If you ask most people, house cleaning is neither entertaining nor pleasant. Despite that, we must clean our homes – that is, if we want our living environments to be clean and, more importantly, healthy.
But, cleaning your home often can be exhausting. Especially so if you are not particularly skilled at cleaning. To that effect, we asked the professionals at Oasis Natural Cleaning to give us some pointers on where to begin and how to make home cleaning more efficient and less tiring.
Time Management Is Important
House cleaning is a task which can take up most of your day, or just an hour or so. It largely depends on the detail you want to go into and the amount of time you have.
Ideally, you should leave at least 3-4 hours per week for cleaning. That being said, most people don’t have that kind of time and more importantly, most people don’t really want to devote that much time each week. And the best part is that you don’t have to – at least not every week. There are certain tasks which you really should do each week, but others can be put off a bit longer.
Where to Start Every Time
In order to know what kind of house cleaning you will be doing, it is important to know your schedule. However, there are a few things that you can do every time – to great effect. For instance, even before you start cleaning, consider what you need. Cleaning products, your vacuum cleaner, cloths and sponges – all of those things should be accounted for before you start. This way you’re saving some time looking for things as they become needed.
And now the actual cleaning can start. Take a look at your home – what needs your attention the most? Chances are that the first thing you will notice is the mess, the clutter. So that is the best place to start – get any clothes, magazines or papers that are just lying around organized and put them away in their respective places. Once that’s done, you will no doubt see a great improvement, but your job is not done yet, not by a long shot.
Another step that you really shouldn’t skip every time you clean your home is dusting. Apart from looking unseemly, dust is actually a source of a lot of grief, especially to people suffering from allergies, asthma and other respiratory problems. As a very common allergen, dust should be cleaned from your home at least weekly. Vacuuming the floors also counts among the tasks you really shouldn’t skip, the dust being the primary reason.
What to Focus on When Time Is Limited?
Ideally, you would clean your home thoroughly and methodically every time you engage in this, admittedly, less than fun activity. Sadly, you’re not always going to have the energy or the willpower to go through the full cleaning checklist. Or you simply may not have enough time.
If that is the case, consider which parts of your house are the most critical for your home’s cleanliness and focus on those areas. Obviously, the most important room in the house is going to be the living room, as well as the bathroom; especially if you are having people over. That means that you should primarily focus on getting those areas in order.
Bathroom Cleaning Tips
Perhaps the most unpleasant part of the house to clean is the bathroom. However, it doesn’t have to take too much of your time if you know what you are doing. For instance, if you have a squeegee, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort in cleaning large surfaces such as the walls and the shower.
Simply apply the cleaner to the surfaces, let it react and then just clean it off with a squeegee – quickly and effectively cleaning large surface in no time at all. Oh, and remember that the floors should be cleaned last – this way you won’t have to clean them twice.
Cleaning Tips for a More Detailed Clean
Cleaning your home in a pinch can be helpful, but you shouldn’t rely on it every time. After a while the little things that you omitted and glossed over will become more visible and harder to ignore. This is why you really should make time for a proper home cleaning at least once a month. This is when you should address the finer points of cleaning – you know, the ones you chose to ignore when speed-cleaning.
One of the easiest examples to point out are the kitchen appliances. Most people don’t really remember to clean the inside of their oven or their microwave. Even though it may not be too fun and can take quite a bit of time, with a bit of heated lemon water left inside, the process might be a bit easier, and you will feel a lot better looking at your kitchen when done.
Speaking of home remedies, any metal surface in your home, particularly in your kitchen or bathroom can be cleaned of limescale by a combination of baking soda and vinegar. Just give it thirty minutes to react with the gunk, and your metal surfaces will shine like new in no time.
Getting your home to a proper shine might not always be easy or fun, but if you actually put in the effort, you will see that the end result will be rewarding.
