Boy, we sure do hate cleaning our houses, but when we found out that it might be taking twice as long as necessary, just because we are making some really obvious mistakes, we felt REALLY stupid! We don't want you to fall into the same traps as us, which is why we've put together this handy list of cleaning errors that you could well be making! naturally, professional cleaners need to be able to do a great job, in a fraction of the time chores take us laymen and we think we've discovered some of their secrets today, so why not take a look now and see if you've been making things unnecessarily tough for yourself?
We know that it makes sense to start with the vacuuming, but once you move up and start dusting, you'll be pushing grime back onto the floor, which you've just cleaned! ARGH! Always work in a top-down way, to make sure that your vacuum gets all the leftover bits of grime!
It's so tempting to just fling everything in your laundry basket and washing machine, but taking the time to unfurl everything and turn clothing the right way out will save you hours and the end of the wash cycle! Also, it's worth having two laundry baskets; one for coloured items and one for whites!
It might seem like a more pleasant time to wash your windows, but taking your glazing to task on a hot day will give you little time to work, as your water will dry a lot more quickly and leave awful streaks as well! Try to wash your windows on a grey, dry day that isn't too warm and it will be FAR easier!
If you've been vacuuming your bedroom carpet, you'll have the brushes down on your vacuum, but these will do nothing to help you on a hardwood surface! Always pay attention to whether you have your wood or carpet attachment on, as this could either make your vacuuming much easier or far less effective!
It seems like a good idea to give everything a rinse before it goes in the dishwasher, but you really don't need to bother! As long as food remnants have been removed, to prevent filter and drain clogs, you are good to go! Why wash your dishes before you let a machine wash them as well?
We are all guilty of this tip, we're willing to bet! Instead of spraying your cleaning products and scrubbing them straight away, give them a few minutes to really start working, while you get on with something else. For example, you can spritz your splashback, clean the toilet and then come back and wipe your tiles in one easy motion, instead of scrubbing!
You might think that popping your shoes in a cupboard and keeping them out of sight is all you really need to do, but to prevent a whole lot of extra cleaning, try to get everyone in the household in the routine of scraping and wiping their shoes, so as to avoid dry mud building up in your storage! Also, let's all get used to the idea of adding some odour-eaters, as smelly foot stench is NOT easy to get rid of!
We all know that there was a time when a lint roller was considered to be the cutting edge in pet hair removal techniques, but that was a long time ago! Instead, simply pop on a rubber glove, run it under a tap and wipe your furniture with it. The pet hair will simply fall away in one swipe, rather than hundreds of attempts with a sticky roller!
Finally, negating to clean your actual cleaning products and caddies mean that as you move around your home, you might be spreading grime! Take a few seconds to make sure all nozzles are clear of dried gunk, wipe the bottles and replace cloths regularly and you'll never have to clean up after you've done your chores!
For more cleaning tips, take a look at this Ideabook: Easy bathroom cleaning tips.