Transformation Tuesday: How to Speed Clean
- By US Casehouse
- Dec 15, 2014
Whether you’re in a time crunch before guests arrive, can’t stand the current state of mess in your house but aren’t up for doing a deep cleaning, or just plain want a quicker way to get your home neat and tidy, we’ve got you covered!
Today’s topic is how to speed clean.
Here are 10 easy steps to speed clean your way to a clean house!
Step 1: Have Your ‘Cleaning Kit’ Stocked & Ready to Go
Save time from the get-go by keeping your cleaning supplies together in a portable container, such as a bucket, caddy, or tote that you can easily grab and carry with you from room to room.
Recommended ‘Cleaning Kit’ Contents:
- Paper towels or wipers
- Disinfecting bathroom cleaner
- Kitchen timer or anything you can set as a timer (such as the timer feature on the iPhone clock)
- Bucket/tote/caddy for storing cleaning supplies
- Large basket (such as a laundry basket) – use this to collect items that need to be put back in a different room; depending on the amount of items collected as you move from room to room, you may need to put away the items after completing several rooms or your basket might be overflowing before you’ve finished all of the rooms
- Vacuum - this won’t fit in the kit itself, but it’s an essential part of speed cleaning
Step 2: Set your timer
Nothing like a race to beat the clock! Decide how much time you’re willing or able to allot to cleaning and set your timer. Beat the clock and not only will you have a clean house, you’ll have more time to do the things you actually want to do—whether it’s painting your nails, watching a few minutes of your favorite show on Netflix, reading James Patterson or Jodi Picoult’s latest book, or anything else you enjoy.
Step 3: Start at the top
We mean this in two ways. (1) Start on the top floor and work your way down. (2) Clean the highest surfaces first—this way, you never have to go back and clean anything twice. Swipe your dusting cloth from back-to-front so you’ll be able to easily vacuum up those dust bunnies in step 10.
Step 4: Think big!
Clean all of the large items, but don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s ok to save dusting all of the knick knacks for your deep cleaning routine.
Step 5: Make the bed
It’s amazing how much cleaner a bedroom looks simply by making the bed!
Step 6: Return collected items to their homes
Sort all of the miscellaneous items you’ve collected throughout the cleaning process and return them to their proper locations. It’s best to sort everything first in case multiple items are going to the same room—this way you save time and energy by making less trips!
Step 7: Clean the bathrooms
Spray the disinfecting bathroom cleaner on the shower/tub, toilet, sink, and countertop. Leave this to set briefly while you apply the toilet bowl cleaner, and then wipe away the grime to leave your bathroom sparkling!
Additional Tips:
- Use a daily shower cleaner spray to prevent that nasty mildew buildup or keep Lysol® Disinfectant Basin Tub & Tile Cleaner on-hand.
- Don’t leave the shower curtain bunched up—close the shower curtain so that it can easily dry rather than mildew.
Step 8: Conquer the kitchen
Start by loading up the dishwasher with the dirty dishes from the sink and countertop. If your counter is littered with assorted mail, papers, bills, receipts, etc., simply putting the papers into a pile will make the counter appear instantly cleaner. Give the counter and stovetop a quick spray with your all purpose cleaner and also check the refrigerator door, dishwasher front, oven door, and any additional large visible surfaces for dead-giveaway grime.
Additional Tips:
- Keep Lysol® Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner under the sink for easy access to quickly clean up messes before they multiply.
Step 9: Glass cleaning
You’ll save time by cleaning all of the glass at once, rather than cleaning the glass as you encounter it in each room. Spray the glass cleaner onto your wiper or paper towel, start in the top corner and wipe in a circular motion.
Also make sure to give kitchen and bathroom fixtures a quick wipe to make them shine!
Step 10: Vacuum
Forget the broom! Save time and energy by using the vacuum on all floor surfaces. Just make sure you vary the vacuum’s settings to match the type of floor. We also recommend having an extension cord long enough so you can cut cleaning time by vacuuming an entire floor of the house without moving the plug from outlet to outlet. You want to start in the far corner of each room and vacuum yourself out of the room.
What additional ways do you save time while cleaning?
