Cleaning Your House Like a Pro

Ever wonder how you can spend a whole day cleaning your home and it still doesn't look as great as after a cleaning crew has left? You'd think there would something to be said for the sense of accomplishment.

I remember a time when I thought if I didn't clean it myself it just didn't feel clean. But just one visit from a professional cleaning crew and my mind was changed.

The reality is that we pick and choose what to clean when we clean our own homes. Why mop when the dogs are just going to track mud inside within the hour?

Well, we don't gatekeep so we're here to give you some tips!

These tips won't be focused on actual cleaning but more on why your house doesn't look the way you want it to after you clean it yourself.

First, shine your sink. I learned this from cleaning expert Marla Cilley and her incredibly helpful book "Sink Reflections." She believes that the kitchen is the heart of the home and the sink is the center of it all. Clean your dishes, dry them, put them away, clean your sink, and dry it. This will give you a clear mind while you tackle the rest of your home. This might surprise you, but even clean dishes sitting on the counter or in the dishrack take away from the clean look you want your home to have. Your eyes go straight to them when you walk into the kitchen and this is what we want to avoid. Clean or not, dishes are clutter.

Second, address "hot spots" in your home. That doesn't mean you have to find a home for everything right now. We all have that catch-all space in our home where mail, to-do lists, pens, and other miscellaneous items accumulate. Start there.

Start small and put away things that DO have a home. Pens? Where does it make sense to store them? Take all of those pens and put them in one spot. Even if that spot is in a drawer that you'll deal with later, reducing the clutter you can see is the first step. We can tackle the drawer another time, but it's going to ease your mind knowing that all of your pens are in one space instead of scattered. This is something I learned from Marie Kondo's book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing."

For mail and paperwork, artwork, letters from school, things you don't want to put away for now because they're important, we like to use a technique we refer to as grouping. If you can't put away the clutter, straightening it like it's in an intentional pile/area will help make your space look cleaner. We want to make it so your eyes don't immediately go to the items you have sitting out. Do you keep condiments on your kitchen table? I'm not going to tell you to put them in the pantry if you don't want to, but grouping them neatly will make all the difference.

Next, more decluttering! But this time we're addressing bigger things that are lying around. Shoes, blankets, pillows, dog toys? Wondering if I'm talking about your house? I am! But I'm also talking about my own. When we clean our own homes, we usually focus on things like dusting and floors, right? What's the point putting the shoes and toys away when they're just going to come right back out? Well, the point is for you. For you to put energy into your home and show it that you care. Who's going to see those swept floors clean ceiling fan if the clutter is still the focal point? For toys, get a catch-all basket. Put everything that doesn't have a designated space in there. Tell your kids that once it's full if they don't put their toys and shoes away, you're donating whatever's in the basket.

Okay, final quick tip for today: open the windows! There's something to be said for natural lighting. It will brighten up your home so much. It will bring a new energy and perspective to your home and family. I promise. If you're worried about your energy bill, open the blinds halfway or only open the top half of your plantation shutters. Whatever you're most comfortable with, but I'm telling you, opening your blinds/curtains/shades will really help. We do this in all of our clients' houses and when our clients come home, they get to see their home in a whole new light. (Truly, no pun intended.) It's all about NOT doing what you typically do. It's too easy to dismiss certain tasks as a waste of time or frivolous or not important, but when a cleaning crew comes they don't skip those things and that's the main difference.

I hope you found these tips helpful!

I wanted to write something a little different because anyone can write about how to deep clean and what order and why. You can see our own deep cleaning checklist here. These are good to apply even when you aren't able to deep clean your home but you want a quick and easy refresh. They're also great habits to consider forming. If you do these things each day, it will take longer for chaos to seep in and you might find that you don't have to actually clean as often.

Keeping a clean house is not easy but we believe in you! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me know if it helped you!