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There are very few people in the world that like cleaning. They do exist, but they are rare.
Like a unicorn.
For the rest of us, we just want the cleaning over with as quickly as possible with minimal effort.
And there are ways to make it all go by faster. I scoured the ends of the internet and found some speed cleaning tips that will have you back on the couch reading your book in no time.
Clean The House Quick: Speed Cleaning Tips from Professional Cleaners
Some of these you’re going to want to shake me because they are like, DUH!
But you need all the tips, so here we go.
#1 Hire Someone to Clean for You
I know. There’s a million reasons you can’t do this. It’s expensive. Your house is so bad you can’t let anyone it. You will feel like a failure for asking for help.
It is a luxury to have someone clean your house for you and you shouldn’t do it if it’s not in the budget. But if you can move some things around, you should 1,000% do this.
Pros will clean like you’ve never cleaned before. If you can afford it, do it. Get over whatever hangups you have about it and go for it.
If you can’t, don’t sweat it. There are lots of other ways to make cleaning go by in a blink.
#2 Be Prepared
Yes, just like the Boy Scouts. Without the little bandana neckwear. Unless some bandana neckwear motivates you to clean. In that case, go for it.
Have the right tools for the job, ready to go and have a plan.
Don’t start wandering aimlessly through the house spritzing things with Windex.
Go room by room, corner to corner and tackle the following:
- Trash
- “Mess” – all the stuff that isn’t where it’s supposed to be
- Upper surfaces (counters, tables, etc)
- Soft surfaces (couches chairs, etc)
- Floors
#3 Set a Timer
I like to give myself 15 minutes per room. I know that doesn’t seem like enough and for the kitchen I usually give myself two 15 minute sessions.
But the pros know they need to get a house done in a certain amount of time so that they can move on to their next client.
You should tackle cleaning the same way. Only your next client is Netflix.
Otherwise, like a goldfish will grow to the size of it’s bowl, your cleaning tasks will grow to the time you allow.
#4 Let Water & Soap Work for You
Water is the most destructive force on earth. Not fire. Not even lava.
Water.
If you give some soapy water a minute or two, it will make your cleaning life about a million times easier.
When I walk into a room to clean it, I spritz the “dirt” first. Anything that is baked on, caked on, stuck on, ring around the tub-ed on gets sprayed with my cleaner of choice and it sits there for at LEAST a few minutes.
You’ll scrub way less after the water and soap has had a chance to break down the mess.
#5 Top to Bottom
This one is very science-y.
It’s based on a scientific principle gravity. You may have heard of it.
Here’s an example. If you want to clean your kitchen cabinets and you start with the bottom cabinets, then, due to gravity, when you start cleaning the upper cabinets, they dirt and nastiness will drip downward to the bottom cabinets you already cleaned.
That is gravity at work.
Work with gravity and start at the top of the cabinets (or shower or walls, or whatever) so that you don’t have to re-clean the crap you just cleaned.
#6 Make Your People Help
Unless you live alone, the other people in your home ought to be helping you. You almost never see a solo professional cleaning team. It’s almost ALWAYS a duo. Except Alice on the Brady Bunch.
Husband, wife, children, dog, cat, (ok, I know, the cat is never going to help anyone do anything ever, but you can probably train the dog to take the trash out) SOMEONE needs to be helping you.
This one is tricky, however. I have to balance my desire for things to be done with my balance to do things right.
So I’ll usually pass off the tasks like, picking up trash and collecting clothes from floors. You can pick whichever things you want to pass off.
I can’t pass off filling the dishwasher because no one in my house is geometrically inclined and when they fill the dishwasher there are six things on the bottom and 7 things on the top and a sink FULL of dishes.
So I keep that job, no matter how much I hate it.
#7 Invest in a Good Vacuum
I don’t have a single rug in my whole entire house. The cat hates rugs so much he pees on them instantly thereby rendering them useless. Unless you enjoy the smell of cat pee.
But I still have a good vacuum and if you spy on your neighbors cleaning people, you’ll see that they lug a HEFTY looking vacuum into the house every time they come to clean.
There’s a reason for that. The vacuum is indispensible.
It can totally clean your hard floors. But, that’s not all.
You can and SHOULD be vacuum things like, couches, chairs, soft ottomans, drapes, vents, high light fixture that you don’t feel like standing on a chair to dust…
Do I need to go on?
The key here though is that you need a GOOD vacuum. Or else you’ll just be annoyed at what it doesn’t pick up. I love my Shark and Dyson’s are pretty awesome too, but SUPER expensive.
#10 Stay On Top of Things
This one is boring and very adult-ish and responsible. But is you let things go and then one Saturday decide that you’re going to clean the WHOLE HOUSE! you will regret it.
By hour three you’ll be like WHY DIDN’T I LISTEN TO MARYBETH?? She said to stay on top of things and I didn’t listen and now it’s going to take me the rest of my natural life to get this soap scum off the bottom of the tub
See, I told you. Have a daily and weekly cleaning routine so that nothing gets too out of hand. Then when do need to speed clean, you’ll be starting from a good place.
Go Speed Cleaner, GO!
Go get that house clean! Fast.
Bonus speed cleaning tip, put some good music on. It won’t make you go faster, but it will make the time seem like it’s going by faster.
Check out Clean House Fast Hacks if you loved this post and want to be even speedier!