Retro Saturday: Top 5 Things to Clean

Every Saturday we share one of our favorite entries.

Ivy says:

Sometimes you have guests coming over unexpectedly and you don’t have time for the full cleaning route. And sometimes you just don’t feel like cleaning like a madman when there are guests coming over. So what are the most important parts of your house to hit in order to make your house look decent? Here’s a list:

1. Toilets- because they’re probably going to want to use your bathroom, so make sure your toilets are sparkly clean. It’s easy to pull the shower curtain to hide a soap-scummy tub, and people will overlook a less-than perfect sink, as long as your toilet is looking good.

2. Mirrors/glass/other shinies- A general film is okay, but smudges and splatters on your shiny/glass objects, are very noticeable. Whip out the Windex and give them a quick shine.

3. Floors- Vacuum, sweep, and mop as needed. If I’m really short on time, I’ll do what I call “spot-mopping”; that is cleaning the parts of the floor that have spots or are otherwise funky. This works out better if the floor stays generally pretty clean but just has a few spots of funk on it. If your spot-mopping results in nice, clean spots that stand out from the rest, you’re going to have to go all out and mop the whole floor.

4. Cobwebs- Knock down any and all cobwebs. Pay special attention to your light fixtures, that’s where my cobwebs hide, only to come out when people come over. You can always tell them you’re decorating for Halloween, but that really only works one month out of the year.

5. Clutter- Even if you have to sweep it all into a laundry basket and hide it in a closet, get rid of the clutter on your tables and countertops. People tend to notice stuff like that, for some unknown reason.

Tagged as: Cleaning 101