What is the best way to clean a house?

Question

For the past year, I have been extremely depressed and have let my housework go. I am feeling better now but am realizing just how bad my house looks and I dont think the standard cleaning is going to cut it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my house back to the condition it should be in?

Answer 1

Well for starters.. I am in the same situation...
But of course it considers the type of situation you are in.
Carpets. Hard floors. Dusting.

The first thing I would do is go out to the store and purchase:

The dirt devil reaction. I think I bought it 1month ago for around 150.00 at target. It picks up dust and particles like there is NO tommorow.
( for carpet )

The next thing I would do is Purchase the hoover floormate SpinScrub™ - H3030 ( $170 at target )OR the Hoover floormate™ - H3060 ( $230 at target. )
I am somewhat in the proccess of doing this.
So of course I don't own one YET, but I know people that do and they make their floors look brand new.

WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT PURCHASE THE BISSEL FLIP IT ( ANY OF THE MODELS ) THEY ALL STINK AND DO A HORRIBLE JOB!!!!!!! ( I PURCHASED IT FOR 72$ ) (waste of money!!! )

And if you have Mirrors and glass that needs cleaning some windex will do. Less than $5.

Cleaning toilets/showers may be a problem but not with this cleaning solution ( THE WORKS ) I bought it at a meijer store disenfects while it cleans away rust, lime scale, and soap scum. But depending on where you live you maynot be able to find it. So here is an alternative: Scrubbing bubbles or lime away, they do almost the same job. Should sell for around or more than $5.

Dusting is the easiest of all, just by purchasing a bottle of pledge and a couple of rags will do the trick, shouldn't cost you more than $10.

Total CHEAPEST purchase: $340
Total EXPENSIVE purchase: $400

Hope you take my

Answer 2

Like someone said before make a list:
First do you have cleaning equipment ....
Soap, if it's as bad as you say--- detergent/or dishwashing soap, window cleaner, bleach, ammonia (please do not mix these), buckets, and trashbags, gloves -- like the lawn type and the plastic for household work, extra mops, brooms. sponges, cleaning rags and socks (throw them away after your done) and don't forget the Pledge.
The kitchen -- if it's as bad as you say, and dishes have piled up, then put dishwashing soap and some bleach in a bucket filled with hot water and let the dishes and glasses and silverware (not fine silver) let them soak, while you do the rest of the kitchen. Then start clearing off that counter, sweeping and cleaning. (Throw away any food that may no longer be edible if there have been bugs -- sugar, flour, etc) Don't forget to spray for those or lay traps if necessary.
Put the trashbags to use, throw away the trash. The moldy clothes, the paper, magazines, the junk. If it cannot be cleaned (ie clothes) then get rid of it. If it does not fit get rid of it. Hey use a rake if necessary and use gloves like you were doing yard work (I had to do that once, for someone who just didn't like to clean).
One room at a time, and take lunch and scheduled 15-20 minute breaks and get back to work. It's a job, and treat it as such. May be on a long, 3 day weekend, the job can be accomplished.

GOOD LUCK, and Hey hope you are feeling better. May be there are friends or family that care and willing or able to help.

Answer 3

My sister has depression cycles as well. So here's what she found the most useful.

First, eliminate the clutter. Get several boxes: marked trash, give away, different room, and paper. Sort all the stuff from ONE room and put into these boxes. The whole point of the paper box is to keep you from stopping to read every single piece of paper to decide what to throw or not. If you haven't used something in the 3 years prior to your depression, throw it or give it away unless it was from a single beloved hobby (you may take that up again now that you feel better).

At the end of your cleaning spree (no more than 2-3 hours a day), dump the trash and place the give away into a box in your car (when that box is full, take to local charity).

Once you've eliminated the clutter, you'll find that cleaning is going to work much better. You might consider http://www.flylady.net/ after you've eliminated some of the clutter. I certainly found it helpful for concrete accomplishment after a long illness.

Paper: when you have time to sit down, sort through the paper. Throw EVERY SINGLE CATALOG OR JUNK MAIL OUT. Don't even look at it. If it's something you regularly buy, they will send you another catalog. Then sort your business mail, stuff you need to deal with, stuff you need to save (like bank statements) etc. Put these remaining items into a smaller box. Deal with as you have time.

Hope some of these tips help.

