Are you ready to ‘Crisis Clean’ your home? How our home got into a mess is not as important as how we can get ourselves out of it. If your home is a disaster and you have company coming soon, the first thing to do is
‘Forgive Yourself’
We have all been here before. Some several times. How do we ‘Crisis Clean’? The following is how I have learned to do it. I have tried many different ways. I put lots of thought into it and tried a few different ways. Will this work for you? Try it and let me know your results!
- Get Dressed – Before you do anything when it comes to the house, this is the most important step that helps you to begin. I could tell you all the reasons, but that is for another time. Take faith and ‘Just Do It’.
- Three Zones To Focus On – Bathroom, Kitchen and Living Room. This is where your guests will be spending their time. Do these three areas first and in this order.
- Entry and Bedrooms – After the three zones are done.
- Start with the Bathroom – We start with the bathroom. Why? Part of getting dressed will be spent in the bathroom. You are already here so let’s do the ‘Swish & Swipe’. It helps to give a bottle of Windex and some paper towels a home. Set them by the toilet bowl cleaner in the cabinet. Swish the toilet and swipe the mirrors and sink.
- Kitchen – Lots of action will be taking place here! Have you turned your dancing music on yet? ‘Do It Now’. If you have dishes in the sink and on the counter, move them aside. Empty the sink and fill it with hot water adding a little bleach to sanitize. Let it soak. Grab a trash bag and begin to move from left to right and clockwise around the kitchen and get rid of trash. There is always plenty in the kitchen. This will free up some space.
- Living Room – While the sink is soaking, move on to the living room with your trash bag and start tossing. Magazines and newspapers first, the rest next. Slip into the bathroom to look for trash there. We will take this bag and put it outside in the trash. This includes all trash cans in these areas as well. We have to ‘throw away’ before we can ‘give away’ and ‘put away’. We are not going to be getting into detailed decluttering but if we see something that can be given away it is going into a box. Scan the three rooms quickly and without much thought. Whatever you collect take it to the car to be donated on your next errand day. Here comes the hardest. It is the ‘Put Away’ part of the crisis cleaning. It will be a challenge but can be done. Go to each of the top 3 rooms and gather like items to be picked up and put away in the general area it belongs. Do some light dusting in the living room.
- Break Time! – Remember this is a crisis clean. We just want our homes presentable for a short period of time while having guests. If we have to ‘Stash n Dash’ so be it. The only way one can keep it clean is by practicing 9 Daily Habits. “We crisis clean for 30 minutes, take a break for 15 minutes, repeat until done.”
- Back To The Kitchen – Scrub around the faucets and the faucet itself. You can also scrub around the edge of your sink. Drain your bleach water and next, fill up one side of the sink with hot soapy water. It is time to do the dishes and get them done whether it is hand washing or putting them into the empty dishwasher. You cannot scrub your counters and appliances until you get rid of the dishes and anything else sitting out. If you are hand washing your dishes, as soon as you are done, move on to drying them and putting away. This is crucial. It helps you get to the next steps of wiping counters, cupboards and appliances down. Move from left to right, top to bottom and move clockwise with your right hand. Continue to work around the room until you get back to the sink. Depending on how dirty the counters are you may have to back track to clean your dish cloth out and then go back to where you left off.
- Floors, floors, floors – Vacuum all your floors if you can to pick up dirt and dust. Then mop the floors and you are done!
If you have some free time touch up the entry and if you don’t have time for the bedrooms, you can always shut the door!
Is this how the experts do their ‘Crisis Clean’? Probably not. Knowing my tendencies of getting sidetracked, this is how I have had the most success. Adapt it to make it your way!
If you want extra help to get you started, go to Marilyn’s Way Coaching fill out the application and set up a free zoom meeting with me!
Need an easy start? Read 100 Things To Get Rid Of In Your Home: The Simple Way To Begin Your Decluttering Journey.
You Are On Your Way To A Clutter Free Home!
