Like many Australians, my family has been watching a lot of the Olympics this past week and therefore, a lot of ads. In Australia, between 13-15 minutes’ worth of ads (or ‘non-program matter’) can be shown during an hour of television on a commercial station.
It certainly feels like more at times, except when you’re enjoying that catchy Electrodry jingle, of course!
I’ve discovered those spare couple of minutes can be put to good use. Here are my top 5 cleaning jobs that I find I can complete in an ad break.
1. Bathroom Blitz
You can choose which one of these you’d like to do or you can do them all, spread across a few ad breaks.
Toilet scrub
Squeeze the toilet cleaner of choice around the bowl, scrub then give the seat a quick spray and wipe during one ad break. I flush the toilet during the next ad break. You’ll be able to get through 2 or 3 toilets in the one ad break, and flush them all in the next break.
Vanity/mirror
Depending on the state of your mirror, this should only take a few minutes to do. The trick is having your tools (cleaning solution and cloth) at the ready.
Shower screen
Most shower screens likely will take longer than 3 minutes to deep clean. Think of this as a maintenance clean. A couple of maintenance wipe downs during ad breaks throughout the week can make a surprising impact when it comes time to perform a more thorough clean.
It’s also a good time to replace any towels that you need to.
2. Floors Focused
You aren’t expected to do a full vacuum of the house here but an ad break is enough time to give a small room or rug a vacuum, provided your equipment is ready to go. In 5 or 6 ad breaks you’ve probably vacuumed the house.
Here are a few other things you could do.
Sweep
Depending on the layout of your home, this could be done while you’re watching television. Tile and timber floors get dusty easily, so a quick once over (even if you do a room per ad break) will work wonders.
Pick up
Pick up your dustpan and brush and check your floors for any obvious messes. It might be pet hair, sand (if you have a child in day care, you know what I’m talking about) or just dirt or muck someone has traipsed in on the soles of their shoes.
Mop
A spray mop is such a simple way to keep on top of grimy floors. Spending a couple of minutes giving the kitchen and dining room a quick once over will help you keep on top of mess.
3. Kitchen Clean Up
Rather than spending time after dinner cleaning the kitchen, put your feet up and use the ad breaks to get your kitchen shining by cleaning in increments.
Dishwasher
Load it up in one ad break then use another ad break or two to unload it. Easy! Most cycles usually take an hour or so, so you should have enough time to get this done.
Stubborn Saucepans
Fill any baked-on food in pans with hot water and detergent and let it soak! Most stuck on food and grease should come right off by the time your next show has begun.
4. Rubbish Bin Runs
This is a simple one which can save you from waking up to stinky bins in the morning. Depending on your bin set up and where your outside bins are, you may need to split this task across a couple of breaks. I know I’m no stranger to the night-time outside rubbish bin dash, especially on bin night!
5. Declutter and Clean Your Surfaces
A simple declutter in the main areas of your home doesn’t take long to do.
Declutter
Areas like the kitchen bench, entertainment units and coffee tables should only be used for their intended purpose, not a dumping ground for key, bags, books etc.
Take a couple of ad breaks to put everything back where it belongs.
Wipe down surfaces
Fill any baked-on food in pans with hot water and detergent and let it soak! Most stuck on food and grease should come right off by the time your next show has begun.
Disinfect touchpoints
Arm yourself with a disinfectant wipe and scan your home for touchpoints like doorknobs, computer keyboards, staircase bannisters, remotes, fridge door handles and phones.
What about during the TV show?
If you want to be really productive, there are a couple of things you can do while you watch television. Getting just a few jobs ticked off won’t feel so hard if you get to watch your favourite show while doing them.
Tackle that basket of washing that needs folding and concentrate on organising or straightening up items that are within eye-view of the screen.
In my home, that’s arranging our bookcase and DVDs and making sure that all of my daughter’s toys are neatly in the corner of the living room where we store them.
