Everyone loves the look of a sparkling clean home, but did you know there are also important health reasons for keeping your house looking spik and span?
Regularly cleaning your humble abode keeps a ton of nasties at bay–from indoor air pollutants like dust and mold to disease-causing surface bacteria. However, professional home cleaning doesn’t come without a lot of elbow grease (or a housecleaner’s salary).
How do you know if your current cleaning regime is creating the spotless house you crave? Read on for a list of tips to get the most out of your housework schedule.
1. Create a Home Cleaning Supplies Caddy
First up, tackle the cleaning supply cabinet. It’s probably filled with half-used spray bottles of undefined solutions and raggedy old sponges that have seen better days. Chuck out anything that looks old, and sort out your items into two piles: tools and cleaning products.
Once you’ve decided what you’ll keep and what you’ll throw away, it’s time to hunt for the perfect caddy to carry everything from room to room. Basically, so long as the container has a handle, it’ll do just fine.
Are you wondering what to include in your house cleaning carry-all?
Some supply caddy essentials include:
- Reusable latex gloves
- A mild abrasive and an all-purpose cleaner
- A glass cleaner
- Microfiber cloths (more on these gems later)
- An old toothbrush (for those small spaces)
Other things you might want to throw in there include a shaker of baking soda, distilled vinegar, rubbing alcohol, a lint roller, a wood polish, and a telescoping duster.
2. Clean as You Go-Throughout the Day
Don’t leave all your cleaning to the end of the day. Instead, make fast work of small messes by picking things up and wiping things down before you leave a room.
In the kitchen, do your dishes after every meal, or load/unload the dishwasher at regular intervals. Wipe down all the cooking and counter surfaces with a microfiber cloth to keep dangerous cross-contamination at bay. Keep some Lysol wipes in stock, so you can tackle spills right away before they turn into stains.
Take out the trash, sweep the floor at the start and the end of every day, and wipe down the surfaces in your bathrooms a few times a day to eliminate health-harming mold and mildew.
In the entranceway and living spaces, regularly clean the clutter and put items back into their designated homes–if you haven’t done it already, learn how to clean by finding a spot for everything you own.
3. Microfiber It Away
With an invention story steeped in mystery (in which they may have been invented in Japan, Britain, or Sweden), microfiber towels and clothes are now firmly cemented in the halls of cleaning tips fame.
Because microfiber towels wipe away messes without leaving dust or fine particles behind, they are everyone’s firm favorite–from owners of professional cleaning businesses to homemakers.
They’re also machine-washable and dry quickly, meaning they’re less likely to harbor germs. There’s a reason why hospitals, veterinary clinics, and industrial kitchens have wholeheartedly embraced this genius textile.
Though you only really need to use water with a microfiber cloth, you can also pair it with distilled white vinegar for greater grease-cutting power.
And today, you can get everything from the traditional microfiber dishcloths to mops, dusters, and even cleaning mittens!
4. Don’t Forget the Easy-to-Miss Spots
The toothbrush holder is the third most germ-filled place in your home. How often do you scrub it out? Containers, small gaps and cracks, and areas near faucets or around drains harbor all manner of gunk.
Be sure to pay attention to these areas when you’re giving a room a once-over.
Clean the dish sponge in your kitchen by throwing it in the dishwasher or blitzing it in the microwave for thirty seconds. Fill your blender with warm water and a touch of dish soap and run it for a few seconds. Rinse, and you’re done.
Run a broom or rag along your baseboards, and then vacuum up the dust. Run over them again with a wet cloth to get stubborn dirt and stains. While you’re there, use your vacuum to give your HVAC air vents a cleanout–you may even find your heating efficiency improves!
Believe it or not, but an old toothbrush or a set of old paintbrushes are among the most effective house cleaning tools in these situations. So don’t just throw them in the trash when they’re done: add them to your cleaning supply caddy instead!
Those weird-looking vacuum attachments you probably never use work a treat for these hard-to-get-to places, too.
5. Stay On Top Of Dust and Pet Fur
The living room is supposed to be a cozy haven of relaxation, right?
In fact, the soft furnishing typical of a family room can cause distress for some people–like those allergic to pet dander or dust. This is because fluffy pillows, carpets, and blankets are an ideal home for dust mites while dust and debris get caught in the delicate fabric fibers.
To keep your living room safe for everyone, try to vacuum your couch at least once a month. Lift each cushion and vacuum under, and move all the furniture out from the walls so you can get in behind it. If people in your family have allergies, do this once a week.
Dust any picture frames you have hanging on the walls, as well as all your appliances. Wash your curtains and dust your blinds at least twice a year.
And while you’re at it, ditch that feather duster, too. It might look cute and give you a bit of nostalgia for the 1950s, but it just moves the dust around.
Want Professional Home Cleaning? Don’t Procrastinate
When it comes to filling your home with that coveted professional home cleaning aura, it’s essential to keep on top of the cleaning. Don’t put off those minor tasks for later. Instead, develop easy cleaning habits that you can do throughout the day.
And don’t be shy to allocate tasks to other family members. Create a chore chart for the kids or a cleaning roster for roommates. If everyone pitches in, you’ll have a constantly clean and hygienic home.
Are you interested in more advice on how to live your best life? Browse the other lifestyle articles on our website.
