According To Frankie

Ok, who loves cleaning all day long? If you answered “I do, I do!” then put down your phone or tablet and grab a sponge. If you’re like me, and you love a clean house, but would rather be doing something else, this might be helpful.

I do not have a maid service or laundry service. I’m betting you don’t either. Even if you can make room in your budget, you’re still spending money on that instead of something fun. But, we only have a limited amount of time on the planet, and time is money too. So, what can you do? For me, the answer is this: I try to be efficient. Being an only child, I got first dibs on money for doing chores when I was little. But, like other kids, I wanted to spend my time goofing around. So, I’d hang around most of the day, and an hour before my mom got home I’d zoom around and clean the whole house. Now, my mom would probably question the quality of my work; but now that it’s my own house, I have a bit more incentive to do a better job.

How to Clean Your House Quickly – According to Frankie

1. Gather, sort, and start the laundry. Move on to step 2, but periodically check the laundry to keep it moving. Fold immediately so it doesn’t wrinkle, unless you have the steam option.
2. Pick a room in one corner of your house.
3. Start by picking something up. Any one thing. 
4. Decide whether something belongs in that room or out of that room. If it belongs in the room, put it away. If it belongs in another room, put it outside the door in a pile.
5. Put everything away that belongs in the room. Remember, pick something up only once and put that one thing away.
6. Repeat steps 1-4 for every room in the house. As you move to a new room, take the things from the pile that belong in that room. With practice,  you can survey the room and find multiple things to grab and distribute them on your way to the far side of the room.
7. Dust the house.
8. Clean the bathrooms (or convince someone else to do that, if you can!)
9. Vacuum the floors (or invest in the Roomba, it’s a great way to spend that money. It vacuums all surfaces while you’re picking up clutter or not even home. I love mine)
10. Mop the floors (or convince someone else.)
11. Finish up that laundry by folding and putting it all away immediately. I do this by again picking something up only once and folding it right away. I make piles of like things and then put those like things in sections of the laundry basket. Then, put things away one room at a time, as explained before.

Now, every evening, take 5-10 minutes to pick up all the tidbits that are not where they need to be. Run the dishwasher, wipe the counters. If you do this, then you might find that you have more time on the weekends to do…well, things that are more fun!