Humour me: how do you clean?

[OutDamnedSpot]

Talk to me like I’m really stupid: How do you clean?

My house isn’t disgusting or anything, but it never feels ‘spotless’. I’ve realised that I might not be cleaning properly so I’d genuinely appreciate any advice.

At the moment I tend to use one spray (zoflora) and a microfibre cloth for pretty much everything - surfaces, floors, bathroom, etc. Do I need different products?

What about routines? I just feel like I’m forever chasing my tail. How do I get to a stage where my house is always ‘visitor ready’?

Thank you!

Look up TOMM. The organised mum method.

My best tip is for tidying rather than cleaning.

Avoid 'double handling'. So put things where they go the first time. Don't take your shoes off then put them next to the door instead of in the cupboard.

If I walk in a room and it's a bit of a mess then I put ten things where they go. Sometimes I will shout out 'everyone put four things away' or whatever.

I'd say for some stuff you need a cream cleaner to remove grime and grease, especially in kitchen and bathroom, something like original cif (or jif if you're old skool like me! 😆)
Things like wiping down skirting boards, making sure there are no mucky marks around door handles and light switches are things that you don't tend to notice when they are clean, but when they're not clean can make a room feel scruffy/grimy. They don't need doing that often but make a difference.

My house is never spotless.

I agree with Tomm.

Doom baskets - have a look online

Declutter everything

Baskets bottom of the stairs to Chuck everything in that needs to go upstairs

Junk draw/cupboard for when you can't be bothered

Find a place for everything, if there no place for it then it has to go

Washing basket on all bedrooms

If your boing the kettle, microwaving something wipe down the kitchen sides while you wait

If you have kids Clean the bathroom when they are in the bath so you can supervise and be productive

Get see through jars and containers and put food items into them looks more tidy same with shampoo, body wash etc

Have assigned cups and plates so everyone in the household depending on age of course is responsible for each one

Once a week, I do upstairs first, tidying every room to begin with i then go round with polish on surfaces and I use cream cleaner on bathroom sink, bath/shower and I spray the toilet lid, seat and back with antibacterial then bleach the bowl. I then hoover and change bedding and spray the rooms. Downstairs I do the same except after I hoover I mop, clear and bleach the draining board and sink. Every so often I'll do a bigger clean, pulling out the sofa to get behind, doing skirting boards. After all this I feel my house is spotless for a couple days until I get too lazy to maintain and then I'll do the clean again. It obviously will always look lived in as it's a home not a showroom, maybe your expectations are too high ?

I also have a bin bag for upstairs and downstairs when I clean and all the crap accumulated goes in there. I empty the bins and hoovers too so I have a complete clean slate

Depends how much of a "clutterer" everyone else in the house is.

When Ds1 was young our house was spotless. When ds2 was young I had to go back to work and most of the cleaning was left to ex-h. He simply didn't see the dirt and grime building up and couldn't understand why I complained about cleaning on my days off. I felt like the maid.

Now living alone. House is spotless with minimal effort.

It's easier to keep clean and tidy clean and tidy than it is to rectify the situation. Now I have a space for everything and therefore no clutter, and cleaning is a half hour job every day, max.

This is actually reassuring 😂

I was expecting outrage at my ‘one spray suits all’ or big lists of what I should be doing, but a lot of what you say is what I already do. I didn’t really get on with TOMM, but I’ll look again.

I think I just need to stop overthinking it!

Zoflora isn't really a cleaning product, it's a disinfectant, so that's the only change I would suggest. You'll need something to get rid of grease on the kitchen & scum in the bathroom

Right, yes, I just realised this the other day. But I could just replace that with an ‘all purpose’ spray?

Definitely

I have a couple of things I use because they work well
Method shower spray - after every shower for the shower screen so no scrubbing ever needed
Flash spray and done - kitchen and bathroom surfaces because it smells nice!
Cream cleaner - bathroom
Glass and stainless steel cleaner
Mould remover

That pretty much covers it for me! I don't have any routine and probably should adult better but I'm a "clean as I see it" and live alone so honestly it doesn't get that dirty
Can't be too bad as I had a one off deep clean done the other week and they commented how clean it was
Me

I give up trying to keep the house spotless. It's just impossible working full time, having a kid in the house, doing all the kid's and mine weekday and weekend sports socials etc and keep the house spotless. I honestly just concentrate on the basics; so dishes washed n put away every evening, kitchen work surfaces antibac'd, bathroom basin antibac'd, loo antibac'd n bleached. I also make sure the living room is tidy before bedtime. The house isn't spotless but it's guest ready most of the time with a quick hoover around normally.

