You live a busy life. Between work, kids, and other obligations, you hardly have time to keep your house clean, right?
Don’t feel bad, most people feel the same way. However, cleaning your home would be much less tedious if you learned to implement some highly efficient house cleaning hacks. The key is learning how to stay ahead of the curve while working smarter, not harder.
Not quite sure what we mean? Let us explain. Keep reading for everything you need to know about efficient house cleaning.
1. Create a House Cleaning Schedule
First, we understand that keeping your entire house spotless takes work. There’s no way around that fact. However, it’s much easier to keep up than to catch up.
For this reason, we suggest making a house cleaning schedule for you and every other member of the house. If small jobs are getting done on a daily basis, they’ll be less need for big weekend cleaning days. This will leave you more time to relax and enjoy your hobbies and interests.
2. Make Sure Everyone in the Home Picks Up After Themselves
One of the most important house cleaning hacks is making sure everyone is pulling their own weight. You shouldn’t spend your evenings going around the house cleaning up after everyone. Furthermore, if everyone in the house learned to pick up after themselves (even kids), the house cleaning process would be much smoother and quicker.
Assuming your house members are old enough, everyone should:
- Take care of their own laundry
- Take care of their own dishes
- Take out the trash when they see full bins
- Pick up their personal items from common rooms
- Keep their rooms clean
- Clean up after themselves in the bathroom
- Etc.
There should never be a sink full of dishes. The laundry room should never have someone’s laundry sitting in there for more than a day. And garbage shouldn’t continue to pile up because no one wants to take out the trash.
3. Give Everything in the House a Designated Home
Home organization is essential to keeping a clean and clutter-free home.
Most people have more possessions than they need. Furthermore, several of these possessions don’t really have a “home.” This means they end up getting set down all over the house, which can lead to a constant state of disorganization.
To combat this we recommend two things. First, do a little decluttering to help get rid of the unnecessary items in your home (with an added bonus of reducing anxiety). Second, assign a designated location for each thing in the house.
4. Use Lemon to Remove Faucet Stains
One of the most annoying house-cleaning chores is trying to remove stains off of your sink and bathroom faucets. Fortunately, a little bit of lemon juice will do the trick. Use a fresh-cut lemon and rub the faucet down for a stain-free shine.
5. Use the Microwave to Keep Sponges Bacteria-Free
The cleaning sponges we use are a hot spot for bacteria and germs. Not only are they always wet, but we also use them to clean food, dirty, and other messes. However, by wetting the sponge and placing it in the microwave for 30 seconds, you can nuke all the bacteria and germs.
When using these house cleaning hacks, make sure you give the sponge some time to cool to avoid burning yourself.
6. Do HVAC Maintenance for Less Dust
Dust in our home comes from everywhere. You get dirt and dust from outside, dead skin cells, pet dander, and more. However, you can reduce the amount of dust being spread throughout your home by keeping up with your HVAC maintenance.
Make sure you’re using a fresh HVAC filter. Additionally, clean all the vents from dust that’s collected over the years. Each time the heat or A/C turns on, dusty vents spread more dust throughout the house.
7. Use Vinegar, Lemon, and Baking Soda for Tough Jobs
Tough cleaning jobs call for touch cleaning agents. To keep things natural and reduce the number of chemicals you’re using, turn to things like lemon, vinegar, and baking soda. Lemon and vinegar are naturally acidic and have amazing cleaning powers.
Baking soda, on the other hand, is great for scrubbing, killing odors, absorbing moisture, and cleaning up oily messes. You can even use baking soda to remove stains and odors from the furniture.
8. Use Rubbing Alcohol for Stainless Steel Appliances
Stainless steel appliances are modern and beautiful. However, they also have a knack for picking up fingerprints, grease marks, and other smudges. Fortunately, there are house cleaning hacks for polishing these appliances – using a microfiber cloth and rubbing alcohol.
9. Easy-Clean the Microwave
Microwaves can be used as their own house cleaning hacks. Though they tend to get super messy as food splatters and gets cooked onto surfaces, microwaves can be easy to clean.
If your microwave has a build-up of nasty, cooked-on food, use a microwave-safe bowl full of water and vinegar (half of each). Then microwave the solution on high for five to 10 minutes. Use a popsicle stick in the bowl to prevent the solution from boiling over.
Wait a few minutes before opening the microwave, then safely remove the bowl. Take a rag or paper town and wipe down the interior of the microwave. Everything should come off with ease.
10. You Can Use Magic Erasers for Nearly Everything
If you’ve never used Magic Erasers before, these simple tools provide the best house cleaning hacks. They are amazing at removing stains from walls, gunk on counters, soap scum in bathrooms, and more.
Just be careful when using these little guys on painted surfaces, they are essentially ultra-fine sanding blocks. If you use them to vigorously on walls, for example, you can start to fade the paint.
11. Consider Hiring a House Cleaning Service to Help You Keep Up
Finally, if you’re looking for convenience and reliability, one of the best house cleaning hacks for you may be hiring a monthly cleaning service. If you’re a busy parent and have trouble keeping up with things around the house, a cleaning service can take a lot off your plate. It may well be worth the effort to find the extra room in your budget.
Looking for More House Cleaning Hacks?
Do you need help around the house? If so, our team of experienced and professional cleaners may be the answer you’re looking for. Contact us today to book a free estimate for your cleaning needs.
And if you want more house cleaning hacks, take a look at some of the other articles in our blog. We love helping people keep their homes clean, even when it just means providing insightful house cleaning tips.
