3 Expert Cleaners Share Their Genius Tips on How to Maintain a Clean House
Photo by Joseph Hendrickson via ShutterStock.
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Everything down to the floorboards has been vacuumed, dusted, and spot-cleaned. You’ve scrubbed your garbage disposal and unclogged the bathtub drain, cleaned your mattress, organized your closets, and more. After all the spring cleaning tips you’ve implemented, now you’re just left wondering how to keep the house clean. With kids, pets, partners, and just your busy life in general, it can be stressful trying to have a tidy home. One day, everything’s spotless, and the next? It’s like a tornado ran through in the middle of the night. Listen: Don’t panic, and don’t get down about everything being in disarray. There are small house cleaning tips and tricks you can use to make sure your home stays streamlined and stress-free.
We spoke to three experts in the cleaning industry who have built major followings on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for sharing their brilliant advice. And they’re here to help! With their numerous years of experience and interesting backgrounds—as professional janitors, homemakers, and organizing enthusiasts—these pros have a bounty of house cleaning tips up their sleeves for you to try. Keeping your house clean isn’t as intimidating as it sounds. In fact, learning how to maintain is all about keeping the tasks approachable.
Brandon Pleshek
It’s often said that Brandon Pleshek was born with a broom in his hand. As a third-generation janitor, he’s accumulated a ton of inspiring cleaning tips from his professional background in the family business. His family has owned a cleaning service for over 40 years now, and he says his expertise in the industry is all thanks to their hard work. You can find Brandon’s favorite house cleaning tips and tricks, as well as niche cleaning hacks, at @cleanthatup on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Brandon’s Tips to Keep a Clean House:
- The Two-Minute Rule: “If it takes two minutes to clean, just do it,” Pleshek says. “I know if I set my morning cup of coffee cup in the sink, I’m just going to let it sit there and pile up. Instead, just hand wash it or rinse it and put it in the dishwasher right then and there. So then that way, you don’t have to think about it.”
- Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Depending on your household, you can get a lot more done when more than one person is cleaning up. So he, his wife, and their daughter will make tidying up a sort of game. He says, “We’ll set a little time aside and say, hey, for 15 minutes we’re gonna pick up the house…Is the house perfectly cleaned or deep cleaned? Not necessarily, but it’s usually tidied up pretty well. And all those random things around the house get picked up and put away.”
- Make a Less-Daunting List: “If there are more than a few things on my to-do list, I kind of just check out. So instead, I say, ‘If I get these three or fun things done, I’m going to feel accomplished,'” Pleshek says. Plus, it’s way less intimidating to look at 4 to-dos vs. 15…
- Remember It’s an Ever-Evolving Task: “I have a 10-year-old at home. From when she was 6, she’s making totally different messes now, and of course, I make all sorts of messes, too. So just try to be flexible,” Pleshek says. Things change, situations change, and life changes, which means you have to offer yourself some grace. Some days will be tidier than others, but what’s important to remember is that maintaining a house is going to look different every day.
Lori Williamson
Lori Williamson is a home and cleaning expert with a passion for making cleanliness accessible, and it’s been in her blood since she was young. “Growing up, keeping our home spotless was a big deal in my family,” Williamson says. “My parents are from Jamaica, and they were all about teaching my sister and I how to clean, organize, and master laundry from when we were just kids. It’s safe to say I’ve been in the cleaning game for quite some time.” After the pandemic struck, Williamson really dove into social media head-first. She started focusing on creating content related to sanitization, disinfecting, and cleaning, and pretty soon, her following skyrocketed. “Creating content on TikTok became a great creative outlet when I had limited social interactions. Before I knew it, a community started forming around it,” she says. Williamson shares helpful cleaning and organization hacks on Instagram and TikTok at @nowitsclean.
Lori’s Tips to Tidy Living:
- Follow a Cleaning Schedule: “Having a regular cleaning routine helps to ensure no space in your home gets overlooked,” Williamson says. “I like to assign different days to do different things.” She suggests that organizing your cleaning schedule first will help you keep your actual cleaning and daily tidying on-task.
- Use the Right Products and Tools: Williamson says, “Cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated if you have the right cleaning products and tools to help you. And you don’t need a ton of products either!” In fact, her three favorite products are all-purpose cleaners, microfiber cloths, and a vacuum. Sometimes it’s all about keeping it simple.
- Declutter Regularly: “Clutter can make cleaning more difficult, especially in areas that are already prone to being overlooked. Adopt a one-item-in and two-items-out rule. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later,” Williamson says.
- Involve the Whole Family: “Make cleaning a joint effort,” she says, “Assign everyone in the family or your roommates to do specific tasks. That way, everyone knows what they have to do and it lightens everyone’s workload.” If everyone has a designated space to clean, everyone can be held equally accountable to keep it tidy.
Lynsey Crombie
Lynsey Crombie is an inspiring best-selling author and TV presenter who’s used her expertise and experiences to help others. Crombie says, “My love of cleaning came from a very dark place, and for years, I cleaned when I was sad and angry, and I used cleaning as a form of therapy. But I learned to get my cleaning obsession under control and use it as a positive.” Lynsey set up a cleaning and ironing business that she ran for eight years. She then worked with her local council to help people that were struggling with hoarding, and changed the lives of many. You can follow her for a ton of useful cleaning tips, recommendations, and inspiration on Instagram and on TikTok at @lynsey_queenofclean.
Lynsey’s Tips to Stay Organized:
- Create a Cleaning Rotation: (Are you sensing a pattern here?) Crombie also suggests getting the whole family involved. “Gather your household together and assign jobs so everyone has something to do,” Crombie says. “Working together also makes lighter work of the chores.” Plus, it helps everyone feel like they’re an important part of the household.
- Do Little Things Every Day: When you separate big tasks into small, digestible parts, they suddenly don’t seem so overwhelming. Crombie says, “Making the bed, doing the dishes, vacuuming high-traffic rooms, putting kids toys away, and keeping kitchen surfaces clean” are all simple but effective ways to create a tidier home.
- Designate Areas: For those small items like pet supplies, cleaning items, and kids’ toys, Crombie says, designating areas specifically for them will help the space feel more organized. This means that everything will have a place it can be put back into after it’s been used. She also says it’s helpful to use storage bins with lids so you can hide the clutter away neatly.
- Invest In Helpful Items: “Invest in heavy-duty doormats to stop mess and mud coming in from shoes. And when you have guests over, use sofa throws to protect them from stains and crumbs,” Crombie says. Little items like this make a huge difference, because when you prevent messes before they even happen, it makes cleanup that much easier.
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