Keeping House Like a Hotel

Nantucket Island as seen by NASA

Reprinted from a newsletter article I wrote in Sep. 2010 for the MOMS Club of Monrovia.

A lifetime ago I had a job that was a bit like boot camp for being a stay at home mom. I was a chambermaid at a historic bed and breakfast inn on Nantucket Island. During high season, I cleaned 10 bedrooms and baths as well as common areas every day... in addition to helping serve breakfast for a house full of guests. What I learned that summer was what it means for a house to feel hotel perfect -- neat, tidy and ready for company to drop in. It may not always be the truth, but sometimes the illusion is half the fun. So in that spirit, here are a few of the cleaning and organizational tips I picked up from "the back of the house" while picking up after everyone else.  

Unbox and unwrap paper products before you store them. The goal is that everything should be immediately ready to grab and use. Take toilet paper rolls and paper towels out of the plastic they come in immediately when you get them home, then store them in your cabinets. My favorite chambermaid secret: store your clean trash bags in the bottom of your trash can. Just toss a big handful in the bottom underneath the bag currently in use. Then when it's time to empty the trash, you just remove the old bag and -  voila! - open up the new bag sitting right there. This is an awesome time saver.

Quick wipe downs are your secret weapon. Don't do a heavy duty clean when a wipe will do just fine. I love Clorox wipes, or just spray with Windex on everything and use a paper towel. If you do only one thing in your kitchen and bath, wipe down your faucet and fixtures and the inside of the sink (that's where your eyes go first). If you want it to look super clean, after you wipe it down, dry off the faucets and the sink bowl with another clean paper towel to catch any spots and oddball grime. It sounds like overkill, but drying your sink after you clean really looks good.

Run the shower or fill the tub with hot water before you clean it. Surfaces clean up faster when not cold. Same rule works for a really dirty pan you're trying to clean. Put some water in it and heat it up on the stove top. Baked on gunk will scrape come right off.

Work from top to bottom and always go in a circle. Going once, thoroughly around a room means you're not hopping all around wasting time and forgetting places. In your bathroom, spray your mirrors and counter tops with cleaner. Then wipe down your mirrors, then your counter tops, then the cabinets. The floor is last - always. If you're dusting, grab a Swiffer cloth (like one you would use for the floor) and go around the room in a circle. 

Keep your cleaning supplies together where you use them. If you can't store cleaners safely in your bathroom out of the reach of your the kids, then put together a maid's bucket with all the supplies you need so you can grab it and take it to the room where you need it. What cleaners do you really need? A multipurpose bathroom cleaner spray (e.g. scrubbing bubbles), Windex, and Comet. For tools, a small dustpan and brush, a roll of paper towels (or can of wipes), a scrub brush, a toilet brush, and an old toothbrush for the little corners. That's it. 

Give yourself a time limit when you clean. Maybe it's a daily 10 minute limit, but set a time and stick to it. Why? Because truthfully, you could clean your house all day. When I had 10 bedrooms to clean by myself before noon, I had to keep up the pace. When the time is up, stop and resume doing whatever it is you really want to do. And for goodness sakes, if it's not dirty - don't clean it.

Keep your linens the same color. White is always right. But so is all black. Or all of any one color you choose. The point is that if all your sheet sets and towels match, there is always something quick to grab that will match with whatever is already hanging up in the bathroom or on the bed. Why remake the whole bed when it's just the pillowcases that need changing? Finally, when your linens get ratty (and you know the ones I'm talking about here), banish them to the rag drawer and buy new ones. Preferably, all the same color as the ones you already have.

There is a right and wrong way to hang your towels. Think "display." Avoid hanging towels from towel bars by just folding them in half vertically. Fold your towels in thirds vertically, and then in half, and then in half again over the towel bar. If that's too much work, use hooks instead of towel bars and don't worry about when guests (or kids) make them all askew. 

Clear the clutter before you clean. Grab a trash bag and run through the house and do a 5 minute pickup. Before you vacuum, pick up what's on the floor first.  One thing that will make your house always look tidy is to have a rule that the dining room table is not a dumping ground. Keep it cleared off when not in use and ready for the next activity. 

No dirty dishes sitting around. At the inn, guests were always leaving coffee mugs, dirty plates and the like out in common areas - as such it was always important to pick them up immediately and get them out of sight (especially if the kitchen is visible to guests). Pop them in the dishwasher right away or in a big stock pot. If you must soak, do it only for an hour or two. Plus, it's true that dirty dishes in the sink do get dirtier. Not only that, using a sink with dirty dishes in it causes bacteria to spread all over the the surrounding sink and counter tops. Yuck.

Keep basic handyman tools in the house.  One flat head and one Phillips head screwdriver, a hammer, and your measuring tape should always be a step away (I keep mine in a tub under the kitchen sink) . Otherwise you gotta walk out to the garage / basement to even think about fixing something and that's one extra step you might not take. 

Good luck keeping your spaces and places clean!