Sometimes you need to focus solely on getting everything put
away where it goes before you even think about deep cleaning.
I'm Ronnie and you're listening to Clean With Me, the podcast
where I walk you through cleaning your house step by
step. When you clean along with this
show, you'll get more done in less time so you can spend the
rest of your day doing what matters most to you.
Thanks for joining me. In today's episode we're going
to pre clean your house. And what I mean by that is the
type of cleaning you would do before maid service arrived or
before you started a deep clean. OK, so we're going to get your
entire house picked up and ready for a deeper clean.
Whether that deeper clean is going to be performed by a
cleaning service or by you. The pre clean is the first step.
And sometimes when we procrastinate about cleaning,
it's because we don't want to do the pre clean.
We view it as tedious, but if you move quickly, the pre clean
is not going to be as difficult as you may think.
First of all, you're going to want to gear up for your
cleaning session. Maybe you need to get your house
smelling good. You might need to take out the
trash and light a candle, or start a wax warmer or an
essential oil diffuser. Or if it's a nice day, you might
want to open the windows and let some air start circulating
through your house. But I don't want you to get
sidetracked by starting laundry because the focus is just to get
everything picked up and put away.
And this is important. Sometimes you need to focus
solely on getting everything put away where it goes before you
even think about deep cleaning. Now, in most of our episodes, we
do dishes and laundry to keep your house functioning.
But there may be areas in your home that just aren't getting
picked up. Maybe your bedroom floor is
cluttered. Maybe your laundry room's a
mess. Maybe you're starting to store
things in your living room or your kitchen floor.
And picking up doesn't mean just clearing the floor.
Even if there's nothing on your floor, you may have clutter on
surfaces in your home, and removing that clutter is an
important part of the pre cleaning stage.
I want you to imagine you're having a maid come over to
clean, even if you're not. And if that doesn't motivate
you, pretend you're hiring someone you know to clean the
surfaces of your home and that you want that person to think
you're at least organized. Or you can envision yourself
quickly moving through each room of your home, wiping down
furniture, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and having it go
super smoothly because there are no obstacles in your way.
Think how easy that's going to be.
Hopefully by now you've got your house smelling good and you're
ready to go. Maybe you want to slip into some
slides or put on some lace up tennis shoes.
Or maybe you feel like cleaning barefoot.
And by cleaning, I mean tidying. We're not going to do any actual
cleaning in the strictest definition of the word.
OK, if you've been listening to the show for a while, you know
that I do consider picking up clutter off of the floor
cleaning. It's an all-encompassing term,
but some people call that step tidying.
I I tend to call it a pre clean. But what we're not going to do
is dust or clean mirrors or scrub countertops or sweep and
mop the floors or vacuum. Of course you can do those
things after the episode, but we're going to focus on the pre
clean or tidying aspect. And the first thing I want you
to do is gather dishes from around the house.
Gather up any dirty dishes. That could mean a glass or mug
on your night stand. It could be a cereal bowl on the
table. It could be a forgotten dinner
plate and fork in your teenagers room.
I'm not going to have you wash those dishes because that would
take away from our picking up. But what I am going to have you
do is get those to the kitchen. Get those plates, bowls and
silverware into the sink. Maybe set the glasses next to
the sink and get those items soaking if needed.
OK, typically when I'm doing a pre clean like this where I'm
not going to start by washing the dishes, I will run some
water over the plates, bowls, silverware and kind of scrub
them with a scrub brush and then I'll fill one side of the sink
with hot soapy water. I realize you might not have a 2
sided sink, but I'll fill up the sink with hot water and liquid
dish detergent and then I'll place those pre rinsed items
under the water. For the glasses.
I don't like to submerge them with a bunch of other dishes for
fear of something breaking, so I will just put a little bit of
hot water and a drop of liquid dish soap in each glass and set
them around the sink. That way if there's kind of a
ring at the bottom of a glass, that can start to dissolve away
as those glasses soak the other items, the small items that you
found, you know, on your night stand or in some bedroom or on
the table can get submerged. The plates, bowls, silverware.
Maybe you also have a dirty pot and pan on the stove.
Rinse those out and fill them up with hot water and dish soap and
get those soaking as well. One of my tips for dried on or
baked on food is to drop a dishwasher pod into the pot.
That's going to work even better if something is really dirty and
you want to avoid scrubbing later.
Let that pod do some of the work for you.
If you happen to have those pods on hand and you're generous with
them, I realize they're expensive.
Just make sure you go into every room of your house and get any
dishes picked up. Maybe you have a large garden
tub and you drink your coffee in the morning while taking a bath.
Make sure you get that cup to the kitchen.
