Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. In today's video, I'm going to be sharing with you
13 professional cleaning tips that you can apply to your own home. Basically, we recently moved
house and in our previous home we had renovated it. It felt very organized and there was a place
for everything. Whereas in our new house, it feels very disorganized and like I'm starting again.
So, I have a guilty pleasure of listening to audio books about cleaning and tidying
and decluttering as well. So I thought it'd be fun to share with you some of the top tips that
I've learned and that are easy to implement in any home. So I hope you really enjoy this video.
If you're new to this channel, I'd love you to consider subscribing. I post so much cleaning
content and I would love to have you. And if you're back again, thank you so much for watching.
And I would also love to know in the comments below, what is the number one habit
that you do to keep your house clean and organized. And yeah, let's get into the tips.
The first professional cleaning tip is don't buy storage containers until you've had a
good clear out. Most people will run out and buy storage before they've even decluttered,
but that is completely backwards. So what you want to do is get everything out of your cupboards,
decide what you want to keep and what you want to throw. And then you can have a good
idea of what storage you actually need. You can also take the time to measure your cupboards,
which I really need to start doing because I'm so guilty of ordering the wrong size.
The next tip is, remember the 80-20 rule. Apparently we only use 20% of the stuff we own
most of the time, so 80% of our stuff is simply storing. So the next time you have a clear-out,
just bear this in mind, because it might help you to be a bit more strict with what
you keep and what you get rid of. And so many professional organizers recommend that when you're
having a de-clutter or clear-out, that you pull everything out of the cupboards and then clear
a flat space, maybe a floor or a table, and then separate your things into three piles,
which are keep, throw, and donate. And by doing it this way, you can see just how much you have.
And then when you've separated into those three piles, you can then think
about storage containers or dividers for drawers. The next professional tip is one of my favorites
and it is, label everything. This is something I've done for years and I love. I've got a very
inexpensive labeler and I also love to buy the little chalk labels on Amazon as well.
And I label everything in our drawers. I label containers, spices, files, you name it. Even
if it feels very obvious, it just really helps everyone in your whole house know where things go.
The next tip is if you cleaned a space and it doesn't stay tidy for very long,
then the system isn't working and you need to go back to the drawing board. So say if you clean a
cupboard and it's messy again within a month, then you might want to think about how you can
make it work. Maybe you need to get baskets or some storage in that space. I used to have
this problem with my under-the-bed storage. I used to try and fold everything under the bed,
but it was almost always a complete mess and it didn't get any better until I bought these little
canvas dividers. Now everything has a space. I have a divider for where my sweaters go and
where my winter clothes go and where my shoes go. And it has stayed organized for so much longer.
And another tip that so many professional cleaners recommend is that all drawers need
dividers. Whether it be a utensil drawer, a junk drawer, a clothing drawer, divide what
you have inside it, and it's so much easier to keep organized. I have dividers from IKEA,
from Amazon. I have a really cute little clear one for our junk drawer from Muji. You can get
some great ones out there, very inexpensively. And I think they work really well. I love to divide
up my kids' clothes because their clothes are still quite small. Their socks and underwear and
everything can get lost really easily. So I like to divide it all up and keep it really organized.
The next tip is eliminate clutter zones by making them less accessible. So often, clear
counter spaces or desks or tables just become dumping grounds where everyone puts their stuff.
But one professional recommends that you literally block that space. So you completely clear it and
then place an arrangement of flowers in the way to stop people from dumping stuff on. Or some also
recommend with your table that you literally place placemats and cutlery so it's like a no-dumping
zone. Then it looks beautiful and tidy, but it's not going to have everything left on top of it.
The next tip is from professional organizer Kate Brown, and she recommends that you make
everything a one-handed operation. She says she doesn't know why we make our life hard by having
a laundry basket with a lid at the back of the closet. And it's so inaccessible. She said it's
much better to have things that we use often out and with no lids so that we can easily do things
one-handed. This is also a great tip if you have kids and you're holding a baby in one arm,
but she really discourages using any lids. So, if you have a container for toiletries,
don't have a lid on it. If you have a bin, make sure it has a little foot lever
to make your life easy and that you can do it all one-handed.
The next tip is such a good one. It's to have a donate or hand-me-down bin in every
wardrobe. This is especially good for children's wardrobes because they are constantly growing out
of clothes. So if you see an item and you think, "Oh, they've grown out of it. They'll never fit
into that again," it's so nice to be able to put it immediately into a donate or hand-me-down bin.
With my three children, they're close enough in age that when one grows out of something,
I'll literally walk it into the next boys room because they'll be in it soon enough. But for
my youngest, it's really nice to have a donate bin in his wardrobe because he is our last baby,
so I know that we're not going to be passing it down. And it's also handy to have a bin like
that in your garage, so if there's anything around the house or for you or your husband,
you can stick it straight into the donate bin. And then once it's full, drive it to the charity shop.
I feel like the next tip is common sense, but I wanted to share it. It is, arrange the items in
your home according to how often you use them. So if you have a loft or if you have high cupboards
or deep, awkward cupboards, obviously store items that you don't use all the time in those places,
and then keep the things that you use often in the front cupboards, nice and low and easy to access.
I'm actually quite short, so when items I use often are stored very high,
it actually makes my life really difficult. And it's very inconvenient. So store the items
that you use often in easy to reach places. The next tip is to set storage limits on your
things. And this is something I really need to start doing. So say if you have a basket and you
put all of your craft items into it, once that basket is full, then you're not allowed to buy
any more craft things. Or, you have to de-clutter the box or basket that you have before you can put
anything new in. And she applies this to clothes as well. If you have a drawer full of sweaters,
then you can't buy any new sweaters until you get rid of one. Or, same for shoes. If you have
a shoe storage and it's full, then she says don't buy any more shoes until you get rid of some.
This is a great idea because we are all limited in space and where we can actually store things.
But, I just don't look under my bed. I also wanted to share with you one of my
favorite cleaning habits that I talk about all the time on this channel, but it really works. And it
is the one-touch method. If you can apply this habit to your life, it makes a huge difference
and it is exactly as it sounds. It's just cleaning things and doing things with one touch.
So say when you walk in the door and you take off your jacket, don't just throw it on the floor or
onto the banister. With one touch, just take it off and then hang it up where it needs to go.
Same for shoes. Just take them off and put them exactly where they need to go,
et cetera. And this is something I'm really trying to instill in my children.
And the last tip is to respect, don't neglect, your bedroom. Your bedroom should
be a clutter-free haven. You should get rid of anything that does not relate to dressing,
sleeping, relaxation, or romance. Relocate anything else to other rooms, store them away,
and maybe add some flowers or a plant or a candle to your room, and then you will instantly feel
relaxed when you retreat to your bedroom. So many professionals also said to make
it a kid-free zone with no kid items. And that made me really laugh because Jackson is
currently sleeping in our bed again, randomly, between me and my husband. So often his soft
toys or his books are in our bedroom. But I was thinking about our old house, not intentionally,
but all of the photos that we had in our old bedroom were wedding photos or just photos of us
as a couple, and that's actually something they recommend as well. So it's just interesting.
But anyway, that is all the tips I wanted to share with you today. I hope you like this video and
found it insightful. Let me know in the comments below which tip was your favorite and that you
might apply to your home. And thank you so much for watching. I'll see you soon. Bye guys.