I’m a cleaning pro but I never do a ‘big clean’ on weekends – my five tricks to get your home spotless in just an hour
WE all dread the big weekend clean after a week of work.
A study by Vax of 2,000 people found that adults spend just over four hours a week cleaning.
Saturday is one of the most popular days to blitz the home, but most people would sooner be doing something enjoyable instead.
Queen of Clean Lynsey Crombie says leaving the hard graft for the weekend is unnecessary.
She reckons spreading chores across weekdays, and spending a maximum of 15 minutes on each one, is how to avoid it.
Lynsey, who shares her wisdom with her 1million social media followers, says: “Weekend cleaning is avoidable if you do short bursts Monday to Friday.
“Getting everything done across the week in one hour means that you can spend time at the weekend doing what you want.”
Here, she advises how long to spend on each task – and when.
Monday: BEDROOM BLITZ
5 mins
CLUTTER collects quickly in bedrooms – especially the kids’ rooms.
I swear by the three-bag rule for clearing surfaces as well as the floor, which is one bag for the stuff you plan to keep, another for recycling and the third for everything that’s for the bin.
Take the three bags into each bedroom as well as the bathroom, where there’s usually empty bottles of shower gels and hand washes.
If they’ve made it to the actual bin, go through and see which bottles you can recycle – remember to wash them out before recycling.
Tuesday: FUZZ-FREE FLOORS
15 mins
SPEND the first five minutes Hoovering any bits up off hard floors in the bathroom and the kitchen.
Be sure to get into the hard-to-reach corners where dust gathers and your mop won’t go.
Keep an eye on the timer and when you’re at five minutes, swap for the mop.
Everyone likes a challenge and you’ll soon find that you are starting to compete with yourself to get faster at it.
For tiled and vinyl floors, add 20ml of white vinegar into a litre of water, but for wooden or laminate, use an orange oil-based product to protect the floor and give extra shine.
Mr Muscle does a great orange oil.
You only need a few drops and the bottle lasts for ages.
Wednesday: GLEAMING LOOS
15 mins
FIFTEEN minutes cleaning the toilet is plenty of time – even for a deep clean.
Shaving foam is great for targeting the bottom of the loo and it’s only 40p a bottle in the supermarket.
Liberally cover the base of the toilet and the floor around it with a third of the bottle and leave for ten minutes.
It breaks down nasty smells.
While the foam gets to work, smear toothpaste on the bathroom light pull cord to bring it back to gleaming white – cover the cord, leave for a few minutes, then wipe.
And if tiles are looking grotty or discoloured around the shower, use toothpaste there too – cover the marks, leave for the remaining 15 minutes (so apply it at the beginning when you start the loo) then rinse off with warm water.
Thursday: FRIDGE FRESH
10 mins
PARENTS tend to do a food shop on a Friday so spend ten minutes on a Thursday night assessing the fridge.
Get everything out to see what you have for the weekend and the week ahead.
Check sell-by dates and give the whole fridge a wipe over with a Scrub Mommy – a harder working, dual-sided sponge.
For outside, use warm soapy water and a Marigold Squeaky Clean microfibre cloth.
A big fridge clean can take two hours.
But if you do five minutes each week it is very manageable.
Take the shelves out – some of them go in the dishwasher or clean with warm soapy water.
Friday: WINDOWS ON ROTATION
15 mins
YOU don’t need to clean every window in your house every week – I do it on rotation.
Divide the windows in the house in four and rotate each week.
Never clean when the sun is shining as the product will dry instantly and cause streaks.
Warm soapy water and a microfibre cloth is good – you don’t need to pay for fancy window cleaner or expensive gadgets.
For PVC frames, use a cream cleaner which you can get as cheaply as 90p from the supermarket to brighten the white.
Tackle every chore silently – TV, radio and phones need to be off so that you can work fast and stay focused.
It’s surprising how much you can get done when there are no distractions.