Best way to clean

[Samanthajane5]

Hi,

I have been really busy at work, and I have got behind on my cleaning. I have a studio flat. It's literally one kitchen, one bedroom/sitting room and one bathroom. However, I have a lot of stuff.

Do you know when you get a bit behind with cleaning, the task just seems so hard. I don't know where to start.

So I need to clean the bathroom,
Hoover and mop the floors,
Sort out dirty clothes, put away a lot of clean clothes
Clean all kitchen surfaces
Wash dirty cups and plates (don't have dishwasher)
Put away some stuff that is on chairs

I'm so tired from a busy job, when I go in to start cleaning. I just feel overwhelmed. I know I need to do one task at a time.

Has anyone got any useful tips for cleaning, please?

One thing at a time. Set yourself an easy target, sort your clothes because you'll need them next week. Put the clean ones away and the dirty ones in the wash.

Then celebrate with a coffee and half an hour with your feet up.

Then clear & make your bed, because you can't sleep until you do. Then another coffee and a rest.

Etc.

Put your favourite music on and just get on with it. It's never as bad as you think.

It’s best to tidy up clutter get laundry going and dishes washed first.
Then cleaning, I tend to work from top down.
So go round with long duster on a pole to get any cobwebs
Then dust all surfaces, wash kitchen and bathroom
Last steps are to vacuum and mop the floors.

Sometimes when it seems overwhelming it can help to set a timer for a certain amount of time and just commit to working for that time rather than committing to finishing a task (which can feel never ending).

So for example, set a timer for ten minutes and tackle the clothes. If it's not finished in ten minutes, that's fine. But you will have made significant headway. When you feel ready do another ten minutes (this could be straight after or after a cup of tea/another task).

I also do the timer thing - half an hour and GO

Put on some fast paced music and just set yourself one task to complete. You may well end up doing more but don't think of it all needing doing at once.

It's hard in a small space to keep things tidy. Have you had a clear out recently of stuff for charity/dump/eBay? The less clutter and things you don't really like or use often, the easier it is to keep it looking neat.

Could you afford a cleaner, even monthly? They shouldn't need more than a couple of hours to do a studio.

The ten minute advice has reminded me of something. Once you’ve done a top to bottom clean, I find the best way is to parcel out the tasks during the week instead of saving it all for the weekend. It’s less overwhelming and easier. I also washed my dishes right after eating or caught them up before bed every day. The power of ten minutes is really helpful during the work week. 10mins every evening means you avoid almost a full hour of cleaning on the weekend.

What I find helpful when there’s an overwhelming amount of things to do is breaking down all the jobs into their smallest components and listing them all - so you’ll have a long list of jobs, but each of them will be very quick to do (eg empty sink, pick clothes up off bedroom floor, clear off yellow chair - all separate jobs). Stick the list to your fridge, pick one thing and do it. 60 seconds later you’ll be able to cross it off the list, and pick something else. The sense of getting things done, even if they’re only tiny components of a larger task, is really motivating.

Sort out the kitchen first I say. I always find the kitchen takes the longest so get that out the way first and then it's all downhill from there.

Instead of doing the cleaning in a big job lot, I find it easier to do one task each day in the week (before or after work), so I'm not having to spend the weekend building up to doing the jobs.

Machines on first - laundry and dishwasher if you have it

Tidying up next - clear away clutter, everything in its place. If there's too much, just pick an area and start there. Once it's tidy it's easier to clean.

If its a multi day job, try to clean and tidy one "zone", then you just have to maintain it which is lots easier.

Going forward, declutter as much as you can and get just enough useful storage.

Start with the dishes.

Concentrate on doing maintenance tasks - the things that if you don’t do will end your life or make things grind to a halt - , do your dishes so you can eat safely, wipe the counters so you can cook safely, put on a laundry wash so you don’t end up naked, empty the bins so you don’t attract rats.

Then do 5 minutes of tidying where you take things to where they belong instead of making piles you’ll be too tired to deal with. Do this in the area of the house that affects you most (not the back of the spare room wardrobe)

And then if you have the energy tackle a little bit of the non-life-threatening cleaning.

If you work through it in that order, every time, you’ll slowly get on top of it. Intuitively I wanted to do the opposite - do the big clean, sort my life out and then maintain it. And tidy by making piles, filling baskets.

Dana K White is a phenomenal resource if you like podcasts or you tube. She also explains how to declutter without pulling everything out and making a bigger mess. Really recommend.

Start with putting everything including the clothes away.

It's much easier to clean a tidy flat.

