Top cleaning tips from the pros

Top cleaning tips from the pros

Paid cleaning services are masters of the art of speed cleaning. They’re in and they’re out, with only sparkling clean surfaces to show for it. Career cleaners work smart to get each job done as quickly and easily as possible. To clean your home in record time, try these tips from professional cleaners.

1 Schedule cleaning.

Nobody hires a cleaning service that promises to arrive “some Saturday or other when nothing else is happening.” Take a tip from the pros, and set up a regular cleaning schedule. The pros don’t quit until

the job is done, and neither should you. Schedule the job and stick to it to get the work done in record time.

2 Get motivated.

You won’t find paid cleaners pausing to follow television programs or check their e-mail. Use

motivators to prevent distraction and head off boredom. Play upbeat music for an energy boost. Bookworms look forward to cleaning when a book-on-tape plays on a personal stereo. Clean as a team with friends or family members to stay on task.

3 Dress for success.

Professional cleaners dress for the job in comfortable, washable clothing designed for work. Supportive shoes and kneepads spare their  bodies. Goggles and gloves protect against chemicals. End the era of bleach-stained sweatshirts and set aside a “cleaning uniform” instead—including shoes, gloves, and eye protection—and wear it!

◀ Professional cleaners. They have the tools, the talent, and the know-how to make short work of cleaning a house. Learn their secrets to speed cleaning chores in your organized home.

4 Invest in proper tools.

Professional cleaners don’t use gadgets. You’ll never find them toting specialized, one-use tools, or gee-whiz gimcracks hawked on some television infomercial. Buy good tools, once, and use

them—you’ll be finished in record time.

5 Tote your tools.

How does your cleaning session go? Is it fast and focused or more like this? Ooops! Forgot the powdered cleanser, so down the stairs you trot.

The toilet brush? It’s in the kids’ bathroom down the hall. Run to the laundry room for more cleaning cloths, to the kitchen for a box of tissues. Where’s the vacuum?

Did the teenager take the squeegee to wash the car? Professional cleaners tote their tools with them— all their tools, cleansers, brushes, and rags needed to finish the job are right there in the tote tray. Vacuum, mop, and mini-vac wait in the doorway. A plastic bag for trash is tucked into a pocket, next to the waving lambswool duster. That’s why the pro has finished the entire bathroom before our amateur makes it back up the stairs with the powdered cleanser.

6 Simplify supplies.

There’s a reason the pros can tote all the products they need in one tray: they’ve simplified their

cleaning products. Professional cleaners go to work carrying the Big Four:

▪ Light-duty evaporating cleaner (glass cleaner or multi-surface cleaner)

▪ Heavy-duty degreasing cleaner

▪ Tile and bathroom cleaner

▪ Powdered abrasive cleanser

That’s it! No soap scum remover, no special counter spray, no single-use products designed to clean only

blinds or fans or walls. The professionals know that with these four simple products they’ll be able to handle any ordinary cleaning chore.