Ways to Clean Your House Like a Pro Housekeeper
Cleaning, like anything else, requires a certain amount of skill in order to be done right. Sure, you can haphazardly vacuum the floors and fold everything sans strategy, but all you’re ultimately doing is creating more work for yourself.
Use a pattern.
Don’t just clean your surfaces all willy-nilly. If you use a consistent pattern to clean things, you won’t waste time by having to go back and hit spots that you missed on the first pass. Pros go from left to right and from top to bottom to make sure they get the job done right the first time.
Apply products and walk away.
After you apply cleaning products, give them time to work. Most cleaning products don’t instantaneously disinfect, so leaving them on for a few minutes gives them time to kill germs and break down crud, meaning you have less work to do. And for more great cleaning tips
Clean your ceilings and walls.
Working from top to bottom, dust your ceilings and walls, making sure to get all the corners. A microfiber mop works great for this, but if you don’t have one, tying an old towel or T-shirt over a broom is also surprisingly effective. Doing this on a regular basis will prevent dust from collecting throughout the rest of your home and ultimately allow you to spend less time with a vacuum or mop in hand.
Don’t forget about your baseboards
It doesn’t matter how sparkling clean the rest of your house is—if your baseboards are dirty, your house will look dirty. If it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned them, you might need to use a damp microfiber mop; otherwise, they can simply be vacuumed clean.
THE ULTIMATE HOUSECLEANING GUIDE
Make a list
Before you start, take a 10-minute coffee break to note the chores that need doing. “We write lists before we go grocery shopping; we should write down the tasks we need to tackle at home, too. Having a game plan is key and will help get you to the finish line with ease,”. Keep the list as a guide for next time.
Do one task at a time
“We used to be taught to do one room at a time, but now, in large part due to the popularity of Marie Kondo, a Japanese cleaning consultant and bestselling author, the switch to cleaning and organizing by category is proving to be more efficient,”
Deep-clean twice a year
This will save you a lot of work during your regular weekly sessions. For example, “if you deep-clean the grease from your range in spring, you won’t have to worry about it later collecting dust and turning into a bigger project down the road.”
Break it up
To spare yourself the drudgery of a single jam-packed cleaning day on the weekend, check a few chores off your to-do list each weekday. Bingo: More time to enjoy with family and friends when it counts the most!
Upholstery
Vacuum furniture regularly, using the upholstery attachment. Clear pet hair with a rubber squeegee or collect it with rubber gloves. Spot-clean stains immediately with a store-bought product such as Spot Shot. For more delicate fabrics, such as silk, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. For nonsilk upholstery, test an inconspicuous spot with some mild clothing detergent such as Woolite or OxiClean on a damp cloth.
Your Outside House Cleaning Guide: How to Clean Your Home’s Exterior
Whether you’re getting ready to put your home on the market or you just want to spice up your curb appeal, the possibilities are endless when it comes to making your abode shine. Outside house cleaning isn’t something a lot of people think about, but when you get down to it, it’s the very first thing you or someone else sees when you pull up in front of your home.
Get Rid of Gunk with Pressure Washing
Pressure washing the outside of your home can do absolute wonders. This process involves using water at super-high pressure to get rid of mold, dirt, and other unsightly debris. You may need to contact a professional pressure washing service to ensure that the job gets done correctly. It’s important to note that if you try to do it yourself, you may cause damage to the exterior of your home.
Update Your Landscaping
Unsightly weeds and dead plants can look just that: unsightly. With an honest day’s work, you can easily pull weeds and get rid of old leaves and other organic debris. Once you’ve cleaned up the dead stuff, you can plant a few flowers along the front of your home. Most nurseries sell annuals and perennials at a reasonable cost and if you buy in bulk, you can save even more.
Do Some Outside House Cleaning on the Driveway
Weather, oil, and wear and tear can do a real number on your driveway. Whether it’s unsightly stains or cracks, cleaning and then sealing your driveway can make it look as good as new. Calculate the square footage of your driveway and then purchase a quality sealant at your local hardware store. It’s a good idea to buy around 10 percent more just to be safe. If you don’t use it, you can always return any unopened containers.
Wash Those Windows
You probably clean your windows from the inside, but odds are that the exterior part of your windows could also use a little TLC. If you have windows you can access from the inside by opening them and angling in, cleaning them is super easy. Even if your windows don’t allow for this type of access, you can easily clean them from the exterior.
Residential Cleaning: A Beginners Survival Guide
The most important part of residential cleaning has nothing to do with cleaning itself. It is communication. When you are trying to seal an account for residential cleaning, try to put yourself into the customer’s shoes.
They are hiring you to be in their home, likely when they are not going to be there. You will be in every room and every corner. This means that they have to be sold on you as a person and your company. Communicate any information that legitimizes your business: insurance, bonding, cleaning specifications, employee info and how you select employees, guarantees, experience, products used, and equipment are all great places to start.
Go to the home for an initial meeting dressed in corporate casual, like khaki pants and a polo shirt. Have a clipboard, bid specifications, (available at this site to be downloaded) and a business card.
Make sure that the meeting is not just a house tour. Ask them if they have had a cleaning service in the past. If they have, ask why they are switching. It is likely that they weren’t satisfied with the service. Ask specifically what was not done properly and what their biggest concern with service is. Resist bad-mouthing other cleaning companies. It is cliché and it makes you look like a desperate account grabber.
Before leaving, don’t forget to address the issue of gaining entry to the home when you start. Some will give you a key, some will hide a key, and some might leave the door unlocked for you. Make it their decision. People don’t like to be talked into giving away a house key.
Guide to Healthy Cleaning
Disclosure Scoring Update
Ingredient information found on the label is often missing or incomplete, hindering the public from making better choices while they shop has updated the Guide to Healthy Cleaning to reflect the increased company adoption of digital tools that offer the public access to more complete ingredient information on the go
Starting in February 2019, if a product label has a machine-scannable barcode or QR code that allows consumers to access further ingredient information at the point of sale, the website disclosure score is multiplied by 1.5 and it is calculated from a possible nine points.
conducting toxicity reviews and updating references to ensure we incorporate the latest science. The new data includes the most recently available chemical hazard information from the European Chemicals Agency based on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of chemicals, and may or may not affect ingredient and product scores.
Procter & Gamble, the world’s biggest maker of both household cleaning and personal care products, introduces the most sweeping fragrance ingredient transparency initiative to date.
Guide to Healthy Cleaning has been updated to include more products and brands. Search now to learn how your cleaning products rate and if there are healthier alternatives.