Lovely lazy Sundays. For some, they’re the day of rest. But, according to 32% of us, Sundays are for attempting to catch up on the cleaning and tidying of our homes, so they’re sparkling and ready for the week ahead. That’s according to a recent survey of UK adults by Compare the Market. But, unless you’re part of the Marie Kondo fan club, nobody wants to spend an entire Sunday doing household chores.
We know time is precious, and if your Sunday-sized goal is to get back on that sofa, relax with your family, or stare and scroll at a screen (no judgment here), follow these time-saving tips to help you fly through the housework. And if you’re attempting some Sunday-sized life admin too, join Compare the Market’s Sunday Switch and take a few minutes to check if you could be saving money on your energy bills.
Get the kids involved
Ever thought about using cleaning as a teaching moment? Educate your kids about the concept of money by offering them a shiny 50 pence piece for helping you with one of your cleaning tasks. The joy that comes with spritzing a bit of polish and dusting down surfaces is surprisingly high on the happy-o-meter scale for younger kids. And it’s one less job for you to do.
Be aware of Parkinson’s law
Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the available time, so the more time you allow a task, the more time it will take. To make yourself super-efficient, allocate a realistic – but not too strenuous – amount of cleaning time, and really stick to it.
Get a cleaning carrier
It might seem simple, but by having everything you need for cleaning in one carrier or bucket, you won’t need multiple trips back and forth to poke around under the sink. As you move from room to room, your carrier will be fully loaded with all your cleaning products and cloths, ready to go.
Be methodical
Before you embark on your cleaning mission, approach the bathroom first. Squirt your bleach into the loo, spritz the bath and shower with your cleaner, and leave them to work and dissolve bathroom scum while you head off for your next task. Wrapping a suds-soaked cloth around stubborn sections of limescale will help them lift with ease.
Tackle tasks job by job
If you’re really going for it and want to take on the whole house, avoid cleaning room by room. Instead, approach it job by job. Start by emptying all the bins into one, and consider it a job done (leave bin bags in the bottom of your small bins, so you need never look for them again). Make all the beds, one after the other. Take your duster and polish and blitz every room from the top floor down. Remove toys/clothes/debris from all the floors in preparation for vacuuming. And always remember to do this post dusting.
Multitasking products
Dishwasher tablets are like the Swiss army knife of home cleaning products. If you’re having a Sunday roast, remove baked-on grease by popping a dishwasher tablet in the crusty pan with hot water and leaving it to work its magic. You can also use dishwasher tabs for cleaning even the grimmest of oven doors. Does your washing machine smell musty? Run an empty hot wash with a dishwasher tablet. Also, check out the dishwasher tablet’s best friend, distilled white vinegar. Pop a bowl of it in the microwave and nuke for a minute or two, then wipe down the inside and – presto chango – it’ll be clean. It’s also marvellous for descaling taps, a cost-effective alternative to dishwasher rinse aid, and it’ll even sort red wine stains. No more wasting the white wine.
Hair, lint, and sock fluff be gone
If you only recently hoovered and can’t bring yourself to do it again, get yourself a window squeegee. Brush the squeegee along your carpet and it’ll magically gather hair, lint, and even that annoying, yet seemingly unavoidable, black sock fluff.
Heinous tasks
Cleaning blinds, curtains and shutters is one of the more arduous, time-consuming tasks, which really only need to be performed monthly. There are easier ways of tackling them. If you’re armed with a vacuum cleaner that has a hose, don’t be afraid to drag it down your curtains. Add the little brush attachment, and you can rake it over your shutters and blinds too.
Compare the Market’s #SundaySwitch is a nationwide campaign to show people how easy it is to switch energy with comparethemarket.com. Why not find a few spare minutes this Sunday to see how much you could save? T&Cs apply.
