In today’s post, I’m going to share how I clean my whole house in one shot. The method I have developed over the past couple of years, when actually performed (I have to admit I kinda slack on housecleaning once in a while), works to very efficiently clean the home. On a typical day, I can get the entire house cleaned over the course of about 3 hours. This is my basic housecleaning system–laundry is a category of its own!
Before I delve into my actual system, here are a few tips I have found very helpful when cleaning the house:
- Work from top to bottom and back to front. This way, any dirt, dust, crumbs, or whatever that falls from above or the back will be cleaned up as you work your way down and out.
- Start at a doorway and work in a circle around the room. You can go clockwise or counter clockwise, it doesn’t necessarily matter which direction, just work in a circle with each task.
- Go from one side of the house to the other. Instead of focusing on one single room until it’s clean, do each specific task (such as dusting) individually and perform it upon the entire house.
- Use a caddy. Put all of your cleaning solutions, brushes, sponges, rags, and other small items in a caddy. This way, they can be easily carried from one room to the next.
And here’s a list of what cleaners (all of my cleaners are inexpensive, homemade, and non-toxic, ) and tools I use.
- A caddy. I store my cleaners, rags, wet bag, and a brush in the caddy then simply carry the caddy throughout the house with me as I work.
- Toilet cleaner. I keep a squeeze bottle with homemade toilet cleaner in it.
- Microfiber cloths. I know microfiber cloths may not necessarily be the greenest thing to use, but I typically use them until they wear into nothing, so it’s not like they’re getting wasted! Plus, they’re what I have found to be the most effective at cleaning. I like to have about 20 hand-towel sized ones on hand. {Keep an eye out–I’ll be reviewing some Norwex cleaning cloths soon, so I’ll let you know how they stand up to my cheap microfiber cloths}.
TIP: When cleaning microfiber cloths, do not use any fabric softener (liquid or sheets) as this will eventually destroy the cloths’ ability to clean well. - A brush. I have just a cheap dollar store brush that I use to scrub the showers and bathtub.
- Dusting spray. I really like my simple homemade dusting spray.
- Glass cleaner. I prefer to use my homemade glass cleaner.
- All-purpose cleaner. I fondly call this “APC.” I like to use my Super Citrus All-purpose Cleaner. It cleanses and sterilizes surfaces.
- Simple Scrub. I use my homemade Simple Scrub (which has replaced my Comet cleaner) for a variety of tasks like scrubbing showers, tubs, sinks, toilets, and so on.
- Wet bag. I carry around a wet bag to toss the used microfiber towels into to be washed later.
And now for the method. Do each task one at a time. You can switch up the order if you like, but this is the most logical, efficient order I could think of (open to suggestions, though).
- Toilet prep. Squirt about 1/2 cup of toilet cleaner under the lip and into the bowl of all the toilets and let it sit for about an hour (I go about the next few steps before returning to the toilets).
- Tidy. Take a basket, crate, bin, or some other container and a waste basket or a trash bag and go through every room in the house. Put things that belong in other rooms into the basket and toss any trash hanging around into the waste basket. As you move from room to room, put away things that were placed in the crate from previous rooms. While going through each room, tidy things that are askew (for example, straighten pillows, fold throw blankets, and so on).
- Dust. Working from top to bottom, go through every room in the house and dust. Remember to get the tops of picture frames, baseboards, and the hood above the stove.
- Glass. Go through every room in the house and clean all the windows, mirrors, and TV or computer screens.
- Flat surfaces. Spray all-purpose cleaner on every flat surface (counter tops, tables, side tables, etc.) in the house, working from one end of the house to the other. Leave the cleaner on the surfaces until you’ve gone through the whole house, then come back to the first place you sprayed and wipe it up. Letting the cleaner rest on every surface for a bit helps to loosen anything that’s stuck, be it food, dirt, or anything else.
- Bathrooms. Clean all the vanities, showers, bath tubs, and toilets (in that order so you can use the same cloth).
- Shower and tub. Sprinkle some Simple Scrub onto a brush, dampen it with some water, then scrub away. Once done, rinse it off and repeat if necessary. Also do this to the sinks if they need it (like if there are chunks of dried-up toothpaste).
