I have been trying to organize my life and I've pinned so many helpful ideas from Pinterest so that I can be awesome and someday maybe even Super Woman. I came across an interesting looking post about having a clean house in only 45 minutes a day. The post looked interesting so I looked further and clicked on the link leading to this lady's blog. She is a stay at home mother of two girls and she also home schools, already this is looking bad because she is doing so much more than I am at this point. I started reading her post.
She stated that she often gets complements about how clean and organized her house is and that you can get the same compliments or similar ones if you follow her cleaning regime. By this point I'm getting a little intrigued, compliments? really? for my house? well that would be fantastic.
As I lay my head down at night and dream fantastic dreams about being wealthy having a well behaved son and loosing many, many pounds; I fantasize about the little Home and Garden faeries that visit deserving women's houses while they sleep and organize, paint and completely makeover the house so that when you wake up you are so amazed and blessed that you may have a coronary on the spot and die of pure joy and happiness. Alas, no joy, no organization and luckily no coronary's. But I digress.
Below I've copied part of her post: Her post is in blue. So I don't get into too much trouble if she see this here is where I got the original information.
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2010/09/08/speed-cleaning/ Credit where Credit is due.
My comments are in
red
Here is my (her) system:
General Guidelines:
- Start at one end of the house. (I start in our Master Bedroom and work my way through the living room and kitchen to the girls’ room and bathroom.)
- Cleaning is much easier when everything has a home. Work on creating organized storage for all of the things that end up being scattered around the house, like papers, mail, shoes, & toys. Agreed
- Use a large laundry basket to collect items such as toys or clothing that need to be returned to a different room. If you have multiple offenders, use multiple baskets. After you have finished tidying every room, take 5 minutes (5 minutes if you are lucky) to put away the collected items.
- Save sweeping/mopping and vacuuming until the end, then do it all at once. We have mostly hard surface floors, so I use an industrial dry mop to wipe the floors each day. It takes only a couple minutes to run it over all the floors and then shake it off outside. About once a week, I do a really thorough sweep and then use a Swiffer WetJet to mop. I vacuum the rugs about 3 times a week. (Apparently she doesn't have a two year old or pets)
- Likewise, save the glass cleaning for the end as well. Once the house is completely clean, I will grab my windex and rag and run around doing spot checks on the glass doors and windows. I wipe the bathroom mirrors as well as the fixtures and sink.
- Keep daily shower cleaner in the bath/shower and spray down after each use.
Bedroom(s) (5-10 minutes each, depending on how much to pick up): 20 minutes each, we have a lot of toys and a playroom
- Always make the bed. Even if there are other things laying around, the room will look much, much cleaner.
- Quickly pick up any clothes, toys, or dishes that are lying around. Quickly is a relative term
- Use a duster or dry rag to quickly dust all surfaces, including the headboard and footboard.
Bathroom(s) (5 minutes each): 10 minutes each, again, we have a lot of toys
- Squirt toilet bowl cleaner around the rim; let sit.
- Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to quickly wipe down the sinks, tub, and shower.
- Use toilet brush to quickly scrub toilet, rim, and seat.
- Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to wipe down toilet & surrounding floor.
Living Room/Dining/Home Office Areas (10-15 minutes): 45-60 minutes, because I've had to clean the same area 3 times because my two year old keeps playing while I am cleaning, it doesn't matter if I turn on the TV he still brings new stuff out when I put the other stuff away.
- Quickly pick up any shoes, dishes, toys, or other items laying around. (Put them in basket to put away later.)
- Use duster to quickly dust all surfaces.
- Use damp cloth to wipe down furniture (if leather), table(s), and dining chairs. I have to wipe down the couch daily, it is microfiber so it takes a good 10 minutes
- Tidy desk area and make sure all paperwork & mail is filed & sorted in its proper spots.
Kitchen (10-15 minutes, depending on how many dishes): 30-45 depending on how much stuff has been spilled on the table and if the blinds have food on them or fingerprints. Also cleaning up toys twice.
- Quickly pick up any items that don’t belong in kitchen and place them in basket(s). Gather any dirty dishes and put them next to sink.
- Quickly unload (if necessary) then load diswasher.
- Hand wash dishes/pots/pans as needed
- Spray all counters with disinfectant spray, then use soapy water and wet sponge to wipe them all down.
- Wipe down stovetop.
- Dry and put away any hand-washed dishes, then drain and rinse sink–the secret to a truly clean-looking kitchen is clutter-free counters and a nice clean sink.
Finishing Up:
- Use a dry mop to clean hard floors. Spot clean with a sponge if necessary. Daily
- Vacuum rugs/carpet. Daily
- Clean glass surfaces & mirrors as needed with glass cleaner and a lint-free rag. Don’t forget to spray & wipe the bathroom fixtures for extra shine!
- Put away items collected in baskets while cleaning.
It may take a little getting used to, but once you are in the habit of speed cleaning each morning, you will be done in no time and free to enjoy a clean house for the rest of the day!
I love the last line of the article, enjoy a clean house for the rest of the day! WOW - Not in my house!
I agree on a lot of this article but after trying it and it taking me 4 hours to do a couple of things popped into my head. 1) I am truly terrible at cleaning. 2) I have an incredibly messy house. 3) This lady is on crack. 4) There is something wrong with me. 5)All of the above.
As the day wore on I felt frustrated at this stupid post, at myself and at my house. So I decided that maybe my house was to blame. It wasn't the cleanest when I started so maybe if I clean my house really good then it won't take as long. Sound logic. So I started the deep cleaning; I cleaned my windows inside and out, washed the blinds slat by slat. I scrubbed the bathrooms top to bottom, washed the walls, baseboards, anything that could possibly be washed. Maybe now I was ready to try to have my house cleaned in 45 minutes. I was stoked and had the music going and I was going to do this. And off I went. 2 hours later I was done. Enough said - I don't think my house can be cleaned in 45 minutes.
Happy Cleaning
