You cannot deny the fact that cleaning the house can be a time-consuming and sometimes arduous task. Most of us would much rather do something else (anything else) but there is no getting around the fact that it has to be done. And if you want your home to look brighter, organized and smelling fresh, and the people living in it to be happier as well, you’ve just got to grin and bear it.

Thankfully, there are many ways to clean your home faster and more efficiently. And that’s what we’ll be talking about in this article.

1. Assemble an all-around cleaning bag. In a bag, gather all materials, tools or equipments that you need for cleaning. You may have two totes/bags, one for cleaning bathrooms and kitchens and the other for the rest of the house. Storing all the necessary cleaning supplies in a well-organized bag will help you to clean with more ease and save valuable time from having to track down the cleaning products and whatnots that you need. Also, if you use just a few natural cleaners (like vinegar and baking soda) you don’t need to lug around as much stuff.
2. While you clean the house, assign one part that you should be giving special attention to each week. When the time for fall or spring-cleaning comes, you will be happy to have saved a lot of time since you already have been cleaning areas of the house thoroughly throughout the year.
3. Clean from top to bottom. Start by reaching up and cleaning the top before you get around to the floor. This is an effective technique as dirt and dust fall down when you start from the top, allowing you to clean up the bottom all together at one time.
   

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4. When you clean using a liquid solution, make sure that you have swept, vacuumed and dusted the surfaces beforehand. This will help you avoid making mud and cost you extra time to have to wipe surfaces again.
5. Segregate your stuff. If you have quite a number of small trinkets and random stuff on your shelves and other surfaces, segregate them into baskets or boxes as you go. Place small decorative stuff in one basket and other stuff that needs to be washed and dusted in the other. Put back all these items only when you are done cleaning up the room and the various surfaces where everything came from.
6. Lamb wool dusters with an extender rod could very well be handy piece of cleaning equipment that you may come across. The duster uses static to attract dust and cobwebs making it easy and speedy for you to clean up walls, ceilings, blinds, chandeliers and other light fixtures, picture frames and other things.
7. When you start cleaning, make sure you establish where you want to start and end. Do not go from one room to the other without finishing. Take it one room at a time so you don’t go all over the place bringing dust and dirt along with you. You might also want to work from one side of the room to to the other so you can see your progress as well as keep track of what you’ve already done.
8. Make sure that you vacuum is serviced regularly so that it functions efficiently — and don’t forget to change the bags or empty your bag-less vacuum on a regular basis. For me, that’s multiple times during my vacuuming since we have so much pet hair to deal with.
9. Most surfaces need soaking to clean it up quickly and nicely, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. Spray some cleaner on the surfaces like the tub, sink, stove top and other areas that contain gunk and let it stand for about 15 minutes. During this time, you can go clean another portion to make good use of the time.
10. You may have it in mind that the more cleaning solution that you apply to a surface, whether it is liquid, soap or wax, the better it is going to clean. This is one wrong notion. Go easy on the cleaners and use them sparingly. Too much of them will result in build-up and that will be difficult to remove.
11. Use the 15-minute method. Grab your kitchen timer or cell phone and set yourself a timer for 15 minutes. Then get as much done as you can in that time frame. Once the timer goes off, either move on to other tasks you need to get done during the day — or reset the timer and race yourself again to see if you can accomplish even more!
12. Break the tasks down into daily steps that keep things constantly under control versus spending a whole day cleaning (which let’s face it — that’s no fun at all!) I vacuum on Mondays and Fridays, clean bathrooms on Wednesday, do at least one load of laundry a day and complete other tasks around the house each day to keep things from piling up.

What are your top tips for cleaning up around your home?

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