9 coolest cleaning techniques: Beer, anonymous slobs and more

Let's not be cunning and hypocritical: no one wants to clean up the house. We would all be much happier if the dishes washed themselves, dust did not settle on surfaces, the vacuum cleaner turned on and removed debris on the floor (although this is partly possible with robots), clothes were washed and ironed themselves.

And to be completely honest, you can still clean with joy, but not IN the apartment, but FROM it, when someone else does all the work, but not us.

Nevertheless, there are people in the world who believe that you can clean up your house with a satisfied smile on your face. At the same time, they are developing entire systems that supposedly should greatly facilitate this activity and help to accept cleaning as a normal part of every person on planet Earth. Who are these heroes and what do they offer us?

Leo Babauta Method: Remove What You Can Hug

The author of a blog about practicality and minimalism offers a simple method: tidy everything up as you go. That is, I had breakfast - immediately washed the dishes, noticed a layer of dust on the bedside table - immediately wiped it off, stepped on a crumb - immediately swept it up.In this situation, daily cleaning will become unnoticeable, and everything will take no more than five minutes.

Another tip from Leo - you don’t need to lift everything upside down right away, only clean it in an area that you can hug, that is, wrap your arms around it. Thus, moving from zone to zone, you will spend about 10 minutes cleaning any room.

Babauta also advises an extremely beneficial approach to storing things. Absolutely everything in the house should be divided into three categories:

• definitely leave it!
• just throw it away!
• maybe it will be useful.

The latter needs to be sent to a box and put somewhere in a closet, and after six months you need to look into it and analyze whether you have used anything from it. If the box has not been opened in 6 months, then all the contents can be safely thrown into the trash.

Leo Babauta @patreon.com

Flylady: Remove the elephant piece by piece

One of the most famous cleaning methods, which, however, was the first to say that cleaning the house can be done with pleasure and ease.

The author is American housewife Marla Seelly, and today there are about 1,000,000 people in her community. What does the author of the Flylady system offer? The main principle is to forget about general cleaning on weekends and spend 15 minutes daily cleaning the house. To avoid accidentally getting involved in this for the whole day, you can additionally set a timer. If it rings, put all the rags/sponges aside and stop.

At first glance, everything seems extremely confusing, but in reality (if you get used to it) everything really turns out easily and quickly. On a weekday, you need to restore order only in one of the five zones (by day of the week), and in strict sequence:

• corridor and kitchen;
• storage room/balcony and bathroom/WC;
• child's room;
• bedroom;
• living room.

In addition, there are important “points” and five minutes to clean up “hot spots” - hot zones where dirt starts to appear in a particular room. You also need to choose one day in the middle of the week and devote as much as 60 minutes to some task - “Hour of Blessing at Home,” as the author herself called it. At this time, for example, they wipe dust everywhere or wash the floors.

Marla Cilley @web.archive.org

Burning House Method: What Can You Take?

Alison Hodgson also calls for the principle of minimalism. However, her technique was invented under very tragic circumstances: in 2010, her house burned down. All that the couple managed to save were children, a camera and a laptop. Everything else was destroyed by fire.

This incident made Alison think differently about her principles of organizing space and storage. The fact is that in the fire, not only valuable things were burned, but also things that were absolutely unnecessary for the family. “Ask yourself what you will grab in the fire” is the principle of the Burning House Method. And they are the ones who need to be guided when cleaning. Leave everything that is dear to you. Anything that gets in the way, and you won’t take it out of a house engulfed in flames, to the landfill.

Alison Hodgson @alisonhodgson.com

Decluttering course

Declattering is very popular among housewives in America. The term, in fact, is translated as "decluttering". But this is not only the ability to get rid of those things that are absolutely useless, but also strict rules on how to prevent junk from attacking your home.

The principle of the method is to completely get rid of those things that interfere with quality cleaning. In other words, a minimum of items in the apartment means less dust, dirt, debris and surfaces that need to be cleaned. True, all people have different attitudes towards such a course, but, in principle, it works.Someone starts a separate box for items that are not used, and once a month they give the contents to those in need or throw them away. Some people throw out only one item every 10 days. And someone devotes 20 minutes a day to decluttering their apartment.

