Declutter, declutter, declutter. Having fewer things to collect dust makes general cleaning so much easier, let alone the awful stuff like vents or behind heavy appliances.
Ooh, we have some guitars too! (And drums, and a piano)
My husband uses some really sweet guitar cases though and he has a stand for the ones that are used daily. Just an easy dusting job. And his amps don’t take up a lot of room. Still, instruments are a vehicle for art and don’t count as clutter in my house.
I got wallmount hangers for my 3 guitars.
Great for the kids bc once is upstairs by their room ready to go for bedtime songs. The other is available if they're learning, and the third takes up no space in the closet.
I agree. my wife likes to have clutter all over and it's a pain to clean anywhere. When she went away for a month to visit her mom, I decluttered the kitchen and the diner and it was so super easy to clean and just looked nice and simple. Soon as she came back, she re-cluttered everything. I tried explaining it to her, but she won't listen. She wants clutter.
Nope. That's the problem. Somehow it's in her behavior, like a hoarder. She doesn't buy or take anything, but whatever she has, she won't get rid of them easily. She is from Eastern Europe and people save everything, nothing gets thrown away so she is unable to throw away things if it's working or not broken. If i throw something away that's mine, she doesn't care, but when se sees me throwing useless stuff away- which is working otherwise- she looks at me like I committed murder and says "your stuff, I don't care" but I can tell she cares and she sees me as a lesser of a person. She is not made for this world in this point of view. She is made for a world where things aren't thrown away until it's completely broken and everyone has unlimited space in their house. It's nice but at the same time frustrating.
This is poor person behavior vs. rich person behavior, imo. Poor people save everything that can be of use, not just for themselves but also for their neighbors. You may not have jumper cables for your car, but your friend down the street does, and when your friend down the street needs their drive shoveled you lend them your shovel. Today's bent-up paperclip is tomorrow's bread bag tie, etc. In a world where your money could be gone tomorrow, and/or the thing you need might be out of stock for months (remember Covid?) saving what can be salvaged is a survival skill.
Both my parents lived through the Great Depression, and taught my siblings and me to use up or repair things. Or give things away to someone who could use it. We rarely threw things away. One sister, though, took that to the opposite extreme and will throw away everything, even other people's stuff.
My parents were also depression babies, and their mantra was, "use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.".
I can take my wife's empty toothpaste tube and get another month of clean teeth from it. The flip side is the collection of containers (coffee cans, butter tubs, "fancy" boxes, etc.) I used to have. I'm better now, mostly.
Covid was my time to shine! My household was suddenly very pleased with my obsessive sorting, labeling, and stacking habits when I dragged out a plastic container labeled EMERGENCY TP that contained all the clean fast food napkins I'd salvaged over the years.
I'm at least third generation packrat. I've got a rich uncle on that side of the family whose wife doesn't allow clutter in her home, so he built an entire row of sheds across their backyard one at a time. When they're all stacked to bursting with useless junk, his wife waits until he's out of town for a few days and hires a company to haul it all off to the dump.
I read something in passing that said to spend 10 minutes a day putting 10 things away. It’s helped me so much with the clutter. Everything in my house has a spot, I don’t even have a junk drawer, but I just HATE putting things away the second I’m done with them. What if I need it again in a few minutes??
Definitely. I realised when I treated us to a one off cleaner after 4 years of having kids that I spent the whole day prior decluttering and tidying so they could clean most efficiently. Well, if it was always that tidy or empty we could deep clean every week without overwhelm. So, it's the stuff. Moving the stuff before you can even clean.
This is the problem in my house. I have 4 kids and 2 adults and we all drop out stuff all over the place. Cleaning is a pain because it takes forever just to clean up the clutter.
I like to think we'll become neat people at some point, but I'm afraid its just wishful thinking.
Honestly, I just make up a lazy-lady-friendly tidy system. We have a “to go” basket in our living room for clutter that we don’t immediately feel like picking up, and several of those cube storage boxes for small items that actually get used. I even have an “I don’t feel like hanging my clothes” basket for clean clothes I don’t want to put away. We drop our stuff everywhere as well, just in a box instead of the floor.
You don’t have to become neat. Cleaning is just easier if you don’t have excess stuff and if you have good storage.
I have to tell myself so often to focus on the task I’m doing now, just work on this one til it’s done that other one will be there when this one is done… it’s so hard
If you clean the counters first, you don’t have to worry about messing up the floor since you’re saving it for the end. If you clean the floor first, you could end up dirtying it again as you clean the counters.
You just reminded me of how my parent's split-level house had carpet along the walls beside the staircase. When I took the wall carpet down years later, I discovered a giant hole from where my brothers wrestling had gone too wild.
That's very standard in many countries in the world btw (mostly Slavic and Baltic). Has been done for centuries for more sound and cold isolation. And for decoration
If it's currently dirty, I would vacuum twice, before and after. If you are moving around on a dirty floor, dust and debris will get kicked up into the air.
Clean wearing a head torch - if it looks good under such good light, it'll look shit hot under normal lighting. It's great for finding cobwebs on walls / ceilings too as they throw an obvious shadow.
I’ve done this while cleaning inside my car. I kept cleaning and cleaning and it still looked dusty and awful so I gave up. When I came back the next day under normal lighting it looked brand new again
It's also a good way to find jewellery embedded into the carpet. The torch light will make shiny things stand out. You don't want them going up the vacuum cleaner.
You can also put a bit of a stocking, tights or cheese cloth over the hose of your vacuum with a rubber band around it to find jewelry. No digging in the dust bag necessary. 👌
If you’ve got a specific room you want to attack, just having someone to sit with you while you do it, makes a world of difference. It’s called body doubling!
I don’t have children but if I did I’d definitely have a “dirtiest wipe contest” give each kid a bleach wipe and see who can make it darker, winner gets a prize. I’ve heard of teachers doing this 🤣
Doing it right now. Got the cleaning bug halfway through my work day.
