5 Ways to Clean for People Who Hate Cleaning

Most people hate cleaning. It takes a lot of time and energy, and it seems like every time we put the effort in and get the whole space clean it’s dirty all over again in no time at all and we have to repeat the cycle all over again. But when we clean properly and keep the space respectable, the payoff makes it all worthwhile, everyone loves living in a clean space. Even with that in mind, the task is often daunting, but you don’t have to go it alone! Here are Ridofit’s top 5 tips to help you get through your cleaning with your sanity intact.

1. Declutter

Less is more. The more stuff you have, the more there is to clean. No one likes decluttering but it makes future cleaning much easierTry packing away boxes of stuff you don’t need or selling old items-college textbooks, old couches, and bookcases- to create some extra space.

2. Make Cleaning Fun

There are a ton of ways you can make cleaning more enjoyable. Put on some music, bust a move like Mrs. Doubtfire, if you’re of age clean with a cold beer or glass of wine in hand. You’ll find yourself much more relaxed and less worried about the time as the task will feel less like a chore and more like fun. You could even rope a friend or significant other into cleaning with you- you might not guess it right away but cleaning can be fantastic bonding time. can lead to great bonding time. 

3. Setting A Timer

Setting a timer helps with time management for other projects around the house, so why not cleaning? We all know it works well with washing dishes and believe it or not it works just as well with packing them away. Setting a short timer for 10 minutes can help you see how long the task actually takes to complete and will make it possible for you to schedule more tasks and be more productive.

4. Think Of It As A Workout

Cleaning is a pretty intense workout on its own when you think about it.  You’re bending, reaching, squatting, lifting, and running up and down the stairs practically the whole time. Focusing on this aspect and adding a little twist like doing 10 pushups or sit-ups after finishing with each room can  take cleaning from being a decent workout to a great one  and make the cleaning go by even faster.

5. Get A Team Together

Having some helping hands can make the cleaning process much faster and can keep your home cleaner for a longer period of time. Get your kids, partner, and anyone else who may be living at home together and give them their marching orders. Assigning tasks to certain individuals in your  home can lead to the creation of a cleaning routine that will make cleaning less annoying. Keep the tasks on rotation and you’ll be left with a house of happy (and clean!) campers.

7 Tips for a Smooth Move

Well, it’s that time of year again! And with the summer months come all the usual challenges and rewards- the kids are home from school, the patios are open, the barbecue’s out of storage, and of course, it’s moving season. More moves take place over the summer than any other time of year and keeping that in mind we wanted to provide you with 7 top tips to help make your move worry-free.

1. Keep your home in tip-top shape

To avoid last-minute scrambling, keep your home respectably clean year-round. If you know where everything is and can access it easily, you’ll see a huge reduction in stress around moving time.

2. Labels, labels, labels

We aren’t just talking scrawling “kitchen stuff” or “old dvds” on the outside of the box with an old sharpie here, put some time into this. Try to give each box a general title and list each individual item packed in it; it sounds like a lot of work, I know, but you’ll appreciate it when you arrive at your new house, it’s dinner time and you can’t remember which box you have your favourite frying pan squirreled away in.

3. Tap into your local LCBO or Beer Store

One of the best ways of obtaining the boxes you’ll need for a move is to raid your local LCBO or Beer Store (with their express permission of course). Both stores keep a number of large boxes on hand and employees are often more than happy to pass them on to you for your moving needs if you just take the time to come in and ask.

4. Start With the Basics

This is going to sound crazy, I know, but bear with me. If you’re on a time crunch when it comes to your move, consider packing your essentials first and unpacking them last. If you really need to get to your toiletries before you go to bed on the day of your move-in but you’ve sworn you won’t unpack them until the rest of your stuff is successfully moved in, believe me you’ll dig deep and find some extra motivation.

5. Organization is the Key

Be sure to optimize your packing in each box and when packing your boxes into your move-in vehicle of choice. A tight fit could be the difference between 10 boxes and 7 or 2 moving vehicles and 1.

6. Phone a Friend!

That’s right, “phone a friend” is good for more than just contestants on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. Rather than letting moving be a drag, tap into your friend circle and trade someone a case of beer or a nice dinner out for an afternoon’s worth of work. Packing away and moving your whole life can seem daunting to say the least, but with a good friend at your side to chat, laugh and generally have a good time with, the hours fly past faster and your move will be much less stressful.

7. Take Your Time

 It’s almost impossible to put the value of a smooth, worry-free move into words. Take some extra time while you’re packing and take it again while you’re unpacking- rushing is when the job gets sloppy and things get lost and broken. There’s no sense in breaking Great Aunt Betsy’s heirloom China because you’re trying to rush things (unless you’ve been looking for an excuse to- and don’t worry, we won’t tell).