Beck - Heart Full of Free Who loves cleaning tips? Me!! Any way to make cleaning my home quicker and easier is always appreciated. A clean home, is just as important as a clean body. We often overlook our environment as having an impact on our health and wellbeing, only considering factors such as genetics, lifestyle and diet. Using some simple cleaning hacks in our homes is one way we can easily make changes that can significantly benefit our health.
When we clean our homes, we remove the pollutants and toxins. Cleaning removes dust, allergens, mould and VOC’s that can negatively affect our health. And we can do this without the use of toxic chemicals. Plus a dirt and grime build up in your home can cause wear and tear, ultimately creating costly problems.
One of the simplest cleaning tips to accomplishing a toxin free home is by undertaking regular housekeeping.
“I don’t have time to clean” I hear you groan, “I have to work and I have kids”, “I hate scrubbing, I have a bad back, I just hate cleaning and I am too busy generally doing other things like fun stuff.”
Trust me, I know how you feel. And I have heard all the excuses under the sun for not cleaning. In a past life I worked in real estate as a property manager.
But there are ways to make it easy, and not overwhelming. The trick is to do small things every single day or week. This prevents the cleaning becoming a massive job taking up hours of your time. And let’s be honest, that is time that can be spent on more enjoyable things.
7 Cleaning Tips to Make Your Life Easier
1. Quickly wipe over surfaces such as bench tops every day. If you see a mark on a cupboard door or wall, grab a damp cloth and wipe it off (it takes 5 seconds). Put things away once you have finished using them to reduce cutter which collects dust, and making it into a huge chore. There is no excuse in my mind for a parent to be picking up and putting away their children’s toys – if they can pull them out, they can put them back. Do the dishes after every meal.
2. Make sure you have good quality mats at your entries, so people wipe all the dirt off their feet before coming inside. Even better, make it a house rule to not wear shoes inside. This will significantly reduce the amount of dust in your home. This in turn not only reduces the amount of toxins but also the amount of cleaning.
3. Dust surfaces regularly using a damp microfiber cloth so you are removing the dust. Dry dusting will redistribute the dust back into the air, only for it to settle onto the surfaces again.
4. Vacuum regularly with a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter, motorised head and disposable electrostatic bags. This type of vacuum will remove larger amounts of dust and contaminants from your home. Some vacuum cleaners actually redistribute most of the dust back into the air. I see that as a big waste of my time when the last thing I want to do is cleaning.
5. I hate cleaning the shower. My cleaning hack is to dry your shower after use. It will only take 1 minute (trust me). Use a window squeegee or a towel and dry all surfaces to prevent mould growing and remove soap residue. That way, all you will need to do is give it a quick wipe over once a week rather than getting in and scrubbing away the mould, dirt and grime.
6. Create a weekly timetable to do one bigger cleaning job each week – For example:
Monday – Wipe over bathrooms & clean toilets,
Tuesday – Clean oven,
Wednesday – Change towels and bed sheets,
Thursday – Dust with microfiber cloths,
Friday – Vacuum & wash floors,
Saturday – Sweep outside,
Sunday – Nothing – put your feet up and take a day off.
See where we are heading here……
7. Create a bi-monthly timetable for the jobs that need to be done, but not that regularly. For example:
January/July – Wash windows
February/August – Clean window tracks
March/September – Clean window screens,
April/October – Put mattresses out in the sun for airing
May/November – Clean air conditioning vents
June/December – Clean gutters
Work As a Team
If there are two of you – it means it can be done in half the time, or you can get twice as much done. And your kids can help too. If they use the toilet, they can clean the toilet – it’s not rocket science– I used to make Marcus do it when he was younger. He refused to flush so that was the consequence. Funnily enough, he flushes every time now.
Don’t Let It Become Overwhelming
When we don’t clean regularly, when you leave all these jobs to do only once a month, or longer, it becomes overwhelming. It is also harder to do, requiring scrubbing and often this is when we start to use harsh toxic chemicals. And this isn’t fun. And this is why people say – I don’t have time, I have kids, I have work……because they look at it all as one big job. But in fact, one of my favourite cleaning tips is to break your cleaning into teeny tiny little chunks. Then it makes it so much easier to keep a clean, toxin free home that supports your health and wellbeing.
If you rent and dread the quarterly rent inspection, with its seemingly demanding list of things that require cleaning, just consider that you wouldn’t really have to worry at all, because they would all already be done, and your property manager could simply breeze in and out, with no complaints. No more, “sorry, can’t come out tonight, I have an inspection tomorrow and I have to clean”. No more reinspections and feeling judged because your property manager wasn’t happy with the way you were keeping the home.
Finally, because it is important to make sure your environment is free from pollutants, and if you really, truly, honestly can’t find the time to clean them from your home, or really truly honestly just can’t stand the thought of cleaning, outsource it. Get a cleaner in once a week to clean your home using chemical free products. The health and wellbeing of you and your family too important.