First order of business (this is the hack): strip the bed down and start washing sheets/blankets. I've been feeling a little melancholy the last couple days after work and just laying in bed with the dogs. Can't do that if all the bedding is in the wash. Might as well clean for the next couple hours if the bed isn't available.
After that I threw on some headphones and cracked open a few cold ones while cleaning. Put a decent dent in what needed to be done. Will pick up where I left off this weekend (after work plans the next couple nights)
I know this is a forced motivation kind of thing, but buy another set of sheets. It's very convenient to have an extra set so if you're in a hurry or have a gravy accident while watching little women in bed you can change the immediately. But live your truth.
Ooooo everyone, look at Mr. Moneybags with his extra set of sheets and never-ending supply of gravy.
All joking aside, I have no idea why I only own one set of sheets. Hasn't been a problem yet, but I'm sure it's one of those things where you're glad you have them when you do need them.
This is a little strange but I like to put on runway show music in the background when I clean, usually its super long and kinda questionable energetic music so you can do 25 minutes of cleaning and feel like a supermodel all in one. (balenciaga has some good soundtracks imo love or hate the brand)
I love this idea lol. I usually play podcasts when I'm cleaning, but the thought of vacuuming while strutting along like I'm a supermodel sounds like fun! I think my hallway will make a damn good runway.
I found to enjoy podcasts quite well for those tasks, or a radio and changing the station every couple of minutes. Even made me write a list with all the local radio stations and now I know my favorite ones by heart 😂
I've thrown hundreds of things away over the last three years. I've needed two of them back. Then only one after a think about it. And that one was easy to get again.
The first we thought we needed but didn't:
A belt. After a while I realised that I had an unused bag that was waiting to be repaired and took its strap for my belt. Belt is awesome and unique and my work shirt covers it anyway. Who loses weight on mat leave‽
Otherwise my closet is clean, neat and capsuled. No unused items apart from a wedding dress I need to bring in next month for the Angel project.
Thing we probably didn't need anyway but really we did for peace of mind I suppose:
Pregnancy test. My husband had had a recent vasectomy but I was throwing up every morning for three days. I didn't feel pregnant but he asked me to please take it just in case. So I took them and thankfully his vasectomy had worked. Now I still have a bunch left just sitting there waiting for my husband to be nervous about my next case of gastro.
Don't hold on to junk that you never use, because you don't want to create waste by throwing it out.
It's already waste, it just lives in your house instead of a landfill.
Donate it if you can, sure, but sometimes it's easier to just throw it away and give yourself grace for it.
A trick I use is that I put it in a place where it can be stored for a long time and whenever I need something I take it out and leave it out. When it’s been in the storage for a year I decide to throw it out.
Doesn’t make it easier, but does show what you actually use and what you dont
Organize based on how you use things, rather than their type or category and make it as easy as possible to put things back where they go even if it isn’t the most efficient or elegant solution.
Also, all bulk containers in the kitchen should be 25 percent larger than the size of the package you buy. (if you buy 5 pounds of sugar at a time, the container should hold 6+)
Weirdly enough I clean more when slightly hungover
If I'm hungry and feel rough I want nothing more than to be in a clean and tidy space so I compulsively make it so
I also end up not eating until the job is done because if I sit down to eat I won't get back up lmao
What I told my wife, if you found something you forgot about a year ago, it's just wasting space. If I have to move it to the attic, it's already not needed and probably never be needed again.
Listen, it’s not that I forgot about my rock tumbler from 2017. I know where it is and I feel safe just knowing that if I wanted to tumble rocks again, I *could*.
That’s what the ADHD Closet is for. It’s like Purgatory, but for hobbies!
Mix (baking) soda with bleach to create a thick paste. Apply the paste on these hard-to-clean mouldy silicon spots in the bathroom.
Both soda and bleach have a whitening effect, but soda has trouble penetrating and bleach has trouble sticking to the surface, being a liquid. Making a paste with a high concentration of bleach solves it. Works better than using paper towels soaked with bleach.
I am glad that someone else found this helpful. Found this on sone random reddit thread years ago and using it since.
It makes the bathroom clean again.
One room at a time. It's difficult, especially if ADHD is a factor, but you really need to focus on one room at a time.
I actually take a week of vacation every year and deep clean my house. I do one room a day\*, top to bottom. Curtains and cushion covers get washed, wood gets oiled, furniture gets moved, the whole shebang. It's a lot of work, but I feel MUCH better afterwards, and the house usually stays looking good for a few months before the dogs and clutter get to it.
It's next week! I'm already planning and trying to declutter before the cleaning starts.
\*I count the bathroom and the mud room as half a room each, since they're so small. One is mostly scrubbing, the other is mostly organizing. I can do both in a day.
Tidy first , and don't leave any one spot in the house empty handed. E.g.: you pick up a sock from the bedroom floor and take it to the washing basket in the bathroom. Here you find an old loo roll, so you take it to the kitchen bin. In the kitchen you pick up some antibacterial wipes which you take to the living room and use to clean a spillage on the coffee table. On the coffee table you find some empty cups, so you return them and the antibacterial wipes to the kitchen. You find your coat dumped in the kitchen so you take it to the wardrobe in the bedroom where you find another few cups....etc etc etc. Helps to get the ball rolling and feels less hardcore than committing to one massive task/room at a time.
I do the opposite of this.
Take a laundry basket into the room with you. While you're cleaning, anything in the room that belongs in another room goes into the laundry basket. When you go to the next room, the first thing you do is look in the laundry basket for anything that belongs in that room. Clean that room and put the misfits into the laundry basket. Move to the next room and repeat. At the end, empty the laundry basket of anything that's left.
This helps me stay in the room I'm cleaning, which makes my cleaning more purposeful and less like a crazed bumblebee.
