Does Your Cleaning Routine Need a Makeover?

"I knit scrubbies with rough yarn, and it's pretty fun,” Mueller says. “They're really good for scrubbing dishes."

Commit to deep cleaning with laundry stripping

Think your sheets and towels are clean when you pull them out of the washing machine? Think again.

Laundry stripping — soaking items in hot water, Borax, washing soda (also known as sodium carbonate and available at many retailers like Walmart, Target and Amazon) and laundry soap in your bathtub or washing machine — has become a huge trend. Viral TikTok videos highlight the gross but oddly satisfying results: The water turns brown or black as the process strips away residue from laundry detergent, fabric softener and dirt.

Linda Mueller knits eco-friendly scrubbers for her dishes.

Courtesy Linda Mueller

Linda Mueller knits eco-friendly scrubbers for her dishes.

Courtesy Linda Mueller

Long popular with cloth diaper users, the practice of laundry stripping to revive light-colored linens is generating huge buzz on social media. Just make sure you have the time to do it right: You'll need to soak your laundry for about 12 hours to get the best results.

You can't clean if you're drowning in clutter

No matter how good your intentions may be, it's harder to revamp your housecleaning system if your space is defined by a chaotic jumble of stuff, says Robyn Reynolds, 58, owner of Organize2Harmonize in Sherman Oaks, California.

"The clutter didn't happen overnight, so start small,” says Reynolds, who suggests beginning by tackling one closet or the dining room table. “Your dining room may now be the school, the office and the place to eat, so have a container for all the supplies and bring it out when you need it."

Next on the list? Flat surfaces — the number one trouble spot.

"It could be a chair, a countertop or the floor — if somebody can put something on it, it becomes a resting spot for everything,” says Reynolds, who recommends assigning a designated home for every item in your house.

A routine promotes consistency 

Now is the perfect time to establish a consistent cleaning routine so specific tasks are done regularly before they become overwhelming.

"When you clean the same way every time, you'll get it done more efficiently and won't miss anything,” Kuper says.

Professional house cleaners typically first clean “dry” rooms, like bedrooms and living areas, and then “wet” rooms, like the kitchen and bathrooms, Kuper says. She recommends cleaning from top to bottom in each room, starting with dusting and wiping surfaces and finishing with floors.

Kuper suggests keeping cleaning supplies in a caddy or rolling cart so you can easily move from room to room. If your home has more than one floor, leave separate cleaning kits in each space to avoid lugging supplies up and down the stairs.

Split up your to-clean list

Willis divides her weekly cleaning over two days and has embraced some easy shortcuts. On Thursdays, she cleans the bathrooms and part of the kitchen, and on Fridays she cleans the rest of the kitchen — usually just wiping down countertops, the sink and appliances. Then she wipes down furniture, vacuums and mops, and changes sheets.

"Trying to clean the entire house in one day is really too much,” she says. “Dividing the cleaning between two days feels less time-consuming and difficult."

Instead of deep-cleaning her fridge once every few months when it's really dirty, Willis wipes it down when cleaning her countertops so it's always clean.

"I've also been vacuuming every day or two, which only takes a few minutes and leaves the house looking almost perfectly clean. Our house is cleaner than it ever was with our cleaning service,” she says.

Mueller has also been rotating deep-clean days by focusing on areas her family is actually using.

"Some bathrooms need cleaning every week, but other spaces don't,” she says. “We have a third-floor guest room and a basement for entertaining and we're not using either because of COVID-19."

In Northampton, Massachusetts, Colleen DelVecchio, 50, uses some housecleaning chores as productivity boosters.

"I use laundry as a timer for working: When washing clothes, use the quickest setting on your washer to save water, and decide on a project to do during that time,” says DelVecchio, who is a leadership and career coach.

To combat the pandemic-related shortage of paper towels, DelVecchio also keeps washable cloths in a basket in the kitchen and wipes down counters every morning after getting ready for work.