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April 8, 2025Very few of us enjoy cleaning our homes, so finding the most efficient way to do it is great for minimising the time spent on housework. Also, being mindful of the order in which you clean will reduce the need for reworking surfaces.
Below, we’ll look at the best order to clean your home. Bear in mind that this will generally be on a per-room basis, but you can apply these tips to a whole house clean too if you don’t have cleaners in Romford.
The Best Order to Clean Your Home for Maximum Efficiency
1. Deal with Stuff
Start by dealing with stuff that’ll get in your way when cleaning. This means tidying up, putting stuff away, dealing with washing, etc. The aim is to have the cleanest slate possible when it comes time to clean surfaces.
To streamline this stage, have piles for putting stuff away. For example, if things need to go upstairs, chuck them all in a basket and carry them up in one go.
2. Start at the Top
When it comes to cleaning the rooms themselves, start as high up as you can. This typically involves dealing with cobwebs, dusting light fittings, cleaning wall coving, etc. Your aim is to always knock dust and dirt downwards, which you’ll then clean up later.
Apply this logic to a whole house clean, too. Decide on a finishing point (such as the kitchen) and start upstairs with the room farthest from the kitchen. Move back and down with your house cleaning until you arrive at your finishing point.
3. Tackle Vertical Surfaces Next
This is a fairly easy one: clean walls, windows, doors, etc. next. Work your way to about waist height or the height at which desks, side tables, and so on, sit. These fit into the next stage, so it’s pointless cleaning walls underneath them.
Similar to the point above, if you’re doing a whole house clean, it can make sense to clean all your glass and mirrors at the same time throughout your home. This isn’t completely necessary but does make your use of cleaning products more efficient.
4. Clean Horizontal Surfaces
As mentioned, next are the horizontal surfaces in a room. This could include tables, windowsills, chairs, and so on. You can break this step down further by working from highest to lowest in a room, but this isn’t completely necessary.
This stage probably involves the most dusting, so here are some tips. Work from left to right (if you’re right-handed) and always from clean to dirty. This helps you to know where you’ve cleaned and saves you from spreading dirt around. Also, always apply your polish to the cloth rather than the surface directly because this cuts down on residue and over-application.
5. Move on to Low Surfaces
This stage includes both horizontal and vertical surfaces – anything that’s roughly below table height. For example, this might include table and chair legs, skirting boards, the rest of the walls you’ve cleaned, and so on.
Within this stage, you’d typically also include lower surfaces in the bathroom, such as the toilet and bath. However, bathrooms are outliers in this plan because they involve specific products that aren’t applicable elsewhere in the home. As such, you may find it beneficial to tackle them on their own and just apply this process.
6. Finish with Floors
Finally, we finish this cleaning method by dealing with floors. Start by hoovering carpets and hard flooring, flick rugs outside, and finish by mopping. Provided the previous steps have gone smoothly, this stage should involve dealing with any dust and dirt that you’ve knocked off other surfaces by working down.
If you need to pick furniture up when hoovering, try to put it all in the same place in a room. For example, if you need to move pet beds and footstools in the living room, put them on the same chair. While you might need to clean this chair again after, it at least localises any extra mess.
Final Thoughts
Cleaning efficiently takes a bit of practice, but once you find your groove you should notice a massive difference in the time and effort it takes. The main rules is to work from top to bottom and minimise how many times you pick up and put down the same equipment.
Generally, these tips should be applicable to all cleaning. But use them as a basis to develop your own method and you should find cleaning takes almost no time at all!