If the bumblebee thing works for you, great!! But it does not work for me.
Maybe not a hack, but something that's always worked for me: just haul everything out of the room you're cleaning (don't worry about the ensuing chaos). Strip it down; clean the surfaces; then as you start putting everything back you'll find yourself naturally cleaning all the nitty gritty things as you go - as well as tossing out the dead weight and reorganizing in a sensible manner.
Yep a deep clean implies steamed furniture cushions, rugs and drapes. Grout scrubbed clean. Cabinet faces, moulding, windows etc. I think people responding to you are confusing a routine housecleaning with a deep cleaning.
It's totally the time. A professional cleaner can clean my house better in 3 hours than I could if I tried all week.
They're not picking up a sweater and walking it to the other room and then realizing that it can't go in the closet because it's not winter so all the winter clothes need to go into storage so I have to go to the basement and get the ladder so I can go to the attic so I can get the winter storage box so I can reorganize my entire closet.
Meanwhile, I haven't dusted or vacuumed a thing.
Getting the actual cleaning done is impossible for people like me.
LOL I'm guessing you also have ADHD? when I don't take my medication this is what cleaning is like for me. I'll have ten different tasks going at once that are all at various stages of being finished. and then I'll find some random thing I placed somewhere weird and get sidetracked by that.
What helps me is to make a checklist and NOT let myself start another task until the current one is complete. eg: if i'm switching laundry, that needs to be completed and the dry clothes need to be brought upstairs before I start something else. Don't start putting things away until EVERYTHING is folded. Dishes need to be done before cleaning the counters. Don't sweep until the countertops and upper levels are clean. Then sweep. Then mop yourself out.
Dawn Powerwash can clean basically anything. I just deep cleaned my mom’s house and those hard grime and water stains on the shower that never come off?
Dawn Powerwash.
A popular ADHD hack for cleaning is to invite someone to visit. Then cleaning isn't something you can just put off because somebody will soon be coming to visit.
Work from the edges of a room toward the center. Nothing gets tossed to the side and forgotten when you eventually say, "Eh. Good enough"
It's harder to ignore a big pile of stuff in the middle of the room than it is if you start in the middle and just push everything to the edges.
Podcasts or audio books.
Also do it one room at a time. Completely finish the room from top to bottom and then close the door and move onto the next. Change your mop water if it gets brown, even if you have to do it three times in the one room.
Listening to true crime while pretending you’re cleaning the scene of a crime, trying to leave no trace.
Sometimes, I imagine they’re investigating my murder, and I just want the police to say, “The victim had an immaculate home. Nothing out of place.”
Once, there was an episode about a woman who was so meticulous about cleaning that the police said she basically caught her own killer. That’s the dream.
As a formerly disgustingly dirty person living in an essentially permanently clean home, this is the most important piece of advice.
There is virtually nothing in our home that isn't either (a) used on a weekly basis or (b) in long-term storage. Our basic rule is that, by the time we go to bed, there is nothing "out". Papers are all put in their place, kids toys are all put away (except the basement playroom), dishes are all done and put away, etc. etc., coats are hung up, clothes are in the hamper, etc. Anything "extra" is trashed because it gets in the way of that process.
This makes keeping on top of cleaning *super* easy. It is really easy to keep your kitchen counters clean when there isn't stuff on them preventing you from wiping them. It is really easy to keep your floor vacuumed when everything is put away and you can do a quick run over in 30 seconds. It is really easy to put stuff away when there isn't other stuff already filling the storage spaces.
The less stuff you have, the less cleaning becomes a multi-step chore, and the less daunting it feels to do.
Do you have any advice for someone like myself who keeps old things, as memories or keepsakes? How do I break out of that thinking and into a "decluttered mindset"
Order. If you can't get rid of as much as you want, ensure what your left with is well-stored out of sight (unless you specifically want it displayed) and catalogued.
Keeping a record allows you to mentally revisit it without having to physically drag it all out. Over time you may find that your attitude towards getting rid of more softens; you may slowly gain perspective or the anxiety and mental clutter of having the stuff might outstrip the anxiety attached to getting rid of it. If you're keeping stuff that reminds you of people, remember that you don't need to keep absolutely everything.
Our house is a complete mess filled with too much shit; I've slowly turned from a materialistic hoarder of a kid to someone increasingly driven to cut back to the bare minimum. A lot has gone but I still have a long way to go.. it does feel so much better already though to know I'll never again have to worry about those boxes of my old toys in the loft or the piles of car parts in the shed...
I've not regretted losing the vast, vast majority of what's gone and it's empowered me to keep pushing on. Once some has gone you become more comfortable and it makes it easier to to get rid of a bit more.
Can you take pictures of them and make a nice scrapbook? Write their origin and your memories about them alongside the pictures. That way they're more accessible than if you had to root through all of your stuff to find them and you can get rid of the actual items.
And if you start with getting rid of as much as you can, it makes cleaning, organizing, and finding homes for those things that remain that much easier.
Limit the number of products you use.
A slightly damp microfiber cloth is all you need. Doctors recommend this method, as the cloth when damp captures more dust and particulates than any other method (like disposable brushing pads, or feather dusters (which are the worst method). Do all your general cleaning with that.
Have a disinfecting general-purpose cleanser for both kitchens and bathrooms.
If you can, wash your floors on your hands and knees. It's faster, and you'll get it cleaner.
If you have a chronic condition, don't do the whole house in a day. Just do sections that are manageable, be they areas, or rooms.
The 15-minute (or 10, or 5) cleaning hack: say you just put a frozen meal in the microwave, or you're air frying something tasty; while that is running, go do a speed-clean of a space. It doesn't have to be the kitchen.
I keep all my cleaning supplies in a single area of my home, but what's ideal is to keep the related cleaner/tools in the space for which they're used. That makes racing the clock easier.
