how to clean a house

HOUSE CLEANING SECRETS -- MAGICAL TIPS TO GET YOU IN GEAR.
According to expert FLY LADY, the very FIRST thing that you clean daily is YOURSELF. Teeth brushed, fully dressed, hair combed, tied back. Put on the RADIO. Talk shows are fantastic. Makes you more interesting to others than music which goes in one ear and out the other. But be certain you got DRESSED ALL THE WAY -- SHOES, socks, FACE MOISTURIZED but as you're gonna sweat, maybe not MAKE-UP PUT ON. If you don't have great talk shows on your radio, put on some good working music. Not too fast, just slow, steady and peppy, put on a water proof apron at this point.
We are going to start in our kitchens. As the kitchen goes, so does the rest of the house. If your sink is not clean and shiny, then shine it first, (if sink has dirty dishes, do them now,) Use some cleanser (Comet, Ajax, or Baking Soda) and scrub your sink. Only do one side at a time. OR pour household bleach into some hot water. (wear gloves and don't get the bleach-water on your clothes). If you have a stainless steel sink, I recommend all of the above directions with one extra instruction added: after you soak your sink, rinse well, and use SOS pads to scrub it. This will buff the finish. It will look like new.
Ensure you rinse ALL of the cleanser from the sink.. Take a sharp edge and put your rag over it, then run it around/ clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails. Clean around the faucets too. You may need an old toothbrush or kitchen brush. Now, get out your window cleaner, I use Windex, and give it a good shine.
This is your first household chore. Empty your sink of your dirty dishes and clean and shine it, when there is so much more to do. It is great for an instant sense of accomplishment. You have struggled for years with a cluttered home and you are so beaten down. but nothing like waking up and being able to see yourself in your kitchen sink. You do NOT need to follow this method everyday. Just keep up the shine with a little window cleaner.
Then you can fill the sink up with hot soapy water and start to clear off the left and right counters. Empty the dishwasher. Put everything on shelves. Do this for about 15 minutes. We never want to get you bored. Never want it to be tedious so we switch a lot.
TAKE APRON OFF and Hit the LIVING ROOM: do 15 minutes cleaning off the coffee tables or picking up toys or newpapers. Concentrate on one area not all of it. Get a laundry basket and put the things that don't belong in the living room in the basket. Take a garbage bag or basket with you too. Start throwing away the trash. Trash the junk too but don't get caught up in the guilt we have about throwing half useless items away or recycling -- Just bag it up for now. As you get your home in order there will be plenty of time to recycle. For now we are focusing on getting the home presentable. You can't do this if you are hyperfocusing on sorting and recycling. So get over this perfectionism attitude. When the timer goes off, head back to the kitchen.
BACK TO the kitchen -- this variety .. this switching is important. Continue to work on clearing the counters. DO NOT GET SIDETRACKED AND WANT TO CLEAN OUT A CABINET. WE ARE DOING ONLY SURFACE CLEANING. PUT APRON ON. Scrub walls, cabinets. LIght fixtures.
Now take a break and walk around and look at what you have accomplished in just 45 minutes. Drink a cup of tea or coffee watch some tv, read a few pages of a magazine, just relax. Then get back in work mode for 15 more minutes. See, we wanna keep it fun.
This next 15 minute session is in the bathroom. Clean the bathroom sink first, swish the toilet, then pick up towels and dirty clothes and put them in the hamper or throw in the washing machine.
Go back to the kitchen. Do anything/ pantry shelves, drawer lining, for 15 minutes. Then go to the living room once again. Continue to pick up and put away.
Every 45 minutes take a 15 minute break.
If you don't have a dishwasher, don't worry. A dishwasher is just a dirty dish disposal. Clean out a place under your sink and put a dishpan in there. Teach your family, that instead of putting their dirty dishes and glasses in the sink, place them into the dish pan. Get into the habit of putting your dishes away as soon as they have been washed and are dry. No more leaving the dish drying rack on the counter or in the sink. Put it away under the sink when you have finished. If your old one is nasty, you may want to soak it in the sink full of bleach water at the same time you soak the sink or go buy a new set.
Now, CHOOSE a ROOM. whatever you pick, that's your zone for the day. When you first start zone work, you are encouraged to spend 15 minutes per day decluttering
First clear your hotspots (bedside table, desk, bathroom surfaces get really cluttered. Surface cleaning is the most powerful tool that you can use to create a more peaceful home. Remember: You cannot organize clutter - you can only organize the things you love! So cut down on the crap.
. When to Declutter: Decide how often you are going to declutter a zone. Do a little every day - do small amount at a time. The house did not get dirty overnight and it will not get clean overnight. When you set the timer you can only do two sessions at a time. This goal may seem unattainable right now, but you can do it in little pieces. In a couple of months, the whole house will be decluttered.
