I want to start this post by giving kudos to people who earn a living cleaning up after other people. Whether it’s housekeeping in a hotel, cleaning private homes, cleaning offices, schools, hospitals or any public building, it is a physically demanding, often unappreciated and dirty task.
Having been in the hotel industry for over 20 years, I’ve cleaned my share of rooms and done more than my share of laundry. I’m happy to say that more than 50% of guests in a type of lodging are fairly neat and considerate. Other people take advantage of the fact that someone else will clean up after them and become lazy and entitled. And ask anyone who has ever worked cleaning up after a sports team has lodged there, and they will tell you that this is the worst of the worst. The parents who are along are far more interested in gathering with each other and drinking than paying active attention to their kids, and some of them show their kids how to be messy by example.


Nonetheless, does any of us really enjoy cleaning? And aren’t there cleaning tasks we hate worse than others? For example, I absolutely HATE to dust. I would rather scrub a toilet than dust! Of all cleaning chores, dusting is the one that doesn’t show any real change, therefore not offering a sense of accomplishment. And you know, unless you live in a dust-free bubble, that dusting is going to be the first thing that will look like it was never done in the first place!
I’ll admit I’m not a super-organized cleaner at home. I tend to start in one place, have to put something away in another place, then see something else in that area that needs done, so do that. Aging and having minor aches and pains these days also means I can accomplish less at one time than I used to. And I know that, living alone with very few visitors, I tend to let some tasks go longer between cleanings than I should.
How do you do your cleaning? Do you start with one task (like dusting) and do it all over your house before you move on to the next task, or do you completely clean one room at a time? Do you spread out your cleaning over several days or tackle it all in one day? Do you have any good hints and tips about making cleaning easier that you’d be willing to share here? I know I’d be grateful, and I’m sure other readers would, too. If you can, please leave them in the comment section! Thank you!