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A Clean Sweep
Tips and Tricks for Quick Cleaning By Kelly Burgess
When Jeff Campbell sent a book on keeping up with housework to his editor, she called him with one big concern. She loved the book, but hated his title, which was Daily Cleaning. Laughing, Campbell recalls she told him that it was just too depressing. Renamed Clutter Control: Putting Your Home on a Diet (DTP, 1992), the book became one in a series of highly successful books that Campbell, owner of Clean Team, has written.
Campbell, who is best known for his speed cleaning methods, says that, depressing or not, cleaning is more a matter of daily upkeep than anything. Below, we offer Campbell's best advice for cleaning both everyday cleaning and the heavier work as well as some "green" cleaning methods and handy cleaning tips that may save time and money.
- Pick up all dirty dishes and load them in the dishwasher.
- Pick up dirty clothes from the floor and put them in the hamper.
- Pick up toys and put them in the toy box.
- Deal with all paper that comes in the house immediately so it doesn't pile up.
- The last person to shower should squeegee the walls.
- Wipe down the toilet and faucets.
"Our mothers and grandmas passed down a full-time method of cleaning that we can't follow in today's world," Campbell says. "Even if you're a stay-at-home parent, the world is so different that you're just as busy as any parent who works. Now we're trying to cram our mother's and grandmother's full-time method into a Saturday, and it just doesn't fit. The fact is that most of us don't know how to clean, and that's why we don't have time. It's demoralizing and difficult to do something you haven't been taught how to do properly."
