Most of us just want to get housework done in the shortest amount of time possible with the best results for our efforts. To help you get a bit more organized, here are the top five cleaning mistakes that you are probably making. Make some changes to your cleaning routine and you’ll get the job done more quickly and have more time to enjoy your clean home. The same principle applies to almost any cleaning job. A few minutes spent on cleaning and decluttering a room each day makes “heavy” cleaning much easier. The food preparation areas of a kitchen should be sanitized, dirty laundry placed in a hamper, bathroom sinks and shower doors wiped down after each use and clutter like mail, newspapers and receipts cleared away daily. Then the weekly tasks of dusting, vacuuming, toilet cleaning, mopping kitchen floors and doing laundry are much more simple. First, declutter by picking up things that don’t belong in the room. Discard them or return them to their appropriate space. Handle items only once and get rid of them from the room. No need to take time to clean around them. When ready to clean, start at the top of a room and work your way down. If you start by cleaning the floor and then move on to dusting the ceiling fan, wiping down cobwebs and dusting furniture, you’ll have to clean the floor again once the dust settles. When cleaning shower walls and doors or windows, start at the top and you won’t have to backtrack to take care of drips. Checking labels can not only save time, they can save money. Using the wrong cleaning product can permanently damage some surfaces. That’s why you can’t safely use a scrubbing powder on furniture or stone countertops. If you are trying to reduce the amount of chemicals used in your home, natural or green cleaning products can be quite effective if used correctly. Take time to wash cleaning cloths, mop heads and scrubbing brushes and clean vacuum filters and cups between every use. Disposable tools like disinfecting wipes, electrostatic cloths and dusters are great, but not if you try to use only one to clean the entire house. Tackle each cleaning task with a fresh disposable. Create a chore chart and teach kids the same principle you should follow–that doing a couple of small cleaning tasks every day makes the overall job much easier. For younger kids, start with simple tasks like dusting flat surfaces, washing windows using non-toxic cleaners (distilled white vinegar and water) and gradually move them into almost every household cleaning job. There’ll be some complaints, but you’ll be doing them a favor for the day when they have their own home.
