5 Tips to Make Cleaning Easier

I like my home clean and orderly.  Kyle likes his home to have that “lived in” look.  (Translation: piles of shoes, stacks of mail, dishes in the sink, towels dropped on the floor, etc..)  It is the largest ongoing battle in our relationship, and I am losing.  So living on my own while I work in Montana has been lovely, because I once again live in an orderly paradise.

Cleaning is my cardio and my stress relief.  When life feels chaotic, I can clean up my kitchen and feel like I restored a bit of order to the world.  Here are my best cleaning tips for busy professional women.

First. If it can hold still, it can be vacuumed.

I achieve a Zen-like calm when vacuuming, and I believe that with the proper tools and attachments, you can vacuum anything.  I use the angled tool to clean crumbs off the counters and stoves (before I wipe them down).  I clean the baseboards, the blinds, the ceiling fan, the hair from the bathroom sink, etc. with my vacuum.  I also like it for cleaning the inside of kitchen and bathroom drawers.

I own this Dyson Animal Vacuum and the companion Stick Vacuum.  The stick vacuum is perfect for stairs, for cleaning up around baseboards, and quickly cleaning hair off of the bathroom floor.

Second. Keep Windex wipes in every bathroom.

If you like a clean home, built up filth is your enemy.  The grime in the sink.  The spit on the mirror.  Combating the scourge means staying on top of it.  And the easiest way is to keep the wipes at the ready.

I buy these compostable vinegar-based cleaning wipes from Aunt Fannie’s.  They have a lovely citrus and mint fragrance.  Just wipe down faucets, sinks, toilet-seats, handles, and mirrors twice a week to stay on top of the grime.  Also, if you struggle with hardware stains on faucets, use wax paper to clean that up with ease.

I also keep Pledge wipes in my nightstand so I can quickly dust on Saturday mornings after I make the bed.  Dust built up too thick for traditional dusting?  Grab a dryer sheet.  They’ll clean up even the thickest dust.

Third. Create a ‘system’ for worn clothes.

My biggest source of clutter is worn clothes.  I come home at the end of the day, change out of my suit, and toss the pieces onto any chair available.  Or I used tom before the system.

If I intend to re-wear a piece of clothing, I leave the hanger out on the dresser top.  This way, I can just put it back on the hanger when I take it off.  It’s really cut down on the clothes clutter.

If I don’t intend to wear it again, I put it into either the dry cleaning hamper or the washing hamper.  I like these woven rope baskets as hampers.  The best place to buy hampers is usually at a discount store like TJ Maxx.  I like this lidded hamper because you can keep your dirty laundry concealed.

Fourth. Purge the piles of mail and clutter. 

Walk through the home section of any store and there are plenty of decorative bowls, trays, and baskets for sale.  They’re designed to corral clutter, but often, they become just a receptacle for mess.

On the first day of every month, I grab a trash bag and purge old mail, tchotchkes, trinkets, and trash from the places where they live.  Doing it on the 1st ensures that I start each month fresh, and it helps prevent the mess from building up.  I use this simple storage container for mail, and I love a decorative basket, but sometimes the things you use to organize can also be cluttered.

Fifth. Consult the Internet.

Some things are just persistently dirty.  Cloudy glasses, the ring around the toilet, the scale in the coffee maker.  For these tasks, the wisdom of the Internet cannot be beat.  Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart and Real Simple can help you solve those hard to clean problems quickly.

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