Decluttering Equipment: You will need garbage bags, boxes, magic markers, and a dust rag. Label the boxes "Give Away", "Throw Away", and "Put Away". Line the "Throw Away" box with a plastic garbage bag.
Do one drawer, one closet (or even one shelf in one closet), one magazine rack, or digging under just the furniture in the zone. Not all of them at once! Unless you have pharmaceutical help.
Start at the entrance to the room: Then, work your way around the room clockwise. Do not skip a spot. Whatever happens to be next, just do it.
Declutter Away! With boxes at your feet and dust rag in your waistband, start off by cleaning out and getting rid of the things that do not belong in this room. Put garbage in the "Throw Away" box, donations in the "Give Away" box, and stuff that goes somewhere else in the "Put Away" box. Don't worry that you do not have a place for everything right now. By the time you finish you will. That's a promise from FlyLady!
What to declutter? Things to ask yourself as you get rid of your clutter:
              * Do I love this item?
              * Have I used it in the past year?
              * Is it really garbage?
              * Do I have another one that is better?
              * Should I really keep two?
              * Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it?
              * Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item?
          Cleanse this room of everything that does not make you SMILE.
Sing this song: "Please release me, let me go" as sung from the stuff's point of view. It needs to be loved by someone and if you don't love it - GET RID OF IT!
. Get rid of the garbage! When the "Throw Away" box gets full, pull out the garbage bag, close it, and put it in the trash can, the pickup truck, or wherever you keep your garbage. Put a new garbage bag in the "Throw Away" box and keep on Flying until the timer goes off.
Donations: When the "Give Away" box gets full, seal it off, and put it in your car. The next time you are out, you can donate to the area thrift shop. Do not save your clutter for a yard or garage sale, you will be blessed by giving it away. The value can be deducted on your income tax. Remember you are trying to get rid of clutter - not relocate it somewhere else in your home. Now, grab another box, label it "Give Away", and get back to work.
"Put Away" Stuff: When the "Put Away" box gets full, take the box in your arms and run around the house (good thing you have shoes on - right?) and put the items in the room where they belong. If they have a place, put them there, if not put them in the room where they logically belong. By the time you have finished you will have a place for everything and everything will be in it's place.
When you finish decluttering you DUMP the things that you don't use or love. Before you start, review the rules of zone cleaning:
1. Be fully dressed that means jeans, blouse, and socks and shoes before you start. SLIPPERS don't cut it. NO HOUSE     DRESS EITHER.
   2. Your daily cleaning chores should be finished and preferably weekly vacuuming done.
   3. The room has to be fairly straight.
   4. Do not pull out more than you can put back in 1 hour.
   5. Clean one drawer or one pile at a time.
   6. If you do not know how to declutter, go to How to Declutter
   7. Be consistent. Do a little every day. Don't try to accomplish this in one day. You will burn out and will hate this system. BabySteps!
   8. Set your timer and work for 15 minutes. That's all. It did not get junked up in one day and it won't get clean in one day either. Patience and BabySteps. You can do this.
Missions
After you have started decluttering in a zone, you may be ready take a look at Kelly's Missions. These are fun! Kelly will send you on a mission in the current zone. You never know where you will end up (or what you will find) when you do one of Kelly's Missions!
Detailed Cleaning List
Once you have decluttered the zone (this may take a few months,) do a detailed cleaning list. Mine would read
HOUSE: COBWEBS CEILINGS. SHMUTZ in ALL CORNERS ON FLOOR. SHAMPOO CARPETS.
KITCHEN:     Kitchen: Detail Cleaning List
       1. EMPTY REFG/ CLEAN THOROUGHLY
       2. CLEAN TOASTER OVEN INSIDE AND OUT
       3. CLEAN STOVE/ OVEN
       4. WASH CANISTERs / KNICK-KNACKS
       5. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS/ CUPBOARDS
       6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
       7. WASH INSIDE WINDOWS
       8. CLEAN FAN/VENT-A-HOOD FILTERS AND HOOD
       9. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS (only a few at a time)
      10. CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS(GLASS GLOBES OVER LIGHT BULBS)
      11. CLEAN UNDER SINK/ LAUNDER or THROW AWAY OLD RAGS
      12. CLEAN PET DISHES w. BLEACH.
GARDEN- MOVE FURNITURE, rake dead leaves underneath, sweep soil into beds. hose down, clean tables,
remove BROKEN LAMPS, store in garage. Put best potted plants on table in saucers. Go onto garden paths, do the MULCHER VULTURE on paths.
OFFICE- Ammonia soaked rag, wrung out to clean keyboard, pc (it should be off.) desk surfacess, photo frames, tv. Use a business card or envelope to run between keys of keyboard. Clean lamps, lightbulbs (off.)
You will be amazed at how easy it is to do detailed cleaning when the clutter is gone! What is more amazing is how easy it is to keep it clean when your routines are in place! "The house practically cleans itself!"
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