Cleaning your entire house at once can be pretty daunting, especially when facing a long checklist of cleaning tasks. What to do first? Does the order really matter? Can you do it quicker? All these haunting questions have their answer, and here in our blog, you'll find them!
Before you begin
When you follow a cleaning plan or checklist to tackle your chores, it's helpful to keep everything as organized as possible. That way, you'll reduce dead time and be more efficient while sticking to the plan.
For example, you can put the cleaning products you're going to use throughout the whole process into a basket or a caddy—you won't have to run up and down to your storage every time you need a specific tool!
Also, be sure to separate your cleaning rags depending on the room in which you'll use them to prevent cross-contamination. Separate them into three categories minimum: cleaning cloths for the kitchen, the bathrooms, and general rooms (like bedrooms or living rooms).
Which rooms do you need to clean first?
Let's begin with the route you need to take through your home so you don't skip anything. By following these steps, you'll also make the most of your cleaning tools, which will result in better results. Check them out!
Step #1. The kitchen and bathrooms go before the rest
It's always better to tackle the toughest or most time-consuming tasks while your energy is at full. Most of the time, your kitchen and bathrooms are the areas that will take you longer and demand more effort from you, so starting there is the most clever thing to do.
Also, going for the kitchens and bathrooms first will make setting apart the rags you use to clean them much more straightforward. You could even toss the cloths in the washing machine sooner so they're clean once you finish with the rest of the house.
Step #2. Follow with the rooms that need more attention
You may have an idea of which rooms in your house need to be cleaned more than the others—if not, just give them a quick look to know. Dirtier or messier rooms have priority over the rest, so once you finish with your bathroom or kitchen, they are next.
Step #3. End up with your living room
As you clean all the other rooms, dust particles can flow and settle on the main hub of your place. Tackling your living room at the end will help you deal with all the accumulated dust without worrying about it getting dirty again.
Also, living rooms are usually the more open spaces in every house, which will give you more freedom to move around and clean. A nice change of pace after spending the day in tighter spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms.
Extra step: the top floors go first
If you have a multiple-story house, start with the top floors, as carrying your cleaning tools (a vacuum, for example) will be heavier when you're tired from cleaning the lower ones.
Here, you can be flexible about the kitchen and bathroom suggestions. If you have bathrooms on the second floor, tackle them before the other second-level rooms, but wait until you get down to the ground level to tackle the kitchen. The thing is, bathrooms and kitchens have priority on their respective floors.
What's the best order to tackle chores?
You know what rooms to tackle first, but you may still ask yourself in which order to clean every one of them to make your cleaning even more efficient. Take a look:
Step #1. Start with chores that can be going on while you do other things
Some tasks don't need your complete attention to get them done. That means you can tackle other chores while waiting for them to finish, taking better advantage of your available time.
Do your laundry or put the dishes in the dishwasher and let them run, only checking them from time to time to advance the cycles if needed. The best thing is that taking a break from your other tasks to keep an eye on laundry or dishes won't take you more than one or two minutes.
Step #2. Clear the spaces you're going to clean
Whatever room you're going to tackle, cleaning it will be much harder if you're moving through a messy space. So, the clever thing to do is to organize every room you enter before beginning with the cleaning part.
Start with the largest items like clothes, making your bed, taking out towels from the bathroom, and clearing the kitchen desks.
Step #3. Clean and organize
With surfaces cleared, it's time to clean them. However, nobody likes to do extra work. So, once you get to this part—especially speaking about dusting—doing it from top to bottom is the better choice.
Why is it better? If you start low and then high, all the dust and dirt displaced will end up settling in the lower areas, forcing you to clean again. The top-to-bottom method will spare you from all that trouble.
After cleaning, you can put everything back in its place. But you don't have to wait until cleaning the whole room to organize everything. Make things even smoother, and return the items as you go. For example, you could place decorations on shelves as soon as you finish with them.
Step #4. Clean the floors last
As said, gravity will make the dust settle on lower surfaces as you clean. So most of the dust will end up on the floor.
Grab your trusty vacuum cleaner and give your rooms a thorough vacuum from end to end. To ensure effective vacuuming, do it in one single direction first, then turn the direction 90° to get the most dust possible.
Once done, you can give your floors the final touch by mopping them. Remember, first vacuum them, mop!
Get the help you need from the cleaning pros!
Keeping up with the cleaning duties for a whole house is not an easy task. Everybody needs a little help from time to time, and Rain City Maids can give it to you! Let our experienced maids cover all your cleaning needs to leave your place as clean as it can be.