Or white vinegar; better for the environment.

Get an audiobook by Dana k white for some inspiration and listen whilst you go. organising for the rest of us is good. Actually they are all brilliant! Especially if you feel like you are on the back foot. Perhaps Listen to them all

Note the 3 layers of cleaning. Layer 1 is doing the daily stuff. Layer 2 is dealing with the clutter. Layer 3 is the actual cleaning. If you are in top of layers 1 and 2 then the actual cleaning isn't actually a big deal. I like Tomm for routines but I really like Dana k white for changing my mindset and dealing with procrastination. She's very good at decluttering advice. Get rid of stuff till everything has an easy and obvious place and you find your clutter threshold - use the container principle! - aim to be able to easily clean each main area (kitchen / halls /bedrooms / lounge) in 30 mins without stuff shifting and then you can maintain your house with a simple routine from tomm. It has taken me years to sort out my mess but I'm finally getting there with all of the above and I feel much less stressed :) as far as products go I use hot soapy water with Ecover dish soap and a microfibre cloth for most things. Dr bronners liquid soap for quick wipes of bathrooms and a bio d sanitiser and toilet cleaner for loos. I have a good old fashioned yellow duster for damp dusting and I've also got a bio d glass spray. You don't need a lot and can avoid the harsh products / sprays if you keep on top of things...

Great question OP, I feel the same. Family home was cluttered and I never really got to learn cleaning properly. I can vacuum carpets and wipe surfaces but now have hard floors and no idea how to clean them. Or how to clean toilets beyond chucking a bit of bleach down occasionally- now living in a hard water area where calcium build up happens so that doesn’t cut it. I like doing laundry and thank god now have a dishwasher. Feel very lucky.

We're not that tidy. OH does the cooking (mostly) and he cleans as he goes. By the time the meals over its a simple task of cleaning the last plates & cutlery.

Bathroom cleaned regularly, a quick wipe often and it avoids the worst.

The rest of the place gets cleaned as and when, bit of a blitz, its more untidy than unclean.

For areas like the kitchen and bathroom I clean then sanitise. So the first step is to use a product which will clean the kinds of things which effect the area, in the bathroom you need something which will work on body fluids and soap scum, and in the kitchen something which works as a degreaser (warm water with a little fairy liquid works fine for this in the kitchen). Then once the area is clean, I go back over with a microfibre cloth and a solution of water with a little bit of bleach added to it, and when I do the sanitising I also buff the areas a bit, so this makes things like the microwave, hob, splash back and taps nice and shiny. This is how I learned to clean for work, but works just as effectively in the home

If the area is dusty it's a good idea to dust first, starting at the top of the room and working your way down. Then follow with a wipe down. Then sanitise if necessary, and buff anything that needs shine with a microfibre cloth. Once I've worked my way down from the top of the room, to the mid sections, and then it's time for the floor. I hoover, then mop hard floors and spot clean any marks on the carpet with a microfibre cloth and warm soapy water (that fairy liquid again). If the corners are looking a bit worse for the wear or there are marks on soft furnishings I can't remove, I find that the steam cleaner works most effectively but because it's a faff I don't do it often (but am always glad when I do!). So always work your way down from the top of the room and always use the right product or equipment, it saves a lot of time and will give you much better results. You can spend all day trying to remove grease with zoflora, it won't shift it at best it might move it around a bit. Because it's not a degreaser it won't work, whereas a bit of soapy water made with fairy liquid or whatever your washing up liquid of choice is will work quickly and effectively and doesn't cost any more money and is something you will probably be buying anyway

With the greatest reluctance

Agree. Changed the way I did housework, really refreshing.

And if we're talking products. Fairy liquid, for most things!

Badly! 😂

Limescale spray and a proper abrasive sponge for the bathroom once a week with rubber gloves - plus a quick wipe down with method once a week

Kitchen daily with method

Stainless steel sink with cream cleaner once a week

All surfaces with the dyson soft brush once a week (instead Of dusting)

Wooden floors hoovered every couple of days, all carpets weekly

Also having as little clutter as possible so regular charity shop and bin runs