The idea of cleaning for some people is the last thing that they’d want to do. However, if the cleaning doesn’t get done, then the home falls into disrepair. From dusty surfaces to pest problems, these can all become issues within the home if you’re not keeping on top of some sort of cleaning schedule.
A cleaning schedule is useful to have because it ensures the home gets cleaned regularly enough and it makes sure everyone in the household is contributing to the cleaning where they are able to.
With that being said if you’re to make cleaning your home more efficient and fun for those who might not always enjoy cleaning – including yourself – here are some helpful tips on how to achieve both.
Make a cleaning schedule
Before you get started, as mentioned above, having a cleaning schedule is highly useful. Everyone in the home should have some form of responsibility when it comes to cleaning. Even for your kids, it’s good to teach them the importance of cleaning by encouraging them to focus on their own rooms.
A cleaning schedule is a reminder of what needs to be done, what’s been done, and who has contributed enough from the household. There should be a good balance and a great way to encourage this fairness is by creating a cleaning schedule that you can print out. Quality leaflets are a great way to lay out the schedule and ensure cleaning tasks get ticked off accordingly.
Invest in all of your cleaning supplies and tools
First and foremost, you can’t efficiently clean the home without the right supplies and tools. There are a lot of cleaning products that are needed for a home and it’s good to make sure you’ve got a healthy stock of everything in order to clean efficiently without needing to pop down to the shops in a last-minute rush to get everything you need.
Modern, high-quality cleaning equipment is also handy to get so that you’re not doing damage to your home and all its interior fixtures, fittings, and furnishings.
With any cleaning supplies, you want to make sure they’re suitable for what you have to clean. For example, some materials and fabrics might need a more gentle approach and treatment, meaning you’ll need separate liquids and tools for the job as opposed to other furniture and decor.
When you’re trying to ensure the best cleaning, it’s always good to invest in quality cleaning products that do the job properly and will deliver the best finish to your appliances and home furnishings.
Set a timer
Setting a timer is always a good idea when you’re looking to make the clean a more efficient task. There’s often a lot of cleaning to be done, even in a small studio or two-bed flat. A timer can help keep you on track of all the cleaning jobs that need doing so that they’re done within the time you need.
While you could spend a whole day cleaning your home, sometimes you’ve got other things that you want to do. A timer will consciously speed you up so that you get all the jobs that need doing within the time you set.
It’s also a great motivator if you’re often someone who procrastinates when it comes to cleaning. You’ve got that added pressure to get the cleaning done and when that alarm goes off, it can feel a sweet victory when everything is done.
Break the tasks down into smaller and more manageable chunks
To help make the cleaning more manageable, it’s always a good idea to look at all the tasks you need to do and break them down.
Breaking everything down into smaller and more manageable chunks is going to make a big difference in how you tackle the cleaning of the home.
If you’re someone who feels a little overwhelmed when cleaning, then having it broken down into rooms and individual sections of the home is useful. It makes the enormity of cleaning, less of a mountain to climb when you’re only just starting.
Be mindful of how you break the work down and try to tackle any of the hardest or most exhausting cleaning tasks first. You’re more likely to get more done if you do the hard work first and then breeze through the easy cleaning tasks.
Make cleaning a game for your little ones
Cleaning can be fun – even if it doesn’t feel like it. When you’re trying to encourage cleaning for your little ones, it’s always good to introduce it to them from a young age. The younger they are, the more impressionable they are to doing what you’re doing.
If you’re wiping down a table, chances are your little ones are going to be interested in what you’re doing. Most will likely copy you and this is something that can be helpful when teaching them useful life skills.
With cleaning, you can always make it fun for the kids who are ready and able to start helping out around the home. After all, it’s their home too and it’s good to start them young when it comes to tidying up their own spaces and being respectful of their surroundings.
To entice them into cleaning, maybe introduce the timer element when cleaning to see how quickly they can tidy away their toys. You could also provide them with a reward for cleaning their rooms, such as a special sticker or a bag of sweets.
Be sure to take a break
Cleaning can be a tiresome activity and we forget just how active it can be on the body. Sometimes, it’s best to take a rest so that you can give your body time to breathe and get ready for the next bit of work that needs doing.
Break time are good to take every twenty or thirty minutes. Reward yourself with a snack or a drink and then get back to it. These breaks are going to help you stay motivated and not feel as though you’re going to collapse from exhaustion.
Seriously – wiping down all skirting boards around the entirety of your home should be made a professional sport!
Having a break is particularly important when you’ve decided to do a full spring clean of your home. That includes a decluttering and perhaps even a rearrangement of your furniture.
Try to clean as you go
As much as it can feel like a hassle at the moment, cleaning as you go is always going to make a big difference to the amount of cleaning you do. At the end of the day, the last thing you want to be doing is cleaning up all of the mess from the day.
Sometimes that can’t be helped, especially if you have a little one running ragged around the place. However, if you’re cleaning up the odd thing here and there, it’s going to mean you spend less time in the evening cleaning up your mess. That means more time for yourself to do whatever you like.
Have it subconsciously in your mind before you leave a room, to make sure everything is back in its place. Of course, if there are toys or other things that you use repeatedly throughout the day, then it’s better to leave them out than to pack them away.
Put self-cleaning products in place
There will be places around the home where you can put self-cleaning products in place so that they continue to clean the appliance or area, even when you’re not doing anything yourself.
For example, if you have a toilet cleaner that attaches to your toilet’s rim, then this will continuously clean your toilet bowl with no effort needed from you. A robot vacuum is great for hoovering the place when you’re out so that it keeps on top of all the crumbs and dirt around the home.
These self-cleaning products can be good to put in place in order to save you time. That way, you’ll get things cleaned quicker and might find you clean more often as a result.
Hire a cleaning company when you don’t have the time
Lastly, if you really don’t find any joy in cleaning then you may find a lot of joy in outsourcing this to a company who’ll do it all for you. A cleaning company service is great if you have the disposable funds available to hire someone to come and clean your home.
It can be a worthwhile luxury to have, especially if you’re someone who struggles to get the cleaning done on a regular basis. Having someone come into your home and take the load of cleaning off your mind, can be worth its weight in gold. So it’s definitely something that you should consider if you don’t fancy doing it yourself.
Cleaning is necessary to ensure your home stays nice and tidy for you and your household. Not to mention when you invite over guests! Use these tips so that you can make cleaning fun and get it all done in a more efficient manner moving forward.
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This is a collaborative post.
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