Learning new ways to organize household tasks can save you time and energy when it comes to cleaning on a busy schedule. Love To Know Cleaning spoke to Teresa Ward, owner and operator of Teresa's Family Cleaning, Ward started her residential and commercial cleaning business out of the basement of her home as a one-woman operation. Solidly built on the basic principles of providing excellence and quality, she now has approximately 35 staff members and works out of an office in her hometown, Rocky Point, New York. Learn from the experts on how to organize your cleaning to get the biggest bang for your time.
Learn Ways to Organize Household Tasks
Improving how you organize your cleaning and household tasks can minimize the amount of time you spend cleaning. If you spend less time cleaning, you can spend more time on the things you want to do.
When cleaning house on a time budget, what are the five most important things to remember?
- Organization of supplies
- Finish a room completely, not jumping from room to room
- Cleaning things once, not going back to redo
- Don't stop. If the phone is ringing don't pick it up. Once you stop its harder to get back in the groove of cleaning
- If you must get the whole home done quickly, straighten out first and do most important things done like toilets, dusting etc.
How can you organize your household tasks in order to accomplish a lot in a little amount of time?
When going into a particular room, bring any supplies you would need for that room. This saves time instead of walking back and forth to the kitchen to get any extra supplies. When in the room work from the door, all the way around the room staring with high things first and working down the wall.
What's a common household cleaning mistake that you encounter?
Bleach. A lot of people think that if you just spray bleach on that mold in your bathroom it will magically go away. This is not true; you will make yourself crazy cleaning these areas over and over again. Bleach will only lighten it. It will come back in a week or so, if you want to get rid of mold install a fan to get rid of the moisture and re grout the tiles in you shower area.
Don't Make Cleaning Harder
Cleaning house is harder when you don't have the right supplies at hand. Who hasn't had to stop in the middle of cleaning to head to the grocery store and pick up supplies? When that happens, you lose your forward momentum.
Do some people make a house cleaning task harder by the way they do it?
A common mistake is that some people don't have the right cleansers or supplies and it can make a job harder. For example you can't use just a wet paper towel on grease marks. Using a proper grease cutting agent can get the job done quicker without a lot of scrubbing.
How can you motivate others in your house to keep up with the household cleaning?
Make them help you on a Saturday afternoon, especially if you have teenagers who want to go out with friends. Let them know if they don't start picking up after themselves this will turn into their normal Saturday routine.
Children and household cleaning tasks, how can you teach them to keep it clean as they go?
Teach children to finish the task at hand before starting a new one.
What household cleaning task do you like least and how do you minimize it?
Bathrooms, just keep up with it throughout the week. Rinse shower when done using so any soap residue doesn't dry on tile. Wipe down counter when done using it etc.
Lists Help
Lists are one of the best ways to organize household tasks, cleaning tasks, work tasks and much more.
Task lists, yes or no? Why?
Yes! Everyone will know what needs to be done and no more time is wasted going over it every time cleaning day comes. This will also help when it comes to trying to get everyone to pick up after themselves during the week. The less time they need to clean on a weekend the more they will pick up their mess during the week.
Ten Minute Tip
Clean only on rainy days so you can spend nice days with your family and/or hire a cleaning company!
LoveToKnow Cleaning would like to thank Teresa Ward for taking time out of her busy schedule helping customers keep their homes clean and organized to share her expert tips and suggestions with readers.
