In my experience, the very best cleaning advice comes from experts. And no, I don’t mean some guy in a lab coat who develops cleaning products—I mean the people who make a living by cleaning every single day!
In my ongoing quest to make cleaning easier for homemakers everywhere, I’ve shared cleaning advice from several such experts in the past. For example, I wrote about cleaning tips from Airbnb hosts, many of whom personally clean their rental spaces between guests.
I’ll be sharing more expert cleaning advice in this post, this time from hotel housekeepers! These professionals have all sorts of clever and time-saving cleaning hacks up their sleeves, including the 7 listed below. These tips will help you streamline your cleaning routine while passing even the strictest white-glove inspection! :-)
7 Cleaning Hacks From Hotel Housekeepers
1. Start With Clutter
Before you clean anything, start by clearing any clutter out of the room so you can start with a blank slate. This includes things like emptying trash cans, stripping the bed, hauling dirty laundry to the laundry room, taking dishes back to the kitchen, and generally removing anything that doesn’t belong in the room.
Decluttering before you clean not only makes the job easier, but it also removes the temptation to wipe around items, or else to set them back down on a wet, freshly cleaned surface.
2. Whack Your Drapes
Between deeper cleanings in the wash or with a vacuum, you can freshen up your drapes by giving them a few whacks with housekeepers’ drape-dusting tool of choice: a hand towel. Hand towels are heavy enough to get the job done, but not so heavy that your arm will turn to jello.
Plus, the fibers of the towel do a better job grabbing onto dust and dirt in the nooks of your drapes. Once you’ve whacked all the dust off, simply vacuum the floor around the drapes to pick up all of the fallen dust and dirt.
3. Vacuum High Traffic Spots Twice
Before heading straight to one corner of the room and vacuuming your way out (did anyone else’s mother teach them to do that?), vacuum over the highest traffic areas on your way into the room. That way, you’ll have passed over the high traffic spots twice by the time you’re done vacuuming.
Considering how much the carpeting in doorways and walkways gets trampled over, going over them twice will help counter all that extra dirt!
4. Let Cleaning Products Sit
Housekeepers know that cleaning can be much quicker and easier if you simply give your cleaning products time to do their jobs! The ingredients in your favorite cleaners, whether natural or chemical, need time to penetrate the messes and spills you set them to work on.
Allowing cleaners to sit for even ten minutes on soiled surfaces like your toilet bowl, grubby countertops, or even filthy carpets will make your efforts easier and more effective!
5. Check The Tags
No more playing the guessing game with the long and short end of your fitted sheets! I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted making my king bed trying to put the ends of the sheet onto the side of the bed or vice versa.
The key is to find the tag, which is usually on the inside or outside of one corner. This tag should always go on one of the corners at the foot of the bed, typically the corner on the right if you’re looking at the mattress while standing at the foot of your bed.
Still having a tough time matching up corners? Mark the corresponding corner with a fabric marker on the inside of your fitted sheet!
6. Shine Your Faucets
Housekeepers know that shiny fixtures can take a bathroom from “clean enough” to truly immaculate! Eliminate smudges and fingerprints from freshly cleaned faucets by wiping them down with rubbing alcohol after you’ve cleaned them. It only takes a second or two, but it really makes all the difference!
7. Corral Your Tools
You never see a housekeeper in action without their handy carts somewhere nearby, because part of cleaning efficiently is keeping your supplies close at hand. You can employ this approach in your own home by creating your own version of a cleaning cart!
Stock a caddy or bucket with all of your most-used cleaning supplies, rags, and brushes so you can tote it with you from room to room when you’re cleaning. No more repeat trips to the bathroom cabinet or rummaging under your kitchen sink every time you need something!
Have you picked up any cleaning tips from housekeepers or other experts?