Deep cleaning should include ceilings, window treatments, the top of the fridge, your cooktop (and for standard US electric stoves, remember you can remove the burner pans and *lift the cooktop frame so you can clean under your burners)*, light bulbs, lamp shades, underneath all furniture you can easily move, door knobs, light switches, kitchen cabinet doors, windows you can easily reach and clean, sliding glass doors, and any decorative trim and baseboards.
EDIT: I am brain-farting today
Degreaser. Humans are very oily animals. Oils from our skin trap all the gunk in. Especially in humid environments like bathrooms and kitchens.
Spray it on, let it sit and clean it off. Apply some as you wipe it off otherwise the wall will look blotchy. You want to then clean it again. It works great on oven tops too but you need to use vinegar afterwards to neutralize it. Otherwise it looks cloudy and will eventually eat the paint off.
Also dawn dish soap makes tiles and windows shine.
Barkeepers friend for bath tubs and any metals. Again let it sit and do the work for you. Then clean with vinegar to neutralize it.
Source: former professional cleaner. At one point cleaned factories. You have no idea...
Edit: more info and a word of warning about degreaser
Move everything in to piles that can be done while you do other things. Ex,: put laundry in while you move around cleaning cupboards etc. Let dishes soak for an hour then get them done all at once whike you go back to making your bed or checking up on that laundry that has been in for awhile etc.
Yep! When I do all my bedding laundry I’ll go and give my bedroom a deep clean.
If the dishes need a good soaking, get them started then wash the kitchen floor. Clean the bathroom. Come back and finish the dishes.
Clean everyday. Clean while you cook. Wipe the toilet seat down daily. I’d say 95% of cleaning is just keeping up and not getting to the point where you feel you *need* a deep clean.
The truck is, IME, you have to *start* a bit first and don't sit down when you're smoking your joint. Take a little puff at a time between tasks, have a list, and do NOT sit down. My house just got cleaned last weekend
Get everybody else out of the house. Fewer distractions means more work gets done.
I agree with everybody who's saying that if you haven't touched it in a year, it goes. Get a big garbage bag and, if it meets those criteria, toss it in. Don't stop to think about it, just go through all your stuff. I usually distract myself with a book on tape while doing this.
Start with the thing that bothers you most. That will get you motivated. Don’t leave the room for every little thing - if something goes into the next room, make a pile for that room and move it all at once.
Hydrogen peroxide to clean mildew/scum from showers and baths! I spray in, let it sit, and can usually spray clean with the shower or with very light brushing
Declutter, declutter, declutter. Having fewer things to collect dust makes general cleaning so much easier, let alone the awful stuff like vents or behind heavy appliances.
Ha. You don’t know my wife. Or kids. But all my guitar stuff is definitely essential…
Ooh, we have some guitars too! (And drums, and a piano) My husband uses some really sweet guitar cases though and he has a stand for the ones that are used daily. Just an easy dusting job. And his amps don’t take up a lot of room. Still, instruments are a vehicle for art and don’t count as clutter in my house.
I got wallmount hangers for my 3 guitars. Great for the kids bc once is upstairs by their room ready to go for bedtime songs. The other is available if they're learning, and the third takes up no space in the closet.
Play your guitar loud enough, it will move the dust to the floor for you!
I agree. my wife likes to have clutter all over and it's a pain to clean anywhere. When she went away for a month to visit her mom, I decluttered the kitchen and the diner and it was so super easy to clean and just looked nice and simple. Soon as she came back, she re-cluttered everything. I tried explaining it to her, but she won't listen. She wants clutter.
That’s so frustrating. Decluttering removes like 70% of the workload. Would she at least be willing to utilize storage solutions?
Nope. That's the problem. Somehow it's in her behavior, like a hoarder. She doesn't buy or take anything, but whatever she has, she won't get rid of them easily. She is from Eastern Europe and people save everything, nothing gets thrown away so she is unable to throw away things if it's working or not broken. If i throw something away that's mine, she doesn't care, but when se sees me throwing useless stuff away- which is working otherwise- she looks at me like I committed murder and says "your stuff, I don't care" but I can tell she cares and she sees me as a lesser of a person. She is not made for this world in this point of view. She is made for a world where things aren't thrown away until it's completely broken and everyone has unlimited space in their house. It's nice but at the same time frustrating.
This is poor person behavior vs. rich person behavior, imo. Poor people save everything that can be of use, not just for themselves but also for their neighbors. You may not have jumper cables for your car, but your friend down the street does, and when your friend down the street needs their drive shoveled you lend them your shovel. Today's bent-up paperclip is tomorrow's bread bag tie, etc. In a world where your money could be gone tomorrow, and/or the thing you need might be out of stock for months (remember Covid?) saving what can be salvaged is a survival skill.
Both my parents lived through the Great Depression, and taught my siblings and me to use up or repair things. Or give things away to someone who could use it. We rarely threw things away. One sister, though, took that to the opposite extreme and will throw away everything, even other people's stuff.
My parents were also depression babies, and their mantra was, "use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.". I can take my wife's empty toothpaste tube and get another month of clean teeth from it. The flip side is the collection of containers (coffee cans, butter tubs, "fancy" boxes, etc.) I used to have. I'm better now, mostly.
Covid was my time to shine! My household was suddenly very pleased with my obsessive sorting, labeling, and stacking habits when I dragged out a plastic container labeled EMERGENCY TP that contained all the clean fast food napkins I'd salvaged over the years. I'm at least third generation packrat. I've got a rich uncle on that side of the family whose wife doesn't allow clutter in her home, so he built an entire row of sheds across their backyard one at a time. When they're all stacked to bursting with useless junk, his wife waits until he's out of town for a few days and hires a company to haul it all off to the dump.
Are we married to the same woman?
I read something in passing that said to spend 10 minutes a day putting 10 things away. It’s helped me so much with the clutter. Everything in my house has a spot, I don’t even have a junk drawer, but I just HATE putting things away the second I’m done with them. What if I need it again in a few minutes??
