Speed Cleaning
by Jeff Campbell
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.33 You Save: $5.67 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Speed Cleaning
Book Review: Concise advice for regular weekly cleaning the entire home
Summary: 5 Stars
There are dozens of popular cleaning books on the market, many of which are touted on TV or tied to a particular cleaning maven's approach... and web site!What I've found in most of those books--and I am a full time bookseller, so I see a lot of them--is a long list of recipes for multitudes of all purpose cleaners, or tricks for particular stains. This is the BEST, most SPECIFIC book I've seen yet for describing how a person should begin cleaning their entire home. It takes one step-by-step through every room.
Though some reviewers complain about so many references to the Clean Team web site, the book explicitely describes alternate solutions and products in chapter 13. They use their own product names simply because they are writing an INTRODUCTORY how to book for those who are stumped as to how to clean their own homes! Some (many?) of those people will probably breathe a sigh of relief to have a single source for exactly the right tools for the job.
The "recommended instead of" and "recommended in addition to" right now are both for the excellent housekeeping manual, "Home Comforts." I agree wholeheartedly that everyone should own that book, but this one does serve a different purpose. "Home Comforts" is an ideal housewarming or wedding gift, but it is HUGE and covers lots of other territory. "Speed Cleaning" is a quick--dare I say speedy--overview that can get a person working toward a clean, healthy home after an hour's reading.
I must also add that I believe the emphasis on scrubbing over soaking is based upon the author's own habit of keeping an environment constantly essentially clean. A person who follows these steps on a frequent schedule and does daily cleaning religiously will find these methods cover every need. The expectation is that one will maintain using every step in the book, and therefore rarely need stronger methods.
Buy this book if you want instructions as to how to quickly do a basic weekly cleaning of your home. Look elsewhere for:
* specific homemade cleaning product recipes
* clutter control
* heavy-duty spring cleaning tips
Book Review: Fantastic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This discusses time-tested methods of cleaning quickly and efficiently. Efficient movements, strategic paths through each room, keeping all your supplies with you, soaking not scrubbing (unless necessary), using the right tools, and even what to do if you want to hire a maid service.
I have to disagree with an earlier inaccurate review. This book DOES recommend soaking things over scrubbing them. It also mentions what to do when that doesn't get the gunk off, starting with safe methods and leading up to (and warning about) less safe methods. Using a razor blade is the last resort, and Jeff mentions how to use it right so as to minimize the possibility of damage to the surface.
Yes, he does recommend things that can be purchased in his online store, but I see nothing wrong with that. Only some of the items can not be found elsewhere. The rest are items you can get in other places for about the same prices. But you can be certain they do the job well. If you decide to skimp on this area, you'll end up saving a little money, but you're likely not getting tools that will be the most efficient. I appreciate the ability to go to one site and place one order and pay one shipping fee.
Most of us don't really think about cleaning in this way. It's no longer a huge chore for me. I used to feel overwhelmed by having a large two-story place. Now, I can look at the kitchen and think, 15 minutes. The living room, 10 minutes. The bathrooms, 20 minutes. The bedrooms and office, 15 minutes. I can do my daily pickup routine for clutter, then, every other day, pick any of those sections, and be done in 30 minutes or less and always have a clean house. That's not just simple cleaning, that's full and complete cleaning. I'm not overwhelmed. I can skip a day if I'm tired and just pick up the routine again the next and things don't fall apart.
Jeff's given us a wonderful too. Now, unlike that like-new nifty juicer in the back of your cupboard, you have to choose to use it.
Book Review: Get the Aprons!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sitting here in a clean living room, (speedily cleaned by my 13-year-old) I have time to write you all a note. I got Jeff Campbell's book years ago, but until I got the video I couldn't convince my family to clean. His video is to-the-point, informative, and funny enough to keep even a fairly un-interested spectator watching (especially someone who would never read the book). The humor is quite understated though, so don't get your hopes too high; I wouldn't prepare popcorn.
