איך פארשטאפט טאן די 5 זאכן אַרום די הויז, און עס נאָר געווארן קלינער

American researchers once wondered How long time a woman spends on cleaning the house. It turned out that in a lifetime it takes about six years. And this is the American woman! Russian women spend much more time on cleaning – as they said in the press service of Karcher, it takes 4 hours and 49 minutes a week to wash and wash. Or 250 hours a year. Just imagine, we spend more than ten days on putting things in order! And on average in the world women spend 2 hours and 52 minutes on this. 

We decided to conduct an experiment: what can you sacrifice so as not to spend half your life cleaning, but also to keep the house in order. And here’s the list we got. 

1. Wash the floor throughout the apartment every day

Instead, it turned out to be much more convenient to practice the separate cleaning method. That is, today we clean the kitchen, tomorrow – the room, the day after tomorrow – the bathroom. And no fanaticism! As it turns out, the method works best. The dust does not really have time to accumulate (besides, when the air humidifier works, it becomes much less), the apartment looks clean, and the carriage is freed up in time. After all, cleaning in one room takes a maximum of 15-20 minutes. Provided, of course, that you are not a fanatical grubby. 

2. Rinse the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher

It seems that I didn’t really trust her until recently. Well, a soulless machine cannot wash dishes as thoroughly as the loving hands of a hostess! It turns out that it can. She proved it to me, as soon as I overpower myself and load the plates into it as they are. Unless she threw the chicken bones in the trash. 

Moreover, the dishwasher washed the lid of the frying pan so that it hurt me to look at it. Not the slightest trace of fat remained, even in those places that were difficult to remove with a toothbrush. In general, I bitterly regretted those minutes spent on “washing before washing”. 

3. Wipe the hallway several times a day

The weather is such that slush drags into the house with shoes, and even a freshly washed entrance hall looks like a railway waiting room in terms of cleanliness. There was no more strength to wash the dirt behind everyone who entered. I went to a fixed-price store, bought two hefty rubber mats. She put one outside, the other inside. The one inside was covered with a damp cloth on top. Now we leave the shoes on it, the dirt does not take away anywhere. It is enough to rinse the rag once a day and shake out or vacuum the rug. 

4. Use household chemicals

No, well, not really, of course, but severely limited its use. A melamine sponge is sufficient to clean the slab. Most of the dirt is afraid of soda and citric acid – how to make the cleaning agent yourself, there are a lot of tips. It turned out that expensive powders, liquids and gels are not so necessary. And it is much easier to rinse off the DIY tool – just wipe the surface with a damp cloth, and then walk dry one more time. It is better to wash the floor by adding ordinary salt to the water – it does not leave streaks, and the floor shines. Bonus: no extraneous “chemical” odors, the risk of catching an allergy is less, and the hands are more whole. So is the family budget.

5. Manually clean baking trays and oven

Impatience is my worst enemy. I need to take it and clean it up immediately, even if my hands are bloody. But many of the simplest cleaning products, without my participation, cope with dirt just fine. They just need time. For example, rinsing a baking sheet is enough if you spread it with a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and leave it for several hours. And the sink magically self-cleans by covering it with foil, pouring hot water and throwing a little washing powder into it. For me it was just some kind of magic – I drink tea and chat on the phone, and the kitchen is becoming cleaner and cleaner!