Housing is an integral part of our lives. Usually it takes a lot of strength, energy and time. People who love cleanliness and comfort are well aware that there is no escape from the routine ritual. More affluent citizens can afford to use the services of domestic workers and cleaning firms. But more often than not, average citizens, especially women, have to restore order and comfort in their apartments.
And if cleaning can not be avoided, then it is worth trying to optimize this unpleasant process by thinking out a detailed plan for cleaning the apartment for a week.
Principles of
To begin with, it should be understood that, even having and implementing a plan for weekly cleaning the apartment, the need to perform daily household chores will not disappear. Routine daily affairs will not go anywhere. If you stop washing dishes and make the bed every day, then even the most ideal cleaning plan will not have any effect. Periodically, the general will also have to. These two rules of daily and global approach to cleaning should still be followed.
Also, to achieve greater effect, reduce time and effort and simplify work, you should adhere to the principles of restoring order:
- No trash! Get rid of old, shabby things, do not clutter the shelves with unnecessary items, do not turn the apartment into a warehouse.
- No unnecessary, unused things - unnecessary, but in good condition things are better to give or sell. At home you need to keep only what is needed. Warehousing creates additional cleaning problems.
- There is no extra means for cleaning - do not buy up a lot of tools and devices for washing and cleaning. For the most part, this is just a marketing ploy, it is quite possible to get by with the usual means.
- We are looking for helpers - attracting grown children and a husband to cleaning will speed up the process. Households should know that cleaning is not only my mother’s task, but also family, household.
- Minimalism - the fewer things around, the less time it will take to clean. This is especially true for busy, working people.
Thinking over the details of the plan and where to start cleaning in the apartment, you should always remember these principles. Things in the apartment require attention and care. It is much easier to wipe the dust off the chest of drawers on which one or two figurines are standing than ten. Cluttered cabinets, shelves, sofas greatly complicate the cleaning process. It is better to equip the interior using a minimum of details, thereby facilitating your work.
Do daily
An apartment cleaning plan for every day should include:
- Cleaning in the kitchen. A mandatory ritual should be washing dishes, wiping surfaces after cooking and eating. You should return all items of utensils and kitchen utensils to their places, take out the trash and check if there are any expired products in the refrigerator.
- Room cleaning. Make beds, lay out scattered objects and things in places, wipe dust on surfaces, ventilate the room.
- Washing. If the family is large, then it is advisable not to collect mountains of linen. This will create additional difficulties for the hostess, when at the same time you need to take apart and iron a lot of clothes.
- Floor care. Every day in the cooking zone and in the hallway or in the corridor you should sweep leftovers, garbage and sand. In the presence of young children, floor cleaning may be required daily, or alternating with wet cleaning every other day using a vacuum cleaner.
- Cleanliness of plumbing, washbasins. The well-known flyledi system encourages housewives to begin routine affairs with cleansing to the brilliance of the sink. In any case, plumbing should be free of dirt, sand, stains and food debris.
These rituals will be enough to maintain visual cleanliness and order.
High Pollution Areas
Also, the plan for cleaning the apartment for the day should include complex and so-called red zones. These are places where dirt and germs accumulate the fastest and actively multiply.
Toilet lid - the presence of microbes on the lid is due not so much to the fact that this is a place of natural need, but to the fact that the lid is often raised and lowered. At the same time, microbes and dirt from the hands remain on it.
Door handles - all family members and people who come into the house take the door handles more than once a day, so the number of microbes on them is very significant.
Laptop or computer keyboard, remote control buttons - dirt from the fingers is not particularly visible, but if you moisten a regular cotton swab with alcohol and wipe the buttons, you can be very surprised how much it turns black.
Sponges - change at least once a week, since after washing dishes in a humid environment, microbes multiply very quickly.
Sink in the kitchen - the remnants of food, grease and dirt after washing the dishes settle on the bottom and walls of the sink and create a whole hotbed of germs and bacteria.
Freezer - it turns out that microbes from frozen meat and fish actively inhabit the freezer, and not all of them die from low temperatures. Thoroughly wash and disinfect the chamber inside each time the refrigerator is defrosted.
Cutting boards - preferably plastic or glass. If there is a dishwasher, wash them in it, and if not, rinse thoroughly after each use.
Curtains and showerheads: wet environments and dirt after bathing are the ideal environment for the growth of bacteria.
Cutlery drawer - it would seem that cutlery gets clean into the drawer, but often they are still wet and water creates an environment for the development of pathogenic bacteria.
Such places should be regularly thoroughly treated and disinfected. The plan for daily cleaning of the apartment can be supplemented depending on the characteristics of the family’s life, the number of its members, and lifestyle.
Unloading ourselves
The usual plan for cleaning the apartment once a week includes washing and vacuuming the floors throughout the apartment, dusting on surfaces and household appliances. Many housewives that day are engaged in washing and subsequent ironing and sorting of linen. All these actions in one day lead to the accumulation of fatigue, to the creation of a nervous situation in the family when trying to attract household members and, ultimately, to the tiredness of the hostess.
It is more reasonable to distribute things for the week evenly across the zones and do everything gradually. This will increase the productivity and efficiency of cleaning, but you will not need to spend the whole day devoting yourself only to everyday life.
Piecemeal
Many are lost, thinking over tasks for a week, can not decide how and where to start cleaning in the apartment. The zone separation plan allows for several stages of cleaning. To maintain the apartment in order, this is a great option, you will never be dirty.
Having adapted, you will spend on each zone no more than half an hour a day, but again it all depends on the intended goals. So, you can brush off the dust and wipe the floor on the balcony in 20 minutes, and sorting the contents of the cabinet and cleaning it is an additional half hour.
- Monday: corridor, hallway. First, we remove unnecessary objects that interfere with cleaning, clutter up the space and create the feeling of a mess. We get rid of old checks and receipts, boxes. We hide things and shoes out of season in wardrobes, we leave only what is necessary for a specific period of the year. We clean the floor, wipe the doors, furniture, lamps from dust, clean the mirror.
- Tuesday: kitchen. We remove from the kitchen table and countertops objects that are not related to cooking. It can be toys, newspapers, medicines and more. We wipe the dust on the windowsills, table, work surface, lamp. We clean the refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher inside and out from dirt. My bin. We clean the sink. My stove. In conclusion, vacuuming and washing the floor.
- Environment: bathroom and toilet. Cleaning the bathroom can be combined with washing. Washing the bath and washbasin. We wipe the tile. We look at cosmetics and body care products for need, we leave only those used. Change towels to fresh ones. At the end of my floor. In the toilet we clean the toilet, wipe the tile, wash the floor, take out the trash.
- Thursday: rooms. We put things in places, remove unnecessary, get rid of garbage. We wipe the dust on dressers, cabinets, cabinets, doors and window sills. In the nursery we put in order toys, books. Vacuum and wash the floors.
- Friday: pantry, balcony. We are engaged in the far corners of the apartment. If they are kept in proper condition and do not contain trash mountains, cleaning is quick. It is enough to wipe the dust, vacuum and mop the floor.
- Saturday: add coziness. On this day, you can do more pleasant things, which often do not reach the hands. Replace the curtain or tablecloth with a more beautiful one, hang a picture or photo on the wall or do something else that will help to decorate the apartment and add coziness.
- Sunday: plans and rest. After a week-long marathon, you can relax and take care of yourself or spend time with your family. You can take 10-15 minutes and think through the cleaning details for the coming week, make shopping lists.
This plan for cleaning the apartment for a week is not a strict schedule, which must be strictly followed. In some families it will be enough to wash the floor and once a week, somewhere in a day or two, and if there are small children, wet cleaning may be required every day.
On assignments
When performing cleaning tasks every day, the scope of activity changes. This approach to the cleaning plan of the apartment allows you to change occupation every day, and the cleaning process becomes less monotonous.
- Day one: care for household appliances. We wipe all surfaces of household appliances in the kitchen and in the bathroom. In the kitchen, stains from handprints remain when cooking from food on the facades, microwave, oven, refrigerator. To make the kitchen look neat, wipe such traces with alcohol-containing napkins.
- Day Two: Laundry. We erase, iron and lay out the linen in places.
- Day Three: Wet Cleaning. Vacuum, wipe the dust and wash the floor. We water indoor plants, wipe the window sills.
- Fourth day: take care of plumbing and a bathroom. We clean the sinks, bathtub, toilet
- Fifth day: we clean the kitchen. The kitchen is the most popular place in the apartment and at the same time the most polluted. This area requires increased attention and it will be useful once a week to further clean up places of special pollution.
- Day six: pay attention to storage and organization. We are improving storage systems, getting rid of excess, cleaning things out of season. The order will greatly facilitate cleaning.
For people who spend a lot of time at work
There are no particularly fundamental differences in tasks during cleaning by people employed at work. You have to perform the same manipulations to maintain order, do them after a hard day, or devote a weekend. To facilitate the cleaning of working people, rules such as:
- Separation, delegation of authority - involving a husband and older children in the cleaning process will unload a tired mother.
- Optimization and time tracking - it’s better to think ahead of time what exactly and for what time you want to do after work, without being distracted by listening to music, watching news and TV shows.
- Attracting help from outside - resorting to the help of housekeepers or cleaning companies is rational if you know that during the same time you will earn more than you pay for services.
- Minimalism in rooms - restraint in details and objects will facilitate cleaning and help to cope with routine tasks faster.
