If you’ve ever watched professional cleaners at work, you’ll probably have noticed how quickly they can get the job done.
Luckily, many of the strategies professionals use are easy to copy, and you don’t even need any specialist tools!
Below, we’ll cover the top tips from professionals to clean as fast as they do.
One of the best starting places is a cleaning strategy. For example, cleaning the house in the same order every time allows you to be consistent and figure out time-saving methods through practice.
Some tips within this point include:
Break down rooms into smaller jobs (floors, walls, surfaces, etc.)
Make your way around a room in the same order every time
Each time you use this method, look for ways to streamline your process
Although it might seem like cleaners will use any and every product they can, this isn’t always the case. Where possible, it helps to reduce your overall cleaning arsenal in favour of a few products that do multiple jobs. If nothing else, it means you don’t have to go searching for a specific thing when you need it.
To build on this, keep your supplies organised. For example, if you know you’re cleaning the bathroom, keep specific products in the bathroom and then carry everything else in a caddy or bucket.
Many cleaning products benefit from sitting on the dirty area for a while before you wipe them off. Anything from glass spray to cream cleaner will work better with at least 5 minutes sitting time.
This might not be an industry hack, but it’ll definitely save you from scrubbing as hard. Giving a product time to work on the grime it’s cleaning off will make it shift more easily. If you can’t remove the dirt with a single spray and wipe, spray again and leave it to soak for a bit longer.
Keeping on top of everyday clutter, such as clothes, papers, toys, etc., means you can get straight into cleaning when it needs to be done. If you’ve ever had to tidy up before you get down to the actual cleaning, you’ll know it adds a lot of time onto the job.
There’s not much more to this tip other than to think about how you organise things in advance. For example, if you find there’s always some clutter lying around (which is normal to an extent), consider getting some more storage containers so everything has a home.
Hoovering is an interesting job because it makes sense to do every room as you clean it, but it’s arguably more efficient to hoover the whole house in one go. There isn’t really a right answer to this, so do whatever makes the most sense for your home and cleaning style.
Either way, be methodical with your cleaning. Some tips include:
Do upstairs first and then downstairs
Work from the farthest point to the nearest. For example, hoover the room farthest away from the stairs, working backwards
Use the same technique downstairs: work from the front of the house to the back, or vice versa
Hoover floors in rows along the length of the room to ensure you cover the whole area
It might be tempting to buy loads of fancy cleaning tools in the hope they’ll speed up your cleaning routine. Generally, though, you’ll find professional cleaners stick to the classics, and you should too.
Some of the best cleaning tools you can own include:
A corded, bagless vacuum cleaner (corded is more powerful than cordless)
A high-quality mop rather than a Swiffer
A squeegee or bamboo cloth for glass
At most, you might want a steamer, as this works well on grout, tiles, glass and more. It’s probably the most high-tech cleaning tool you should own, as everything else works well the way it is.
Professional cleaners get most of their speed from practice. However, you’ll be able to match their cleaning speed with a decent plan, organised cleaning supplies, and good tools. Cleaning professionals also have a wide range of cleaning skills including end of tenancy cleaning, so a cleaner might be a good option depending on your situation.