Five ways to clean your house like a professional

As we move into spring and summer, there will be plenty of opportunities to get together with loved ones. Whether it is a family dinner, a graduation party, a holiday or friendly brunch, you may find yourself hosting multiple events during the rest of the year. Now is the time to clean your home so you are prepared to host the important events in your life.

Cleaning can be a dreaded chore for many, but it does not have to be. Check out these five tips, and you will have a home your friends will think was cleaned by a professional.

1. Designate cleaning zones

To make cleaning easy and manageable, break up your home into cleaning zones, and tackle them one at a time. You can define these zones by individual rooms or adjoining spaces. For example, if you have a guest room, you can think of the bedroom and en suite bath as one zone.

Once you have designated these zones, choose one, and get to work. Start by decluttering the zone so you can see all surfaces; then break out the cleaning supplies, and get to work. 2. Make a cleaning schedule

According to a survey by the American Cleaning Institute (ACI), the average American spends six hours a week cleaning, which increases to seven hours a week if you are a parent. It can be overwhelming if you leave all that cleaning for one day.

Professional cleaners keep to a schedule, and you should, too. It may seem counterintuitive, but a cleaning schedule allows you to spend less time cleaning, and it will keep your home looking clean on a daily basis. Use the zones you have created, and assign a zone to a different day of the week. Make a schedule that fits your lifestyle and that you are likely to follow.

3. Learn tricks of the trade

Over time, cleaning professionals pick up tips and tricks that give better results. For example, when you clean your windows, do it on a cloudy day. If you clean your windows when it is hot outside, the liquid cleaner will evaporate quickly, leading to streaks and marks.

If you have stainless-steel appliances, try wiping toward the grain to prevent grime and residue from sticking to the grain. Wiping with the grain also results in a brighter shine.

4. Consider light and deep cleans

The ACI also reports that 74 percent of Americans surveyed do light cleaning — a surface-level clean — more often than deep cleaning, which is a thorough cleaning of the entire house, including floors and furniture.

Both types of cleaning have their uses. Light cleaning should be done daily, while a deep clean can be done less frequently. To ensure that you are consistently doing both, schedule daily light cleaning of your zones, as well as weekly or biweekly deep cleans.

If you are using a timer, for deep cleaning, double or triple the time you would spend light-cleaning a zone so that you do a thorough job. If you keep up with frequent light cleaning, you may spend less time during your deep-cleaning sessions.

5. Use what the pros use

There are plenty of household cleaning supplies you can choose from, but consider buying tried-and-true cleaners used by professionals when you want to clean quickly and efficiently.

Sprayway All Purpose Cleaners kill 99.9 percent of all viruses and bacteria and come in soothing lavender or bright lemon fragrances so your surfaces look and smell clean. If your home has several glass surfaces, the Sprayway Glass Cleaner allows you to clean and polish glass surfaces fast without streaks. For your kitchen, use the Sprayway Stainless Steel Cleaners to clean up any cooking mishaps before your guests arrive. All products are made in the U.S. and use foaming action that requires less wiping than other products, for easy and fast cleaning.

Clean smarter, not harder. Use these five tips to keep your home professionally clean from top to bottom with minimal stress.