Ch apter 3 - Cleaning Tips
Enjoy
Since you can’t avoid cleaning, try to make it as enjoyable as possible. Listen to music while dusting or mopping. Turn on the TV (just make sure not to get too distracted) or radio. If you tidy up with your family, discuss a movie or play a game while cleaning. If you involve kids, suggest a competition and find out who is the fastest, who can do more than others, or who is better at cleaning.
To avoid stress, don’t do the cleaning when you are tired and irritated. Just relax a bit and let yourself unwind. A bad mood is the worst helper in the household chores. So if you are exhausted in the evening and you don’t feel ready for any kind of work after actual work, don’t worry. Try to find the time when you feel energized, happy and fresh. For example, squeeze a few minutes of cleaning in your morning routine. If you are ready to move mountains on Saturdays, great! Just make sure you pick the best timing so that you don’t feel any strain.
Get rid of the stuff
Cleaning often turns into a complete chaos just because you can’t get through the piles of unnecessary stuff. Sort out the things and throw away old, unnecessary and unused ones. Don’t let the stuff take up your whole house.
Reorganize things
Look around and ask yourself if everything is in their proper places. Are the things that you use mostly at hand? Can you find them? Are they placed neatly so that nothing falls down in case you need something? Consider moving the furniture, reorganizing shelves and bookcases and creating new storage units to make your life at home more comfortable. Assign a certain cabinet for all the cleansers and detergents so that you can easily find them. Put all your craft items in a single drawer. Buy a chest for your children’s toys so that they are not scattered around their room. Sort the books and place them in the bookcases in a certain order (by genre, author, etc.) Make your life more organized and know where each of your items is placed: it will save you a lot of time and help avoid stress in the future.
Do it in a proper order
It’s recommended to start from the top to the bottom. Thus, you will make sure you don’t have to wash or clean again the things you’ve already tidied up. Also, start from the dirtiest items. For example, in the kitchen, clean the oven and the sink first, and then wash the floors .
Dress up
If you feel uncomfortable in your clothes while doing the cleaning, you may feel irritated and angry. This won’t help you finish your task quickly and easily. Before you start your household chores, make sure to choose proper clothes. Pick comfortable pants and a T-shirt that will allow freedom of movement. Put on shoes that won’t slide or come off. Add knee pads if you are going to kneel while dusting. For women, it’s always better to wear their hair in a bun or in a ponytail. To protect your skin, put on rubber gloves.
Tools
Cleaning is not an easy task when you don’t have proper tools (or you don’t have any tools at all except for an old ragged dust cloth). In order not to struggle with old-fashioned, ineffective mops or brooms that don’t help at all, invest in a couple of useful items that will make the process of cleaning simple and enjoyable. Here are a few suggestions:
Cleaners
You don’t have to buy expensive cleaners and spend hours shopping for them after work. You probably have most of these simple and cheap yet effective cleaners at home: