How to clean your place

You mean I have to clean too?

Yup! If you are on your own, it's not really mom's job anymore. Hopefully these little tips will help make it easy!

What do I need?

Minimum basics are:

A broom and dustpan
A mop and mop bucket
A vacuum (if you have carpet)
Old towels for wiping and mopping stuff up. Towels are better because you can wash them!
A toilet brush
Toilet cleaner
Some kind of surface cleaner or degreaser for kitchen and bathroom
Floor cleaner (Mr Kleen or something like that)
Glass cleaner (if you have a lot of mirrors or if you like your windows clean!)
Dusting spray

What do I do?

Bathroom

It's a good idea to have separate cleaning towels for the bathroom because of the kind of stuff you clean up in there! Don't use your bathroom towel and then wipe down the kitchen counter top with it.
Put toilet cleaner in the bowl, pointing the nozzle into the nook around the edge, and scrub the bowl with the brush. Let it sit and work magic.
Spray surfaces with bathroom cleaner and wipe down all surfaces that might be dusty or have gunk on them: cabinets, shelves, sink tops, etc. Don't do the sink as you will clean it after cleaning everything else.
Spray and wipe down the shower and tub. You might want to add some baking soda for abrasion, but be careful not to abrade with a scouring brush as it can damage surfaces. Rinse both with the shower head when you are done.
Spray and wipe down the toilet surfaces. Do the outside of the bowl too!
Flush the toilet.
Mop the floor: fill the sink with water and cleaning solution (read directions!), dunk the mop in, squeeze it out so it's not dripping wet, and wipe down the floor. You might have to do corners by hand, as sometimes the mop just pushes gunk into the edges and corners.
When the floor is dry, go in and wipe out the sink. Toss the towel in the wash.

Kitchen

Clean up and put everything away-this makes it much easier! This includes chucking old food.
Wipe down all surfaces with degreaser.
Wipe down cabinets: it's amazing what kinds of splatter and spills you get!
Mop floors. Bigger floors mean more dunking and squeezing to keep the mop clean.
When dry, enter the kitchen to clean the sink.
Toss the towel in the wash.
- Special Cleaning: Ovens require oven cleaner: just follow the directions carefully!!
- Special Cleaning: Fridges can be finicky. Water with lemon juice works best as the cleaning solution, and it helps to take out shelves, if possible.

Other rooms

Put stuff away.
Vacuum and wait a while for dust to settle. You can use this time to go back and clean the sinks in the bathroom and kitchen if you didn't do it before!
Dampen your cloth with dusting spray and wipe down all surfaces.

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is just a nice term for doing MORE cleaning! You usually wash the curtains, move furniture to clean behind it instead of around it like you did all year, clean out closets and donate unworn clothing and that kind of thing. It really helps to freshen a place up, and you will feel amazing having done it!