Answer 4

take it one step at a time- having the goal "clean the house" is broad and overwhelming
start with today- pick one room- the room you spend the most time in or the kitchen would be best-
make a list- for example go into the kitchen
make a checklist of the things that needto be done and the order they should be done in- (if you have a freind you can trust- get them over to help you prioritize and keep you from getting overwhelmed and off track)
make the items on the list simple and clear-
___wash dishes
___dry dishes
___put dishes away
___scrub out sink
___put away all items on the countertops
___scrub countertops
etc, etc, etc,
after you have made the list , start on the first thing- do not focus on any other rooms- do not do any other tasks- start on the first thing on the list and FINISH it before doing ANYTHING else, then with a big red marker (or whatever) check it of or cross it off the list and move to the next thing
as you see th items crossed off you will feel a sense of accomplishment and feel more motivated to keep going and finish it all.
Focus on one room a day and make a list for each room.
If you have a lot of stuff packratted around- start each room with three boxes- 'KEEP' 'GIVE AWAY' and "TRASH" go through everything in the room and sort the boxes then clean the room (scrubbing, sweeping, mopping vacuuming, etc) then put everything from the keep box away. Throw out the trash box and remove the give away box from your property THE SAME DAY- otherwise hey have a tendency to stick around and become a big mess again.
Put some cheerful, funky, or hopping music on and get to work!!

Answer 5

Sorry to hear - everone goes through those slumps including me!

I pick one room at a time and do not leave the room until it's completely clean then I move on to the next. Now since you stated that standard cleaning may not cut it. How about some help.

If you are a senior - you can seek assistance from your local township. Ask a member of your church to see if they can come out and assist you. Place an add in your local news paper seeking assistance then you always have a cleaning service.

Ensure you do one of those things quick becuase if you don't you'll fall further into depression.

Things will look up - don't give in!!!!

Answer 6

This same thing happened to me a few years ago.I wanted to condemn the place but since it's paid for,I figured the best thing to do was reclaim it. I started with the most used room in the house and went down the list of what was most important.My dogs had completely destroyed my furniture.I rented a dumpster and asked a few close friends for help. They came in droves...the bucket brigade. No one gave me grief or snide remarks.They came with buckets and gloves and mops and brooms,etc. I ordered a load of pizza and pop and we all cleaned right to the walls.After getting through with the place I've managed to keep my depression at bay and set up a schedule to clean things...one chore a day,5 days a week,with time off for good behavior.Good luck.Try not to get discouraged.It's been 3 steps forward and 2 steps back sometimes,but I keep moving along in the right direction.

Answer 7

i might like a clean, tidy homestead, yet with 2 babies it style of feels merely approximately impossible. they might empty out a cabinet interior the time it takes me to instruct around and understand what they are doing. I save the kitchen clean primary (not constantly tidy however), and take a inspect to do a load of washing primary. the bathing room gets a clean approximately as quickly as a week. The flooring particularly want a sweep or vacuum each 2nd day, yet that frequently does not get performed. I actually have a super load of ironing that desires doing, yet that can wait till I take a seat to observe television. i actually hate house household projects, and am heavily thinking quitting!

Answer 8

Start room by room. If your house is really bad, I suggest extensive cleaning... meaning remove evreything you can from each room. Start with say your bedroom, and pull the bed and all the furniture out. Then get in there and start by wiping down the cieling, walls, and closet. Then vacuum, and maybe consider renting a liquid vacuum. Next, put all the furniture back in, but dust it well before. Do this room by room, and don't cut corners. You could probably get it done in a weekend, and you will feel much better about your living situation when you have a clean home.

Answer 9

I hate cleaning up, so when I do it I have to look at it a different way, spruce up every thing, room buy room. Try getting some boxes ready to put things up you do not need, put things aside for Goodwill or a church, and just throw some things away. You do not have to spend too much money to redecorate. Moving things around a little can make thing’s seem new, and it can get you interested in it all again. One room at a time all ways worked for me.

Answer 10

I have gone through this myself, several years ago. You only have so many hours in a day and I know you see the whole house first. Step back and take one room, say a bedroom, take 15 minutes and get out any trash that you see. Then take a break, get a drink. Come back and take 15-30 minutes and see if anything like out-of-season clothes need to be put up or if there are clothes that need to go in the laundry. Take care of those and then take another break. Even if you wait till the next day, go back to the same room and then do any vacumning, take a break and then do the dusting. Maybe wait a day or two, and then take another room. Unless you feel like taking a Saturday to get a lot done in, take one room at least every other day. Tackle it as smaller jobs and not as one room.

I try to get any trash out first, then tackle clothing/laundry/out-of-season clothes, then bed linens, dust for spider webs around ceiling edges, then vacumn, dust, clean windows and any little things in room to be done. It's sort of like working from the top down, but sometimes you have to work from the bottom up, like in getting trash and laundry/clothes taken care of first.

I made it through the worst of my depression and now just take each day, one at a time. I work full-time and have returned to college three nights a week. So on the nights when I have class, I come in, drop my book bag, start my desk top computer, grab a load of laundry, get it started and then sit down to the computer to check emails. If I need to take care of one of the rooms, I check my emails and get myself something to drink, then I tackle one thing in one room to do. It may be just changing the linens on the bed one night. The next night it might be dusting.

It will take awhile to get the first cleaning done, but then after that, you will get back into establishing a routine that works for you.

It may not look like light at the end of the tunnel, but it will get better. Just take one room at a time.

Wish you the best.