Every home needs to be cleaned. Whether it’s a big house, a small apartment, a townhouse, or even a holiday home, it’s unfortunately not going to stay clean without at least a little effort.
And while a little cleaning here and there probably doesn’t bother you, it’s probably fair to say that a lot of us would rather spend our time doing something else.
So, to make your life a little easier, we’ve put together a room-by-room cleaning guide with tips on the key things to keep clean in each area and how. The aim is to clean your home smarter and free up your time.
If you want to save yourself a whole heap of time, keep reading to learn more.
The Kitchen
With this being the space that we prepare our food it’s vital that it’s clean. But, if you’re like lots of other people, the kitchen somehow always feels messy and dirty.
To stop it feeling this way all of the time, here’s the things to stay on top of:
The Dishes
It’s so easy to make excuses about washing the dishes but mess encourages mess. Whether you’re saving up the dishes until you have a lot to do in one go or you have a particularly stubborn pot or pan to clean, do yourself a favour and clean your dishes sooner rather than later – even as you go to stop them from building up.
If you have a dishwasher but only have a couple of dirty dishes, consider hand washing them instead of waiting. If you do handwash your dishes, staying on top of them while there are very few is going to make your life easier and stop you from adding to the pile too.
The Sink
The sink is one of the most versatile and useful areas of the kitchen, yet somehow it’s always dirty or covered in dirty dishes. Staying on top of your dishes will help you keep your sink in a more usable condition.
When the sink is clean is does feel like you have it all together – and there is also the hygiene aspect. We’re washing all kinds of things, including raw meat off our hands, yet often we forget that this is then touching the sink. By giving it a clean and wipe regularly, you can avoid getting ill.
Big Surfaces
As we mentioned before, mess attracts mess, so when there are things all over the bench, it’s likely that a few things are going to be collected there too. Make sure everything in your kitchen has a home, that way it makes cleaning your surfaces a lot easier.
Give your refrigerator, bench tops and stove tops a wipe down at least once a day. That way you’ll be ready to do anything in your kitchen and it feels terrific.
Learn about the nooks and crannies to clean in the kitchen here.
The Bathroom
Definitely a least favourite area to clean the bathroom but unfortunately, the longer you leave it, the grosser it gets. Here’s the things to keep on top of
The Shower
The place where you clean yourself often gets overlooked for a proper clean itself, but it really shouldn’t. Just because water runs through the area regularly, doesn’t mean germs and bacteria won’t have a field day.
If your shower has glass then you probably notice the build up of soap scum, but if not, it can be easy to overlook the grime.
Instead of letting mould and mildew build up in the tile and grout of your shower, give it a once over with a scrubbing brush once a week. And a bonus tip is to clean out the shower grate/drain regularly. With a paper towel, wipe the shower grate to hopefully get hold of any loose hairs that may have found their way to the grate. The last thing you want is a blocked shower drain and something that resembles a drowned rat coming out of your drain.
The toilet
Our toilets are a workhorse in the bathroom, and while we might give it a quick once over with the toilet brush somewhat regularly, consider giving it a treatment with proper cleaner at least once a week. Do this when you have time to let the cleaning product work for you. That way, you can avoid discolouration and build up.
If you’re planning to give your bathroom a deep clean, read these tips.
The living room
The living room is likely to suffer from two problems – things being out place and things that don’t belong.
We use our living rooms a lot, usually to spend time with the family or to unwind. So, it’s only natural that there’s going to be some collateral damage, but unlike other areas of the house, the living tends to be somewhat simple to tackle.
Pack away the things that don’t belong
Whether it’s toys, projects, shopping or something else, if you’re guilty of using the living space as a bit of a dumping ground, it’s time to make sure you find a home for whatever doesn’t belong. This could be a daily task or a weekly one, but finding a home for everything will discourage you to add more things that don’t belong. A handy tip many people use is to have a catchall basket – you can have one for every family member – and at the end of each day or week, you can collect the things that don’t call the living room home and put them in the basket to make it easier to transport to each room.
Straighten up the things that do belong
Once you have the clutter and the things that don’t belong out of the way, give the living room a once over to clean up the things that do live there. Couch cushions, remotes, books, throw blankets, these are some of the quick wins that once straightened up can make your living space look a lot neater.
The Bedroom
We use our bedrooms on the daily, so it’s understandable that they can get messy easy, but some small tasks can at least give the appearance of a tidy bedroom.
Keep Surfaces Clean
If you love a cup of tea to unwind in bed or a glass of water beside you, each morning make an effort to make sure that you take it out of the bedroom and back to the kitchen to be cleaned. If you wear jewellery, when you take it off, make sure you put it away. When the surfaces are clean, it can make your room feel a lot more relaxing.
Make Your Bed
Does anything make you feel more put together than a made bed? We doubt it. So, whether you are a bedmaker or not, it’s now the time to be one. It really doesn’t take too long to do. You don’t need to go all hospital corners and tightly tucked each day, even just a simple straighten and flatten out will cover you, just try to get into the habit of making your bed each morning. At the end of the day, when you’re about to get into your made bed, you’ll thank yourself.
Put Clothes Away
It’s so easy to make excuses to not pack away clothes, but there really isn’t much difference between folding your clothes and packing them away in the cupboard, closet or dresser vs leaving them on “the chair” in terms of effort, but the feeling of not having clothes strewn in your bedroom is pretty hard to beat.
Read some other bedroom cleaning hacks here.
The Whole House
Doing these three things at least once a week will help you avoid having to do big cleans.
Dust
Dust builds up everywhere and it does it a lot faster than you think. Make it a habit to give most rooms of your home a quick dust at least once a week and you can avoid allergies and the gross feeling of dustiness.
You don’t have to get into every single nook and cranny, but a quick dust each week will do wonders.
Vacuum
Vacuum only after you’ve dusted, that way you clean up the dust as well as everything else.
If you look closely we bet that you’ve got hair in a lot of places in your home, and if you have pets, just hand over the money now. Hair gets absolutely everywhere, so giving the house a vacuum once a week is going to save you a lot of hassle and it makes walking around the house feel a lot more pleasant.
Let some air in
Fresh air in a clean home, is there anything better? There really isn’t. Open up windows and doors when you are at home at least once a week just to let some nice clean air in. It will make your house feel a lot fresher.
Struggling to find time to clean?
If you’re finding it hard to keep on top of the cleaning in your home in Sydney, then book a cleaning service from us here at Pristine Home. We clean homes and office buildings of all sizes and make it easy for you to get on with everything else you need o do in your home.
Don’t make life any harder than it needs to be, get a professional cleaner to help you today.
