Monday, January 7, 2013

Cleaning house

One of the reasons I like UnF*** Your Habitat so much is that the UFYH lady often provides step-by-step instructions on how to clean things. As someone who only recently realized that one should rinse the kitchen counters with water after applying cleaning solution, step-by-step instructions are nice. Plus, they allow me to budget my cleaning time more effectively.

My boyfriend and I share cleaning duties for the apartment. When it's my turn to do the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, I know exactly how long it will take (2.5 hours) because I've developed a step-by-step method. This is that method:

1. Gather laundry; sprinkle Comet in wet bathtub.
2. Start laundry in the basement of my building. This means I can do several loads at once.
3. Kitchen:

  • clean dining table. 
  • remove all items from kitchen counters and stovetop. Clean items and place on dining table. 
  • clean counters, stovetop, sink, and fronts of appliances and cabinets. 
  • move all items back to their places. 
  • run dishwasher if necessary. 
4. Empty trash bins from all rooms of apartment; take trash down on the way to get laundry. 
5. Transfer laundry to driers; take up line-dry items. 
6. Hang up line-dry items. 
7. Finish up any lingering kitchen tasks. 
8. Bathroom: 
  • remove all items from flat surfaces on bath, counters, etc. Clean items and place on dining table. 
  • clean flat surfaces.
  • clean vertical surfaces, including shower curtain, tile and walls.
  • scrub tub; rinse. 
  • move all items back to their places.
  • do all the mirrors in the apartment. 
9. Get laundry from basement; fold, put away and make bed with fresh sheets. 


This might look like a marathon, but it has built-in breaks in the elevator rides, and enough variation in tasks that it is at least an over-all workout and not, like, 2.5 straight hours of scrubbing or something.

Note the first: the blog One Good Thing recently posted a similar method for daily bathroom cleaning.
Note the second: I am sure we all agree that it would be inappropriate to post "before" pictures of a dirty bathroom. That will not occur.




5 comments:

  1. I like your mixing-up-the-tasks method for cleaning. I tend to do one whole thing at a time, which sometimes leaves whole tasks undone. Do you have similar methods for the weeks that you have other chores?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not, but I would be very happy to help you devise one that meets your needs! Two ideas: one, go in rounds. Start with a round of trash gathering and dishes gathering, then do a round of picking up things that are out of their designated places and returning them there. Then do a round of decisions about things that don't yet have a home. Then do cleaning surfaces, starting at the top, ie, dust before you vaccuum. Other idea: start using time pockets. Whenever you have something in the microwave, always use that time to wash dishes. Etc.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete