With the holiday season drawing to a close, we are slowing getting back to our semi-normal routines. Part of returning to normalcy is taking down our Christmas decorations. In doing so, I’m left with the daunting task of moving furniture from places they don’t typically reside, cleaning up pine needles from our tree, and giving our house a deep clean. There’s something about having a freshly cut tree in your home for a month that really makes you want to scrub the house when the tree is taken out.
My One Little Word for 2013 was present – and being present doesn’t mean spending a lot of time cleaning my house. It’s a bit of a double edged sword as I love having a clean home. I cherish the sight of clean counters and minimal clutter. I love walking barefoot across our wood floors and not feeling sand beneath my toes.
Getting my home back to normal is easy when I follow these three time saving cleaning tips:
1. Full Hands In, Full Hands Out. When you leave a room, take what doesn’t belong with you. If you’ve brought a drink from the kitchen to the den, take the empty cup to the dishwasher when you leave the den. Your sweater shouldn’t be draped over the couch – if it’s dirty put it in the laundry; if it’s clean hang it up. Everything has it’s place, taking time to put your things away when you’re finished with give your home an uncluttered look.
2. Keep Up with the Laundry. We’re a family of three, and I do at least one load of laundry daily. Whether it is sheets, towels, rugby gear, or regular ol’ clothing; I’m washing, drying, and folding every day. If you pop a load of laundry in the wash before your first cup of coffee, it should be washed and dried by the time you’ve dressed for the day. If you’re lucky enough to have a washer with a timer, you can set the washer to turn on 30 minutes before you wake up and really get a jump start on your laundry!
3. Clean your floors regularly. There I said it. Vacuum and wash your floors regularly. To some, that means every single day – at least for the vacuuming. To others, it means every Saturday. Whatever your definition of regularly is, do it. Hold yourself accountable. If you’re a once-a-week cleaner, set a reminder on your phone and stick to it. It’s easy to say “I’ll do it tomorrow” but tomorrow never comes for some.
Unlike many of you, I enjoy vacuuming. I find it relaxing and use the time to think. The hum of the vacuum drowns out the seemingly endless requests for drinks and snacks while masking the sound of The Texan’s sander in the basement. Once the vacuuming is finished, I move right on to washing the floor. I used to wash my floor with a sponge while crouched down on my knees. You can imagine that the floor didn’t get washed very often. Recently, I discovered the Swiffer® SteamBoost Steam Mop and have happily washed my floors twice per week. Yep, you could eat off the floors here if you wanted to.
I noticed right away that the unit is lightweight – perfect for going room to room and floor to floor. One of the greatest features of the Swiffer® SteamBoost Steam Mop is that one cleaning pad cleans my entire first floor (where we have wood flooring and tile) as well as the stairs (those are wood) and the second floor bathroom. I’ve tried other products in the past, and found that I had to replace the cleaning pad too frequently. The SteamBoost Steam Mop uses regular tap water to create the steam, and the water reservoir is located at the front, making it easy to fill and refill as needed.
It goes without saying that using the Steam Mop has cut down on my cleaning time, and increased the time I get to spend with my family. That’s a win in my book.
What are your time saving cleaning tips?
This sponsored post was brought to you by Swiffer®. For a limited time, get a $15 prepaid card when you purchase a SteamBoost Steam Mop Starter Kit between 11/24/13 and 12/31/13. Swiffer BISSELL® SteamBoost™ combines a dirt-dissolving cleaning solution with the power of steam for a deep clean that gets messes mops can leave behind. Also be sure to like Swiffer on Facebook and follow @swiffer on Twitter.
