10 Genius Cleaning Tips From the Clean My Space Community!

We’ve written over 500 articles and produced over 600 YouTube videos. Along with this comes a ton of comments from the Clean My Space community. So, we decided that we would go through some of our recent videos and pick out some of our favorite tips from you guys.

#1 Create A Checklist (And A Dream List)

Debra L. says: “I take a notebook and write each room in my house at the top of each page. Then, I sit in each room and make a checklist of things that I want to do in each room. Next, I go through and highlight each task, pink for urgent, yellow for really want to do, and green for dream task. Throughout the week, I check off items as I get them done. I have ADD and this system allows me to skip around to different rooms, check off tasks and feel like I got something done. I also aim to do the pink and yellow items before diving into the green. I hope I explained that well”.

I’ve received so many emails over the years since we’ve started Clean My Space where people reach out and say they have ADD or ADHD, or other things that might be a challenge for them, and they found a way to make cleaning work for them and their lifestyle. We all want to live in a cleaner space but many of us face challenges, whether it’s overwhelm or ADD or anything else that might prevent us from being effective. So the fact that you came up with this system and it works for you and your particular needs, is incredible and let this serve as a great lesson to anybody else who is challenged or struggling with their cleaning.

#2 Shower Cleaning Hack

Catherine L. says: “I hate cleaning my shower so what I do is I have a dish wand, one of those with handles that you can fill up with soap and I fill it with dish soap and vinegar. Every day I wash down the wall or tub while I’m in there. It’s super easy, super quick, super cheap and my daughter loves to do it as well”.

This is something that is very popular. Many people like to clean their shower this way. I have a couple of extra pointers I want to throw in there just to make sure that you’re on the up-and-up and you’re doing it properly. If you have vinegar filled in the wand, you want to make sure that you’re not leaving it on your tile or on the wall if it is a natural stone material. Vinegar can discolor, or potentially ruin, natural stone so that’s something to be mindful of. And the second thing is just to take care of your own stuff when you’re in the shower. Dish soap can be really slippery so if you’re doing your cleaning, you just want to make sure that you’re on a grippy surface so that you’re doing it safely.

#3 Sneak In 15 Minutes

Deydey says: “I like to start getting ready about 15 minutes earlier than I should. This way, when I’m ready to leave for work or school, I have an extra 15 minutes. Since I can’t really start any project with such limited time, I use it to do short cleaning tasks like taking out the trash, emptying the litter box, wiping down all of my counters, folding some clothes, picking up dirty clothes off the floor, etc”.

I love this. This is yet another example of how people are finding ways to build cleaning into a schedule that works for them and makes sense for them. With just that extra 15 minutes you can accomplish so much cleaning in that time. This is something that I do as well—anytime I’m able to secure an extra 5 or 10 minutes somewhere, or even if I’m doing another task, I’ll always find ways to incorporate cleaning into it. This way, my house is being cleaned on an ongoing basis instead of me letting it pile up. That was a great tip.

#5 ABC—Always Be Cleaning

Lisa M. proclaims: “I don’t know if this is a tip or not, but I heard this quote and it really resonated and stuck with me: Don’t put it down, put it away”.

I say this to myself all the time. I’ve never heard it said this particular way, but I have heard this concept before and it’s so true. It’s similar to: “Have a place for everything, and put everything in its place”. In short, the best way to keep your home clean is to tidy it on an ongoing basis. If you have a glass that you’ve just finished drinking from and you put it down wherever you happen to be, that glass isn’t going to move itself to the kitchen. You have to take it there. So keep in mind that if you want to keep your home tidy and you want to keep it looking good, don’t put something down, put it away.

#6 Make Your Bed

Betty O. says: “I find the simple act of making my bed first thing in the morning, every morning, keeps my bedroom under control. Anything out of place or any clutter becomes obvious and is dealt with. At least one room in my house is always looking great!”

It’s true, the simple act of making your bed makes your room just feels like a much more clean, organized, happy and healthy space—and it just takes a couple of minutes to do! We’ve talked about this before in videos where the simple act of making your bed can really change and affect your day for the better. I also liked her point about being able to spot any other clutter in your room and having it be so much more obvious because you have that nice clean bed.

#7 Pre-Treating FTW

Ana M. says: “A thing I like to do when I’m washing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen is to spray and soak the stove while I’m washing the dishes. That way, I only need to wipe it down for it to be clean instead of having to scrub it or use elbow grease”.

This is fabulous because Ana is using the concept of pre-treating which is something that I talk about all the time. Essentially, you can use pre-treating in any space of your home that normally requires heavy-duty scrubbing and/or cleaning. You can spray product on your surface allow it to sit while you go and take care of other tasks and then by the time you come back to it the product has actually had the opportunity to do most of the work for you. So, all you have to do is give it a wipe—the heavy lifting is already done!

#8 Shine Light On The Dirt!

Samantha H. says: “Switch on a flashlight and lay it on the floor, the darker the room, the better, while you sweep or vacuum your hard floors. You have to move around the room a few times. Every speck of dust or strand of hair will be highlighted and/or have a shadow that you cannot miss. Make sure the light is actually on the surface of the floor and not just shining on it. I use a rechargeable LED strip light for mine. It is shocking!”

I’ve never heard this one before—this is brilliant! When I teach my staff how to clean at my cleaning company, I always tell them to use the light to help them identify areas that they have missed and that is exactly what Samantha is doing here. You see, if you look straight on to a surface, you can’t always see where the dirt is but if you start moving around, you know how Instagramers will sort of like move their phone around to get the best light and to find the best angles, that’s exactly what you’re doing with cleaning.

#9 Make A Pile

Sunshine Rose Vlogs says, “When I clean my room, I put everything on my bed because then I can’t go to bed or chill in my room until I sort it out”.

This is a great way to get yourself motivated. You get everything on top of that bed so that way—and she’s exactly right—you can’t relax until your room is clean. In our home, I actually do the scrubbing and the disinfecting, but my husband is really good at tidying. What he does is he kind of makes all these piles which end up on our bed. So, whenever he goes through and tidies, I know there’s going to be a giant pile of things for me to manage at the end of the day before I can go to bed.

#10 Hands Full

Cortney H. has a great idea: “Once you clean your house, don’t let the children or husband (or wife) back in! In all seriousness though, we always leave the room better than when we entered it. That rule works really well for me”.

That rule works really well for me too, and frankly, I’m the one that shouldn’t be let into the house after it’s been cleaned because I tend to be the one who makes the most mess. Whenever you leave a room, and I’ve talked about this concept before, try and always have hands full on your way out. Anytime you see a space, if there’s something that can be quickly tidied or put away before you leave that space, that’s a great way to keep it looking good. And if there’s anything that’s cluttering up a space that doesn’t belong there, just take it with you on your way out. This avoids messes building up and avoids clutter overwhelm becoming a thing.