WHILE CLEANING YOUR HOUSE, APPLY THESE TIPS TO TRANSFORM YOUR SPACE
Cleaning, like anything else, takes a certain level of ability to be done right. Sure, you can vacuum the floors and fold everything haphazardly, but all you’re doing is making extra work for yourself. That’s why we’ve developed a list of professional house cleaning tips for keeping homes spotless from top to bottom. Use these smart cleaning tips the next time you clean your house to alter your area. And if you really want your home to shine, check out these 27 Things You Didn’t Know You Should Be Cleaning in Your Home.
Make use of a pattern
Don’t just clean your surfaces haphazardly. If you employ a regular cleaning pattern, you won’t waste time going back and hitting locations that you missed on the initial pass. Professionals work from left to right and from top to bottom to ensure that the job is done correctly the first time.
Ensure that your ceilings and walls are clean.
Dust your ceilings and walls from top to bottom, being sure to get all the corners. If you don’t have a microfiber mop, tying an old towel or T-shirt over a broom is surprisingly effective. Doing so on a regular basis will keep dust from building throughout the rest of your home, allowing you to spend less time with a vacuum or mop in hand.
Don’t overlook the baseboards.
It doesn’t matter how clean the rest of your house is—if your baseboards are filthy, the rest of your house will appear filthy. If you haven’t cleaned them in a while, you may need to use a damp microfiber mop; otherwise, they can be vacuumed clean.
Apply the products and then walk away.
Allow cleaning products to work after you’ve applied them. Most cleaning products do not disinfect instantly, so putting them on for a few minutes allows them time to kill germs and break down filth, resulting in less work for you. Check out these 27 Genius House Cleaning Tricks That Will Blow Your Mind for even more fantastic cleaning tips.
Clean first, then declutter.
Put anything that isn’t in its proper place before you begin cleaning. You’ll save time by decluttering before cleaning instead of attempting to do both at the same time.
Surfaces should be cleared.
It will save you a lot of time if you remove everything from a surface and replace it all at once rather than picking up each item, cleaning underneath it, and replacing it. If you’re dusting, remove everything from a table or shelf before cleaning, and then give each item a brief rub with a microfiber cloth before replacing it. Remove all soap, shampoo, and other objects from the shower before cleaning it. And if you really want to speed things up, check out these 27 Brilliant Ways to Be More Organized After 27.
Instead of a mop, use a rag.
Although it’s difficult to beat the appearance of a hand-washed floor, getting down on your knees and washing your entire house this way is neither realistic nor practicable. However, there is one room where you can truly hand wash the floors. Cleaning your bathroom floor with a rag shouldn’t take long because there isn’t much floor to clean, and it’s the ideal method to get all those tight areas like under the toilet or on the sides of the sink. And if you want to discover the safest way to clean your floors, read This Is the Safest Way to Clean Your Floors.
Fold the towels in thirds.
Take the effort to fold all of your towels the same way to make your bathroom look well-organized. And, for a polished, hotel-inspired aesthetic, consider folding your towels three times.
Vacuum all of your furniture.
Any upholstered furniture in your home deserves more than a lint roller once in a while. According to cleaning businesses , all commonly used furniture should be vacuumed regularly with the specific upholstery attachment.
If you have any fabric lampshades, vacuum those as well. Hold the seams of the lampshade when vacuuming them, and if possible, reduce the suction on your vacuum to avoid causing any damage. Check out these 17 Ways You’re Vacuuming All Wrong for more information on how to use this handy dandy cleaning gadget.
The right approach to clean stainless steel.
It’s easier than you think to restore the lustre of your stainless steel. Here’s how to go about it: Wet one half of a microfiber cloth. Clean the stainless steel with the wet half, then dry it with the other half, making sure to go with the grain of the stainless. This simple procedure will leave your appliances clean and free of fingerprints, making your entire home appear cleaner and more put-together.
Follow the grain.
When mopping a hardwood floor, keep the mop head going in the same direction as the grain of the wood to minimise the possibility of streaks appearing. Better better, use a cloth to prevent any leftover cleaning liquid from gathering and potentially damaging your floor.
Carry a caddy.
Save time by keeping all of your cleaning products in a single caddy that you can carry around the house with you, eliminating the need to stop to grab something. Reduce the quantity of stuff you have to carry by purchasing multitasking products, such as an all-purpose cleaner that disinfects for your kitchen and bath, or a wood cleaner that is safe for both furniture and floors.
Select the right tools.
