Things You Forget To Clean
/For, many years before Thanksgiving I freaked out about cleaning my house. When holidays near, I get stressed out because I host Thanksgiving. I spent four days before Thanksgiving on my feet cleaning and cooking. Worst was I was cleaning things that were often only cleaned once or twice a year. Which meant they were disgusting. One task could take an hour.
During Thanksgiving I realized I should have been cleaning these whole time. If I had been, I wouldn’t spend an entire day before Thanksgiving cleaning these. I realized after doing these tasks daily or once a week they were easy but they didn’t take as much time anymore. I got used to doing these chores and then I got faster at doing them.
These are things in your home you are likely not cleaning daily or once a week. If you are, I give you a virtual high five.
The first thing you’re not doing you need to do once a week is use a telescopic duster. Amazon sells telescopic dusters get the longest one you can find. Dust your baseboards weekly the longer you wait the harder it is to clean them. For ceilings clear any cobwebs, run the duster along the wall. Especially if you have crown molding. Dust the tops of your valances or your blinds and ceiling fans which are often overlooked. Light fixtures and vents need dusting too. Dust your framed pictures.
Every day you should clean your cabinets and drawers in your kitchen and bathroom. You should spray the fronts of the cabinets and the drawers. Clean anywhere where you touch them, or things could splatter on them. I take about 90 seconds to do the kitchen. Once a week I clean the entire door or drawer front and edges. For higher cupboards I wipe where I can reach once a day. Then the entire cabinet once a week.
I no longer scrub my cabinets a few times a year because they’re clean all the time now. Last week my husband made a mess cooking, and he didn’t notice it. Because it was part of my daily clean up, I got to the mess before it got hard and crusty.
Do not ignore your fridge, freezer and pantry you should clean them once a week. I’m not saying must take everything out and wipe the shelves. Once a week use a wet paper towel wipe up any spills and crumbs.
Toss the expired foods and dump leftovers that are no good. Check the pantry and make sure you toss anything that expired or is empty. Kids love to put back cereal boxes with three Cheerios left. Trust me this makes grocery shopping a lot easier. This can help save your sanity when you come home with $300 worth of groceries.
The top of the fridge can become nasty. A lot of dust will settle there. Use your telescopic duster. The top of the fridge is one of the most neglected zones in most homes. Even if you use the top for food, storage chances are there is dust between and under things.
Many do not realize your sofa needs weekly maintenance. Sofas and upholstered furniture need vacuuming once a week with the upholstery attachment. Go over the arms, the cushions, and pillows dust and hair accumulate on those too. The vacuum will remove dirt. Fluff and rotate the cushions for even wear. Even leather sofas need TLC from a soft cloth. This will keep your couch looking cleaner and fluffier.
Clean your floors last since you are knocking dust around while cleaning. You should clean the corners and edges of the walls with the crevice tool on your vacuum. Most cannot do this daily so aim for once a week. Vacuum under the furniture if you can or try to once a week. Going back and forth with the vacuum is not good enough to get all the dust and dirt out of the floor. Many people do not know to move the vacuum in multiple directions. Vacuuming every day makes a huge difference in how your carpet looks. I struggle with this myself but at least try to vacuum the high-traffic areas of your home every day if possible. It helps keep your carpet clean.
The foaming carpet sprays sold at stores can be a real game changer. Foaming Carpet Sprays are easy and fast. Start with a vacuumed floor and work into the carpet with a damp mop. Once the foam dries vacuum again. Your carpet will look so much cleaner and takes less time than steam cleaning. Foaming carpet sprays will help remove ground in dirt. They are easy to use between professional cleanings.
Shower curtains and liners are often sources of mildew or worse. If you have a red slime that builds up that is Serratia marcescens. Which is a nasty bacterium that can cause pneumonia. If you have this buildup wash your show curtain and liner ASAP. You can wash most liners in the delicate cycle. Add bleach. Wash your liner at least once a month. Since the curtain does not go into the tub, you can usually get away with washing it less. But vacuum it with the upholstery attachment to remove dust.
If you or your child has asthma or allergies, these things can be a big difference in your quality of life. My allergies were bad, and I suffered from several attacks every week. Since I’ve changed my cleaning routine I no longer have allergy attacks.
Cleaning these will make preparing for a guest or holidays less stressful. Cleaning these takes hours because we never do it and that specific thing is filthy. Adding these tasks to your normal routine can really improve the air quality in your home.
I realize tasks may not be realistic for all to do once a week or daily but need a cleaning more than a few times a year. By cleaning these things we can help keep those with allergies healthy and save time in the long run.
Click here to read my post on Speed Cleaning.
Click here for time saving cleaning hacks.
This post has more speed cleaning hacks.
Read here how I clean my tubs without scrubbing.