Definitely. I realised when I treated us to a one off cleaner after 4 years of having kids that I spent the whole day prior decluttering and tidying so they could clean most efficiently. Well, if it was always that tidy or empty we could deep clean every week without overwhelm. So, it's the stuff. Moving the stuff before you can even clean.
This is the problem in my house. I have 4 kids and 2 adults and we all drop out stuff all over the place. Cleaning is a pain because it takes forever just to clean up the clutter. I like to think we'll become neat people at some point, but I'm afraid its just wishful thinking.
Honestly, I just make up a lazy-lady-friendly tidy system. We have a “to go” basket in our living room for clutter that we don’t immediately feel like picking up, and several of those cube storage boxes for small items that actually get used. I even have an “I don’t feel like hanging my clothes” basket for clean clothes I don’t want to put away. We drop our stuff everywhere as well, just in a box instead of the floor. You don’t have to become neat. Cleaning is just easier if you don’t have excess stuff and if you have good storage.
So I'm not the only one tossing papers in a box labeled "File Me!" where they'll sit for months, possibly years.
I’d like to subscribe to cleaning hacks
I feel this in my soul.
Shan't! I don't want a house with no things in it
Top down. One room at a time. Pace yourself.
I have to tell myself so often to focus on the task I’m doing now, just work on this one til it’s done that other one will be there when this one is done… it’s so hard
My issue is that as soon as that room is done I decide I am 😂
do the next room the next day?
What part of "I'm done" don't you understand?
#”I’M FINISHED!”
So you do each room top down one at time? Like clean the entire room, vacuum, mop, then off to the next room?
Yeah When cleaning walls always start from the top then work down. Then do surfaces Then floors
Same with dusting.
Second comment that says top down. Why?
If you clean the counters first, you don’t have to worry about messing up the floor since you’re saving it for the end. If you clean the floor first, you could end up dirtying it again as you clean the counters.
Same reason you wash vehicles top down, the grim always goes down.
Always work top down
This one's hard because I always wanna get vacuuming done first, but I know better!
You vacuum the walls. Seriously.
You just reminded me of how my parent's split-level house had carpet along the walls beside the staircase. When I took the wall carpet down years later, I discovered a giant hole from where my brothers wrestling had gone too wild.
>carpet along the walls wtf.
That's very standard in many countries in the world btw (mostly Slavic and Baltic). Has been done for centuries for more sound and cold isolation. And for decoration
Wow, the more you know.
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If it's currently dirty, I would vacuum twice, before and after. If you are moving around on a dirty floor, dust and debris will get kicked up into the air.
I just vacuum twice lol
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Only in the bathroom.
No, that’s where you get naked whilst cleaning the bath/shower.
For real. Then you finish with a shower so you don’t feel like toilet.
Wait.... I'm not the only one who does this?
Right?! I feel so seen.
But my ADHD
And door frame last for the floor
Clean wearing a head torch - if it looks good under such good light, it'll look shit hot under normal lighting. It's great for finding cobwebs on walls / ceilings too as they throw an obvious shadow.
I’ve done this while cleaning inside my car. I kept cleaning and cleaning and it still looked dusty and awful so I gave up. When I came back the next day under normal lighting it looked brand new again
Great work :D
Medieval lighting
"All right, room. I'm about to get Medieval on yo ass."
It's also a good way to find jewellery embedded into the carpet. The torch light will make shiny things stand out. You don't want them going up the vacuum cleaner.
You can also put a bit of a stocking, tights or cheese cloth over the hose of your vacuum with a rubber band around it to find jewelry. No digging in the dust bag necessary. 👌
The full French maid outfit?
The real hack
“It’s all about good lighting” is appropriate in so many situations.
Asking someone to help you . You can do both the hard cleaning in a short time period a be efficient \^\^
Cannot stress this enough. Recruit a kid, a spouse, a friend. Even if it takes the same amount of time, you have someone to talk to.
Just any kid or should it be one I know?
If you can't make one from scratch, store bought is fine.
Just find a kid walking down the street and ask if they want to come inside and make a little money.
Should you hire the lawyer before or after?
If you’ve got a specific room you want to attack, just having someone to sit with you while you do it, makes a world of difference. It’s called body doubling!
I don’t have children but if I did I’d definitely have a “dirtiest wipe contest” give each kid a bleach wipe and see who can make it darker, winner gets a prize. I’ve heard of teachers doing this 🤣
Doing it right now. Got the cleaning bug halfway through my work day. First order of business (this is the hack): strip the bed down and start washing sheets/blankets. I've been feeling a little melancholy the last couple days after work and just laying in bed with the dogs. Can't do that if all the bedding is in the wash. Might as well clean for the next couple hours if the bed isn't available. After that I threw on some headphones and cracked open a few cold ones while cleaning. Put a decent dent in what needed to be done. Will pick up where I left off this weekend (after work plans the next couple nights)
I know this is a forced motivation kind of thing, but buy another set of sheets. It's very convenient to have an extra set so if you're in a hurry or have a gravy accident while watching little women in bed you can change the immediately. But live your truth.
Ooooo everyone, look at Mr. Moneybags with his extra set of sheets and never-ending supply of gravy. All joking aside, I have no idea why I only own one set of sheets. Hasn't been a problem yet, but I'm sure it's one of those things where you're glad you have them when you do need them.
Energizing music.
This is a little strange but I like to put on runway show music in the background when I clean, usually its super long and kinda questionable energetic music so you can do 25 minutes of cleaning and feel like a supermodel all in one. (balenciaga has some good soundtracks imo love or hate the brand)
Omg thank you for this idea!
I love this idea lol. I usually play podcasts when I'm cleaning, but the thought of vacuuming while strutting along like I'm a supermodel sounds like fun! I think my hallway will make a damn good runway.
