The Optimal Order to Clean Your Home
People’s attitudes towards cleaning is a polarizing topic. Some people find it therapeutic and feel productive when doing it, and others find cleaning cumbersome and stressful. We think one way to improve anyone’s cleaning experience is to clean with intent. In particular, we propose an Optimal Cleaning Order.
An optimal cleaning routine must be general enough to apply to different homes, so instead of giving firm instructions, we provide a general ruleset:
Address High Latency Tasks First
You should first complete the highest latency tasks. Any task which requires a long waiting period should be addressed immediately.
Things like:
- Running the Dishwasher
- Running the Washing Machine
- Presoaking Dirty Pots/Pans
- Spraying tough stains
Addressing these tasks early gives you flexibility later to complete them when you’re free. Also, with these tasks running in the background, you’re effectively multiplying your cleaning efficiency as you simultaneously clean other areas of your home.
Cleaning Within a Room
Within any arbitrary room, here are a few guidelines to improve efficiency and effectiveness of a clean.
Organize Before Cleaning
Before you begin actually cleaning, you should first organize. Organize loose clothes, dishes, papers, or whatever else is scattered around your home. This is a step that needs to be addressed at some point either way, and doing it in the beginning makes the rest of the cleaning process much easier.
Clean Higher Surfaces First
Clean the highest surfaces you plan to clean first. This may include things like above range microwaves, picture frames, bathroom mirrors, standing lamps, tables, etc. Naturally, cleaning these surfaces will cause residual dust and debris to fall down. If you use a top-down cleaning approach, the residual debris will later be cleaned as you progress to the lower surfaces. Compare this to cleaning higher surfaces last, and you may find you’ll have to re-clean lower surfaces as the dust and debris fall down.
Drys Before Wet
Whenever you plan to mix wet and dry cleaning, prioritize dry cleaning before. This means vacuuming before mopping, dusting before wiping, and scraping before scrubbing.
For example consider cleaning a kitchen island. Using a dry paper towel to swipe off any debris into a trash can before spraying down the table will improve the sprays ability to penetrate any hard-stuck stains. Also, some dirt is easier to remove when dry, so spraying before scraping may make it more challenging to clean otherwise loose debris.
Clean Floors Last
This goes inline with cleaning higher surfaces first, but is especially worth highlighting as cleaning floors last gives you a lot of flexibility. Although we don’t do this in our cleanings, some people will wipe all the dirt onto the ground and simply vacuum it up at the end, saving time and effort. Also cleaning floors last means you can wear shoes while you clean and not have to worry about dirty floors
Room Order
We feel the order in which you clean different rooms is not as important when discussing the optimal cleaning order. Instead, we simply present two different philosophies to help you create your own room ordering.
- Clean Dirtier Spaces First
- Clean Cleaner Spaces First
In a purely functional sense, cleaning the dirtiest spaces in your home first is arguably more sound. Predominantly because you handle the toughest tasks when you have the most energy. You’re less likely to stop cleaning later in your session because the tasks will progressively become easier and easier.
However, that’s not to say cleaning the cleanest spaces first isn’t without merit. For many people, the first step in cleaning is the hardest. Completing the easiest cleaning tasks first is effective in two ways: it allows you to build early momentum and it prevents apprehension from early difficulty. Building momentum can be helpful if you find cleaning cumbersome, and preventing apprehension can be helpful if you find cleaning daunting. In either case, even though cleaning cleaner spaces is arguably “suboptimal,” it’s better than not cleaning at all.
Conclusion
Most people probably won’t need to think so deeply about what order to clean things, but if you find yourself stressed about cleaning, having an order can make you feel better, and if you have an order why not the optimal one? In either case it’s better to keep your home clean than actively clean it. Little things you do every day can save you time in your bigger weekly or biweekly cleanings. If you found this blog interesting.
