The Minimalist Cleaning Guide

Do you have a closet full of cleaning supplies? They can take up so much space in our homes, be expensive, and toxic too! On top of that, cleaning product companies have made it overly complicated for us to clean. Think about it, there is a different product out there for nearly every item we clean! There’s a product to clean windows, one to clean the floors, one to clean the bathroom sink, etc. This of course benefits the companies, but it certainly does not make our lives more simple or less consumeristic.

I love my house to not only be decluttered but to also be clean. With three children that can be quite the challenge! I only have small windows of time here and there where I can run around and get things done. Because of this, I have simplified not only WHAT I use to clean, but also HOW I clean. It has become really quite simple!

First, let’s start with a list of what I use to clean my home.

What I Use:

-Microfiber Cloth

-Microfiber Mop

-Vacuum

-Broom

-Baking Soda

-Water

That’s it. That’s all I use to clean my house! Now let me tell you about the process.

How I Clean My House:

Microfiber is simply amazing. A scientist could tell you all about exactly how it works, but my simple explanation is that the fibers are woven in a way that doesn’t simply smudge dirt and bacteria around but actually picks it up into the rag. There’s more to it I’m sure. If you are interested, look it up on the internet. I personally have the Norwex Enviro Cloth and though I do highly recommend it, you can also pick up less expensive ones at Target, Walmart, you name it. I have used both off brand and Norwex and I do believe Norwex to be superior. However, other brands work too.

Also a note on microfiber cloths, I only use the one (though I would recommend having two of them) basic microfiber cloth. They have different cloths for glass, dusting, etc, but I feel like the one basic cloth does all of the above just fine. No need for multiple cloths!

I take my cloth and I wet it and ring it out. I fold it in half, and then half again. This gives me eight clean surfaces of the cloth to work with. With this one cloth, I clean my entire house, minus the floors, in about an hour!

Start with the cleanest areas of the house and work towards the dirtiest areas. I always start with my windows and mirrors, move on to dusting, wiping off surfaces, counters, walls, chairs (whatever else has sticky baby finger prints on it!), I spot clean the furniture, and then finally head up to the bathrooms where I clean the sinks, the tub and shower, and then finally the toilets. For the toilet bowl itself, I pour in some baking soda and clean with a toilet bowl scrubber. As my cloth fibers fill with dirt, I switch out the side I’d been working with to a clean side. And voila! I just cleaned all the windows, mirrors, dusted, spot cleaned, and cleaned the bathrooms with one cloth, some water, and a small chunk of time!

For the floors I use my broom and vacuum and then use my microfiber mop (that I got from Target) on the wood floors. Again, I simply wet the microfiber cloth that comes with the mop, fit it on, and do the entire floor, sometimes flipping the cloth inside out once during the process. And there you go, the floors are clean too!

What about Smell?

We are conditioned to think that the smell of “clean” should smell like chemicals. Really, the smell of clean is no smell at all! If you are one of those people who is attached to clean coming with a fresh scent (I am, I love my house to not simply not smell bad but to actually smell good) then you can use essential oils when you clean! They are completely unnecessary but fun. A pure but inexpensive brand like NOW is what I use. My favorites are Lime and Lemon, they smell so fresh! To use, just put a few drops on your microfiber and clean as usual.

Don’t let cleaning your home be more complicated than it needs to be! Enjoy the cleaned out space in your closet when you get rid of all the unnecessary supplies and more time in your day with less hours devoted to cleaning!  Also, your budget will be happy when you no longer have to refill on cleaning supplies.