Having a system will help the average homeowner clean their home faster and more efficiently. As the owner of a large cleaning company in Ocean County, NJ, I have often been asked how our cleaners can be in and out of your home in less than 2 hours. The client’s condition takes them all day on a Saturday to clean and it doesn’t look half as good as the way the cleaners do it? The reality is that a professional house cleaner is in the home to do a job. The cleaners are not distracted by the requests of the children, the ringing of the house phone, the dog that needs to go outside, etc. If you could just put all the distractions aside, the other reason cleaners can still move faster with great quality is to have the right tools and a system to follow.

Having the right tools for cleaning can really help save time, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot either. First you need to separate the necessary tools for the wet areas of the house (bathroom and kitchen) and for the dry areas. A good cleaning bag that can hold your chemicals, sponges, brushes, and other accessories will help. In this bag, keep a few rags to use for buffing, drying, and polishing. In a separate bag, keep tools dry like vacuum attachments, polishing spray, Windex, and a few microfiber cloths. A bottle of water and vinegar will also be just as efficient as rinse aid and Windex, as well as being better for the environment. In this bucket we have a nice wooly to make corners of walls, fans and high dusting. Lastly, having two separate vacuums will really help to get better quality and faster speed. A good drum for vacuuming hard surface floors, stairs, furniture and corners will be much more efficient than an upright one with tools and easier to transport. You can buy the Hoover CH30000 for under a hundred dollars and it should last forever. A powerful upright vacuum like the Hoover C1404 or Oreck XL2000 will save time when vacuuming carpets, as they are strong, lightweight, and easy to operate machines.

Now that you have your cleaning tools, here’s a quick system that should really help cut down on time and keep your home clean:

1. Start with your Lambswool Duster on the top floor of the house and work your way from room to room dusting all corners of the walls, behind furniture, fans and tall lamps. It ends in the kitchen. Doing this first allows all the dust to settle. It is very important that when using the duster and whenever you are dusting you work from the top down to allow the dust to settle. As your high cleanliness take a bag to empty all the trash cans.
2. Next, grab your wet bag and head to the restrooms. The dust has had a chance to settle. Empty everything on the ground and place it outside the door. Vacuum the floor with your small canister vacuum, as this will help when you need to scrub the floor for small hairs.
3. Start by scrubbing the sink first. Then wash the mirror, counters, and dry the sink. It is important to follow this order, because if you do the mirror first and then the sink, when you are scrubbing the sink, the water will run back into the mirror and you will waste time redoing the mirror. Occasionally use a toothbrush around corners and faucets to loosen accumulated dirt.
4. Continue to the shower area. Empty it, wash the ledges so the dust falls to the bottom, and if you have shower doors, get in the tub to do it first. Then proceed to scrub the walls, the faucet and the sink. Dry and clean the exterior lower sink or shower door.
5. Proceed to dust and clean all fixtures on the walls.
6. Head over to the toilet to scrub the inside and outside of the bowl. Again use a toothbrush around the corners. Don’t forget to dust the toilet paper holder.
7. Clean all the doors
8. Finally, clean the floor from the furthest point towards the door. Use a scrub brush from time to time to loosen dirt, and for larger floors, a good floor brush will speed up the process.
9. Proceed to the next bathroom and powder room following the same system. When you’re done, leave the wet bag in the kitchen and return to the bedroom areas with your dry bag.
10. Start dusting the rooms by moving left to right and top to bottom. Move around each room lifting as high as possible to remove all the dust. Dust each floor and then grab your small canister vac to vacuum in areas the larger vac can’t reach. Every couple of months try to clean all baseboards with a damp cloth and vacuum the corners to prevent dust buildup. Pull out the upright vacuum to complete the vacuuming of that level of the house. If there are hard surfaces throughout the house, do a small vacuum under the beds and then mop.
11. Follow the same procedure now in all living areas. First dust the entire living area again from left to right from top to bottom. Finish with vacuum. Every two months try to vacuum the furniture and under the cushions.
12. Head to the kitchen to complete.
13. Every two months start by cleaning out the kitchen cabinets.
14. Head over to the stove to clean up. If the microwave is on top of the stove, clean it first so that when debris falls on it, it doesn’t land on an already clean stove. If the filters are placed in the microwave, take them out every two months to clean and clean them. This helps the fan to work better when cooking. Wipe down stove and remove knobs if possible to clean and soak if necessary.
15. Then clear all the counters down by moving as far as possible to get behind it. Wipe toaster, spice racks, front of refrigerator (also grill) with a rag. Also clean the tables and chairs.
16. Fill up the mop bucket and then clean out your sink. Again use a toothbrush periodically to loosen dirt. dry sink
17. Vacuum the kitchen floor
18. Mop the floor from the far corner to the exit area. Empty the bucket into the sink and wipe it down. Come back to put everything back on and you are complete!

Following this system should save a great deal of time and help keep your house clean all the time. As for following a schedule to give extra attention to different areas of the house, divide the house into four different cleaning zones:

1. Living room
2. bathroom area
3. sleeping area
4. Kitchen area

Every time you clean, try to pay more attention to these areas and you will find that you are cleaning like a pro at top speed. If this doesn’t work, you can always contact the South Jersey Cleanup Authority or any other across the country and enjoy your free time.