Cleaning House Tips That Save Time and Energy

 

Personally, I can think of a million things that I would rather do than cleaning house. Scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, washing, moping, etc. is hardly what I call fun activities, only necessary ones. If you feel like me, then let me share several cleaning house tips that have helped me finish those unpleasant, but necessary chores sooner that can help you too.

Cleaning House Kitchen Cleaning Tweaks 

I am not a perfect cook or baker. With that said, I tend to get messy when preparing food and especially when baking. I take after my one grandmother. Though she was a fantastic baker that I only wished I could be, she usually wore flour as well on her apron and dabs on her face without fail. I, too, have inherited that talent and always wear an apron. In fact, I have a collection of them in dark prints to disguise many stains.

To save time, I spot clean any of the little spills that may have landed on the stove, microwave, oven, table, sink or floor immediately before it has a chance to harden. I keep a spray cleaner handy to keep up with me. Waiting until you finish or forgetting until later only makes the cleaning of it worse.

Washing any dishes, pots and pans after eating, cooking and baking is always what I prefer to do over letting them accumulate. When you wait until later, whatever is on the dishes or left in those pots and pans takes so much extra elbow grease to scrub.

Keeping up with the regular cleaning schedule of your dishwasher can help efficiency and prolong wear. Instead of waiting until you remember, I keep track of simple chores like this and changing the furnace filter on the first day on the month. This way makes it easier to get rid of that gunk inside once I take out the bottom rack and clean out that drain. After I gather what I can from it, I just put a cup of white vinegar in a bowl in the upper rack and run it through a hot water cycle. When that cycle is complete, I scatter about one-half cup of baking soda in the bottom rack before running it through another hot-water cycle.

Kitchen drains can become stinky even when they’re running properly. Before a clogging problem occurs, once a week is when I freshen the drain up with a pot of boiling water followed by one-half of baking soda just as I would if clogged. I wait a few minutes, cover the drain and then pour a cup of white vinegar and more boiling water into the drain. Taking a few minutes before the drain stuffs up helps the odor and is a wonderful clogging preventive measure.  For every day, I just boil an extra pot of water in my coffee maker and dump in the sink.

Rethinking Bathroom Cleaning Helps Later

Bathrooms are prone to getting mold, despite running a fan or cracking a window. What I found helps better prevent a mold problem is quickly wiping down the shower walls immediately afterwards with a squirt of spray cleaner. Tackling those walls in the shower while still wet using a microfiber cloth and spray cleaner keeps the shower cleaner looking.

What else that cuts down on that mold problem is keeping the shower door open when wiping to dry. This helps the drying process to lessen chances of mold and mildew having time to get started and grow.

Showerheads accumulate so much gunk from soap scum. Something that you need to try is making a ball out of aluminum foil for a cleaning tool to rub over the chrome showerhead. The crumpled crevices of the foil ball manage to better dig out that soap buildup without being overly rough to damage the showerhead.

Hanging hooks on walls can help save cleaning time if your family has a tendency to leave clothes in spots that you don’t like such as hanging their robes from a bedpost or piling on a chair or chest.

I found using a squeegee when cleaning windows helps speed up the task. Going from top to bottom exerting gentle pressure gives me fewer streaks than wiping down with a micro fiber cloth or newspaper.

These are just some ideas for cleaning tweaks that can improve your routine and life.  You also might want to read my earlier post with  other time-saving cleaning shortcuts.  I hope that you try these cleaning house quickly tips because they do help eliminate extra work later.