Cleaning—ugh, it never ends, right? But think of all the calories you burn—cleaning day is a great excuse for chocolate cake after! Besides rewarding yourself with cake, here are some ideas that might help.
- Start from the top down. Dust the highest things first. Clean higher items and work your way toward the floor. That way any dust or whatever that falls can be swept up.
- Once a month or two (or three), de-clutter. The less clutter, the easier it is to clean quickly.
- If you want to clean “green,” use only baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, and essential oils. I have extremely severe toxic injury, so I don’t have a choice—I have to stick to these. But if you try also, you will help save the environment from harsher chemicals. And they are so safe you can literally eat them! Except some of the essential oils. Plus, you will burn more calories scrubbing harder. (How about ice cream with that chocolate cake later?!)
- Spray cleaners on the surface (such as a sink) and let it sit a bit before scrubbing. This helps loosen the grime. If the vinegar does not keep the surface as wet as you need, use paper towels and soak them. You can “line” the tub with vinegar-soaked paper towels or the toilet with vinegar-soaked toilet paper pieces. You may even want to do this several times if using vinegar and baking soda. Spray vinegar, wait (go on to cleaning other things or even an adjoining room or de-cluttering), possibly add baking soda, wipe/scrub, spray, wait, sprinkle, wipe, rinse. Vinegar is a nice cleaner, but baking soda will add a bit of abrasiveness for scrubbing.
- If you have children, let them help. Turn it into a game, like Mr. Miyagi from the movie The Karate Kid. (“Wax on, wax off.”) If you are younger than I, you may be saying, “Who?” “What movie?” LOL You could watch the movie with your kids after chores some week!
- Turn on music. If you have kids who are helping, let them choose the music, and the louder the better.
- While doing dishes, listen to an audio book. Get your entertainment and work done at the same time! If you have children at home, you can still do this sometimes by waiting until after they are in bed to do dishes. I found it kinda peaceful to do dishes in the quiet nighttime while listening to audio books. Or, you could choose a book everyone likes.
- Remember you don’t have to do it all in one day and it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Happy cleaning!
What are your favorite cleaning tips?
