you will be to get the laundry folded!
3. Do Routine Check-Ups in Clutter-Prone Areas
Everybody has one or more areas in the house that tend to clutter up easily. For some people, it's the pantry, and for others, it's the basement. You can, however, manage these clutter-prone areas by carrying routine check-ups in these areas every so often to sort through, de-clutter and organize them.
How to: Create a list of the clutter-prone areas in your home. Come up with a convenient schedule that will ensure you monitor the state of these areas weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Then set up reminders on your phone and laptop to ensure you carry out your routine check-ups as scheduled.
4. The “One Pass” Rule
“It is okay to ignore a mess the first time you walk past it, but the next time you do, you have to sort it out.” This is the “one pass” rule.
How to: Nobody is perfect, and sometimes you just don’t want to address a mess immediately you see it. Therefore, give yourself one free pass, but that’s it. The next time you pass by the same mess, you should take care of it immediately.
5. Go Paperless
The magazines, manuals, letters, monthly statements and all other forms of papers you are holding on to can be a source of unnecessary mess and clutter in your house. This is why professional cleaners either go paperless or keep the paper trail to a minimum in their homes.
How to: Have an app on your smartphone that allows you to make notes, create to-do lists and write reminders to do away with using paper. Also, find out if there are electronic options of the paper documents you are holding onto available online. If you find their electronic copies, be sure to get rid of the hard copies.
For the important documents scan them using your smartphone and store them on your desktop computer or laptop. Finally, ensure you create an organized system for filing all your necessary hard copy documents as well as for storing your information on your laptop, such as folders, to guarantee easy access.
6. Clean High Traffic Spots
There are areas in your house where most time is spent, or most traffic is experienced. These areas tend to be the dirtiest and in need of most cleaning. Regularly cleaning-up these areas will prevent the need for deep cleaning during the weekend.
How to: Instead of letting the dirt pile up in high traffic spots such as the entryway doormats and living room assets; vacuum, dust and clean them 2-3 times a week.
7. Don’t Own Unnecessary Extras
You have ten throw pillows on your bed, enough crockery to feed more than a village and over two dozen curtain changes. What exactly are you doing with all these extra items that you clearly do not need? Cluttering up your house and making it difficult to efficiently clean is what you are doing. And it's about time you stopped.
How to: Take stock of all the extra items that you own. Critically identify what you need and what you can do without. Get rid of the unnecessary extra items and save yourself a lot of space and cleaning time.
8. Don’t Let Chores Pile Up
It seems pretty logical and easy, but for some reason, we still pile up chores. Taking 5 to 10 minutes every day is much better than spending your entire Saturday clearing up your weekly chores.
How to: Make clearing up chores part of your daily routine.
- Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink
- Learn how to clean the kitchen as you prepare your food
- Put your clothes away every night, either in the laundry hamper or closet and not on the floor.
- Laundry should be put away the same day it is done.
- Take out the trash every morning.
9. Put Things Back in Their Original Places After Use
Have you ever walked into a room and wondered how everything is just all over the place? It will probably take you a long time to get everything back to where it should be, but you can avoid all this by learning to always put things back to their original place after using them.
How to: Train yourself as well as the entire household always to put things back to where they found them.
- In the evening, put your shoes back on the rack you took them from.
- After you are done playing with a toy, put it back in the toy basket you took it from.
- When cooking, put ingredients back to their shelves as soon as you are done using them.
- Hang your coat where it should be as soon as you take it off inside the house.
10. Get Second Opinions
When it comes to de-cluttering and organizing the house, it can be very difficult to objectively determine the items that you need to let go off. But that doesn’t give you permission to continue hoarding. Seek a second opinion.
How to: Give a call to a trusted friend or relative and let them help you decide what needs to go. Also, they can help you come up with organization solutions for areas that you may have given up on.
Our Final Word
There You Have it! The above 10 tips and tricks should help you achieve the daily cleanliness of your home easily and efficiently. But should things ever get out of hand, you can always rely on trusted help. Hire a professional home cleaning service to clean your home in the best way possible.
