Woman in Real Life: How to Clean Your House Quickly (with a C is for Clean giveaway

Thursday, February 27, 2014

How to Clean Your House Quickly (with a C is for Clean giveaway - CLOSED)

As hard as we may try, most of us find it impossible to keep a clean house all the time (or even a fraction of the time in my case). That's why I sought some professional advice recently, turning to cleaning expert Maggie McKeown, the creator of C is for Clean natural cleaners.

Maggie, who is also a professional chef, TV host and mother of twin boys, knows what it's like to keep a home for a busy family. She has developed a number of effective strategies for keeping a clean and organized home, and she was kind enough to answer my cleaning-related questions.

Unexpected guests are coming over in an hour. What areas of my house should I focus on and how can I clean up quickly?

Typically, many of us take what we see lying around the house and jam it into a closet in a full-blown panic. I know - I used to do that! Not so much anymore. Many years ago I implemented something I call “Active Storage." I use my basement storage room not as a catchall, but rather as an organized space where I can access whatever it is that I am looking for.

How does this help when the pressure is on? It means I don't have so much stuff hanging around my house cluttering up my space - everything has a place. Reducing clutter is the key to a clean home. It’s easy to wipe a counter and make it sparkle, but if your counter is piled up with stuff that doesn't have a designated place, it can quickly become a big problem.

Active Storage allows me to choose what I display and also seasonally change my home decor. Clutter in my space is at a minimum so a quick cleanup becomes a snap! I use a series of shelves in the basement. All of my seasonal stuff is labelled and in bins. I also keep my not-everyday dishes in cupboards. I have lots of vases, etc. (I do a lot of parties) and so I keep all of that on shelves. Gift wrap has its own section. I have different tchotchkes that I don't like to display all at once so I have an area for them. I also have a cupboard for throws and throw pillows.

When someone is visiting unexpectedly, I am not in a mad panic rushing to pick stuff up - my house already has a sense of order. Before that doorbell rings I just need to ﬂuff a few pillows and open a window to allow a little bit of fresh air into my home. Plus, in every room in my house I always leave a drawer empty so if I do have to scoot something unwanted away then I have a place for it.

How do I tackle the kitchen and bathroom quickly?

Nobody ever wants to see a dirty bathroom or kitchen. Make sure to ﬂush the toilet and give sinks and mirrors a quick spray. I always keep an extra set of hand towels in a bathroom drawer ready for such an occasion. It’s just fresh looking and feeling. In the kitchen, my counters are as bare as I can keep them and my sinks are free of any gunk that can be really tough to clean in a pinch. This allows me time to give my ﬂoors a quick sweep and I am ready to go.

I love a sparkling bathroom. The ﬁrst thing that makes a bathroom sparkle is the smell. Make sure that
the bathroom smells fresh. Open a window! You don’t need to spray chemicals to get a clean smell. I
keep my bathroom cleaner under the sink with a clean rag, ready for action. I use my C is for Clean in the toilet, in my sink and on my mirrors. If I have a quick minute and feel really ambitious I will run to my garden and clip fresh ﬂowers or even some pretty leaves so I have something real in a vase.

How can I set up my cleaning supplies so I can access them quickly?

Really minimize how many cleaning products you have in your home. I use one cleaner for almost everything (my C is for Clean, naturally), and don't use separate cleaners for glass, bathrooms, kitchens or ﬂoors. Sometimes the number of different products we have is cramping our spaces and your style! You probably don’t need even half of what you are storing. Be disciplined and keep only what you need. And if you have a speciﬁc cleaner for a speciﬁc room in your home, keep that cleaner in that room.

About Maggie

Chef Maggie is an alumna of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, a successful restaurateur and former national spokesperson for Kraft Canada. She has appeared as an expert on City TV’s Cityline, as a host on W Network’s The Right Fit and as a culinary mentor on the Food Network’s hit series Recipe to Riches. Chef Maggie is currently a judge on the Food Network Canada’s blockbuster Donut Showdown, which airs throughout the U.S. She created the wildly popular C is for Clean all-natural, artisanal cleaning product company using age-old recipes with ingredients straight from the kitchen cupboard.

Win $120 worth of C is for Clean products!

Maggie has graciously offered to provide one Woman in Real Life Canadian reader with a C is for Clean prize pack worth $120! That's a whole lot of clean! I use these all natural, effective and deliciously scented (with essential oils) cleaners all the time in my own home and I know that you will love them too! They contain no toxins, no dyes, no nasty chemicals, period. So they are safe for your family and the environment. Read my review of C is for Clean products for more information.

Enter to win using the rafflecopter below until March 19th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking to Contest Canada.