5 Ways To Upgrade Your Cleaning Routine
Now that the holidays are over and the New Year is upon us, it’s the perfect time to start upgrading your daily cleaning routine!
Whether you’re a queen or king of cleaning checklists or just looking to get more organised in 2020, our cleaning experts at Merry Maids can help you stay on track with your goals, by providing regular cleaning services to supplement your everyday efforts.
Here are 5 great ways you can upgrade your home cleaning habits for 2020 – and beyond!
#1: Introduce one simple daily cleaning habit
Nowadays the majority of us are always on-the-go, it can be hard to find time even for a 15-minute daily cleaning ritual, let alone a rigorous cleaning schedule. When you’re not sure where to begin, we would recommend starting small and master a single daily cleaning habit that will make a difference to you.
To get started, make a list of all your cleaning pet peeves – in other words, those tasks that drive you crazy when you can’t complete them.
Whether on your own or with a partner, pick out the top chore and complete it daily until it becomes a habit, which typically takes 21 days to form as a habit. From there, you can introduce new habits as and when needed!
#2: Create a defined house cleaning schedule
Again, the key here is to start small, build on your existing efforts and hold yourself accountable to whatever tasks you add onto the schedule.
Here are a few methods you might like:
- Theme up your cleaning – If you hate repetition more than anything else, try giving each day a cleaning theme. Maybe Monday can be your washing day and Tuesdays can be for cleared for kitchen clean-up. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s something you can and will follow!
- Set a specific time aside for your top 10 tasks – Instead of taking it one day at a time, create a list of the top 10 small cleaning chores that you would like to accomplish by the end of each night. Then give yourself a consistent time to accomplish them, whether in the morning or the evening.
- Pick one day to be your cleaning day. Prefer to take care of everything all at once? Select a day to designate as your “cleaning day” and take care of key high-traffic areas at the same time. Give yourself at least 2-3 hours to complete the task!
#3: Make an organisation checklist
No matter what cleaning schedule you prefer, it’s a good idea to build out an organisation checklist, which should include every cleaning and organising task that you’ll ever need to do. Keep this list somewhere handy, for example, stuck on the fridge and check it often to make sure you’re covering everything.
Just follow these simple steps to create your own checklist:
- Walk around your house and list all areas that need to be cleaned (usually everywhere, unfortunately!)
- Within each area, write down all the cleaning and organisational tasks that need to be completed during the year
- Assign each task to a sub-list, depending on whether the chore should be done daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally
- Create an easy system to check these items off your list
#4: Find creative ways to remind yourself about cleaning tasks
Even when you have a clear direction for your daily cleaning rituals, you’ll need lots of reminders to stay focused on each task. By finding a creative and colourful way to remind yourself, you’ll be more likely to get everything done!
Here are a few ideas:
- Make a DIY corkboard and tack up notes about your daily and weekly tasks, you could even add how many calories you’ll burn off for each task!
- Keep an extra calendar on the wall just for your cleaning checklist
#5: Get the whole family involved
As the old saying goes, two heads are better than one or three or four, depending on how many are in your household! Enlisting your spouse, your kids, or other live-at-home family members will make your life easier and give you more time to chill out and watch your favourite Netflix series. A chore chart is a time-honoured tradition for a reason – it allows everyone to participate in maintaining their own space.
Next Steps: Call in a Professional
Of course, the best way to elevate your cleaning routine this year is to bring in professionals, on whatever basis will work best for your needs. We offer weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly cleans, so you can choose the schedule that makes sense for you! Find your nearest Merry Maids here.