How to Clean Everything by Ann Russell
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
Four Stars
Best for:
Anyone who has the ability to clean things.
In a nutshell:
Ann Russell, professional cleaner (and TikTok cleaning question answerer) shares a collection of her tips for keeping a clean home.
Worth quoting:
“10-20 minutes every night and 10 minutes before you leave in the morning should keep your space under control.”
“Try to pull furniture out to go under and behind, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t – decent people don’t check for dust behind your sofa; ask any that do to leave in a hurry.”
Why I chose it:
I thoroughly enjoy Russell’s TikTok contributions, and her tips seem so sensible. Plus she’s do very dry.
Review:
Now, I am a tidy person but I am not always the cleanest person. There is very little ‘mess’ out in our flat, but until fairly recently, if you ran a finger over anything higher than eye level or lower than knee level you’d probably recoil. But in August we found our cats had acquired fleas (they are indoor cats, so we suspect a hitchhiker from our lovely cat sitter), which meant we had to vacuum every bit of floor, carpet, and soft furnishing every day for a week. That eventually switched to every other day, and now twice a week, but I’ve gotten used to a clean home but want to do better. Our flat is very old, and while it was redone probably 20 years ago, there are crevices, cracks, and neglected areas that the previous owners possibly never considered cleaning.
I picked up this book hoping for some quick, reasonable guidance, and that’s exactly what it offers. It is a very quick read, and I found myself underlining quite a lot, making notes of things to try. During my weekly house clean yesterday I tried out her method for dusting (using a fully squeezed out damp cloth) to see if that might pick up and keep more of the cat fur and dander that accumulates throughout the week. Because I do a deep clean of each room on a rotating weekly cycle in addition to the standard dusting and vacuuming (e.g., primary bedroom this week, kitchen next week), I’ll be able to try out some of her suggestions room by room, which is how the book is divided.
She starts off with chapters on products and equipment, which was handy for me, as Russell is from the UK, and some of the words used for things here differ from what I’m used to, so good to get a sense of what things actually are before I try to use them. She then talks about setting up a cleaning routine, before diving into room-by-room suggestions. She also includes a chapter full of tips for those who are renting, which I think is a really nice thing to include, because sometimes (let’s be real – usually) landlords don’t do the upkeep needed, which can result in things like mold and damp that tenants are left to clean up.
The book also includes a surprising amount of fairly dry humor, which one doesn’t necessarily expect from a cleaning book. And Russell is very clearly not judging anyone’s level of cleanliness, or the time they have to devote to cleaning. Overall, a very good purchase.
What’s next for this book:
Keep and refer back to regularly. Maybe only recommend if someone asks; otherwise it might sounds like I think they need to improve their cleaning skills.
