Top Cleaning Tips From the Pros

To clean your home in record time, try these tips from professional cleaners.

Excerpted from Houseworks, by Cynthia Townley Ewer
Filed under: Cleaning, Housekeeping

Make Every Moment Count

Professional cleaners don’t circle a room more than once. Taking their place before the bathroom sink, they’ll spray and wipe the mirror, scrub the sink, wipe down counters and polish fixtures before they move one inch to the right or left.
Don’t get physical with your cleaning sessions, make every movement count. Stand fast and clean everything in your path before you move on.

Two Hands Are Better Than One

Professional cleaners don’t work as if one arm is in a sling, and neither should you. Get in the habit of using both hands to attack cleaning tasks.
Spray a mirror with one hand; wipe it down with the other. Scrub counters with two sponges or cleaning cloths. Dusting goes twice as fast when a lambswool duster in one hand cleans nooks and crannies while the cleaning cloth in the other skims flat surfaces.

Pick It Up

Professional cleaners come to clean, not to tidy, counters, furniture, appliances and floors. They can’t do the job if each horizontal surface in the home is covered with papers, toys, dirty dishes and just plain clutter.
Pretend that you’ve hired a high-priced cleaning crew. You wouldn’t make them relocate the clutter just to be able to do their job. Give yourself the same head start you would give professional cleaners: Pick up before you clean.

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Excerpted from Houseworks, by Cynthia Townley Ewer