House Cleaning 101

Follow these stops straight from the house cleaning 101 cleaning theory to get the best results in the easiest way possible!

Remember -There is more than one way to clean a house. And – there is also a best way which is what we will focus on here.

The way that you clean your house is probably largely dependent on how much time you have to spend cleaning. Some people break down the tasks and do some every day while other people take a chunk of time and whip the whole thing out. The former is certainly a little bit easier for many people however I find the latter is much more rewarding.

For the purpose of this article we will be focusing on routine weekly cleaning. We will not be addressing some of the extra cleaning tasks here today. Those tasks include: window cleaning, oven cleaning, wall cleaning, cabinet cleaning and reorganizing. All of those tasks are addressed in other articles.

The whole house cleaning process from start to finish as outlined here takes a few hours. Of course, the size of your apartment or house does make a difference. A small apartment will only take an hour to go through all of these steps whereas a decent size house may take three hours. I haven’t cleaned many houses that took more than three hours to clean if I stayed on task.

Regardless of your strategy for routine house cleaning the basic areas to clean can be broken down into categories.

First of all: Be Prepared

You are going to become frustrated easily if you don’t have the right items to tackle your dirty house. Make sure you have the following cleaners in your cabinet. Glass Cleaner, bathroom cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, kitchen cleaner, furniture polish, carpet and upholstery stain remover. It is easiest if you keep the bottles of cleaner in a caddy that you can grab and carry with you. You will also need the following items: gloves, garbage bags, a bucket, rags or sponges, a mop, paper towels and a vacuum cleaner. These are the basic items you will need to have on hand to be able to properly clean your house. You can add in any number of items specific to your needs such as a shower scrubber, a steam cleaner or a carpet shampooer.

Have a plan in mind. It is best to work from the ceiling down and from the farthest rooms to the kitchen/front of the house. If there is an upstairs, clean that first and all at the same time.

Second: Cleaning the different areas of your home until they shine!

Cleaning the bathrooms. I find most efficient to clean all of the bathrooms first. Put on your gloves before starting to clean the bathroom. First coat the inside of the toilet bowl with cleaner and let that sit while you clean the outside of the bowl with the bathroom cleaner and paper towels. When you are done with that use the toilet brush to scrub the inside of the bowl. Flush it to rinse. It is best if you can buy a toilet brush for each bathroom so you are not transporting a wet, dripping brush through the house. Once you finish the toilet, move on to the tub/shower. In most cases you can use the bathroom cleaner and spray the entire inside surface down, then wipe with a sponge and warm water. In some cases special cleaners and scrubbers may be required, especially if you have hard water or mineral rich water. Now spray the mirror and wipe with paper towels. Spray down the entire sink and clean with a sponge and warm water. Be sure to get underneath and behind all items sitting on the vanity. Don’t forget to spray wipe down the faucet and handles. As you leave the room take out the garbage and put in a clean bag. At this point you are going to move on to the bedrooms and come back to the bathroom when you start cleaning the floors.

 

Cleaning the bedrooms. Usually bedrooms require some tidying up before cleaning. If the bed isn’t made, make it now. Pick up any clothing, books, magazines, shoes or other miscellaneous items that may be in the room. Use the furniture polish on a soft cloth to dust all of the horizontal surfaces starting at the highest location and working down and around the room in a clockwise direction until you have dusted every surface. As you leave the room take out the garbage and reline the can with a new bag. Once you have cleaned all of the bedrooms, collect the trash you have emptied so far and take it and your cleaning supplies back to the kitchen area. Grab the vacuum and get started on vacuuming. Plug the vacuum into a hallway outlet and go to the farthest part of the room to start vacuuming, moving back to the door. Vacuum any en suite bathrooms or hallway bathroom at this time as well. You will come back to mop them.

 

Cleaning the common living areas. This includes the dining room, living room, family room, office, mud room and any other general living areas. These areas may need a little straightening up as well. Starting on one side of the room use the furniture polish on a soft cloth and begin dusting from top to bottom, moving around the room until you are back to where you started. Once you have cleaned all of the common areas you will vacuum these areas. Plug the vacuum into a central location if possible and start vacuuming at the furthest point of the furthest room working your way back to the area you plugged the vacuum in.

You have made great progress to this point!

 

Cleaning the Kitchen. Kitchens are the most time-consuming area of the house to clean. First you are going to need to empty the sink so that you can use it for your cleaning. Either load the dishwasher or hand wash the dishes. If you need to hand wash, also take the time to dry and put away the dishes. Once you have a clean sink you can start in on the rest of the kitchen.

Appliances typically need some special attention. Clean the inside of the microwave using your kitchen cleaner and a sponge with warm water. You may need an abrasive sponge if you have any dried on food. If you have a toaster oven, take the tray from the bottom and empty any crumbs into the sink or garbage. Take a look at your stove and assess the top. A gas stove may need to be disassembled in order to wipe the crumbs away and again scrub those dried on food areas. Cook tops require special cleaning products, just spray them and use a flat hard plastic piece to get up any dried on food, then wipe clean. Spray down the fronts of all of the appliances and take some paper towels and dry them removing any streaks or marks.

Now you can focus on the counter tops. Spray then liberally with your kitchen cleaner. Using a sponge with warm water wipe down all counter tops and back splashes. Some of these areas may require that abrasive sponge. Not an aggressively abrasive sponge – just something to help loosen dried on food and liquids. Make sure clean under and behind everything that sits on the counter tops. As you finish cleaning the kitchen you will take out the garbage and reline the can with a new liner. Add all of the small bags from the bathrooms, bedrooms and common areas that you collected earlier and put the bag by the front door. Now you can vacuum the kitchen.

At this point you have cleaned every area of the house and you can smell the furniture polish and everything is tidy. All you have left is the mopping. Fill you mop bucket with warm water and some floor cleaner, grab your mop and head to the farthest part of the house. How you mop your house depends on the types of flooring you have throughout. You should hit all of the bathrooms first. Mop from the furthest end of the bathroom back to the doorway rinsing the mop as needed. Head back to the kitchen and change your mop water. If you have flooring other than carpet throughout your house you will mop all of those floors now. Head to the farthest area from the kitchen and mop each room, moving back to the kitchen area. Change the mop water again and now you are ready to mop the kitchen moving from the area furthest from the sink, toward the sink. Once you are done, empty your mop bucket into the sink and give the mop and bucket a good rinse. This is when you spray the sink with your kitchen cleaner and give it a good scrubbing.

Finishing up. You are on the home stretch now with just one last task to accomplish. Take your cleaning items and put them away. Some may live under the kitchen sink, others in the broom closet or even the basement. Make sure everything is back where it belongs so you can find it for your next cleaning session. Your last task is to take the bag of garbage and dispose of it.

Look around because you have a completely clean home at this point in time. This is an accomplishment and something to be proud of!!