Top Five Home Cleaning Tips

There is no better feeling than relaxing on the couch while admiring your spotlessly clean home.

When you’re surrounded by a dirty and disorganised mess, it’s much harder to stay focused or switch off entirely after a long day.

You’re also more likely to lose your belongings in a messy home, which is an unnecessary headache for anyone.

As life becomes increasingly busy, it’s easy to procrastinate and find dozens of reasons to avoid cleaning up. Many people know how time consuming and overwhelming the process can feel.

But it isn’t as difficult as it may seem. With some simple tips and habits, you can keep your house in pristine condition, all year round.

white, soft toy bunny facing the viewer, sitting on a pine floor with the words tired of cleaning over its shoulder

Stay organised

After a long week of work, the last thing you’ll want to do is spend your entire weekend cleaning the house.

We all want a tidy home but we want to enjoy our time off too. The easiest way to cut down the required time without compromising the final result is to do a bit at a time as you move through the house.

If you keep on top of the main problem areas, you won’t need to do a big weekly or monthly clean.

Instead of just throwing the mail on the kitchen counter, sort through it right away and throw out anything that isn’t important.

Make a list

If it’s been awhile since your last clean, you need to start the ball rolling.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything that needs doing, to the point where nothing gets done.

Break it down in a list, either on your phone or a pad.

Go through each room to work out what needs to be done and create individual task lists for each space. Consider every surface, including window sills and window cleaning too.

Divide the jobs

Once you’ve established a room-by-room plan, you can divide the jobs among your family members or housemates.

An excellent way to keep everyone on track is to have all of your cleaning products ready to go and to set a time limit for each room.

With a specified timeframe, you’re more likely to work in an efficient and logical manner.

You’ll also get the biggest jobs done right away. Seeing progress will create momentum.

pink gloved hand wiping a blue glass surface with a yellow cloth

Check your supplies

If you notice your window cleaning spray is almost empty or you’re running low on cleaning clothes, make a note to pick up these items next time you’re at the shops.

There is nothing worse than starting a clean, only to realise you’re out of Windex by the time you reach the bathroom!

This annoying situation will only delay the process or result in a half-finished job – and no one wants that.

Always clean from top to bottom

It might sound like an obvious statement, but it’s surprising how many people forget this rule.

The most efficient way to clean a room is from top to bottom while working your way out of the room.

By doing this, you make sure the dirt doesn’t drip on your newly cleaned surface, and you don’t have to reclean.

For example, when you clean your kitchen you should follow this process:

  • Dust and wipe shelves and benches. Starting with the highest ones first and making your way down.
  • Wipe down the stove top.
  • Take any bins out and clean where they were.
  • Sweep (if there’s a lot of dirt), then vacuum the floor.
  • Clean any glass surfaces and cupboard doors.
  • Vacuum and mop the floor. Always start from the back corner and work your way towards the door.
lemur dancing on red sand saying ready set clean

By sweeping and vacuuming the room before you start mopping, you’ll improve the efficiency of cleaning and reduce the likelihood of scratching the floor with dirt or other solid materials.

If you do this process in reverse, you’ll end up recleaning the floors to catch all those crumbs and “how did it get there” dirt.

Remove pet hair with duct tape

While we love snuggling up to our pets we don’t appreciate the hair they leave behind.

Pet hair removal is often a struggle and can seem like a never-ending battle.

From years of trial and error, we’ve worked out the best approach – duct tape. The stickiness of duct tape is the ultimate DIY pet hair remover and is a much faster method than just vacuum.

Wrap duct tape around a paint roller cover, with the sticky side facing out, and roll it over furniture or carpet to pick up the pet hair on a large surface. You can easily add more tape to the roller as it attracts more hair.

A sponge or cloth wrapped in duct tape is a great way to get into the corners and catch those hard to reach strands.

a cat pawing a roomba saying give me my hair back

Clean your sponges

Sponges are the unsung heroes of home cleaning.

As one of the most used tools in your daily household routine, they’re practically used on every surface in your home – from cutting through grease on kitchen benchtops to clearing away soap build-up on our shower screens, tile and grout.

However, this means sponges can quickly and easily pick up germs, especially if they’re left in the sink or on a benchtop for long periods.

This accumulation of nasty bacteria can transfer disease around the home and cause severe infections, which is why we suggest cleaning your sponges frequently.

There is a range of different options for when it comes to cleaning your sponges. Some of the most popular include:

  • Put the wet sponge in the microwave for 30 seconds to kill the bacteria. You may need to wait a couple of minutes before removing the cloth as it can get quite hot!
  • Put your sponge in the dishwasher and run it on an intensive cycle
  • Treat them with a bleach-water solution, before rinsing in clean water.
brown puppy asking did you say spring cleaning

Spring clean regularly

Despite what the name would suggest, spring cleaning shouldn’t be a once a year event.

Many people lack the motivation to give their homes a real scrub down, and typically just clean the major surfaces.

But there is a silver lining to the often-dreaded spring clean.

A deep clean of your home will actually reduce your weekly cleaning load and keep your household in year-round good condition.

Declutter

Start with the wardrobes, sorting through clothing, shoes and accessories that you no longer need.

The home office is another space that will probably require some attention. We recommend taking advantage of any shelf space to keep your desk as clear as possible.

uncluttered lounge room with a pink sofa and a cactus on a modern coffee table

The kitchen is typically one of the most used rooms of the house, so it’s essential to keep it as clean as possible too. Remember to clear out your pantry, refrigerator and the backs of your cupboards.

Remember to mop and vacuum under the furniture as well. Be thorough and try to dust and clean every surface, shelf, vent, baseboard, window and cupboard.

Cleaning your curtains, pillows, blanks, bedding and rugs will help reduce dust.

If you want to hand over the cleaning to someone else, Perth Home Cleaners has you covered.

Contact us for more information on our comprehensive spring cleaning services. This service is the perfect option for anyone too busy to meet the cleaning needs of their property, plus we customise our cleaning to suit houses, townhouses, villas, units and apartments.