How long do you think it would take you to give your house a really thorough home cleaning? Three hours? Four? More? So why is it that if you hire a professional to handle the job, they zoom through in half the time and get better results than you?
Some of this is down to experience and practice, of course. But there’s also a certain amount of expert knowledge in play — and you can make use of the same tricks and shortcuts after you master them.
When you’ve got the budget for it, the fastest and easiest way to get your house cleaning is to turn it over to a cleaning service. But if you tackle the job yourself, these tips can make you nearly as efficient as the pros:
1) Remove Soap Scum The Fast Way
Forget scouring soap scum off with a sponge. For the fastest solution, invest in a plastic putty knife and use it to scrape the scum away in a single pass. In the future, you can slow down the rate of soap scum buildup by switching to liquid or gel soaps where possible. These leave behind less residue than bar soap, and they do just as good a job at keeping you clean.
2) Dust More Efficiently
Feather dusters aren’t just a part of a maid costume for Halloween! They’re still incredibly effective and useful cleaning tools. A feather duster is particularly handy for hard-to-reach places, picture frames, blinds, and more. Save your cloth dust-rags and paper towels for heavy-duty build-up (or use your vacuum cleaner) and use a feather duster to rapidly brush away light layers of dust. This is especially easy to do before you have guests coming over.
3) Protect Your Stainless Steel
Stainless steel kitchen appliances are tough, stain-resistant, and durable. They look great, too — unless they’re smudged up with streaks and fingerprints. To keep stainless steel surfaces looking spotless longer, pour a small amount of mineral oil onto a clean cloth and wipe it across the metal. The oil is a natural water repellant and makes stainless steel more resistant to sticky liquids. This keeps your kitchen looking cleaner and lets you take a little longer between thorough cleanings.
4) Freshen Up That Sink Disposal
An in-sink garbage disposal is handy, but it also tends to attract nasty odors. To solve this problem, save orange or lemon peels and put them in the drain. Turn the sink on at half pressure and run the disposal for fifteen seconds. Next, drop a few ice cubes in and turn it on again. To rinse the whole system and leave it feeling fresh, stopper your sink and run a half-basin of water. When this drains out, it will flush the disposal and leave behind a fresh citrus scent.
5) Clean Windows Without Streaks
Using paper towels to clean your windows will often leave annoying streaks behind. For regular or small windows, use newspaper instead to get a streak-free shine. For large picture windows, invest in a squeegee to speed up the glass-cleaning process. Squeegees are also great for rooting the dust out of the corners of your windows.
6) Vacuum Strategically
You vacuum your carpets often enough to make it worthwhile to figure out the most efficient way to do it. Take some time to figure out which outlet in your house is most centrally-located. Plug your vacuum cleaner in here so that you don’t have to waste time moving it around the house. If your vacuum’s cord isn’t long enough to reach all the carpet from this central point, add an extension cord to get the range you need.
7) Learn To Love Magic Erasers
Magic erasers have earned their name with their tremendous cleaning flexibility. They work on virtually any surface in your home: floors, ceilings, and everything in between. A magic eraser is safe for use on any hard surface, and it can get rid of anything from dust to errant crayon marks. Stock up on magic erasers and you may be able to cut your cleaning time in half.
These are just some of the tricks that allow professional house cleaners to tidy your house in a jiffy. Make use of them yourself so that you can spend less time scrubbing and more time enjoying yourself! Click here for more information on cleaning tips.