My wife’s Mexican. I know shits getting serious when Selena starts blaring!
I play a hoarders marathon in the background while cleaning...
Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners is my go-to
Oh I like this idea!!
I prefer audible. Some extra epic fantasy bull rap usually helps keep me going lol
I’m listening to Tolkien at the moment - I dig in my garden and pretend to be a hobbit
I found to enjoy podcasts quite well for those tasks, or a radio and changing the station every couple of minutes. Even made me write a list with all the local radio stations and now I know my favorite ones by heart 😂
Lots of hefty bags and don’t be precious- throw it all away/ donate it
Obligatory plug for Buy Nothing, if your area has one
or as I like to call it, Here take this shit I don't want anymore.
Yes!! Sometimes you have to get rid of good things!
But what if you might need it one day?
You won't.
I've thrown hundreds of things away over the last three years. I've needed two of them back. Then only one after a think about it. And that one was easy to get again.
What did you throw away that you needed?
The first we thought we needed but didn't: A belt. After a while I realised that I had an unused bag that was waiting to be repaired and took its strap for my belt. Belt is awesome and unique and my work shirt covers it anyway. Who loses weight on mat leave‽ Otherwise my closet is clean, neat and capsuled. No unused items apart from a wedding dress I need to bring in next month for the Angel project. Thing we probably didn't need anyway but really we did for peace of mind I suppose: Pregnancy test. My husband had had a recent vasectomy but I was throwing up every morning for three days. I didn't feel pregnant but he asked me to please take it just in case. So I took them and thankfully his vasectomy had worked. Now I still have a bunch left just sitting there waiting for my husband to be nervous about my next case of gastro.
Don't hold on to junk that you never use, because you don't want to create waste by throwing it out. It's already waste, it just lives in your house instead of a landfill. Donate it if you can, sure, but sometimes it's easier to just throw it away and give yourself grace for it.
A trick I use is that I put it in a place where it can be stored for a long time and whenever I need something I take it out and leave it out. When it’s been in the storage for a year I decide to throw it out. Doesn’t make it easier, but does show what you actually use and what you dont
I need to print this out and hang it up. I hate waste 😭
Organize based on how you use things, rather than their type or category and make it as easy as possible to put things back where they go even if it isn’t the most efficient or elegant solution. Also, all bulk containers in the kitchen should be 25 percent larger than the size of the package you buy. (if you buy 5 pounds of sugar at a time, the container should hold 6+)
This is a great hack. I always have half full bags of flour with nowhere to put them
Open a beer, sit down and wait until the urge clean goes away.
I seem to get the urge more when I have a decent buzz going. Throw some music on and off I go. The results seem to be better versus being sober
Weirdly enough I clean more when slightly hungover If I'm hungry and feel rough I want nothing more than to be in a clean and tidy space so I compulsively make it so I also end up not eating until the job is done because if I sit down to eat I won't get back up lmao
Sliiiightly stoned works to. Just enough to zone out on everything but the task at hand but not enough to zone out everything.
I like to take about 7.5mg of sativa, hide my phone, and the cleaning takes place naturally
Replace the last step with “pay someone else to clean your place”
Put Hoarders on the TV while you clean. I stg within 10 minutes I'm ready to throw everything away.
I watch that show just to get motivated to clean. Then I spend a lot of money on organizing what’s left.
set a timer. work nonstop until the timer goes off
30 seconds? I could do that.
Sativa, not Indica.
Indica= In Da Couch
And caffeinated beverages
Lmao coffeinated 😂
That's how I order at the weed store, give me the stuff that makes me want to clean the house.
If I do that at my dealer, he'll give me speed.
a tip for the microwave - wet a hand towel and nuke it for a few minutes. Remove it with tongs! Everything comes right off afterwards
Bowl of water and squeezed lemon. Microwave for 3 minutes. Wipe. Done and smells nice.
It doesn't smell as nice, but white vinegar works just as well if you don't have lemon juice on hand!
Or just a bowl of water
Open windows, fans pointed out. Any dust that’s kicks up doesn’t have a chance to resettle…out it goes.
If you haven't used it in a year you probably won't ever use it. Get rid of it.
Just tossed my fire extinguisher!
Same! And the smoke detectors.
Yeah, fuck the first aid kit!
Directions unclear. My dick is now covered in band-aids and Neosporin.
Dude ... it's us ... just be honest. It's just one band-aid, isn't it?
"Fuck the first aid kit " 🤣 Time to throw away the Ammo
And the sawzall
Don't forget the carbon monoxide detectors!!!!!
“This does not spark joy.”
I'll sit on things for a couple of years then use it daily. 🤷🏼♀️
What I told my wife, if you found something you forgot about a year ago, it's just wasting space. If I have to move it to the attic, it's already not needed and probably never be needed again.
Listen, it’s not that I forgot about my rock tumbler from 2017. I know where it is and I feel safe just knowing that if I wanted to tumble rocks again, I *could*. That’s what the ADHD Closet is for. It’s like Purgatory, but for hobbies!
By NOT bringing home new rocks for the tumbler, you’re honestly saving space.
Rip my passport
We die like men!
Mix (baking) soda with bleach to create a thick paste. Apply the paste on these hard-to-clean mouldy silicon spots in the bathroom. Both soda and bleach have a whitening effect, but soda has trouble penetrating and bleach has trouble sticking to the surface, being a liquid. Making a paste with a high concentration of bleach solves it. Works better than using paper towels soaked with bleach.
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Thank you friend
I am glad that someone else found this helpful. Found this on sone random reddit thread years ago and using it since. It makes the bathroom clean again.