Get those items soaking. Don't spend a lot of time on
them, just get them soaking in the sink or next to the sink.
Once you've taken care of that important first step, I want you
to start at your front door and start picking things up and
putting things away. Now if you feel super
overwhelmed or you actually are expecting a maid or you're
having company soon and you need to get your your house picked
up, but there's tons of clutter, you can resort to the laundry
basket method where you grab an empty laundry basket and just
fill it up. I only do something like that in
an emergency. I've been known when preparing
for a party where I was planning to do a lot of deep cleaning of
the surfaces. I've been known to throw some
things in a laundry basket or box and stick it in my closet.
But for everyday cleaning, I don't like to do that because I
I would rather put things away as I'm walking through the house
then be faced with a basket of items that I have to sort
through. That's going to feel more
overwhelming to me. OK, but I'm just saying it is an
option. Most of you though are probably
going to just start buzzing around like a busy little bee.
Maybe you have a bunch of shoes in your entryway and you need to
get those put away in their more permanent spot, which is
probably either the floor of your closet or in a shoe rack in
your closet or in various closets if you have kids and
some of the shoes belong to them.
I do not keep any shoes in my entryway.
Not my thing, not into it, but I know some of you do, so that's
one possibility. When I'm starting at the front
door and tidying up my house, typically the first thing I do
is clear the top of my upright piano that I have in my
entryway. You might have a different piece
of furniture there. You might have a a shelf unit of
some sort. I definitely encourage you to
have a launchpad of some sort where you can put things when
you're getting ready to go somewhere.
OK, it could be a little table or shelf, but at the very least
you need a place to put your keys.
OK, For us, there's a key basket on the the top of my upright
piano. That's where the keys go, and
some people have, of course, a little key rack, some type of
wall hanging with hooks on it. Sometimes there's a mirror there
to kind of check yourself as you're heading out the door.
My version is that I have the key basket and then I have a
mirror above the piano that I can look at as I'm grabbing the
keys and heading out the door. Just be straightening your house
while I talk, starting at the front entrance.
But when I'm getting ready to go somewhere, I'll often place a
tote bag on the piano bench, start putting things in it, or
if I'm carrying a small purse, I'll put it on the back of the
piano. And sometimes things stay on my
launchpad intentionally for a couple days.
For example, if I'm planning to go to the post office a couple
days from now, I would place the items that I'm mailing on top of
the piano. But when I'm tidying up my
house, I start thinning that down to just the items that
belong there. The key basket, a couple of
framed photos, my wax warmer and essential oil diffuser.
I do need to move one of those. I'm thinking of moving the wax
warmer to a different location in the house, but the reason I
tend to keep it up there is I'm keeping it out of reach of my
grandkids who are toddlers. 2 of them are toddlers and those are
the ones who live locally and come over a lot.
Once you've straightened up the immediate front entrance, just
continue on. Maybe there's a living room or
family room you need to pick up. Make sure that the throw pillows
are up off the floor. Clear anything off the end
tables that doesn't belong. I mean, maybe you have a lamp
and some coasters and ATV remote.
Maybe you have a house plant on your coffee table or something.
But let's remove anything that does not belong on those
surfaces. And just because something's
been there a while doesn't mean it belongs there.
Don't let your clutter just become part of the decor, OK,
Pick up those living areas. And I usually start with the
floor because I feel like the most egregious mess is when
there's stuff all over the floor.
But then the next step of course, is to clear off your end
tables, your couches, your coffee table, any other pieces
of furniture. Don't worry about them being
dusty. We're not doing any of that kind
of cleaning right now. We're just pre cleaning or
tidying. Maybe there are some toys that
need to go into your living room toy box.
Or maybe there is some toys that don't belong in the living room.
And I realized not all of you are in a season of life where
you're dealing with toys. You may have pet toys.
What's your system for pet toys? Do you grab your dog's bones and
things and place them on top of the dog kennel?
Do you have a a pet toy box? Even those who don't have small
children or pets might need to pick up their shoes from the
living room floor or hang up that sweater that's draped over
the couch. If you need more time, pause the
episode. But when you're moving quickly
to put things away, you know, grabbing two or three like items
that go in the same room and quickly putting them away, it's
amazing how fast your house gets tidied up, especially when you
don't let yourself get sidetracked by thoughts about
laundry or dusting. Let's just stay focused on
getting your floor and furniture cleared off.
Maybe there's a hallway that needs to be picked up.
Usually the hallway is relatively clear, but sometimes
there are items in the hallway that need to be picked up.
Grab anything like that. You might also have a staircase.