To achieve a professional-level clean, you don’t need every single speciality cleaning instrument in the world. All you actually need to clean your house are microfiber cloths, clean sponges, a mop, a vacuum that works on carpet and floors, and a scrub brush that can conduct precision cleaning.
Dust first, then vacuum.
In general, you should dust before vacuuming. Otherwise, you might have to vacuum twice to get rid of all the dust bunnies that got knocked into the floor while dusting. Better still, acquire a vacuum with a HEPA filter to prevent dust from being released as you clean.
Use a single large trash bag.
While cleaning, carry a large trash bag with you and empty all waste baskets from around the house into it. Not only will this save you time while cleaning, but it will also show you which rooms you’ve already completed if you return to them later.
Purchase an extension cord.
To save time, use an extension cable instead of unplugging your vacuum after finishing a room and plugging it in again in the next room. A 50-foot cord should allow you to complete most, if not all, of a floor without stopping to find a new outlet.
Bring your vacuum cleaner into the kitchen.
It goes without saying that you should use your vacuum to clean your floors. However, if you want your house to look professionally clean, you should also use it to clean out crumbs-collecting drawers such as a cutlery drawer, bread box, refrigerator door, toaster oven, or stove.
Outside, use a squeegee.
Outside windows necessitate a little more effort in order to be really clean. Spraying them with window cleaner and wiping it off with a paper towel may do more to smear dirt all over your windows than clean them. Clean windows with a sponge and water containing a small amount of dishwashing liquid. Then, wipe the water away with a squeegee, using a large S pattern on large windows and a single top-to-bottom stroke on smaller ones. Wipe down the squeegee with a lint-free cloth between strokes for a streak-free clean.
Attend attention to the light fixtures.
Don’t forget to clean your light fixtures and ceiling fans when you’re cleaning. There’s no reason you shouldn’t dust them off once a week if they can be reached without bringing out a large ladder. In fact, dusting your ceiling fans on a regular basis will help prevent dirt from building throughout your house, as it is frequently distributed when you switch on a dirty fan.
If you’ve been ignoring your light fixtures and have several of them filled with the corpses of long-dead bugs, tackle only a couple a week until you’ve finished them all. The ability to clean those hard-to-reach areas is what distinguishes the pros from the rest of us.
Polish up your kitchen appliances.
Make careful to clean all of your appliances. Shine the toaster and wipe away any crumbs of food that have stuck to the mixers. Make sure to thoroughly clean the outside of your refrigerator and dishwasher.
Make use of foam glass cleaner.
If you have a problem with streaky mirrors, try a foam glass cleaner instead of a spray. Pros appreciate it because it doesn’t drip and washes away easily, lessening the likelihood that you’ll have to clean your mirrors more than once.
Clean the area beneath the sink.
It’s all too easy to put off cleaning under the sink. However, it is something you should do every time you clean your kitchen. If you keep your trash somewhere else, make sure to pay special attention to that location as well. These are both high-traffic locations that are commonly overlooked by inexperienced housekeepers.
Take a seat on the toilet.
To ensure that your bathroom is genuinely clean. Take a seat on the toilet and take a look around. The new perspective should reveal any spots you overlooked or areas that may be cleaned up.
Extra bags should be stored in garbage baskets.
Keep a few extra bags in the bottom of your waste baskets. You won’t have to carry them around, and you can put the fresh bag in as soon as the old one goes into your one big trash bag that you’re carrying around the house.
Make your sink glitter.
Your kitchen sink most likely contains more bacteria than a toilet. Take the time to thoroughly clean and disinfect your sink. You can accomplish this by filling it with a bleach and water solution, letting it soak, and then letting it trickle down the drain, which may also assist if your drain isn’t particularly fragrant.
Clean the door jambs and light plates.
You’ve cleaned your ceilings, walls, baseboards, and floors, but if you don’t clean your door jambs and light plates, your house won’t look like it was cleaned by a pro. If you remember to wipe down your door jambs, doors, and light switch plates once a week, they should never become obviously dirty again. A damp microfiber cloth should suffice.
Finish with the stove last.
Your stove is arguably the most difficult thing to clean in your kitchen, so save it for last. If you’re cleaning the oven, make sure to spray it with oven cleaner before moving on to the rest of the kitchen, and place some rags or paper towels underneath the door to catch any drips. Then begin cleaning your kitchen from top to bottom, working your way around the room until you reach the stove, where the product has had time to activate. Then, start scrubbing until it sparkles. Once it’s clean, you may relax and enjoy the feeling of living in a clean home.