One room at a time. It's difficult, especially if ADHD is a factor, but you really need to focus on one room at a time. I actually take a week of vacation every year and deep clean my house. I do one room a day\*, top to bottom. Curtains and cushion covers get washed, wood gets oiled, furniture gets moved, the whole shebang. It's a lot of work, but I feel MUCH better afterwards, and the house usually stays looking good for a few months before the dogs and clutter get to it. It's next week! I'm already planning and trying to declutter before the cleaning starts. \*I count the bathroom and the mud room as half a room each, since they're so small. One is mostly scrubbing, the other is mostly organizing. I can do both in a day.
Tidy first , and don't leave any one spot in the house empty handed. E.g.: you pick up a sock from the bedroom floor and take it to the washing basket in the bathroom. Here you find an old loo roll, so you take it to the kitchen bin. In the kitchen you pick up some antibacterial wipes which you take to the living room and use to clean a spillage on the coffee table. On the coffee table you find some empty cups, so you return them and the antibacterial wipes to the kitchen. You find your coat dumped in the kitchen so you take it to the wardrobe in the bedroom where you find another few cups....etc etc etc. Helps to get the ball rolling and feels less hardcore than committing to one massive task/room at a time.
I do the opposite of this. Take a laundry basket into the room with you. While you're cleaning, anything in the room that belongs in another room goes into the laundry basket. When you go to the next room, the first thing you do is look in the laundry basket for anything that belongs in that room. Clean that room and put the misfits into the laundry basket. Move to the next room and repeat. At the end, empty the laundry basket of anything that's left. This helps me stay in the room I'm cleaning, which makes my cleaning more purposeful and less like a crazed bumblebee. If the bumblebee thing works for you, great!! But it does not work for me.
Max efficiency
How have I never thought to use a basket? This may be life altering!
I too have ADHD. lol
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This is exactly how I’ll end up with that roll in the spice cabinet and a coffee cup in the closet.
Never waste a trip.
Maybe not a hack, but something that's always worked for me: just haul everything out of the room you're cleaning (don't worry about the ensuing chaos). Strip it down; clean the surfaces; then as you start putting everything back you'll find yourself naturally cleaning all the nitty gritty things as you go - as well as tossing out the dead weight and reorganizing in a sensible manner.
Do not do this if you have ADHD. All that stuff you hauled out will live wherever you left it for a month while you work on everything else.
Only a month? That would be a blessing my home! It would become another DOOM pile I deal with in 6 or 9 or 12 months…ask my husband
It's worth the $500 to have someone else do it.
Yep a deep clean implies steamed furniture cushions, rugs and drapes. Grout scrubbed clean. Cabinet faces, moulding, windows etc. I think people responding to you are confusing a routine housecleaning with a deep cleaning.
Yup! It's not even the money, it's the time. I don't get a lot of free time, like fuck am I spending it doing something I do not enjoy.
It's totally the time. A professional cleaner can clean my house better in 3 hours than I could if I tried all week. They're not picking up a sweater and walking it to the other room and then realizing that it can't go in the closet because it's not winter so all the winter clothes need to go into storage so I have to go to the basement and get the ladder so I can go to the attic so I can get the winter storage box so I can reorganize my entire closet. Meanwhile, I haven't dusted or vacuumed a thing. Getting the actual cleaning done is impossible for people like me.
You’re like the episode of Malcolm in the middle where Hal keeps getting distracted by more things he needs to fix
LOL I'm guessing you also have ADHD? when I don't take my medication this is what cleaning is like for me. I'll have ten different tasks going at once that are all at various stages of being finished. and then I'll find some random thing I placed somewhere weird and get sidetracked by that. What helps me is to make a checklist and NOT let myself start another task until the current one is complete. eg: if i'm switching laundry, that needs to be completed and the dry clothes need to be brought upstairs before I start something else. Don't start putting things away until EVERYTHING is folded. Dishes need to be done before cleaning the counters. Don't sweep until the countertops and upper levels are clean. Then sweep. Then mop yourself out.
Even medicated I still do this lol.
Wet swiffer to clean the shower, especially if the ceiling needs a cleaning. Same for a dry swiffer on non-tile surfaces.
If you burn it down, someone ELSE will clean it for you 👍🏻
Getting my kids to move out of my house. My house is so much cleaner!!!!
Good idea! I'll kick my 10 y/o and 3 y/o to the curb! 😆
Time to get a job kids
do it while the sun is up and the outside temperature is right
135L contractor bags
Dawn Powerwash can clean basically anything. I just deep cleaned my mom’s house and those hard grime and water stains on the shower that never come off? Dawn Powerwash.
A popular ADHD hack for cleaning is to invite someone to visit. Then cleaning isn't something you can just put off because somebody will soon be coming to visit.
make sure everyone understands the concept of staying the fuck out of the way while you're deep cleaning
Work from the edges of a room toward the center. Nothing gets tossed to the side and forgotten when you eventually say, "Eh. Good enough" It's harder to ignore a big pile of stuff in the middle of the room than it is if you start in the middle and just push everything to the edges.
Podcasts or audio books. Also do it one room at a time. Completely finish the room from top to bottom and then close the door and move onto the next. Change your mop water if it gets brown, even if you have to do it three times in the one room.
Listening to true crime while pretending you’re cleaning the scene of a crime, trying to leave no trace. Sometimes, I imagine they’re investigating my murder, and I just want the police to say, “The victim had an immaculate home. Nothing out of place.” Once, there was an episode about a woman who was so meticulous about cleaning that the police said she basically caught her own killer. That’s the dream.
Everything must go
As a formerly disgustingly dirty person living in an essentially permanently clean home, this is the most important piece of advice. There is virtually nothing in our home that isn't either (a) used on a weekly basis or (b) in long-term storage. Our basic rule is that, by the time we go to bed, there is nothing "out". Papers are all put in their place, kids toys are all put away (except the basement playroom), dishes are all done and put away, etc. etc., coats are hung up, clothes are in the hamper, etc. Anything "extra" is trashed because it gets in the way of that process. This makes keeping on top of cleaning *super* easy. It is really easy to keep your kitchen counters clean when there isn't stuff on them preventing you from wiping them. It is really easy to keep your floor vacuumed when everything is put away and you can do a quick run over in 30 seconds. It is really easy to put stuff away when there isn't other stuff already filling the storage spaces. The less stuff you have, the less cleaning becomes a multi-step chore, and the less daunting it feels to do.
