How to Clean with Other People!

If you’re lucky enough to have one or two other people to help you clean, be sure you have someone to lead the team. This way, you’ll avoid the chaos of having people potentially cleaning areas that were already just cleaned by someone else. Decide who will take which room, and start from there. Parse the home into sections and assign a particular area to one person.

Start by dusting the living room and then the bedrooms. Then, when the bathroom person is done with the bathroom, have them vacuum the rooms that have already been dusted. When the kitchen person finishes, have them make the beds with you. Don’t make a bed alone, because two people can make a bed FOUR TIMES FASTER than one person.

The main goal is to finish cleaning at the same time. Identify the longest job and get it started at the right time. Usually, this is the vacuuming.

Here are the basics of getting this right: 

• If the longest job isn’t finished when the rest of the jobs are, start that long job sooner the next time you clean. 
• If you all end up in the same room at the end, then dust that room sooner, or vacuum it sooner, or empty the trash from it sooner. 
• If dusting is taking too long, have a second person do some of the dusting. 
• If you aren’t finishing at the same time, save all the short jobs for last—emptying trash, making beds, putting rugs back in place, and finishing touches. 
• Still having problems finishing together? Sit down and discuss. Someone else on the team might have suggestions for how to get things done more efficiently.