How To Achieve A Clean Home In 7 Steps or Less.
Created January 16, 2024 (12:00PM)
Table of Contents :
Introduction - The 7 Steps of Cleaning
Introduction
When cleaning, one can build up anxiety overthinking the challenges ahead. Here’s a 7 step comprehensive list on how I handle all of my cleanings to avoid overthinking!
1: Declutter
To achieve a clean home faster than your average time, you HAVE to take into consideration the time you spend picking up miscellaneous objects while doing other things like vacuuming. If you stop every five seconds to pick up a cup or a sock that fell from the “chair”, you’ll take significantly longer to finish what task you’ve already got going on.
The solution is to accommodate the first 10 minutes of cleaning to just decluttering your home. Grab an empty bucket or caddy and go around picking up items that are crowding the space, and then put them in the location where they’ll stay.
2: Dusting
Once decluttering is done, I start by grabbing my duster to dust the ceiling and light fixtures of every single room. I’ll go down on all the walls up until I start hitting the top of furniture, then I get the furniture. From there, I dust whatever is immediately in front of me down to the bottom of the baseboards. Repeat in every room.
According to Janet Pelley from Chemical and Engineering News, house dust is a mix of sloughed-off skin cells, hair, clothing fibers, bacteria, dust mites, bits of dead bugs, soil particles, pollen, and microscopic specks of plastic. When taking that into consideration and the adverse effects dust can have on our health, it made me invest in getting a solid duster and to start taking dusting seriously as this is something that gets glossed over. I personally use a Swiffer Duster as it’s extendable and the duster is actually disposable.
3: Cleaning Surfaces/Objects
Now that we’ve finished dusting, our next move is to clean any and all surfaces. As you would dusting, you would start by spraying a multipurpose cleaner, going from high level areas to low level areas while also ensuring that the coverage of the spray is even.
Now that we’ve finished dusting, our next move is to clean any and all surfaces. As you would dusting, you would start by spraying a multipurpose cleaner, going from high level areas to low level areas while also ensuring that the coverage of the spray is even.
Then wipe with a clean microfiber towel. If some spots don’t come off, you will have to apply gentle yet firm strokes to the spots until they come off. If it’s proving difficult, you can scrub a non-scratch sponge in your effort to remove the spot. Before scrubbing anything, always try a little corner that isn’t seen often enough to ensure there are no scratches being made.
For different types of material such as wood, plastic, or glass, use suitable cleaners to preserve said material. Then wipe with a clean microfiber towel. If some spots don’t come off, you will have to apply gentle yet firm strokes to the spots until they come off. If it’s proving difficult, you can use a non-scratch sponge of your choice in your effort to remove the spot.
Before scrubbing anything, always try a non-visible corner to ensure there are no scratches being made.
For different types of material such as wood, plastic, or glass, use suitable cleaners to preserve said material.
4: Disinfect/Sanitization
To start disinfecting, grab some disinfectant/sanitizer and spray large surfaces that you have just cleaned. Let it sit for however long is recommended by your Sanitizer/Disinfectant and then wipe!
According to the EPA, to disinfect something is kill all viruses and bacteria on surfaces using chemicals. To sanitize something is to ONLY kill bacteria using chemicals.
Personally, I like to disinfect so I use Zep Antibacterial Disinfectant to disinfect any areas I need done because I like the lemony smell, but you can use Lysol. I just don’t personally like the smell of bleach permeating through my home.
5: Vacuuming
Now that everything on top is cleaned and disinfected, it’s time to hit the floors! Vacuuming is vital for removing dust, dirt, and debris from rugs, carpets, or even hardwood floors.
You can start by going to the area you started in and working your way back to the front entrance. For difficult areas, like corners, edges, or even under furniture, you can use attachments designed for your vacuum. My vacuum has this attachment specifically for pet hair and it works like a charm when I need to tackle my cat’s cat tower.
If you are using a vacuum on a hardwood floor, make sure your vacuum is designed for it! If you have a versatile vacuum like I do, you’re going to want to switch on the hard floor setting to avoid damaging the floors.
6: Mopping
Once the loud part is done, it should be time to mop the floors. Now, we mop the floor for one of three things. Either there is a sticky coat of debris on a floor that wasn’t able to be vacuumed, to remove any stubborn stains, or to disinfect the floors.
It is IMPORTANT to know which kind of floors you are working with because some floor cleaners can leave sticky residue on the floors and NOBODY likes that!
To begin, fill a bucket with warm water and a suitable floor cleaning solution. From there, use a mop to clean the floors in each room. Allow the floors to air dry or you can use a dry mop to move things further along.
I have hardwood floors so I like to use Mr. Clean Antibacterial Cleaner (Summer Citrus) cause it smells awesome and it disinfects the floors, but you can use anything designed for your specific floor.
7: Disinfecting/Sanitzing Common Points of Contact
To finish up a home, I advise people to pass by any area that could have been forgotten about. And something that most people miss are common points of contact areas. Think of your tv remote, your living rooms light switch, or even your bathroom’s door handle and the amount of germs that are left on it through weeks of neglect.
To start, grab some disinfectant/sanitizer and spray door handles, any kind of remote, light switches, keyboards, and so on. Let it sit for however long is recommended by your Sanitizer/Disinfectant and then wipe!
Conclusion
When I first started cleaning, I only used the limited information that was passed down by my parents to clean a home. After years of cleaning the homes of my clients, I’ve came to the conclusion that this is the best, most efficient way to clean a home.