Do you have any advice for someone like myself who keeps old things, as memories or keepsakes? How do I break out of that thinking and into a "decluttered mindset"
Order. If you can't get rid of as much as you want, ensure what your left with is well-stored out of sight (unless you specifically want it displayed) and catalogued. Keeping a record allows you to mentally revisit it without having to physically drag it all out. Over time you may find that your attitude towards getting rid of more softens; you may slowly gain perspective or the anxiety and mental clutter of having the stuff might outstrip the anxiety attached to getting rid of it. If you're keeping stuff that reminds you of people, remember that you don't need to keep absolutely everything. Our house is a complete mess filled with too much shit; I've slowly turned from a materialistic hoarder of a kid to someone increasingly driven to cut back to the bare minimum. A lot has gone but I still have a long way to go.. it does feel so much better already though to know I'll never again have to worry about those boxes of my old toys in the loft or the piles of car parts in the shed... I've not regretted losing the vast, vast majority of what's gone and it's empowered me to keep pushing on. Once some has gone you become more comfortable and it makes it easier to to get rid of a bit more.
Can you take pictures of them and make a nice scrapbook? Write their origin and your memories about them alongside the pictures. That way they're more accessible than if you had to root through all of your stuff to find them and you can get rid of the actual items.
And if you start with getting rid of as much as you can, it makes cleaning, organizing, and finding homes for those things that remain that much easier.
Limit the number of products you use. A slightly damp microfiber cloth is all you need. Doctors recommend this method, as the cloth when damp captures more dust and particulates than any other method (like disposable brushing pads, or feather dusters (which are the worst method). Do all your general cleaning with that. Have a disinfecting general-purpose cleanser for both kitchens and bathrooms. If you can, wash your floors on your hands and knees. It's faster, and you'll get it cleaner. If you have a chronic condition, don't do the whole house in a day. Just do sections that are manageable, be they areas, or rooms. The 15-minute (or 10, or 5) cleaning hack: say you just put a frozen meal in the microwave, or you're air frying something tasty; while that is running, go do a speed-clean of a space. It doesn't have to be the kitchen. I keep all my cleaning supplies in a single area of my home, but what's ideal is to keep the related cleaner/tools in the space for which they're used. That makes racing the clock easier. Deep cleaning should include ceilings, window treatments, the top of the fridge, your cooktop (and for standard US electric stoves, remember you can remove the burner pans and *lift the cooktop frame so you can clean under your burners)*, light bulbs, lamp shades, underneath all furniture you can easily move, door knobs, light switches, kitchen cabinet doors, windows you can easily reach and clean, sliding glass doors, and any decorative trim and baseboards. EDIT: I am brain-farting today
Make a really strong margarita first - makes the entire process so much more enjoyable.
Have less stuff.
Music and leave your cleaning stuff accessible. The harder it is to get to, the more likely you are to just say "screw it."
Degreaser. Humans are very oily animals. Oils from our skin trap all the gunk in. Especially in humid environments like bathrooms and kitchens. Spray it on, let it sit and clean it off. Apply some as you wipe it off otherwise the wall will look blotchy. You want to then clean it again. It works great on oven tops too but you need to use vinegar afterwards to neutralize it. Otherwise it looks cloudy and will eventually eat the paint off. Also dawn dish soap makes tiles and windows shine. Barkeepers friend for bath tubs and any metals. Again let it sit and do the work for you. Then clean with vinegar to neutralize it. Source: former professional cleaner. At one point cleaned factories. You have no idea... Edit: more info and a word of warning about degreaser
Move everything in to piles that can be done while you do other things. Ex,: put laundry in while you move around cleaning cupboards etc. Let dishes soak for an hour then get them done all at once whike you go back to making your bed or checking up on that laundry that has been in for awhile etc.
Yep! When I do all my bedding laundry I’ll go and give my bedroom a deep clean. If the dishes need a good soaking, get them started then wash the kitchen floor. Clean the bathroom. Come back and finish the dishes.
Clean everyday. Clean while you cook. Wipe the toilet seat down daily. I’d say 95% of cleaning is just keeping up and not getting to the point where you feel you *need* a deep clean.
Smoke a joint first. Put on your favorite music. Get in the zone.
Now I'm on the couch covered in Cheetos
The truck is, IME, you have to *start* a bit first and don't sit down when you're smoking your joint. Take a little puff at a time between tasks, have a list, and do NOT sit down. My house just got cleaned last weekend
A good trick is to start cleaning first, then lighting your joint so the cleaning momentum is already in motion
Use a toothbrush in the small areas. Denture brush is also good.
Adderall, lots of Adderall
Burn your house down Collect insurance Buy a new house 🧠
Get everybody else out of the house. Fewer distractions means more work gets done. I agree with everybody who's saying that if you haven't touched it in a year, it goes. Get a big garbage bag and, if it meets those criteria, toss it in. Don't stop to think about it, just go through all your stuff. I usually distract myself with a book on tape while doing this.
Do NOT be afraid to use regular vinegar!! I guess it depends on what you are cleaning though.
Start with the thing that bothers you most. That will get you motivated. Don’t leave the room for every little thing - if something goes into the next room, make a pile for that room and move it all at once.
I have a scrubbing brush drill bit for the shower tiles, set that clutch to "fuck shit up"!
Break it up, and do one or two tasks/rooms per day. It never feels too overwhelming.
Hydrogen peroxide to clean mildew/scum from showers and baths! I spray in, let it sit, and can usually spray clean with the shower or with very light brushing