Hey Family! In today’s post, I will share a system I learned a few years ago that has helped me clean faster & has kept my home cleaner longer.

Have you ever walked into a messy room and thought, where do I start? I’ve been there more times than none, using this system gives me that starting and stopping place while cleaning with a purpose. 3 times around the room & you are heading to relaxation!

I also will include a FREE PRINTABLE: My Weekly Cleaning Routine Checklist! I use this checklist WEEKLY to keep my home clean! Feel free to print it, laminate it to use with a dry erase marker, or simply slide it in a plastic binder insert!

This method has been coined the name, The 3-Wave System, by Melissa Maker, founder of cleamnmyspace.com. It is a no brainer technique to clean efficiently by following 3 simple steps, or waves working clockwise around the room. Wave 1, tidying and organizing, wave 2, cleaning, wave 3, floors & final touches. I’ll explain the magic behind the method & break each step down.

Melissa Maker is an entrepreneur, cleaning expert, founder of Toronto’s most popular boutique cleaning service, and star of the Clean My Space channel on YouTube (but she still hates to clean!). I go to her for some pretty awesome cleaning tips and tricks. Including how to declutter your space, in this article: HERE.

Wave 1- Tidying and Organizing

“You can’t clean a room that’s covered in clutter,” says Maker; Wave 1 is all about tidying. Start clockwise in the room, pick up trash, put things in order, remove items that don’t belong. At this point, you shouldn’t have any cleaning products in your hands. Instead, I recommend having a garbage bag and/or a bin/basket with you. Whichever one you choose, the idea is that items can either be tossed in the garbage or bin/basket to be relocated somewhere else.

You’re going to work your way around the room, top to bottom, left to right, and you’re just going to scan looking for anything that doesn’t belong. From there, anything out of place can be plucked and placed in one of the two receptacles at hand.

Now, some people might not agree with me on this and they’ll say, “Well, why am I organizing before I’m cleaning?” As far as I’m concerned, when you’re cleaning, you should be lifting something, moving it out of the way, cleaning quickly, and then replacing it. If you do this organizing (more fully, decluttering) work ahead of time, it seriously saves you time later on in the cleaning process.

Wave 2- Cleaning

Wave 2 is where the actual cleaning takes place. If you’ve ever wondered how a professional cleaner learns to be so efficient, it’s because they get rid of the clutter first so that they can see the forest for the trees—they know what to clean, and they prep each space to be cleaned before doing it. That is precisely what wave 2 is all about. Maker explains this entire wave in detail here: Wave 2.

In a nutshell, begin to dust & polish. Using tools like a multi-purpose cleaner, disinfectant cleaner, microfiber cloths, and glass cleaner. From top to bottom, start high letting dust fall to continue to clean the remaining surfaces. Working in sections from 12 o’clock, start scanning and seeking out marks & fingerprints on the walls and surfaces, wiping them down with your cloth & cleaner. As your scanning, the room include furniture and room decor and clean items as necessary.

Finally, wipe down high points of contact objects like doorknobs, and light switches. Use a disinfectant or a bleach solution (bleach & water) to properly sanitize these areas. Still being in the Covid Pandemic, the more disinfectants the better!

>>Download My FREE PRINTABLE: My Weekly Cleaning Routine Checklist! I use this checklist WEEKLY to keep my home clean! Feel free to print it, laminate it to use with a dry erase marker, or simply slide it in a plastic binder insert!

Wave 3- Floors & Final Touches

The room is organized and clean, and now it’s time to clean the floors, perfect any misses and remove the trash, and items that don’t belong.

I don’t expect that you’ve been particularly dainty or careful about any of the dirt or dust that you’re cleaning. There’s no sweeping it into your hand and throwing it into the garbage. We don’t have time for that! You’re going to become a monster and throw everything on the floor… because we deal with all of it in wave 3!

Start by vacuuming upholstery first, then floors, then mop if you have hard flooring surfaces.

If you’re vacuuming, sweeping, or mopping, I always recommend starting at the opposite corner of the entry point of the room and then work back towards that entry point. I’m going to repeat that: start at the opposite (furthest) corner to the entry point of the room. That way, you can always clean your way out of the room, instead of cleaning your way into a corner and then having to walk over your freshly cleaned floors.

So, if you’re vacuuming, you can either use an extension cord and plug it in outside of the room to ensure that you don’t have to worry about walking over places that you’ve already covered, or you can find another plug and plug it in somewhere else.

Finally, look around the room for the final time and that’s it,

You’re Done!

“Once I started using the 3 Wave System, both professionally and personally, I noticed that I had significantly cut my cleaning time!”
Melissa Maker, founder of cleamnmyspace.com

I completely agree with Melissa, by cleaning this way I have more time to myself and spend less time cleaning! All of that said, I don’t want to compromise results, and that’s what this 3 Wave System is all about. It’s all about saving you time and getting you great results so that you can feel happy about your space and do things that you love without spending all of your time cleaning. Thank you so much for being here FAMILY!! Subscribe for more posts!