Use an ‘Elimination’ Method to Make Cleaning More Efficient

Cleaning the house is one of those never-ending tasks that can feel overwhelming—that’s why I recommend setting up (and sticking to) a schedule. No matter what, you’ll need to clean up after yourself when you eat, wash your dirty laundry, battle the ever-accumulating dust, and declutter items you no longer need. Yes, a lot of these tasks are repetitious and unavoidable, but not all of your cleaning has to be. It’s easy to sink so far into a routine that you stop thinking critically and just succumb to the recurrence. I suggest taking some time to eliminate or adjust the things that are making you work too hard. Let me explain.

Think in terms of “elimination” when you clean

I got this idea while browsing Reddit. In a thread about finding motivation to clean a few months back, one user suggested, “Eliminate jobs wherever you can.” The examples they gave expanded on the idea: If you find that garbage is piling up on your surfaces, consider that your trash can isn’t accessible enough. If laundry is piling up around the house, the issue could be inaccessible hampers.

When you get into the habit of always picking up the trash or the laundry, you eventually stop even thinking about why it’s there. The trash is on the counter because there’s always trash on the counter, so you pick it up because you always have to pick it up eventually. Humans are creatures of habit, after all. But doing extra work for no reason just doesn’t make sense, so you can totally make some changes.

Eliminate unnecessary cleaning tasks

This is going to look different for everyone, but essentially, you need to identify what is creating these messes and then implement a system to address the root cause. For me, there are a ton of needless messes around, but two that stick out right away that I can easily point to without having to think too hard: There is seemingly always a pile of junk mail on my kitchen table and there is always a stack of claw clips by my bed. Every few days, I put the mail in the trash and climb up the ladder to my loft, gather up those clips, and bring them back down to the bathroom where they belong.

To solve those issues, I could do a few things. Sure, throwing away a bunch of mail isn’t that big of a deal, but it would be better for the problem not to exist at all. So, I could (by which I mean should and will) go through the stack next time, pulling out anything I can unsubscribe to. I don’t need a paper statement from my bank—I have that information available on my phone. I don’t need catalogs; who the hell needs catalogs? It would take me 15 minutes at most to unsubscribe from those, freeing up my kitchen table at last.

For the claw clips, it’s a different story. I usually have my hair up in a clip at night when I do my skincare, then take it down when I get in bed and put on my sleeping bonnet. I could set a little basket at the base of my loft ladder and try to remember to take my hair down before I ascend, but that still creates a pile I have to clean (though it does eliminate the need to climb up and down to retrieve clips). Here, I need to commit to a new habit: taking my hair down after my skincare is done and never removing the clips from the bathroom at all. The solution? I start storing the bonnet in the bathroom, too, so I can put it on right away when I finish moisturizing.

Like I said, there are more of these instances, but they’re hard to think of off the top of the head. That’s why an important part of an “elimination” strategy is long-term thinking and identification. Over a month or so, while sticking to your existing cleaning routine, actively keep track of what you’re cleaning. Much of it will be those unavoidable, always-repeating tasks, but by paying attention, you can start to identify patterns. Then you can start to identify solutions.

Some are easy. If clutter accumulates on your flat surfaces, pick up some decorative trays. If shoes pile up by your door, invest in a better shoe rack. Others will be tricker and involve creating new habits. If you find you have to toss out a bunch of old food every few weeks, you may have to commit to making smaller meals or trying new recipes that will still entice you in leftover form. It will take some time to identify which cleaning tasks need modification and elimination and which are unavoidable, but doing it methodically will save you a lot of time in the long run.