There are three things you need, to clean your home efficiently/effectively, and they may not be what you think!

Many of us, when we struck out on our own, struggled with keeping a house clean.  And some of us thought, “Why am I having so much trouble?!  I know how to clean!”  But there are actually three major elements that are necessary for staying on top of house cleaning.  Even if you have two of them, if you’re missing the third, you’ll run into trouble.  What are the three things you need, for effectively keeping a clean home?

1.  Knowledge of how to clean
2. A commitment to what products to use
3. A schedule/plan

If any one of these elements is missing, the process will come to a grinding halt…or at least slow down considerably.

How to Clean

This is the part that most people either have down (for the most part), or at least know they’re missing.  This is the actual mechanics of getting things clean.  What action does one take to scrub a toilet, wipe the kitchen counters, or clean the refrigerator?  That’s the “how to clean.”  Some of us learned these things; some of us didn’t.

Even those of us who did learn how to clean, in general, will still run into some brick walls every now and then.  Maybe you know how to clean the sinks, but not that new microfiber couch.  Or you’re not sure how to polish the silver.  Or what to do when your potty training toddler has an accident on the carpet.  It’s helpful to take stock of those occasions that stump you (if the same ones are recurring), so you can seek out the knowledge you need.

If you never learned these things at all, that’s okay; it’s not too late!  There are, in fact, some great “how to” resources in the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle sale going on this week.

The internet is also a great resource for this sort of thing.  Just ask Google “how to clean urine out of a rug” or whatever comprises your current dilemma.

What Products to Use

The second important element is what cleaning products you’re going to use.  There is little that will slow me down faster in the process of cleaning than standing around trying to figure out what I’m going to use for a particular task.

One big challenge here is that I want to use products that are both safe and effective.  The U.S. does very little to regulate the chemicals that are in our cleaning products (or personal care).  European countries have banned hundreds of chemicals because they’re harmful, while the U.S. has banned fewer than twelve.  So just because a product is on the shelf for sale doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe or healthy for us to be breathing in or absorbing through our skin.

I’ve gone through product after product after product trying to figure out which of the more natural options actually work.  One brand I’ve found to consistently do what it’s supposed to is Seventh Generation.  (In fact, Seventh Generation dishwasher tabs are the only ones we’ve found — conventional options included — that work well with our hard water.)  The products I’ve used from Norwex, Method, and Mrs. Meyers, so far, have all worked well, too, although I haven’t tried as wide a variety of their products.  (I’m not at all trying to imply that anything from another brand doesn’t work; I’m sure there are other good products out there, too.  But so far, much of what I’ve found is hit-or-miss, and these have been pretty consistent, so they’re a good place to start.)

Anyway, for every given cleaning task, you need to know which tool(s) and which cleanser you intend to use.  Not every task will require both.  Good quality microfiber, for instance (I prefer Norwex, for a variety of reasons), will enable you to complete many cleaning tasks with only water, and you won’t need a cleanser.  But figure that out ahead of time, if you can (or at least just once) so the decision is already made for you when it’s time to jump into cleaning.  That way you aren’t having to problem-solve or make decisions on the spot; you’re only having to go through the motions.

(Grove Collaborative is an online shop offering natural household product brands, as well as a few of their own private-label products.  They sell some of my favorites — like Seventh Generation and Method.)

Schedule/Plan

The final piece of the puzzle is a schedule or plan.  You don’t change the sheets every day, right?  But that also means it can be hard to remember when they should be changed.  Everyone’s needs are different, so your cleaning schedule might not look like anyone else’s, but you need to have a plan.  Task A gets done every other week, Task B gets done every day, Task C gets done quarterly, etc.  Whatever works for you, have some kind of a list.  (This is a bit like what we mentioned about the cleaning products.  You want to do as much of your thinking as possible just once, so the actual cleaning is just a physical task, not a physical + mental one, which can make it twice the challenge!)

I’ve talked about creating routines & schedules before, but if you want something in more of a “book” form, one good resource for this is Cleaning Around the Seasons.

It’s meant for deep cleaning, so it’s not going to include things like washing the dishes and wiping the kitchen counters (although it does include bathroom cleaning).  But this has some pre-made cleaning schedules you can use, and there are several different options, depending on how intense or how “laid back” a process you’re looking for, etc.  And there’s a pretty printable blank form so if you want to build your own after getting inspiration from those already in the book, you can make it all bright and colorful like the ones in the book.

There are also some tips for getting started that hark back to the other two points I mentioned earlier.

How ‘Bout You?

Do you have any particular cleaning tasks that stump you?  Favorite cleaning products?  Best resources?  Leave a comment!