The secret cleaning tips the professionals use

1. Buff your wooden furniture with a dry microfibre cloth

"Your furniture will actually get less dusty without using furniture polish," says Becky Rapinchuk, owner of CleanMama.net.

2. Vacuum slowly and carefully

It's the only way your vacuum can work most effectively.

3. Use a pillowcase to clean ceiling fans

"The pillowcase holds the dust so it doesn't fall on a table or bed," says Leslie Reichert, founder of The Green Cleaning Coach and author of The Joy Of Green Cleaning.

4. Give your toilet bowl a swish every day

Stay on top of cleaning by swishing the existing water that's in the toilet bowl. 

5. Tackle the easy jobs first

“You’ll be inspired to finish the rest of your home,” says Reichert. “Depending on your household, the dining room, living room, or a home office are good places to start."

6. Don't get distracted

It's easy to delay cleaning by being distracted by what's on TV or text messages. Turn off all of your devices until the cleaning is done.

7. Use your dishwasher

If it's ceramic, metal, glass or hard plastic, you can probably wash it in the dishwasher. 

“I’ve never ruined anything by sticking it in the top shelf of dishwasher,” says April Lane, owner of April Lane’s Home Cleaning in Seattle and a board member of the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International (ARCSI). 

8. Vacuum a room horizontally first

According to Rapinchuk, you should vacuum a room horizontally first and then vertically to get all of the trapped dirt.

9. Invest in a paintbrush

Reichert uses a stiff paintbrush to carefully sweep around furniture to remove dust and grit. "You are brushing it out away from the furniture so the vacuum can suck it up," she says.

10. Have a gameplan

"Cleaning is really like a dance. You start high, work down and around, and carefully observe anything that needs attention," says Beth McGee, author of Get Your House Clean Now: The Home Cleaning Method Anyone Can Master. "As you move around, wipe light switches, door frames, baseboards, walls, working in a circle around a room and not back and forth from one thing across the room to another. Don't get distracted, keep a smooth motion around your home."

11. Use tea to mop a timber floor

According to cleaning expert Shannon Lush, tea "contains tannic acid which cleans timber." She suggests you make up a teapot with "4 or 5 tea bags and pour into a bucket of boiling water. Mop the timber with pantyhose dipped in the tea."