Anyone Know how to clean a House Efficiently?

Question

My Grandparents are ill & I now have the job of cleaning their house once a week. I was just wondering if anyone had any methods to clean faster. Tips, something I should buy. Anything

Answer 1

I have a few tips.

Re: cleaning supplies.

If you are using accumulated bits and pieces of a thousand products at their home, start with the closest to empty and use them up. Gets rid of clutter in the cleaning closet.

To replace cleaning supplies, look for products that do many jobs. Windex is an excellent one, for bath and kitchen surfaces, disinfecting, and the traditional glass, chrome, mirrors, and windows. Minimal numbers products that work lots of different ways save space, time, and money, PLUS they are safer because there is less chance of mixing the wrong things together (check labels for warnings about bad combos, for example, never mix bleach with ammonia).

Use concentrated products and dilute to the strength you like, make your own spray bottles or make your own wipes using baby wipe containers or plastic storage containers and select-a-size paper towels.

Make products portable. Buy the small size ONCE and refill from economy sizes. Carry a small amount of each product around in a bucket or caddy.

My basic inventory of cleaning products is:
Windex for almost all hard surfaces
Murphy's Oil Soap and Pledge for wood and dusting
PineSol for floors and heavy duty disinfecting
Bleach for disinfecting and mold and mildew control
Baking soda...a thousand uses...freshens carpets, laundry, fridge, also adds grit to scour with.
Vinegar...a thousand more uses...vegetable wash, freshens and softens laundry, mild disinfectant, mix with baking soda for drain cleaner.
Don't forget your fav laundry products, as well as dish soap for general soap and water cleaning.
I use Febreze quite a bit.

Re: Tools

You should have a bucket, an assortment of rags (microfiber cloths are great, but so are old tee shirts or cloth diapers), a broom, a dustpan, a mop bucket (on wheels with a wringer?) a good mop with an easily replaced/cleaned head, a vac with attachments (often replaces dusting with a rag). Things like razor blades and pancake flippers for scraping, sponge paintbrushes for cleaning or dusting tight corners.

To begin your cleaning regimen (if the place needs serious attention) start with about half your time devoted to ONE room in the house and half your time devoted to everything else. Work your way around the house deep cleaning one room at a time until they have all been cleaned well.

To deep clean any room:
Clean walls
Move furniture and clean around/behind/rearrange?, minor repairs to chair legs, drawer pulls, etc, and straighten contents of storage pieces.
Clean light fixtures, window blinds, and windows.
Clean shelves and dust items on surfaces
Clean electrical cords
Dust stuff hanging on the wall
Attack accumulated dust, grease, grime, mold, mildew, etc with heavy duty cleaners (in a well ventilated area.)
Wash curtains, bedding and other linens, including throw pillows (if you are unsure how to wash, ask a dry cleaner or use the Dryell kit for home dry cleaning in your dryer.)

To quick clean any room:
Disinfect sinks, toilets, surfaces, door knobs and other misc handles to things, light switches, phone, computer keyboard.
Collect out of place items and put them away.
Clear the room of dirty dishes, laundry, and trash
Sweep and maybe mop OR vac floor
Make beds, maybe change sheets

Random tips for moving around the house:
In ONE room, start at the door of the room and work your way around until you reach that door. OR choose a product and do everything in that room that requires that product, then choose another product. Also work top to bottom...dust, etc will travel down as you work, so cleaning top to bottom will save redoing the lower surfaces. And if you have to do wet and dry cleaning, do the dry stuff first, then dust etc from dry cleaning will not settle on a damp surface. So vac then mop, etc.

Other sequencing tips: work around the floor plan of the house, doing one story at a time, one room next to the other, then the hallway that connects them, do stairways after you do the top floor as you work your way downstairs.

For floor cleaning, may be easiest to do one whole story at a time. All the sweeping upstairs, then all the vacuuming within reach of the cord then replug it, etc, then mop your way out of the area you are working in. Then do the next level of the home.

Other random tips:

You can clean surfaces faster, including insides of cupboards, shelves, sink vanity, tables, etc...if items are corralled in a container. Then you just lift the container, clean under it, and place it back on the surface.

If your grandparents' house is wall to wall stuff and years worth of memorabilia, see what you can do to help them declutter. Having less stuff laying around makes cleaning easier.

Hope these ideas help you!

Answer 2

Check the link below -- it is a story on a full set of tips from a profession cleaning service called MaidPro that tells you how the pros quickly and efficiently clean a house. Just eliminate any steps you feel aren't necessary.

If you need specific instructions for any area, try the other two links to eHow.com (how to do practically anything, cleaning area), and Pioneer Thinking / Cleaning Solutions section.

Good luck -- and kudos to you for doing this great job for them!!

Answer 3

The best way is to start at one end and work your way to the other. Carry a basket to put stuff in that needs to be moved to another room. Dust, then vaccuum. Carry all your supplies with you so your not going back and forth. I got these tips from a book years ago, but I can't seem to find it. I believe it's Speed Cleaning by Jeff Campbell.

Answer 4

Your first answer said to dust and then vacuum. Never, unless you have central vac.

The exhaust of the portable vacuum cleaners will spread existing dust into the air. Always vacuum first and come back to dust the room when the dust has had time to settle.

I love the Swiffer dusters and got a telescoping one for cobwebs in the corners (both high and low) and for the blades of our ceiling fans.

Answer 5

These days’ people are aware with the importance of cleaning. To keep the house clean, dirt and dust free people hire professional house cleaning services Sacramento. These house keepers are well trained and have complete knowledge of the products and its usage.

Answer 6

Start at the same place instead of going back and forth from one room to another. Pace yourself with your favorite movie, soap opera, self help or a compact music disc. Talk on the telephone....it takes so much of your boredom away. Don't stop to eat or you'll get tired, sloppy and/or sleepy. Don't mix strong cleansers like bleach and ammonia or you'll have to stop because of fumes. Mainly, just keep going and don't stop for anything.