Hope you and your whanau had a fabulous Easter break!!
At My To Do List, we’re committed not just to delivering quality results and giving our customers big smiles–we also want to share with you tried and tested tools to help you maintain your home’s cleanliness and your sanity in between our visits!.
This month, we’ve got some great general tips to help you clean quickly and effectively like a pro.
Ten ways to sharpen your cleaning skills
- First things first, put some safety gear on: gloves (definitely), safety glasses (if you’re decobwebbing or dusting high, this will really save your eyes from falling debris!), a mask (if you’re using harsh chemicals such as oven cleaner). A note about gloves: some people like heavy-duty rubber dishwashing gloves but we prefer more nimble, snug-fitting (powder-free) latex or nitrile gloves. Whatever your preference, gloves help protect you against bacteria, irritating cleaning chemicals, and chaffing of your hands from being wet for an extended period of time.
- Find a cleaning caddy or a bucket to carry all the items that you’ll need with you. This will include cloths (we prefer microfibre), something for scrubbing (a scrubby brush, old toothbrush, or scrubby sponge), cleaning spray and miscellaneous such as Jif, Endust, wood polishing oil, a white erase sponge, a window blade (for showers), etc.
- Start your clean using gentler products and only move to harsher products if needed.
- Before you begin, fold your cloth in half and half again. When soiled, simply turn the cloth over or refold to find a clean side. This gives you eight clean sides to work with, which means you can keep moving without having to stop and rinse your cloth too frequently.
- Clean from top to bottom. Start in the high corners and above curtains, and work your way down to shelves, benches, and floors.
- Clean in one direction. Either from left to right or right to left, but the point is to move methodically so that you don’t skip or miss anything. Cleaning randomly will likely lead to random cleanliness!
- Let the product sit or penetrate on the surface prior to wiping away.
- Wipe in an “S” pattern to make sure you don’t leave dust or debris behind (Wiping back and forth can leave little piles of debris at each point that the cloth stops). Finish the wipe with a flick of the cloth over the floor. This will “clean” your cloth of large debris.
- Use a wet cloth to wipe and a dry cloth to polish.
- Do the eye-level test to see if every surface has been cleaned thoroughly. Crouch down to eye-level so you can check for any stains, streaks, or lingering debris.
We hope our tips help you keep your home in tip-top shape!
We are always excited and looking forward to serving you and your homes. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to have a chat.
