No Housekeeper? Now what?
During this Coronavirus Pandemic, many housekeepers have been dismissed. No housekeeper? Now what? For those who have never cleaned or organized your own home, you may feel rather desperate. Here are a few housekeeping tips to help you through this.
- Look at your cleaning products. Select the basics for everyday rudimentary light cleaning. These include a good all purpose cleaner to be used on most surfaces, a glass cleaning product for your mirrors and glass, a toilet bowl cleaner and Disinfectant wipes. Pull out the vacuum & mop. Place in a caddy the following items: dusting microfiber cloth, glass cleaning (flour sack type) cloth, disinfectant wipes and a toilet bowl brush.
- Create a cleaning schedule. Clean one room at a time daily so that you are not overwhelmed. Kitchen, Family Room, Master Bedroom Suites and Children’s Rooms may need more attention so clean these more than once weekly, while other rooms such as a living room, library and guest room may be cleaned only one time per week (or every 2 weeks if not heavily used). It’s all about frequency of use. Estimate the number of times you need to clean an area/room by how often it is used. Clean toilets, sinks, countertops and door knobs/handles daily to keep things the most sanitized.
- Enlist Support & Share the Task – Cleaning a home is not an easy job. You may need to enlist some help from other members of the family. Ask your spouse, teenagers and/or young adults to help so that they start learning some of these skills while sharing the task.
- Clean from top to bottom. Learning how to clean isn’t on everyone’s radar but it isn’t a bad thing to know. Think about pulling dust and dirt from the top so that it falls leaving vacuuming the floor/carpet as the last thing you do. When cleaning surfaces, remove all items and wipe the surface from corner to corner. Wipe down window sills, door thresholds, doors – knobs, cabinets. Use a damp/dry cloth, dry dusting cloth and/or disinfectant wipes where appropriate. Fluff up all pillows and sofa cushions – vacuuming underneath the cushions as needed. Use the attachments provided with the vacuum to get to corners, baseboards and nooks and crannies. Use the mop with an appropriate cleaner for either a stone or wood surface. If you are only using a little bit of dish soap and water for both – just be sure not to oversaturate any floor surface – especially wood.
- Use Attention to detail. – A big aspect to housekeeping is noticing everything. Review the room after you have completed the job and straighten out those curtains, ensure the area rug is positioned right, fold the towels evenly, fluff the pillows and fold the throw blanket, check the flowers if they need fresh water, ensure the frames are polished, check the mirrors that there are not smudges.
Bravo! Keep your home clean and sanitized. Stay busy and positive. Stay safe and healthy!