Doesn’t it seem as though we spend much of our lives
cleaning the house? Something is always out of place or dirty. There are dishes to be
done, toilets to clean, floors to scrub, and a refrigerator to maintain among countless
other household demands.
If you think about it, the constant neediness of our homes probably makes sense. After
all, they are lived in every single day. In fact, the only way to maintain a perfect home
is to move out completely (or hire live in help, which is most likely, cost prohibitive).
Since that’s not a viable option we must concede that our homes will get dirty.
Instead of fighting that inevitable phenomenon our energies are better spent trying to
figure out how to get it clean as fast and efficiently as possible.
Often, it’s not how things are cleaned, that slows the process down. It’s the
order in which they are cleaned that can cause more work than necessary.
For example, if you wipe down the refrigerator after you’ve gone to the grocery
store, the task is bound to take longer. Why? Because the refrigerator is full and
there’s more to take out of it in order to make it sparkle. It is much more efficient
to clean the refrigerator before grocery shopping when it’s relatively empty.
Likewise it doesn’t make sense to scrub the kitchen floor before the refrigerator,
stove and counters are cleaned. Why? Because inevitably something will fall onto it
causing it to need cleaning again. So do yourself a favor, scrub the floor last. There are
many more of these "order efficiencies" that can make our lives easier, such
as:
Kitchen:
Start with anything that’s mounted on the wall first.
Clean the stove, microwave, refrigerator and oven before the counters tops.
Clean the counter tops before the sink.
Wipe the cabinets, dishwasher and oven fronts before cleaning the floor.
End with scrubbing the floor.
Bathroom:
Clean shower doors and shower/tub enclosure walls before tackling the tub.
Wipe down the window sill
Clean the toilet starting with the tank lid, down to the toilet seat, to the inside of
the toilet, to the base.
Clean the medicine chest before the countertops.
Wipe fingerprints off doors and walls.
Clean the countertops before the sink.
Clean the sink.
Clean the mirror
Empty the trash.
Scrub the floor.
Other Rooms:
Pick up and put things away.
Dust before vacuuming or scrubbing floors
Dust furniture and picture frames starting as close to the ceiling as possible and
working your way down to the floor.
Clean windowsills before window coverings.
Clean window coverings before floors
Take care of fingerprints on walls
Wipe down kitchen/dining room table before cleaning the corresponding floor.
End with vacuuming or washing the floors.
So many of these kinds of ideas make perfect sense. But yet too often they are never
employed. Habits and routines are hard to break, particularly when you don’t really
think about them and analyze them. So, the best way to change your habits or to get into a
new routine is by being consciously aware of what you’re doing.
Take each area of your home, room by room. Stop and think before beginning. Develop
routines that will eliminate redundant cleaning or cleaning the same area more than once.
If you do, you’ll find that in a very short time your cleaning habits will have
become much more efficient and you’ll finally create some time for you. It’s
about time you got a break!
Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale is a CPA and the editor
of Between Friends: Resources for Mothers (http://www.betweenfriends.org)
Between Friends contains household hints, time management tips, articles on organization,
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