Maybe you've been placing things at the bottom of the staircase
that need to be taken upstairs. Now's the time because you need
to get those stairs vacuum ready along with the rest of the
house. And I realized I can talk faster
than you can pick up, but I don't know the layout of your
house or what you're dealing with.
I'm just giving you some ideas. Don't feel like you have to be
doing exactly what I'm talking about.
The goal is just to keep moving. Now we got all your dishes to
the sink, but what about your countertops?
Are there items that need to be moved to the sink because they
are also dishes, pots and pans? Chances are you already dealt
with things like that, but you may have some items out that
just don't belong. OK.
For example, I just threw away a package of water bottles.
We were keeping it on the island so people could just grab water
bottles out of it. There were only a couple water
bottles left, so I took them out, threw away the packaging.
That made the island look a lot better.
My kids are notorious for leaving seasonings out.
I typically just put those in the the spice cupboard and, and
I I put away any cereal boxes or any other items that have been
left out on the counter. And sometimes I'll grab
something like an air fryer or stand mixer and put it where it
goes. It's long term storage spot.
OK, you may have some excess appliances that you don't use
every day that you need to place in a cupboard somewhere or in
your pantry. I like to keep my bottom shelf
in the pantry clear of food so that I can use it to store
appliances that I'm not using. And of course, you may have some
items on the kitchen floor. Maybe you set down a grocery bag
of non perishable items and just left it there.
Now's the time to put those items away.
Once you're done picking up your entryway, your living areas,
your kitchen, the next thing I want you to do is pick up your
bathrooms. Go into the bathroom, pick up
any towels off of the floor. Take out the bathroom trash if
it's starting to overflow, get down on your hands and knees and
look for any items that have fallen on the floor.
Remember, you're pretending that a maid is coming.
You don't want her to have to make stacks of items, little
piles everywhere, like here's everything I found in your
bathroom floor in a little pile, and it's just a bunch of random
miscellaneous, miscellaneous items.
No, you don't want her to have to do that.
That's awkward. Let's get the floor picked up.
And I realize chances are if if you listen to the show, you
don't hire a maid, but imagining that can help you be more
thorough in picking up. And you're going to repeat this
in your other bathroom. If you have more than one
bathroom and not just the floor, of course, you're going to clear
off any items that don't belong on the countertop.
Is there makeup that needs to be placed in a drawer or in a
basket? Are there curling irons that are
not hot right now so they don't necessarily need to be sitting
out? Curling irons, flat irons,
waving irons, whatever other products wants, whatever you
want to call it. We'll just call them curling
irons. Let's get those put in the
cupboard, under the sink or in the basket that they go in.
If you don't have storage space underneath, obviously you have
somewhere that you put these items.
Your bathroom countertops should not be covered in things.
I mean, you probably have a toothbrush holder, you probably
have a soap pump, a hand towel do laid out or hanging on a
little bar. Maybe you have a dish for small
items like earrings. Maybe if if it's a large area
you have a decoration or two. But let's clear off anything
that doesn't belong and quickly put it away.
Don't overthink it, just get it stored out of sight.
See how quick that was to clear your bathroom floor and
straighten up the vanity area. Pause the episode if you have
like 3 cluttered bathrooms and it's going to take you longer,
but for a lot of you, that part didn't take long at all.
Next I want you to head to your laundry room.
Maybe you have an overflowing hamper in there, or maybe you're
just starting to pile lint on top of the dryer because the
container that you keep lint and got too full.
We all have different areas that we tend to neglect and for some
of you, it's the laundry room. Get that lint thrown away.
Or even if you're putting it in a container, maybe you need to
empty that container. Maybe your laundry basket or
hamper is overflowing and you need to clear that off.
Now is not the time to wipe down your washer and dryer you're
just picking up. Maybe you need to dispose of an
empty detergent container. And one thing it does when you
force yourself to just pre clean without actually cleaning, so to
speak, it kind of gets you excited about cleaning.
I mean, this may sound strange, but when you clear off the
surface of your washer and dryer and the laundry room floor,
you'll you'll realize how dirty that room is.
And you'll be looking forward to spraying down those appliances,
sweeping and mopping the floor and really shining it up.
But resist the urge to do that now because we're going to head
to the bedroom. And of course, at any point,
pause the episode. If you need more time in an
area, the first thing you're probably going to want to do.
Resist the urge to change your sheets or anything right now
because we're wanting you to just tidy up.
And if you were hiring a maid, they'd probably wash your
sheets. Maybe it just depends what's
included, but let's pretend they're going to quickly make
your bed. Don't overthink it.
This could be just smoothing out your comforter as best you can,
you know, in 30 seconds or something.
I don't know about you, but we don't always use a top sheet.
We try to, but sometimes when we're in a hurry, we just put on
a clean bottom sheet and a clean comforter and we're good to go.
