Easy cleaning for more free time, more money and good karma

Clean affair
Easy cleaning for more free time, more money and good karma

© Panpreeda Mahaly / EyeEm / Getty Images

Cleaning … An evil that overtakes us all over and over again, takes a lot of time, is often a chemically smelly affair and doesn’t feel really good for our body or the environment. Is there another way? Our author has tips.

Well, what should you say about cleaning? Before it is annoying, it is exhausting and afterwards you are mostly exhausted, you have the feeling that you have been poisoned by all the cleaners and the day is over. Of course, it’s also nice when everything is sparkling clean and in its place again. After all, it is not for nothing that tidying up outside also sorts your head. But let’s be honest: every weekend? Does it have to be that way? There is another way, says our author, and reveals a few tips here on how the scrubbing works faster and more sustainably.

1. Everything in one basket

Sometimes you don’t really know where to start. Or it just has to be quick, because a visitor has been announced spontaneously. Then it helps to grab a laundry basket and collect everything that is not in its intended place and lying around. You can then temporarily banish the basket to the lumber room until the visitor has disappeared again, or you can use it to go from room to room and put things back in their place.

2. Room by room

Instead of taking care of the entire apartment or house on the weekend, you take a room every day in which you invest 15 minutes: dusting, vacuuming, tidying up, sorting … That way you can easily maintain a basic order and you have it not the concentrated load on the weekend, but maybe even just free. Wuuhuuu.

3. Away with the stinkers

Many cleaning products are so aggressive that you don’t dare to breathe while cleaning. It makes all the more sense to switch to less harmful alternatives. In the meantime, the drugstores already offer a large range of ecological cleaners that are not only good for your health, but also for the environment. For example, there are tabs for different cleaning needs that are simply dissolved in water. This not only saves rubbish, but also space.

4. Home Remedies That Really Work

There is an alternative home remedy for every cleaning problem online. Not infrequently, however, they turn out to be a bitter disappointment. However, three classics have proven themselves over decades because they are cheap, available in every supermarket and, above all, completely harmless to people and the environment.

  • Vinegar! Can you really use it for so many things: For descaling kettles, coffee machines and soda makers, in the bathroom for cleaning the fittings, when washing clothes as a substitute for fabric softener and against nasty smells. It is THE all-purpose weapon in the household.
  • citric acid works in a similar way to vinegar. It is particularly good at bringing joints and tiles into shape, and the above-mentioned descaling works just as well. But before you get started, test a small area to see whether the material can tolerate the citric acid. Professional tip: Lemon slices in the dishwasher make the cutlery shine, squeezed lemons turn into a sponge when you turn them inside out, with which you can wipe out kettles and the like.

  • Baking soda When mixed with water, it creates a paste that you can use to clean fittings or remove grease encrustations. Powerful combination: With vinegar, baking soda flushes out blocked drains again.

5. Weekly schedule

Not everyone likes well-planned weeks, but a rough structure of what you want to do on which day helps to keep the chaos in your home and head within limits. Important: Don’t put too much on the to-do list and distribute it well over the days. Some appointments can also be coordinated with each other, others can be submitted. If all residents lend a hand, the housekeeping is also done faster. Even smaller kids can, for example, hang up the laundry, dust and take down the rubbish. Even if we sometimes don’t want to admit it, structure is half the battle. And above all: every now and then, put your own perfectionism in its place.

6. Soak …

… is underestimated. It saves so much time, effort and patience. In particular, stubborn limescale on fittings or nasty stains on the laundry can be removed much easier if you give them a little rest beforehand. My absolute game changer: place citric acid on a cloth and everywhere where stubborn limescale and dirt has deposited. Let it lie for a few hours and whoosh: everything gone, without scrubbing and without having to do anything. I love!

7. Prevention

It’s like everywhere in life: prevention is better than aftercare. This also applies to cleaning. It is better not to let it get so far that you sink into chaos. What helps: don’t put things off the back burner, get them done straight away. When it comes to toys, encourage children to first clear away what they have used before bringing out new ones, but also make this a priority for themselves. Set up permanent places for things that are usually lying around, such as the mail. In the bathroom: wipe the fittings and shower walls dry after use in order to simply leave the thick layer of limescale free from attack.

Barbara

source site