A plan for cleaning an apartment for a week for employees may look something like this:
- The first day is washing.
- The second day - ironing and sorting.
- The third day - care for plumbing, bath and toilet.
- The fourth day - wet cleaning (floors, dust).
- Fifth day - keeping the kitchen clean.
- Sixth day - cleaning of unnecessary things, laying out in places and shelves.
Correction of the apartment cleaning plan is inevitable with a busy schedule of all family members in working families.
30-day marathon
An apartment cleaning plan for a month covers more tasks than a week.
Cleaning object | What do we do |
Doors | My alcohol-containing composition or napkins |
Mirrors, paintings, photos | My special glass cleaner |
Children's soft toys | Contain a large amount of dust, can provoke allergies, so we erase |
Refrigerator | We wipe the shelves, remove the crumbs, the remnants of food |
Washing machine | We clean the drum, clean the clogged filters from threads and dirt |
Dishwasher | Add salt, clean the filters from pieces of food |
Computer tv | Wipe the screens with alcohol wipes, clean the keyboard from dirt and dust |
Cutlery drawer | We wash and disinfect the storage area |
Oven | We clean the inner surface, grilles and door of grease |
Furniture | We clean and vacuum the furniture surface, remove stains and dirt |
Cabinets | We put things in order, get rid of the unnecessary, take things out of season |
Cooker hood | We cleanse fat, clean and disinfect |
Fulfillment of all points of the apartment cleaning plan at least once a month will help maintain cleanliness and order in the apartment.
Clean up globally
A well-thought-out plan for the general cleaning of the apartment will help you not to forget about the remote corners and keep them clean. General cleaning is carried out once every six months. As you wish, strength and the availability of time, you can globally clean up more often - once every couple of months, or less often - once a year.
When carrying out a general cleaning, they pay attention to cases that are not performed weekly and monthly (washing windows, washing curtains, bedspreads, carpet cleaning). Often the question arises, where to start the general cleaning of the apartment. An action plan will help find the answer to this question.
Windows, textile | We remove and erase curtains and curtains, wash windows and window sills, erase bedspreads, rugs |
Furniture | Thoroughly wipe the furniture from dust, polish if necessary, move the floor behind the furniture, in hard-to-reach places, and wash the baseboards |
Global clutter | We get rid of old things, broken household appliances, children's accessories that are small or not used |
Cabinets, shelving, walls, indoor plants | It is necessary to remove dust from books, dishes, flowers, ventilate cabinets and remove dust in them and above |
Carpets, pillows, mattresses | We knock out carpets on the street, ventilate mattresses and pillows |
Tile | Thoroughly wash the tiles in the bathroom, kitchen and toilet |
General cleaning by zones
The plan for the general cleaning of the apartment by zones involves consistent thorough cleaning of order in each living room. The actions will be about the same, only spend them in turn in each room.
- Entrance area (entrance hall, corridor, vestibule if available). We throw away the unnecessary, dilapidated, spoiling the overall appearance. We remove shoes and clothes out of season. We clean carpets. We remove dust from the ceiling, the top of the cabinets, from inaccessible corners. We ventilate the cabinets, save them from dust. We rub the mirrors, we remove dust from lighting devices. Thoroughly wash the floors and baseboards, while moving the furniture.
- Living area (bedroom, living room, children). Changing the curtains, washing the windows. We dust off ceilings and cabinets. We air the contents of the cabinets, sort things, get rid of unnecessary. Thoroughly wash the interior doors, upholstered and cabinet furniture. Vacuum and wash niches in sofas, ottomans. We move furniture and get rid of dirt and dust. We air large bedding - pillows, mattresses. We get rid of the accumulated dust TVs, computers, laptops. We wipe the lamps and chandeliers. Washing cornices, batteries, mirrors.
- Cooking and eating area. Thoroughly wash the kitchen, countertop, apron. We get all the contents of the cabinets, get rid of old stocks, dishes of an unpresentable appearance. We wash the bin, clean and disinfect the sink. We clean household appliances, stove, oven, range hood, refrigerator. My windows and change the curtains. Dust off the ceiling and the lamp. Moving the furniture, we rub the floor well.
- Storage areas (pantry, balcony). We get rid of old workpieces, unnecessary things and trash. We wipe the dust on the shelves, shelves. We get rid of dust on ceilings and in inaccessible places. On the balcony of my window, we hang clean curtains.
- Hygiene zone (bathroom and toilet). We remove the dust from the stream, rub the tile, wash the sink, bath, toilet. We analyze stocks of personal care products and cleaning products. Throw away old towels, basins. If necessary, change the bin in the toilet, brush. Washing and disinfecting floors.
The plan for the general cleaning of the apartment may differ for different landlords, include other positions, but in general the tasks will be similar.