As an easily overwhelmed cleaner, I tried the 5 Senses Cleaning Method - now I know exactly where to start

With all the Christmas madness over, it’s finally time to crack on with all the cleaning jobs we’ve been putting off. But I always struggled with where to start until I found the 5 Senses Cleaning Method, which has helped me categorise cleaning into five easy sections.

There are plenty of cleaning jobs to do in January but with a long list to complete, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What’s more, no one wants to spend days on end cleaning, which is why I’m always looking for ways to clean your home fast. I'd seen the 5 Senses Cleaning Method doing the rounds online and decided to give it a go for myself.

The 5 Senses Cleaning Method is a strong contender for ticking off your January to-do list, it focuses on your senses - what can you see that needs cleaning? What smells like it needs a clean? Can you hear anything that needs fixing? For me, choosing one sense to focus on at a time allowed me to break down my cleaning into manageable chunks - making it easier to clean my entire home.

Here’s how I got on.

What is the 5 Senses Cleaning Method?

As hinted in the name, the 5 Senses Cleaning Method focuses on sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. The idea is that you choose one sense to complete each day. If you have a spare five days running, this is a great method for getting your home in order.

With Christmas and the New Year period being so hectic, I decided to adapt the method to cleaning when I had time - rather than following it five days consecutively.

It’s important to note that some senses may overlap - for example, taste and smell. If your fridge is particularly stinky, binning old or out-of-date food can help deal with this problem with both taste and smell.

Touch and sight are another two that may overlap -for example, visible stains on a rug may feel stiff or crunchy to the touch.

The 5 Senses Cleaning Method doesn’t have to be rigid - it’s about breaking down big jobs into smaller ones. And if you don’t have the time to complete the method over five days, don’t worry - I found the 5 Senses Cleaning Method to still be useful when completed over a longer period.

Trying out the 5 Senses Cleaning Method

The first thing I decided to focus on was sight. It felt like the most obvious option and after a busy festive period, I’d accumulated a lot of clutter. Testing out numerous decluttering methods, it felt logical to clean alongside.

I started by cleaning my record player station (handly crafted from an old IKEA unit), dusting it down and giving it a much-needed wipe. Record players generate static electricity which makes them absolute dust magnets, and I could see how much had accumulated on my duster.

Having been away for three weeks over Christmas, I had piles of laundry which I separated into darks and whites and got ready to wash, before nipping round with a hoover - like I said, dust magnet!

At the end, I could see a visible difference in my bedroom. I hadn’t realised quite how much dust had built up in my room until I had removed it all.

I then moved on to smell. Emptying my fridge of festive leftovers and giving the inside a wipe-down was an easy job, so I took on another smell task. My washing machine smelt a little funky and I found mould and mildew on the inner seal. Knowing how to clean a washing machine, I used baking powder to soak up the odours and clean the seal.

Overall, using the 5 Senses Cleaning Method sharpened my decision-making. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of not knowing where to start but choosing one thing to focus on helped other jobs become clear. When looking at the smell, I knew I needed to organise the fridge and clean my washing machine. And sight told me I had to get my hooving in order and declutter. Next, I plan to focus on sound as I have a particularly creaky bathroom door.

If you don’t where to start your big clean, give the 5 Senses Cleaning Method a try.

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