We all know Christmas can be both a joyful and stressful time of year for many Sydney families. But with modern technology and apps, it’s never been easier to clean faster and smarter. Check out our top cleaning and decluttering tips below, so you can spend more time enjoying life this summer and less time maintaining your home.
5 tips for faster and smarter cleaning
Here are our favourite ways to clean your Sydney home faster and smarter.
Download cleaning apps
People joke that there’s an app for everything, but there really is! For instance, check out these transformative cleaning apps:
- Spotless lets you set up multiple rooms and create individual task lists to tick off. You can also create deadlines, if you like to clean your windows monthly, for example. Cleaning smarter means making a plan and creating a system, so you don’t waste time wondering when things were last cleaned.
- Our Home helps manage all aspects of family life. You can control everything from shopping lists to events to important homework due dates and cleaning tasks. Get the kids involved and let them either add items to the app or tick off completed cleaning tasks.
- Rock the Housework has an app and guided podcasts where The Organised Mum coaches you through cleaning to make it more manageable and fun. She has several Christmas episodes available that include decluttering, specific cleaning tasks and ambient sessions.
Invest in a robot helper
Nothing says cleaning smarter than investing in a robot vacuum and mop. Tackle your to-do list while your robot helpers handle two of the bigger cleaning tasks. PCMag has a comprehensive guide to the best robot vacuums in Australia right now, but they start as low as $250. Several of the latest models are also robot vacuum and mop combos.
Pre-clean appliances
Come Christmas, your major appliances will be getting a workout. So in the lead-up, deep-clean one appliance at a time:
- Use oven cleaner (please read the instructions beforehand) to deep-clean your oven before it becomes home to the Christmas roast.
- Clean your dishwasher’s racks and drain before adding rinse aid and running the dishwasher on empty.
- Remove all items from your fridge and wipe every surface. Then check the expiry dates when placing them back. You might also like to buy some affordable clear containers from Kmart and re-organise your fridge while you’re at it. The storage turntable is a condiment game-changer.
- Cleaning your washing machine’s interior with a vinegar solution is an easy way to make clothes cleaner, saving you time and energy.
- Clean your microwave with a simple vinegar or lemon steam session.
Organise your kitchen early
While we mentioned cleaning the fridge above, pre-Christmas is the perfect time to organise and clean your freezer and pantry too. Make a note of what you have and use that up before restocking the essentials. Here’s a helpful list of pantry staples for your next shopping trip.
If you have the time, freezing a few meals in advance is also extremely useful for when life gets hectic. There are also plenty of freezer-friendly nibbles and Christmas recipes you can make ahead of time.
Treat yourself
Look, sometimes life is just too busy when school holidays kick in and something has to give. If that’s cleaning for you, why not treat yourself to a one-off professional cleaning or window cleaning service? A spotless house when guests arrive will be a weight off your shoulders.
Thinking of selling in 2024 – talk to us!
If you see yourself selling your (extremely clean and organised) Northern Beaches home in the New Year, give the JDH team a call.
