Save Time: Tips to Speed Clean Your Home

1. Get it together. Gather your equipment and cleaning products before you begin. Put everything in a bucket, laundry basket or kid's wagon, and take it with you as you clean. You won't waste time running across the room to retrieve cleaning products or equipment.

2. Be methodical. Start cleaning at the entryway of each room and move around the perimeter clockwise. Section the room and clean left to right, top to bottom, leaving the middle until last. Using a systematic approach to cleaning guarantees all areas are cleaned without having to retrace steps.

3. Specialize. Use a different cleaning cloth for each cleaning product. Wear an apron with big pockets to organize your cloths; place the wood- polishing cloth in one pocket, the glass-cleaning one in another, etc.

4. Extend yourself. Use a long extension cord so you don't have to continually unplug and replug the vacuum cleaner. Use a dust wand with an extension handle to reach cobwebs in high corners.

5. Wipe once and move on. Don't waste time scrubbing. Use straight, overlapping strokes combined with the right cleaning tool. If there's a tough spot, pre-treat it and come back after the product has had time to do its job, then wipe with a non-scratch scouring pad. This will save on elbow grease and free you to clean something else.

6. Be conservative. Use only the amount of cleaning product required to do the job. Otherwise you'll just waste time wiping up the excess.

7. Vacuum last. Remember the top to bottom rule. Vacuuming last catches any fallen dust at the end of the clean.

8. Don't forget the finishing touches. Straighten magazines into neat piles, fluff pillows and buff chrome. These small touches will give a room a finished look, no matter how fast you cleaned it.