I disagree! Politely of course
I hate the never done feeling

I get up early whack on the sheets, and towels do bins, dishwasher, kitchen cleaning and floors
Hang up or dry first load and whack on clothes
Then sitting/ dining room, the bathrooms, then bedroom
That way you can have a coffee halfway and sit in your nice clean sitting room

I just power through or it always looks half done

true, it depends on personality, energy levels, time availability on weekends vs the work week.

We all find what works best for us. :)

I’d start with the bin. Gather up any rubbish, recycling etc and change the bins. Then the dishes. Then sort anything that needs washed from your clothes. Put away the rest of the clothes. Run a cloth around the bathroom and do the loo, handbasin and shower tray with a product. Hoover. At the start of this, you could change the bed if needed. Stick some music on.

Good way to get warmed up is to pick a number - above 10 but below 30 and tidy up/bin put in right area that number of things. It‘s scatterbrained but good for first area. It can be anything from big to tiny - I count a thread on the floor in my count. Then stand back and start on an area properly. Have bin in your hand and wander

I also live in a tiny studio and, honestly, I just clean for 5-10 minutes every day and I try to do it as I go. So while the kettle is boiling in the morning, I do the dishes and kitchen counters. After being my teeth, I wipe the sink and pour some bleach in the loo etc.

Your problem is having "a lot of stuff". It's much easier to clean when you don't have to endlessly tidy and move things around.

I also use a timer. 15/30/45 mins at a time and then take a break. Make a list and tick things off.

If you can do a 15/30 min tidy every day, it's surprising what you can achieve and it will stop things from building up. Some people follow a routine of doing daily jobs and then weekly jobs but I always struggle to stick to them although I do try to make my bed every morning, do something laundry related and then tidy the kitchen and load the dishwasher before bed. I usually hoover and clean the bathrooms on a weekend. If someone said they were popping round, I could usually be visitor ready in 15 minutes (though there would be some dust)!

I just make sure the laundry never builds up and clothes are put away

Dishes always done before bed and put away

I got a robot hoover and only do a proper hoover once or twice a week

my poor floors are mopped rarely at the moment

i was the sink and loo before bed after brushing my teeth already in the bathroom

place looks tidy and is sort of clean

it’s all I can manage at the moment

I've reread the Op and realised its the tidying of stuff that seems to be the main issue
I do " one touch" so I dont have to spend ages tidying
I just crack on with cleaning

if your home is really small be reassured it will look far worse than it is .

Put a load of laundry in the machine.

Go round with a bin bag and collect all rubbish and empty bins. Remove from the house and put in wheelie bin.

wipe counters and wash dishes

put away clean clothes .

probably an hour/ hour and a half.

it Will look a lot better already. Have a break . Then put away dry dishes , clean hob, sink, drainer , clean bathroom , dust, polish mirrors and do floors . Change bed. Probably another hour/ hour and a half.
It won’t take that long op an it will look and smell amazing. If your not too tired go the extra mile and have an everything n shower before bed, then sleep well in your clean sheets x

I like this checklist, I find it realistic and just follow it on autopilot. I set a timer for the bigger sections but will adjust them depending on how much needs doing.
https://moneysavingmom.com/whip-your-house-into-shape-in-2-hours-plus-a-free-downloadable-checklist/

Or start with the washing up as the most immediately urgent thing and tackle the longer term piles once your first draining rack-full is drying.

If you follow the One Touch system then there is no tidying
I think this is why people find cleaning so overwhelming, they have to spend ages tidying first
Exhausting!

I work on the Flylady principles. 1 Zone: room/ area every 5-6 days. Extra deep clean tasks in that zone at this time like cleaning windows and skirting boards, wash cushions, sanitise switches, mop floors, declutter drawers, wash curtains. I spend around 20m a week doing this.
My monthly zones are like this:
1st to 5th: Zone 1: Hallway and dining room
6th: Zone 2: Kitchen
12th: Z3: Bedroom
18th: Z4: Bathroom
24th: Z5 Lounge

I have a task app that I've set up to give me little jobs each day, eg Tues is a quiet day for me so that's when I polish. Takes 15min for the whole house. I empty the bins the day before bin collection day. It's now habit to put the dishwasher and washer on at night and empty in the morning when the kettle is brewing. I clean the bathroom twice a week and wipe down the sink every night with the face cloth I use to wash my face before it goes in the wash. The biggest thing I did is to keep everything tidy. If I notice something out of place, just put it away, it keeps the mental clutter down, I'm no longer thinking about having to tidy later, putting it off and it becoming a huge job as it's already done. It helps if you live with tidy people.