I purchased the recommended aprons, one for each of us, and also two dozen high-quality cotton cleaning cloths from the speed cleaning website. The aprons have loops and pockets, and you can get them monogrammed (I might mention that every family member declined a specially designed monogram). The cloths are high quality and inexpensive -- I happily threw away all of our ratty shedding rags. Spray bottles, tile brush, sponge and scraper, and all cleaning liquids can be obtained locally. Get the Sh-Mop from speed cleaning! A key insight from speed cleaning: dilute the liquids about 4-1 or 5-1, they last longer.
The first time through was absolutely brutal. After an hour I began to wonder if I would ever get out of the first bathroom. The kitchen was extremely bad too, and we all pitched in. Some surfaces there and in other rooms had obviously never been cleaned (we used to hire someone to do this). The 45-minute estimate was blown away for that first time, and the second week was also pretty bad.
Now it's down to a science. Popping the two squeeze bottles into the apron loops, and cruising through the tasks, well, I wouldn't call it exactly fun but the word 'breezing' does come to mind. It's still a chore, but now an extremely well-organized one. Well-organized, and then dispatched: we all have busy professional lives and not much time for nonsense. Weekly cleaning doesn't take too long though, and the house is exactly as clean as we would like to make it.
Book Review: this is a godsend for the perpetual slob
Summary: 5 Stars
As someone who has suffered with a messy home for . . . uh, several decades, I can honestly tesfify that these techniques work. Campbell's "clean team" techniques can help you cut your cleaning time in half and more importantly, you'll end up with a cleaner home, with the dust out of those nooks & crannies, the splotches of paint off of the linoleum floor, the cobwebs out of the vents, the grime out of the grout in the bathroom. This is a no-nonsense, no-gimmicks (well, except for the apron), how-to book about systematically going throughout your home getting things clean. Really clean.Campbell's approach is surprisingly straight-forward and simple. Working from top to bottom, left to right, he methodically goes from room to room, explaining how to clean. He makes the basics seem simple, but his technique has you getting out grime in all sorts of often-overlooked spots. Campbell recommends that you carry your basic cleaning supplies -- a heavy-duty cleaner like 409, a windex-like cleaner, cotton towels, a scrubber, scraper & razor blade -- with you in an apron (after all, who would hire a carpenter that went back & forth to supplies every time he needed a nail). A little dorky, but three weeks after reading the book, I now own a dorky "Jeff Campbell's clean team" denim apron -- and admittedly, it's pretty handly. Campbell doesn't push his own products, but they are available by catalog. And they're good.
Some of the tools he suggests (cloth napkin "cleaning cloths", a large, flat-head mop) are infinitely more effective than the old sponges, old towels, and sponge mop I had been using.
Campbell's style is pleasant and easy-going. You don't sense that he advocates creating an antiseptic, anti-bacterial, hermetically sealed home where you have to leave your shoes & pets at the front door, or taking up cleaning as a hobby. Rather, he advocates using your cleaning time wisely, to create more time for fun.
Book Review: My house has never been cleaner!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always tried to keep a fairly clean (2,600 sq. ft.) house. My friends thought I was successful, too. But after the first "Speed Cleaning" pass through my house, I can honestly say that my house has never been cleaner. Yes, it took over 5 hours to complete the job the first time. But I can see that once the initial "baseline" cleaning job is done, the weekly trip through the house will be much faster.There are great tips in here for how to clean things, what tools and cleaning agents to use, how to enlist help from your family and more.
If you want to buy the "right" tools, you can obtain reasonable facsimiles of the recommended products at Home Depot and Target/Wal-Mart for a lot less dough.
I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a cleaner house, but is overwhelmed at the prospect of attacking the cobwebs in the corners or the dustbunnies under the beds. You'll learn the fastest, easiest, most effective ways to conquer these areas in addition to the basics (scrubbing the bathrooms, kitchen, dusting EVERYTHING, etc.)
This book is not for ridding your house of too much stuff. In fact, if clutter is a problem that needs to be attacked before the real cleaning begins, I recommend Campbell's other book, "Clutter Control" or "How Not to be a Messie" by Sandra Felton. Both give detailed instructions and guidelines on how to reduce the amount of stuff in your home. If this is a problem for you, you will be amazed at how freeing it is to discard things. The more you discard, the more you will want to discard, so motivation to complete the project is sort of self-perpetuating.