We know a man with a serious cleaning habit. When he wakes up for his morning jog the stars are still out. He runs two blocks in the dark down to a school's athletic field, where he logs a couple of miles before sunrise. On his first few laps around the track, however, he does an unusual thing. He tosses the student's litter--water bottles, soft drink cans, potato chip bags--into trash barrels. He
plucks forgotten sweatshirts out of the dewy grass and hangs them on the benches to dry. He doesn't expect anyone to pin a medal on him. At best, he figures,some coach might scratch his or her head, wondering who the Fairy Godmother of the Running Track is.
Our littler-lugging friend's one moment of "recognition" came when he snatched a jacket out of the grass and headed off to hang it on a bench. Another runner popped out of the darkness,
exclaiming,"That's my Jacket!"
There are two morals to our story: First, you'll find cleaning is most effective and least bothersome when it's done as a regular part of your everyday life. Second, if you do anything to the point of obsession--even cleaning--you're going to end up in trouble.
His moment of embarrassment aside, our friend's heart was in the right place. Too many people see cleaning as an odious chore that can't be avoided (but is all too easy to put off). We're here to convince you of the opposite: That if you have a positive attitude about cleaning and its benefits,cleaning becomes something that is much easier to accomplish.
Take a thoughtful, even laid-back approach to cleaning. This covers the full spectrum of topics related to cleaning--from smart routines and the right gear to handling unexpected messes and cleaning specific items. But underlying it all is one key idea: The more savvy you are about cleaning--the more you know about it and the more organized you are about it--the less effort, time, and money you will have to spend actually doing it.
Later you will find a fail-safe, tried-and-true system for cleaning your house. ZAP(Zoned attack plan) is a truly time-saving strategy for weekly housecleaning. It is a super
efficient plan that eliminates double work and switchbacks and let you get your house spick-and-span with the least effort. ZAP knocks hours off your cleaning time. And, yes, it makes house cleaning almost fun. But first let's take a broader view of cleaning.
The Three kinds of Cleaning
In a moment, we'll get into the details of what we call "clean thinking": the mindset that works best for easier, faster, more effective cleaning. But to understand "clean thinking," it's important to understand the categories of cleaning. There are three:
Immediate cleaning prevents small, easy-to-clean-up messes from becoming big, tough messes. Let's say that after cooking dinner, your stovetop has a few spatters of grease on it. You could leave it--it's scarcely noticeable. But if you take a minute to wipe the stove with a sponge or cloth every time you use it, the job will take only seconds, the stove will be restored to pristine condition, and you'll be preventing what could eventually become a multilayered buildup requiring hours of remedial attention.
In the immediate cleaning mode, you clean up messes right away. Otherwise, messes accumulate, stains and grime set in, and your family learns that a dirty house is acceptable.
Maintenance Cleaning is done regularly, but not necessarily often. This kind of cleaning can be put on a schedule. For example, you could decide to clean the shower once a week (perhaps even set the day) and wash the curtains twice a year. Maintenance cleaning can be organized in a written plan. Or it can be simple habits, like always cleaning the kitchen immediately after dinner is done.
Remedial cleaning covers cleaning after long periods of neglect, such as tackling the refrigerator after a year's growth of drips and spills accumulate on the bottom shelf. That kind of remedial cleaning is preventable. You can avoid it by taking immediate steps or following maintenance routines. Remedial cleaning also includes what you do after a disaster, major or minor, such as a flood or a pet accident on the carpet.
The big danger is that remedial cleaning can easily become abusive cleaning. That happens when a mild cleaner fails to budge the dirt, so stronger and more abrasive cleaners and tools are called into service. Abusive cleaning often does more damage than the original dirt did.
Simple solutions
Contain and Maintain >
Cleaning tasks fall into three categories. Here are some examples.
Immediate
Our littler-lugging friend's one moment of "recognition" came when he snatched a jacket out of the grass and headed off to hang it on a bench. Another runner popped out of the darkness,
exclaiming,"That's my Jacket!"
There are two morals to our story: First, you'll find cleaning is most effective and least bothersome when it's done as a regular part of your everyday life. Second, if you do anything to the point of obsession--even cleaning--you're going to end up in trouble.
His moment of embarrassment aside, our friend's heart was in the right place. Too many people see cleaning as an odious chore that can't be avoided (but is all too easy to put off). We're here to convince you of the opposite: That if you have a positive attitude about cleaning and its benefits,cleaning becomes something that is much easier to accomplish.
Take a thoughtful, even laid-back approach to cleaning. This covers the full spectrum of topics related to cleaning--from smart routines and the right gear to handling unexpected messes and cleaning specific items. But underlying it all is one key idea: The more savvy you are about cleaning--the more you know about it and the more organized you are about it--the less effort, time, and money you will have to spend actually doing it.
Later you will find a fail-safe, tried-and-true system for cleaning your house. ZAP(Zoned attack plan) is a truly time-saving strategy for weekly housecleaning. It is a super
efficient plan that eliminates double work and switchbacks and let you get your house spick-and-span with the least effort. ZAP knocks hours off your cleaning time. And, yes, it makes house cleaning almost fun. But first let's take a broader view of cleaning.
The Three kinds of Cleaning
In a moment, we'll get into the details of what we call "clean thinking": the mindset that works best for easier, faster, more effective cleaning. But to understand "clean thinking," it's important to understand the categories of cleaning. There are three:
Immediate cleaning prevents small, easy-to-clean-up messes from becoming big, tough messes. Let's say that after cooking dinner, your stovetop has a few spatters of grease on it. You could leave it--it's scarcely noticeable. But if you take a minute to wipe the stove with a sponge or cloth every time you use it, the job will take only seconds, the stove will be restored to pristine condition, and you'll be preventing what could eventually become a multilayered buildup requiring hours of remedial attention.
In the immediate cleaning mode, you clean up messes right away. Otherwise, messes accumulate, stains and grime set in, and your family learns that a dirty house is acceptable.
Maintenance Cleaning is done regularly, but not necessarily often. This kind of cleaning can be put on a schedule. For example, you could decide to clean the shower once a week (perhaps even set the day) and wash the curtains twice a year. Maintenance cleaning can be organized in a written plan. Or it can be simple habits, like always cleaning the kitchen immediately after dinner is done.
Remedial cleaning covers cleaning after long periods of neglect, such as tackling the refrigerator after a year's growth of drips and spills accumulate on the bottom shelf. That kind of remedial cleaning is preventable. You can avoid it by taking immediate steps or following maintenance routines. Remedial cleaning also includes what you do after a disaster, major or minor, such as a flood or a pet accident on the carpet.
The big danger is that remedial cleaning can easily become abusive cleaning. That happens when a mild cleaner fails to budge the dirt, so stronger and more abrasive cleaners and tools are called into service. Abusive cleaning often does more damage than the original dirt did.
Simple solutions
Contain and Maintain >
Cleaning tasks fall into three categories. Here are some examples.
Immediate
- Toweling off the shower stall after each use.
- Having family members remove their shoes at the door.
- Washing dishes immediately after using them.
Maintenance
- Spraying the shower stall will soap scum remover once a week.
- Vacuuming all the dirt that family members track inside each week.
- Making sure all dishes, glasses, and cooking gear are cleaned up each night before bedtime.
Remedial
- Spending hours scrubbing away a year's worth of soap scum and mildew.
- Vacuuming whenever the neighbors make jokes about your herd of dust bunnies.
- Wasting your Sunday scrubbing hardened food from the week's dishes and pots so you have something to cook with.
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