The main rule of the course is not to think twice and not to give things a chance for a second life. If you don’t wear a dress, your skirt or trousers are too small - give it away, don’t be greedy! Anything that is broken and has not been repaired within 30 days, finally throw it away. And it turns out that this important little thing that “what if it comes in handy someday” will never come in handy!

Japanese way: One person - one case

Japanese blogger Fumio Sasaki is a devout minimalist and the author of the book “We Don't Need Things Anymore.” In his opinion, the habit of dragging everything home is a special characteristic need that came to us from previous generations, maddened by material excess.

And the author offers a very radical method for cleaning the house - you just need to not buy what you can... not buy! Fumio says that if any natural disaster happens, he can easily leave the house with all his things, since they will fit into a small case. The main theory of the method is “have as much as you can carry.”

Fumio Sasaki @Twitter

"Shining House": Cleaning in real time

Another name is Casablitzblanka. The principle is “destroy the evidence” or “clean up after yourself immediately.” If you drop garbage - run for a broom, if you spill grease on the stove - clean it right away, don’t accumulate dirty dishes, put things in the closet right away. Putting things in order in this mode will save time during general cleaning, and there will be no concessions - even for small family members!

There is certainly logic here, because it is much easier to wash up one cup after your morning coffee than to collect a mountain of dirty dishes in the sink and then clean it up in the evening after work. And it’s even easier to immediately remove a stain from escaped milk than to scrub off burnt soot later.

“Lazy People Anonymous”: Put the thing back in its place

“The Messies Manual” is the book that started it all. First published twenty-five years ago, The Messies Manual has helped over 350,000 people break their dirty habits. Author Sandra Felton's trusted advice on organization has made it a proven bestseller that has helped people of all ages overcome confusing, bad habits.

Tired of struggling with a mountain of clothes every time you open your closet? Never answer calls because you can't find your phone? Is there a neat person living inside you who is trying to break free? Then this technique is definitely for you! It will help you get rid of chronic clutter and make it a thing of the past!

The basic rule is to determine its place for each thing and always return it there. And not in an hour, not in a day, but immediately.

“Trash cannot be organized, it just needs to be thrown away!”

And also the “Anonymous Lazy People” system suggests three ways to declutter space:

1. Mount Vermont - similar to Leo Babauta's method. Take the boxes and sort the items into them - “definitely leave them,” “just throw them away,” “need to think about it.”
2. Vesuvius is the same, but for a limited time.
3. Rushmore - a strict distribution of tasks between everyone living in the house. Children should also participate in cleaning - "only you can do it, but you can't do it alone."

By the way, Sandra gave the name to her technique by analogy with the Alcoholics Anonymous club. Moreover, everything is similar here - awareness and acceptance of the problem, the desire to get rid of it, help from the same lazy people, the desire to start a new life.

"Sairiseiton": Cleaning according to psychotype

This method is described by Yukiko Kaneko in the book “Life without Things: How to Free Your Home and Heart.”

Before you start cleaning, the author advises to analyze what is the cause of the mess. And she identifies six psychotypes of any person:

• housewife mom;
• I'm too busy;
• I am very tired;
• stingy grandmother;
• I have many hobbies;
• shopping queen.

Each of these psychotypes implies its own separate problem and a specific way of running a household. Therefore, according to Yukiko Kaneko, there cannot be general rules - each problem must have its own approach.

For example:

• for mothers, the author advises leaving a fifth of any drawer or shelf free;
• those who are “too busy” should pay special attention to the hallway and study;
• for shopping lovers - hire an assistant;
• for those who are tired, it is better to leave everything as it is until their psycho-emotional state returns to normal.

It will be easier with beer

Perhaps the strangest cleaning method. Plus, it’s also not entirely healthy. But nevertheless, many note its effectiveness.

This method was described by Nancy Mitchell, who all her adult life hated only one thing - ironing. She was indifferent to alcoholic drinks. One day, her colleague told her a secret: when he plans to iron a mountain of laundry, he certainly buys a couple of cans of beer. The girl, of course, was surprised, but still, on the way home, she went into the store and followed his advice. And in the evening I decided to try it, but only while washing dishes.

According to Nancy, she felt like she was behind a bar - it was quite fun. Having relaxed from a couple of cans of beer, some special process like meditation began, and my hands continued to perform mechanical actions.

The most important thing with this method is not to overdo it. Otherwise, the dishes will be washed, and the laundry will be ironed, but the next morning the feeling will not be the most pleasant.