- Toilet. Scrub a bit then flush the toilet cleaner that was put in the toilet during step 1. Sprinkle some Simple Scrub onto the toilet brush, scrub, then flush.
- Floor. Sweep, mop, and/or vacuum (in that order) all the floors in the house. I will often sweep things from the hard floors onto the carpet so I don’t have to sweep it into a dustpan–I just let the vacuum suck it for me (a handy shortcut I learned in college).
Voila! Your house should be squeaky clean now with less time and effort spent to get it there.
Jocelyn says
This describes my Saturdays! Love this post =D
Jill says
I would like to be able to print the healthy mama notebook pages.
TJ says
Hi, Jill! You can print them here: http://measuringflower.com/2013/10/trim-healthy-mama-notebook/ And they do not display in Internet Explorer. Any other browser works great. 🙂
Cathy says
Hi! Just found your blog last week in looking for a low-carb pie crust. Was just reading this post and wondered if you ever did that review comparing cheap microfiber to Norwex? I find my cheapies to work well but have friends who keep pressuring me to try Norwex.
TJ says
Hi, Cathy. Yes, I did try the Norwex cloths. They do work and work well. However, I don’t like that they cost so much per cloth. So I have a handful of them that I’ll use with just water, but I still stick to my cheap microfiber cloths a majority of the time. Yes, Norwex probably saves some money, but really vinegar isn’t exactly a budget busting item, lol. So I personally probably won’t be buying any more Norwex cloths. They, in my opinion, aren’t *that* awesome. But that is my opinion. 🙂 Thanks for asking, Cathy. Have a great day!
Cathy says
Thanks for answering! I’ve been looking for input about that. Most who sell them are thrilled with them, but I wanted an unbiased opinion from someone who had tried them.
Kathryn Grace says
Over the decades, I’ve tried lots of fast-house-cleaning guides, most of which took far longer than the writer suggested. Many involved turning the house into a zen-like structure with few books, no mementos and minimalist furnishings. That didn’t happen at our house.
I’m a lot slower than I once was, and my house shows it. I’m going to try your method, knowing I don’t have the stamina to do it fast and hard any more, but I think it will work, even if it does take me a little longer.
Thank you!
TJ says
Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Nancy Andres says
Thanks TJ for this fabulous post on efficient house cleaning and home made housecleaning products. LOVE that you make your own cleaning products and your system is similar to the one I use. It sure works well for me. I just pinned and posted the link to Simply Natural Saturdays on FB. I hopped aboard with “Use Red to Improve Well-being (tips for heart health the natural way). Thanks so much for hosting. I’m green too and love all colors of the rainbow. Warm regards, Nancy Andres
Brittany @ The Pistachio Project says
Love this! This is pretty much how I clean my house on Fridays.
Tess says
This is brilliant! I suffer from a chronic illness and my house it’s currently a wreck since I’ve been out of commission. Your post has helped me cut out all of the extra steps so I can get more done between having to rest. Thank you!
TJ says
No problem, you’re welcome. I’m glad it helps!
Stacey says
Hello, we just moved in a house almost a month a go and trying to get a routine going, we have 1 bedroom up stairs and 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, a living room, and dinning and kitchen where can i start my stepson doesnt want me to straighten his room up cause it doesnt look that bad so i moved to living room and straighten up the living room and dust and use glass cleaner and so i moved to the bathroo, one of the bedrooms and i move to the dinning area and the kitchen amd i sweep the floors and vacuum the carpets is that a good routine or not help
Shasta says
I don’t sweep. I just adjust my vacuum to “bare” floor and vacuum bare floors. Mopping in the last thing I do before taking out the garbage.
Marie says
Your 3 hour house cleaning systems seams do-able. I would like to try it. As I clicked on the high lighted links for your home made cleaning products, I got a 404 error on each and every one of them. I will use my own cleaning products but am not sure if you knew that this was the case. If for some reason you are choosing not to publish these solutions, you should consider de-linking them.
Christian says
My cleaner had a week off this week abs she can clean the whole house in three hours so as I had to do it myself, I needed a way to do this in three hours rather than taking me all day. This post was excellent ! I followed it to the letter and in three hours the house is sparkling again. I’m not going to get rid of the cleaner obviously but will certainly use this routine abs homemade products again. Thanks so much !