How to tackle household chores quickly this fall

As fall approaches, the daylight hours are dwindling, kids are headed back to school, and the lazy days of summer will soon be long forgotten. As you establish new routines, it seems like there are 10 additional tasks to handle each day, and cleaning, while one of the most important things on your to-do list, often falls to the bottom due to lack of time.

In fact, a recent CLR Brands survey revealed that on average, women spend 15.5 hours per week cleaning in and around the home while men spend 10 hours per week – a significant amount of time. Ever wondered how to clean more effectively and quickly, to actually find some extra time to spend on your favorite things this fall?

One idea is to get the whole family involved and not let cleaning become an insurmountable chore. With some planning and teamwork, you can make cleaning a fun event in your household and teach your kids (and significant other) to take pride in their home by taking responsibility to each keep up with a few simple tasks so your home never becomes a disaster zone.

CLR (www.clrbrands.com) cleaning experts share top tips to help you make the most of your time and clean more efficiently. For more inspiration on how to transform your home, see below.

Tips and tricks for speedy fall cleaning:

• Figure out who likes doing what best. If someone prefers to handle the yard work and the kids love polishing silver or unloading the dishwasher, divide it up so the act of doing chores doesn’t seem as tedious. Or, designate a family cleaning day and clarify who will be doing what and when.
• Pre-game. Before the big day, assign each person a room to prep so that once you attack with your gloves on and product in hand, you’re not wasting precious time and energy figuring out what goes in the junk drawer, what should be thrown out and what should be kept.
• Multitask. Several products can do double (if not triple) duty. For example, CLR works on showerheads, porcelain, chrome, glassware, fiberglass, stainless steel and grout, and can even remove sprinkler spots on outdoor windows and remove stains and mold smells from your washing machine. Grease Magnet cleans grills, smokers and tenacious garage floor stains and Stone Cleaner brings the sparkle back to delicate, hard-to-clean surfaces like granite, marble, Corian and tile.
• Get the hardest part out of the way first. Medical professionals are taught to sanitize a room by starting with the dirtiest area and working toward the cleanest, and you should do the same. Tackle the most time-consuming areas (scum-soaked shower doors, greasy grills, or dirt and dust on top of fans) first and then work toward the less time-intensive ones.
• Create rewards or foster healthy competition with kids. For enterprising children, showing them how you can find silver “treasures” and polish them to sparkle is a great way to get kids involved. You can even make it a game by suggesting that the person who can get an old piece of silver the shiniest will be awarded a prize.

(ARA)