So this Monday was exactly the opposite of last week.  I didn’t get to clean the upstairs until 4pm in the afternoon.  Plus, I almost didn’t do it.  That, and I not no headstart during the weekend due to it being very busy with Halloween festivities and a wonderful BBQ with some friends. I was feeling a bit tired from such an active weekend.

I got some of the things done early, which were changing bed sheets in Siri’s room and our room, followed by starting the laundry.  Then I had to go off to get Siri to school, run an errand, and then I called my wonderful sister, and before I new it, I had to go pick Siri up.  Siri too was showing the effects of a very full weekend and  was barely able to lift fork to mouth, she was so groggy, so off to nap time we went.  (We both needed it).  After a nap and some tea, I finally just reminded myself that if I did it now, I didn’t have to look at the mess or do it later, so I jumped right in and finished up the upstairs.

Today (Tuesday) was the exact opposite of yesterday.  I finished cleaning the entire downstairs before I had to take Siri to school at 9.  Then I ran several errands that cleared some boxes out of a couple of rooms.

Deep cleaning doesn’t take me too long for these reasons:

1.  I commit 5 minutes each day to each room to pick it up.
2. I keep the kitchen clear of unwanted items on the counter.
3. I have a basket of stuff to go elsewhere, that when I am picking up, I carry with me to gather up and distribute things to where they belong.  I usually fill it picking up in the evenings, then distribute (some things have to wait until morning, because Siri is sleeping or on her way to sleep)
4. I have made a place for everything (or most everything — I’m working on the rest(closets in our new house need some help))

I find that doing 5 minutes a room each day to keep the clutter down, significantly reduces the time I have to spend putting stuff away just to clean.  With the idea of being able to speed clean, that is spending 10 – 20 min per room(master takes 20-25 just to clean the bathroom and bedroom combined), based on size.  I also find that doing it each week keeps things to a dull roar, so that I don’t have so much dirt to contend with, thus making it faster to clean.

Good Luck with all your Cleaning Endeavors!

Later this week I’ll have a list of my quick cleaning tips.

Liz