You rarely have to worry about overdoing it in your cleaning habits. As long as you get the cleaning solutions and equipment right, there isn't a wrong way to wash a wall or scrub a floor. But there is a technique to follow if you want to achieve optimum results:

• Start at the far side of the room when you wash a floor or shampoo a carpet, so that you don't walk back into the clean or wet area.
• Use a handled tray to help dust shelves. Off-load the items on a shelf whilst you clean both the shelf and the ornaments.
• Wash walls from top to bottom and you'll be able to wipe away drips as you go along.
• Use long, firm one-directional strokes when you sweep and use hand-sized bristle brushes. Resist the temptation to rub quickly back and forth, as this can simply rub dirt back in.
• Make your duster into a small pad and keep turning it over so that you always present a clean section to the furniture.

Certain techniques can save you time and effort. Use the following tips to help do both!

• Spend the first 15 seconds in a room you're about to clean looking around. Train yourself to home in, not on dirt or stain problems, but on areas that don't need attention this time around. The mirror has no smears or dust? Great. You just saved yourself three minutes!
• To sweep a room using the fewest brush strokes, start at each corner and work to the centre. Only then get out the dustpan.

Using these tips, specific to certain jobs or tools, can help your cleaning go more easily:

• Dustpan: Wiping a dustpan with a damp paper towel makes dirt stick to it more readily.
• Cleaning solution: Apply what you need to a cloth rather than directly to the surface to be cleaned to reduce the amount you use and save your furniture from getting over wet or just overexposed. Remember your rubber gloves if you have sensitive skin!
• Cobwebs: Take care to lift off cobwebs. Get your duster brush under the web and gently lift it off intact to prevent bits of web breaking free to stick on the ceiling or suck them up quickly with the long attachment on your vacuum-cleaner.
• Rooms: Begin on one side of the door and work your way around. When you return to the door, you know you're done.

Going room by room

Take it from the top. It's the best way to work through your home. Follow these steps to work through your home quickly and efficiently:

1. Start on the top-most floor, cleaning "dry" rooms first and then doing upstairs bathrooms just before you move down the stairs.
2. Clean the stairs moving downwards.
   It's more effective to stand below on dirty risers and sweep dirt towards you. But if working backwards makes you dizzy — don't! Always put safety before cleaning perfection.
3. Do the hall next. Typically, it's the dirtiest dry space in the home, so doing it now stops you from traipsing dirt into other rooms. However, be prepared to give it a quick final vacuum when you finish.
4. Go to living rooms and the dining room.
   Dust the highest shelves first, so you get dust that falls onto lower shelves as you clean the upper ones. Dust tables and dining chairs. Plump cushions on the sofa and lounge chairs and check removable cushions for small items that have strayed down the sides: The TV remote is a classic, but you may find less savoury offerings, like food crumbs, coins, and small toys. Clean the floor last.
5. Move onto downstairs wet areas to clean the bathroom and utility room.
6. Finish in the kitchen.
   End by making yourself a cuppa!

Play beat-the-clock to cut the time you spend on each room. Most of people work faster when they're aware of the time. Set a portable kitchen timer for six minutes as you enter the bedroom. When it rings, you're done. If you're the competitive type, next time set it for five minutes and see if you can achieve the same results. Using a timer has the dual benefit of reinforcing in your mind how quick cleaning can be - a spare five minutes really does count!

Making a day of it

By tradition, the truly big clean of the year is done in spring because the worst of the dirt and dust caused by chimney fires is over. Especially if you work outside the home, your major clean is likely to be dictated by when you have time off. Don't let the fact that it's winter stop you if this is when you can allocate the time. However, if you're less pressed for time, there are good practical reasons for having a major clean-up in spring:

• Serious cleaning calls for ventilation. You want to keep open all the windows without freezing.
• With the central heating off, you can clean radiators and surrounds.
• Carpets dry quicker with good ventilation.
• There's more chance of a good breezy day to air duvets and curtains on the line.

So how far should you go with a major clean-up? For most of us, time is the big factor. Even in a full day, two people working flat out won't get to every surface. In the days before, look thoroughly over your house to see which of the jobs listed in Table 1 needs attention most.

Table 1: Jobs to Do on a Major Clean

To make the best use of your time:

• Start your day with the physically demanding tasks. Don't try to do the heavy lifting late in the day when you're worn out - you just increase your chance of getting hurt.
• Intersperse physical jobs with sit-down clean-ups, such as brushing out a fireplace.
• Allow sufficient time to clear up. Set a time to stop working and stick to it.