Speed-Cleaning Ideas to Get Your Home Ready for Short-Notice Guests

Quick clean guidelines

Plan your house cleaning task in advance, get all equipment and cleaning products ready and set the clock. First, declutter the entire house before you start cleaning.  Collect all the bathroom floor towels and bed linen and put them in the washing machine. Same way, load the dishes into dishwasher.  This will clear the space for you to move quickly during the cleaning process.

Now begin cleaning the rooms one by one. Don’t spend more than 10 minutes on an average in any room, even though there are exceptions. For example, your time together with guests is limited to some particular spots in the house, so spend more time there giving attention to details. These important locations can be the kitchen, lounge room, one bathroom and other areas you think the visitor may use.

Kitchen and bathroom cleaning

It’s advisable to first give your full attention onto the difficult areas that take more time to clean and make the area spic-and-span, like the bathroom and kitchen.   

Kitchen: 

Do a quick scanning of the kitchen, collect all loose items and put them in their correct place. Anything placed on the benchtop and other surfaces will go to the cabinets and refrigerator respectively. Your kitchen will look cleaner once all the clutter, including the dishes, has gone into proper place.  

First clean the sink thoroughly then wipe down the stove, microwave, and refrigerator. Walls and other hard surfaces need to be cleaned from top to bottom in order to avoid any debris dripping into already cleaned areas.  

Quick bathroom cleaning:  
Remove hair and dust by giving a quick run of the vacuum cleaner on the floor and bath mats.

Spray the shower, bath, vanity and sink with a quality cleaner, and leave it there to work for some time. 

In the mean time, you can wipe down the walls, and scrub the toilet using a brush and all purpose cleaner. Flush the toilet after brushing, and then wipe down the outside of the toilet and tank. Remember to clean under the seat and all other nooks and crannies of the toilet. Use a disinfectant spray while wiping down the toilet. 

Clean the mirror and any glass panels using glass cleaner and a squeegee. Spray the cleaner on the glass and wipe in a circular motion starting from the top corner. Give the shower and bath a quick wipe-down giving particular attention to edges and grouting. A full scrub is not required if the guests are coming within short notice.  Wipe down the vanity top and basin and also give the sink a quick wash and rinse. Lastly mop the tiles. 

Do everything swiftly, keep moving constantly once you have started the house cleaning task. Arrange the cleaning paraphernalia in such a way that you can avoid going back to rooms that you have already cleaned. This will save you time and energy running back and forth. 

Tips & Testimonials  

Marble benchtop or floor tiles can get easily stained. For removing these stains on natural stone, try cleaning them with a piece of lemon dipped in salt powder. Once the stain mark is gone, quickly clean all traces of lemon because the acid in lemon can again damage the marble surface.  

Microwave cleaning: Mix 3 table spoons of lemon juice with one and a half cup of water. Pour this lemon water into a microwave-safe bowl and run the microwave on high for 8 minutes then wipe the oven to sparkling clean.  

Use environment friendly home cleaning products which should also be kid and pet friendly. While keeping your house green using homemade cleaning products, remember one thing: there are certain cleaning ingredients that you should never mix together. 

Read all the testimonials at Select Clean website 

Here’s one from a happy customer:

Siane Ormsby wrote to us: “Just had the most amazing cleaning experience and I've been getting a bit of help from a few companies at the moment and the Hamilton crew (of Select Home Cleaning) Ray and his partner were just awesome!! They were professional, friendly, fast and left me with a huge smile and beautifully cleaned ceilings. Thank you so much, I will be recommending you to everyone I know!”

How to Ensure That You Are Not Using Cleaning Products with Harmful Chemicals?

Almost all medical journals say New Zealand has high asthma rates, with one in six adults and one in four children affected with asthma and allergic diseases. Some physicians indicate that low quality cleaning materials often contribute to the deterioration of indoor air quality, causing asthma and allergy symptoms.  

Surveys have shown that New Zealanders spend up to 90% of their time indoors. Even if you are working, you spend around 8 to 9 hours per day in the workplace. This highlights the importance of keeping the indoor air free from harmful chemicals, dust and pollen etc. When we’re spending so much time inside, have you ever considered that your workplace and the chemicals used to clean it could actually be affecting your health? Yes, it is; and that’s why the asthma cases shoot up.

About one-third of commercial cleaning materials consist of one or other substances that can badly affect people and the environment, the US Responsible Purchasing Network’s cleaning guide reported. This puts housewives as well as office workers vulnerable to health hazards. When people use these chemicals indiscriminately to clean their home, their presence in the air spreads to every nook and corner in the house and everybody breathes them in.  These harmful substances also get inside our body by absorption through the skin or through ingestion of household dust and chemical residues.

To support the harmful effects of harsh chemical cleaners, Spanish researchers also recently came up with evidence of everyday cleaning products causing asthma or other health problems. The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona ascertained that cleaning sprays could be contributing to an increase in asthma cases in the workplace.

It’s thus very important to check what you or your home cleaning company are cleaning with. Here comes the need for looking into the credentials of the home cleaning services you depend on.Once you’re sure about the quality assurance of a home cleaner, you can also seek their advice on what everyday cleaning product you should use for your daily cleaning.

Quick Tips for 15-Minute Cleanups

• First jot down a priority cleaning checklist.
• If you got a message that guests are arriving within 15 minutes, think what you’ll be doing and follow it in an orderly manner. Your guests are sure to see places such as the kitchen, one bathroom, a gathering space like living room, and most probably the dining room.
• Collect cleaning materials and equipment together at one place. If the cleaning materials are spread all over the places like the garage, underneath kitchen sink, bath area etc., then you’ll be wasting more time searching for them. So put everything in a basket and keep ready for easy use.
• Then start from one corner dusting, putting away clutter, or easy vacuuming. Floors in common spaces and one bathroom should be given extra attention while doing the quick cleaning.
• Prefer dry dust cloths to average rags for effective dusting of surfaces. If you’re in a hurry, only dust those areas that may be clearly visible to anyone.
• If you can get help from children or your partner, guide them properly so that collectively you can achieve better result.
• Clean the kitchen counter and bathroom surfaces with disinfectant wipes. Similarly paper towels come handy in drying wet surfaces. Also use them to buff surfaces so they get a nice shine and sheen.
• Use nature-friendly air fresheners to impart a pleasant feeling to your guests as they stay with you for a while.

It’s thus obvious that getting into a cleaning routine is very important to have peace of mind. Putting aside at least 15 to 20 minutes to do some quick cleaning can make a huge difference in maintaining cleanliness and hygiene for a healthy life. For queries regarding home cleaning task, call the most dependable and award winning cleaning service in New Zealand on 0800 000 907.