The ZAP Cleaning System

ZAP! Your Weekly Housecleaning Is Done, Top to Bottom

Professional housekeepers say you need two things to do a speedy but thorough job of cleaning your home:

1. Focus: For the three hours or so that you're going to spend cleaning your home from top to bottom,

commit to stripping the distractions out of your life. No dawdling over the magazines you should be stuffing into the recycling bin. No watching Oprah when you should be plucking the wilted lettuce out of the fridge's vegetable drawer.

2. Organization: In other words, you need a plan for cleaning your house--to establish a pattern, to lock into a rhythm. That's when you reach your maximum efficiency.
   'Well, bless our baking soda, do we have a system for you! The Zoned Attack Plan (ZAP)--so named because you concentrate on one portion of your house at a time--is the ultimate can't miss time-saving strategy for weekly housecleaning.

Don't Waste a Moment

Before we get to the specifics of how to ZAP your home, let's establish some time-saving ground rules.

• Clean from left to right and top to bottom in each room. A systematic, clockwise approach to a room eliminates a lot of retracing of steps. And a top to bottom system lets gravity work for you and avoids duplication of effort. You don't want the dust from your window ledges falling on a freshly polished table, for instance.
• Keep cleaning supplies together and close at hand to make every moment count. Interrupting the bathroom cleaning to track down window cleaner slows your momentum.
• Deal with the clutter in your home separately. Decluttering can be extremely time consuming, and if you combine it with cleaning you'll be seriously slowed down. This approach assumes you'll lay down the law with other family members: No clothes strewn about the bedroom, for instance; no dishes left in the sink; and no newspapers blanketing the den floor.
• Move furniture toward the center of the room when it's time to dust. This way, the dust from the molding, sills, and such will settle to the floor, where it's easy to vacuum up.
• Once you've vacuumed the perimeter of the room, you can push furniture back into place and vacuum the rest of the room.
• Set a deadline for completing your cleaning. Knowing up front how much time you'll spend cleaning can make the list of chores less daunting.
• Learn to multitask. If you absolutely must answer the telephone while you're cleaning, use this chat time to do some low-concentration tasks, such as cleaning windows, polishing a table, or loading the dishwater. Get a cordless phone and a headset (important for your neck) and work while you talk.
• Don't turn on the TV. You'll waste time waiting to find out how Marvin is going to break the news to Samantha. Instead, entertain yourself with upbeat music to keep energized.
• Use both hands while cleaning. Dust or wipe furniture surfaces with one hand while lifting objects with the other. Scrub counters with a cloth in each hand. Squirtspray cleaner with one hand and wipe the surface with the other.

Maid to Order
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We all need a break from housecleaning once in a while. When you're ready for some professional help-either for yourself or as a gift to a beleaguered loved one--following these
guidelines will ensure a trouble-free experience.

• Decide whether you want to hire a cleaning service or a single housekeeper. Cleaning services typically dispatch teams of two to four, who complete the work more quickly. Solo cleaners will often take on tasks that the services avoid, such as washing laundry, doing the dishes, and pickuping up clutter.
• Ask for references from current and former clients. call those people and find out what they liked and disliked about the arrangement.
• Ask the company whether they conduct background checks on their employees and what type of insurance they carry to cover damage or theft.
• Before you hire anyone, nail down precisely what they'll clean, how long they'll be in your home, and whether they'll bring their own cleaning tools or use yours. (They typically clean when you're not around, so you won't be there to supervise.)
• If there are items you don't want cleaning people to touch, such as the frame of an original oil painting or family heirloom, discuss those issues in advance. If you live in a small town, expect to pay $15 to $20 per hour for an individual cleaning person. In larger cities, the rate runs $25 to $35 per hour. Cleaning services typically charge $20 to $30 per hour per cleaning person. Expect to pay more for the first cleaning, because workers are usually making up for months or years of housecleaning neglect and will need to spend significantly more time than they will on subsequent visits.

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• Pull an old, clean cotton tube sock over your dusting hand and lift objects with the other hand as you clean. If you have arthritis or problems with your hand dexterity, it's helpful to wear a rubber glove on the hand you use for lifting objects.
• Spray a lint-free towel with window cleaner and keep it handy for cabinets or tables with glass inlays.
• Collect pet hair from chairs and couches using rubber gloves and a circular motion--assuming you have pets that shed. Toss the rolled-up on the floor and suction it up when you vacuum the floor later.
• Place items from another level in a plastic bin near the stairs and take them with you the next time you have to make a trip to that level. If you live in a multistory house,you'll save yourself frequent trips if you do this whenever you spot something that is on the wrong level.
  

How often should I..?

If we told you to polish your silver each and every week, you'd roll your eyes and give up, right? we checked with experts who have both feet solidly planted in the real world. Here' show often you
Every day:

should perform cleaning tasks that are not part of the weekly ZAP routine.

• Put things away when you finish using them.
• wash dishes, wipe kitchen counters, clean up stove pills, and empty trash as needed.
• Squeeze showers after use to prevent mineral deposits and mildew.
• Wipe sinks.
• Make beds and straighten rooms.

Twice a week:

• Dust-mop hardwood floors to prevent scratching from dirt.
• Put away clutter.
• Vacuum if you live in a dusty region or have children and pets that track in lots of dirt. Otherwise, weekly vacuuming should suffice.

