It’s usually a major surprise to clients that once the clutter is removed and order returned, cleaning becomes less of a chore and usually done faster once maintained regularly.
6 key reasons why regular cleaning is important:
1) Dusting: good for maintaining health, especially those who suffer asthma or respiratory problems. It helps treasured items maintain their appearance & function. Why spend heaps of money on an object or medications if you neglect your stuff or yourself?
2) Wiping up spills: again, obviously important to everyone’s health. Clean up spills as soon as they occur and they are easier to remove. Left spills and empty food containers around the house attract vermin, bacteria and odours. Sticky dry messes and build-ups of cooking oil create a bigger chore if left too long.
3) Vacuuming: essential to assist in dust and dirt removal, but also reduces the traffic of things off feet and shoes being transported through the house into areas such as into bed linen. It also protects the life of your carpet. Remember the attachments! Clean under lounge cushions, ceiling fan blades, door tracks, skirting boards and frames. Remember to replace vacuum cleaner bags often so that the cleaner suction is maintained.
4) Bathroom hygiene: maintain regular cleaning of toilets and bathroom surfaces to reduce odours, bacteria, mould and stain build-ups. Keep the toilet brush near the toilet, consider others and yourself and scrub accidents straight after they occur. Keep a window squeegee in the shower and do the glass panels after showering to maintain reduction of soap scum build-up.
5) Psychological: Build-ups of dirt, stains and clutter has a psychological impact. You gradually feel overwhelmed, some may even feel a sense of failure or left open to judgment and criticism. When embarrassment sets in, you’re less likely to bring people home, in turn limiting your enjoyment and sharing of your surroundings and the things you have bought with your hard earned cash.
6) Fitness: Cleaning burns calories and keeps you flexible! Put on your favourite music or a recorded book and get moving! Make cleaning enjoyable.
So how does removing clutter speed all of this up?
• By removing clutter from floors, dust and dirt can’t accumulate – vacuuming is faster.
• By removing clutter from surfaces, wipe downs (especially in bathrooms) become much quicker.
• Try and put groups of cosmetics, bottles etc. into decorative trays, bowls and baskets
if you don’t have the drawers or cupboards to put them in.
• Remove less used appliances from kitchen bench tops.
• Have a bowl for spare change, another for keys, have a jewellery box for jewellery.
• Have 2 baskets in the laundry, one for collected items out of pockets and another for
odd socks.
• Put CD’s, DVD’s into their cases to protect them, that is what they’re for.
• Return all medications to the medicine cabinet. Leaving them around is dangerous as
children or pets may accidentally consume it or you may miss a dose. Medication
should be private.
• Handle paperwork once, read, assign, action, put in pending, file or toss.
• Cover unused heaters or portable fans with a cover to reduce dust build-up when stored.
• Lastly, untangle and streamline those electrical cables. Jumbles of cables are not only
dangerous but attract dust which grows into ugly balls of fluff that are unsightly
and unhealthy.
