How to clean quicker and more efficiently
This is a pic of the ice from my freezer after I finally got around to defrosting it.Life is too short to do nothing but clean.
However we have to live in a safe, pleasant, hygienic environment and so clean we must.
Here are my tips on how to clean quicker and more efficiently:
Declutter your stuff
Once you’ve decluttered you automatically have 32% less to clean as there’s no dusting of trinkets, lifting things to dust underneath them, etc. Organise your home will help you get your entire home decluttered in no time.
Gather the troops
Every member of the household can and should participate. If there are 10 tasks to do daily and 2 people participate, the cleaning gets done quicker AND you’re teaching the kids valuable life lessons.
Remember it’s better to have the help than to have everything perfect. E.g. Don’t fuss about small things like the way the towels are folded. Better to have the help folding the laundry than to have perfectly folded towels 
I will say that I do fold the towels in the guest bathroom so they’re pretty but if they’re out of sight, I don’t mind how they’re folded.
Make lists
It helps to clarify expectations when other people are participating.
Since we’re talking about laundry, let’s say once the laundry is dry, there are 4 steps left:
- take laundry off washing line
- putting clothes pegs in bag and into cupboard
- fold laundry
- clothes that don’t need ironing go straight to the respective bedrooms
When everyone understands this, there’s no more arguing because clothes are left all over the house.
Have routines
Routines set your household running like a well-oiled machine. If you do a load of laundry every day, you get better at it and it’s a quick job to load the machine and get it going every day.
Now, am I the only one who buys a new teflon non-stick pan every couple of months?
I swear I go through these like crazy.
Can you see the scratches?
Please share your favourite tips that make cleaning a breeze.
We stopped using teflon pans altogether after reading about the dangers of teflon.
We use a stainless steal one – though I’m hoping to get a better one this year. And we have 2 cast iron ones. If you spray a little vinegar into the stuck on stuff after cooking, then it comes right out in a few minutes.
I’m still working on a new set of routines. LaRue is finally settling into a sort of routine again since the accident it’s been hard on us readjusting while doing Christmas and cleaning too.
I too stopped using teflon coated pans…Then last year when my mother died (JAN 2009) I inherited her Revereware and my Grammie’s cast iron…Since I’d learned to cook w/ these it wasnt too difficult to relearn their idiosyncracies…Added bonus: a little xtra iron in my diet when I cook w/ the cast iron *winks*
have invested on one fabulous Le Creuset pan which I spray and cook before I use and it is worth it! Incidently they sell a non stick with a 10 yr guarantee – probably cost the same as replacing cheap pans every few months.
I’m looking to replace our teflon pan. I do have a cast iron, but I’m not a pro at using that yet. Also, that pan is not big enough for many of the dishes I like to cook (and I don’t have the upper body strength for a larger cast iron pan, lol!).
Have heard and read about a ceramic surface but I want to see it in stores first. I would rather make an investment in something healthy AND durable. Oh, the years that we have been eating from teflon coated cookware!!
My office was pretty organized pre-organizational-blitz of Dec 09, but it still amazed me how much stuff I was able to get rid of and put into a better place–and what’s been especially fabulous is that it’s definitely cut down on my cleaning time, as you say. Now, I can just set loose my Roomba without spending 5 minutes picking up things that “belong” on the floor (I had a big box of mailing supplies, for instance, that didn’t have a better home)–and rather, I can just set it down, turn it on, and head out for a walk. Thank you for the inspiration to tackle the rest of the house! The living room will be the next to feel my decluttering wrath
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Whatever pans you choose to use, I find that metal utensils in metal pans are always a bad idea! I kept one thin metal spatula to use when taking cookies off the cooking stones I use for baking. Unexpected bonus was that the new utensils had more ergonomic handles and I enjoy cooking so much more now that my hands don’t tire as quickly!