Especially since we have one of those duvets that can serve as
both a sheet and comforter. But let's face it, any comforter
can. Maybe you need to smooth out a
top sheet, Maybe it's just a comforter, but I want you to
make the bed super quickly without putting a lot of thought
into it. This isn't the time to organize
throw pillows and whatnot. The next thing I want you to do
is clear your floor. You may have clutter on the
night stands, but remember, clutter on the floor is the most
egregious mess. Let's quickly pick up the floor.
And lest you feel overwhelmed, realize that things on your
bedroom floor fall into categories.
OK, get all The Dirty laundry into your hamper.
Or if you don't have a hamper in your bedroom, take them to the
lawn. Take it to the laundry room.
I definitely recommend having a hamper in your bedroom or your
master bathroom. I keep my hamper in a position
that's right next to the master bathroom, but it's still in my
bedroom, so it's just a nice central location.
That way if I get undressed in the bathroom, I don't have to
walk far to put those items in the hamper.
So dirty laundry is 1 category of items on your bedroom floor.
Another category is shoes. Get those into your closet.
Trash. You may have some trash.
When I talk about trash in my bedroom floor, it's usually
items that one of our dogs stashes under the bed, like
empty water bottles and things like that.
I do have a couple wastebaskets in my room, one on my husband's
side of the bed, one on my side of the bed.
Quickly throw away any trash that you find in your room.
Maybe you have items on the floor that belong elsewhere in
the house. A kids toys that need to be
removed from your room. It should not take you that long
to pick up your bedroom floor. If it does, you might be putting
too much thought into it. You might be getting sidetracked
and wanting to fold a pile of clean laundry.
Just consolidate it so that most of your floor is exposed.
Hopefully it's contained in a basket, but if it's not, if you
have mount fold more in the corner.
Shove it tightly in that corner just for now to consolidate the
mess. And of course, if you were
having a made over, you would probably want to get that picked
up off of the floor. But progress over perfection
folks. If you're just pre cleaning for
yourself, I don't want you to get sidetracked by clean
laundry. Maybe you have a few items
draped over a chair that are clean and you just need to
quickly hang those up. Go ahead and do that.
And of course, you may have some surfaces to clear in your
bedroom. You're probably not going to get
to all of them during this episode, but clear anything that
doesn't belong on the night stand.
I know you already brought the dishes to the kitchen, but you
might have some other clutter on your night stands that needs to
be relocated. A book you finished reading.
What's what's the the long term storage system for books?
Do they go on a bookcase? Do they go on the shelf in the
top of your closet? Do they go in a drawer?
You probably aren't reading that many different books at once,
and you may have a really bad clutter magnet in your room,
whether it's the surface of your desk or the surface of one of
your dressers. That's OK if you don't get to
that one surface today, but I want you to clear most of the
upper surfaces once the bedroom floor is picked up.
And I realized that there may be an area in your home that I
didn't mention, but I feel like I mentioned the main ones.
I talked about your entry area. I talked about living areas.
I talked about hallways. I talked about your kitchen,
your bathrooms, your laundry room, your own bedroom.
Maybe you're responsible for another bedroom.
You need to pick up the bedroom of a small child or pick up your
guest room, whichever room you haven't walked into yet.
It's time to go in there and pick up the floor first and then
do as much as you can as far as clearing surfaces.
We're going to wrap up the episode soon, so hopefully your
house is almost picked up. I am going to be recording a
bonus episode later this week. Special thanks to those who are
already supporting the show financially, which unlocks those
bonus episodes. You can do that through Apple
Podcasts Patreon. To learn more about that, visit
cleanwithmepodcast.com or click on the link in the show notes.
I appreciate that more than you know.
And unlocking those bonus episodes allows you to get on
the full program and have some longer cleaning sessions.
And I get a little more up close and personal in those episodes.
And let's face it, you need more than one episode per week to get
your house clean. I know I used to do 2 regular
episodes plus a bonus, but lately it's the Monday episode
that's free plus a bonus episode, and the day that the
bonus episode comes out kind of varies.
But I realize that not everybody is able to subscribe.
Even just listening to my free episodes on Mondays helps me.
So I appreciate each and everyone of you.
I hope you got your whole house picked up.
If you still got the time and energy, listen to another
episode and actually wash your dishes, do your laundry, and
deep clean your surfaces. Or maybe you're just glad to
have your house decluttered and you're ready to take a break.
That's fine too. Just be sure to do those dishes
before you go to bed tonight. Getting down to Dish 0 every
night is a game changer, so I encourage you to try to do that.
As always, happy cleaning. I'll talk to you in the next
episode.