Once a month:

• Wipe or vacuum baseboards and blinds.
• Sweep the garage, patio, and walkways.
• Vacuum upholstered furniture with the brush attachment.
• Clean ceiling fixtures in one room per month (rotate).
• Wash throw rugs.
• Dust ceiling fans.

Every three months:

• Polsh wood furniture.
• Remove cobwebs from ceiling corners, stairwells, and such.
• Change or clean furnace and air-conditioner filters (less frequently in low-use seasons).
• Clean the oven (monthly if grunge builds up quickly).

Every six months:

• Wash windows inside and out.
• Do this quarterly for windows near work spaces (the kitchen sink or a desk, for instance).
• Declutter storage areas in the basement, attic, and garage.
• Vacuum, flip, and rotate mattresses.
• Polish silver.
• Air out pillows.     

Once a year:   

• Move heavy furniture to clean behind and underneath.   
• Vacuum rug pads and the backs of area rugs.   
• Clean drapes and carpets.   
• Turn area rugs 180 degrees to even out wear.   
• Wash walls.   
• Clean chandeliers.

• Get a 25-foot extension cord for your vacuum so that you won't waste time plugging it in again in every room.
• If it's truly not dirty, don't clean it. There's no point in wasting time on a guest room or living room that's rarely used. Give it a light dusting and forget it.

Simple Solutions

Do the math  >

If you have a big family and a small house, you'll need to increase the frequency of your cleaning, since key items will get a lot more use.
  Conversely, if you live alone in a big house, you can get away with less frequent cleaning. It all boils down to how often any particular feature of the house
gets used. This rundown will help you figure it all out:
Bathroom sinks: Scrub after 30 uses.
Doormats: Clean after 25 to 30 foot wipes in damp climates. In drier climates, shake out the mat after every 50 to 60 uses.
Kitchen sinks: wipe daily.
Showers: Squeegee after each use; clean after 14 showers.
Stove: Wipe off after each use; clean under stove elements after 21 uses.
Toilets: Cleana after every 100 flushes.
Towels and Washcloths: Wash after four uses.

Assemble Your ArsenalAn effective cleaning system starts with good tools and products . The high-efficiency ZAP system requires that you use a plastic or rubber cleaning caddy with dividers, stocked with everything  you'll need as you make your rounds. (Alternatives: A large plastic bucket, a rolling supply cart, or an apron with large pockets.) Arrange items in the caddy so that it's well balanced. Avoid  specialized items that accomplish only one job., such as soap scum cleaner or special counter spray. If you must have such cleaners, store them near the place that you're most likely to need them. You don't want to wear yourself out luggging around an over-loaded caddy.

Fill Your caddy with these:
A glass cleaner
A general-purpose cleaner, such as Formula 409, Fantastik, o r Bio-Ox (a concentrated orange oil-based cleaner with hdyrogen peroxide)
A heavy-duty degreasing cleaner (top Job or Mr. Clean, for instance)
A powdered scouring cleanser (such as Bar Keepers Friend or Comet)
wood polish
You'll also need a few extra tools. Some of these items may not be mentioned in the weekly ZAP routine described next, but you will need them for some cleaning jobs
you'll be doing:
A lamb's wool duster
A nylon scrub pad
A Stiff-bristled toothbrush for scrubbing around faucets
A  1 1/2 -inch, soft-bristled paintbrush for dusting lampshades and removing cobwebs
A toilet bowl brush
Rubber gloves
Clean cotton rags
A large trash bag
A plastic squeegee for bathrooms
Safety glasses to protect your eyes from splattering cleaner or airborne dirt
A plastic bin for collecting items that belong on other levels or in other parts of the house

Check your tools regularly to make sure they are up to the task. A crumbling sponge mop or worn-out broom causes you extra work. A vacuum cleaner with a broken
guard will damage baseboards and furniture.

For a multilevel house, Keep a completely stocked cleaning caddy on each floor. Also keep basic tools, such as a broom, dustpan, and mop, on every level. This will save
you a lot of running up and down stairs to get the tools that you need and, truth be known, it will keep you from putting off certain cleaning tasks until another day.

expert advice

Thanks to the Pros Who Know >

The foolproof ZAP system was developed with the help of numerous house cleaning experts, including the following:

• Mary Findley, owner of Mary Moppins Cleaning System in Eugene, Oregon
• Janet Henry, winner of the Maid of the year honor, besting 3,000 coworkers at The Maids Home Services, a nationally franchised company based in Omaha, Nebraska
• Daniel J. Bishop, founder and president of The Maids Home Services.
• Monica R. Nassif, founder and president of the Caldrea Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Kathy Luedke, communications director for the Eureka Company in Bloomington, Illinois

Divide and Conquer

ZAP is a systematic cleaning plan for getting your home spotless, top to bottom, every week. It divides your home into four zones. Using easy-to-follow steps, you completely clean each zone before moving on to the next. ZAP is designed to eliminate duplication of effort, extra tips around the house, and counter-productive moves like wiping dust onto a floor that you just vacuumed. Here are the four zones:

Zone 1
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and hallways
Zone 2
Kitchen, informal dining area, and den or family room 

Zone 3
Formal living room and formal dining room 

Zone 4
Laundry room and other miscellaneous spaces

"A lot of people have no idea how to clean," says Mary Findley, one of the cleaning specialists who helped with the development of this system. (see above Advice ) "A step-by-step process will help people realize what to do. The ZAP system doesn't leave any doubt in your mind. It's how the professionals work. You've got the whole process."