Cleaning Quickies – Advice from a Professional Chelsea Maid
In an ideal world (read SW3), we’d all have all the time we needed to clean our homes in one big hit. Alternatively, we’d all have professional cleaners who came in every day, and the place would stay clean in between the cleaners’ visits! However, in the real world, the tasks on the household chores list seem to expand and as soon as you’ve finished, say, vacuuming the floor, the job of sorting the laundry puts fluff all over it all over again.
All this means that there’s always something to do around the house. That might seem like the bad news but the good news is that doing lots of little things now and again adds up, producing, over time, a big result. These little jobs – the cleaning quickies – can be easily slipped into those little odd moments during the day when you’re waiting for something. It hardly feels like you’re doing any cleaning work – but you are!
We’ve all got those mini-moments in the day when we’re waiting for something to just finish off or to heat or to arrive or to load. Instead of taking these moments to check social media or our emails – you’ll probably only find a bunch of spam or things that can wait – then use the time to do something a bit more productive in the form of cleaning quickies. All this time really does add up!
Of course, everybody’s home is different, but here are some ideas for cleaning quickies just to get you started. Any Chelsea maid would be proud to have these in her arsenal, by the way.
In The Kitchen
- Put away clean dishes from the dishwasher while you’re waiting for the coffee machine. I’ve heard of someone who tries to race the coffee machine.
- Wipe the top of the oven as well as the bench after you’ve finished washing dishes by hand.
- Toss that soggy dishcloth or sponge into the wash whenever you spot it sitting there because it’s better to go through two dishcloths a day rather than have the same dishcloth sitting there for two days unchanged.
- Rinse and stack dirty dishes prior to loading into the dishwasher or washing them while waiting for the kettle to boil.
- Actually wash a load of dishes (maybe leave them to drip dry) during those last few minutes while everything’s just finishing cooking.
In The Living Room
- Pick up dropped cushions, books and magazines during ad breaks of your favourite TV show. Given the number of ads that turn up these days, you can actually get quite a lot done during them as well as going to the loo, so have a duster on hand.
- You can also water houseplants during ad breaks.
- And you’ve probably got time to put away that dropped jacket or pile of books.
- If you’re watching sport, then you can get TONS done during the tea break or during the half-time break (depending on what sport you’re watching). You can probably get the room vacuumed in this time.
- Wipe dust and grime off the bottom of the mouse or shake crumbs out of the keyboard while waiting for a page to load and your internet is on the sluggish side.
- Sort and fold washing while watching TV, or keep your hands busy with mending – or even chopping vegetables for dinner, depending on the time. Who says that the kitchen’s the only place that you can do food prep?
- When you start up a DVD, there are always the trailers and the “Piracy is a Crime” warnings to get through before you get to the good bits. Use this time to whip around with a duster or to pick up and put away a few dropped items.
- Finished reading that magazine? Don’t put it down on the coffee table – take it straight to the recycling bin once you’ve torn out any recipes or craft ideas that you want to keep.
- Try out pens on a bit of old paper and see if they work. If they don’t, then toss them out. This can be done at all sorts of odd moments or even during a TV show.
In The Bathroom, Laundry And Toilet
- Hand-wash lingerie while you’re in the shower. You’ve got the soap and the water for rinsing right there handy for doing it. You do have to take the lingerie off first, so don’t try cheating and washing it while it’s still on you! This is a good way to fill in a bit of time if you like to wait before rinsing out conditioner… or if you want an excuse to linger in that lovely warm water for another minute or two!
- After the shower, or while waiting for the water to heat up, use a squeegee or wiper blade to wash the glass shower door, the walls, the mirror or the windows, depending on what you’ve got in your house.
- Finished with that facecloth and not going to use it on your face again? Use it to give the sink and the taps a few quick wipes to pick up any splashes and splodges of soap and toothpaste before tossing the facecloth into the wash.
- If your toilet and the laundry share space, as they do in my house, then you can use the time when you are “enthroned” to sort the washing.
- Just before you toss that last thing into the washing machine, use it to wipe down the top of the machine, and maybe other appliances while you’re at it. Unless the item in question is either really filthy or if it’s something gorgeous and delicate!
In The Bedroom
There’s not usually much waiting around time in the bedroom unless you keep your computer or a DVD player in the bedroom – see the ideas for the living room in this case. However, a few little routines will help you stay on top of the mess in the bedroom, and they don’t feel like much work while you’re doing them.
- Make your bed, or at least your side of it, when you get out in the morning.
- If you come across clothes that are tatty, torn or frayed or that don’t fit, then don’t even bother putting them away in the drawers (or back into the drawers, depending on what you’re doing). Toss them straight away.
- When you leave the bedroom in the morning, take empty mugs, glasses or water bottles with you.
- If you’ve left putting your laundry away until the end of the day, you can multitask and do it while getting undressed and into whatever you like to sleep in. Take off your sweater, put a couple of things away, take off your shirt, put some more things away, and on it goes. You’ll probably have everything stowed into the drawers by the time you’ve got your PJs on.
In The Car
OK, these should NOT be done while waiting at red lights in Kings Road, SW3 or at any intersections. If the engine is running and you’re in the main traffic stream, you need to concentrate on driving and nothing else. If checking texts or emails on your phone is a dangerous distraction, then some of these other ideas are as well! These ideas are for those moments when you’re waiting for the person you’re picking up. OK, maybe you can do one or two if you’re being held up by major road works or something along those lines!
- Clean out your handbag – most of us have got old receipts and empty packets that we’ve been lugging around and that need to go.
- Grab a wet wipe (or a tissue moistened with water from a handy bottle) and clean out the inside of your cupholders.
- Shake out dirt, debris and grass clippings that have accumulated on the mats of your car.
- Use that wet wipe (OK, another one if you tried the cupholder thing already) to wipe down the dashboard or the steering wheel.
- If you’ve got a bit more time, then get out of the car and wipe the outside of the windscreen a bit.
