Melissa Maker - Clean My Space

FOR CHAD

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street

New York, New York 10014

Copyright 2017 by Melissa Maker

Illustrations copyright 2017 by Meghann Stephenson

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Ebook ISBN: 9780735214675

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Maker, Melissa, author.

Title: Clean my space : the secret to cleaning better, fasterand loving your home every day / Melissa Maker.

Description: New York : Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016057175 | ISBN 9780735214668 (print)

Subjects: LCSH: House cleaning. | Orderliness. | Storage in the home.

Classification: LCC TX324 .M355 2017 | DDC 648/.5dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016057175

p. cm.

Version_1

CHAPTER 1

Im glad youve picked it up. This is going to be the start of something great for us. Maybe you know me from my YouTube channel or TV appearances. Maybe you are just motivated to tryor are curious aboutleading a cleaner, more put-together life. Its a bold move simply to open this book. I know, a book about cleaning the house isnt exactly beach reading. But since we dont get taught cleaning in school anymore (adios, home ec), and it is legitimately a life skill that affects us and our families each day (just think back to your last cleaning-related argument), it is absolutely worth learning about and mastering. Ive designed this book to be an easy-to-read reference that offers clear and simple instructions, product recommendations and recipes, basic routines, and self-discovery tools (dont worry, not woo-woomore like woo-hoo!). I call my approach the Maker Methodand I designed it specifically to keep your space cleaner longer, for people like you (and me!), and it works.

I thought about you when I wrote Clean My Space. I know you. You dont have time to learn how your grandmothers cleaned and youre not down for any Cinderella-style scrubbing; youre a busy person with important things to do. So when I designed this cleaning handbook, I included only the most important things. You wont find any waxing the linoleum or polishing the brass here. I will set you up to get the very best results in the least amount of time without having to read something as technical and complex as Going Off on a Tangent:A Journey to Mathematic Discoveries (okay, I made up that book, but I can only imagine how hard that would be to read). This books more like a cookbook, with recipes and easy step-by-step instructions for getting your home the way you want it, along with a dose of friendly encouragement and some fun anecdotes from when I was learning the ropes to get you rolling. I want to show you that maintaining a clean home isnt some secret or a gift that only 4 percent of the human population possesses. Its a teachable skill, and once you get it, transforming a roomno, your entire home!from college-dorm-type pigsty to design-magazine gorgeous will feel like something you can do with ease and confidence. No matter if youre a busy parent, a young professional, a student, or just about anyone else, this book is designed to teach you exactly how to clean in a quick, fun(ish), and memorable way. Your life will be better for reading this book, I promise!

I was never even good at it. It made me frustrated, overwhelmed, and certainly caused trouble for me growing up. But since starting my own cleaning service in 2006, Ive cracked the code. Ive reengineered cleaning. Ive trained my staff in this new way and built two successful businesses on this method: in addition to my cleaning service, I now educate hundreds of thousands of people every day on my website and my YouTube channel.

The reason I know I can transform hopeless cases into spic-and-span home dwellers is that I underwent this transformation myself. I was not born the cleaning maven that I am now. In fact, quite the opposite. My mother used to say that crossing my bedroom floor was an Olympic event. My seventh-grade teacher chose to make an example out of my disorganized self one day and dumped the entire contents of my desk onto the floor. I had to clean it up while my classmates watched (hello, therapy). I hated cleaning, and I didnt experience the joy or rewards of a clean personal space. I just felt like it took away from valuable sticker-trading or Nintendo-playing time.

What I did dream about was being an entrepreneur, from a very young age. So when I graduated from business school, no one was surprised when I decided to start my own business. I didnt know yet what kind of business, so I kept my eyes and ears open and left it up to the universe to tell me. Imagine my horror, then, when the thing I kept on hearing about was the stress of cleaning house and how hard it was to do it, and for those who wanted to hire it out, how hard it was to find a reliable, trustworthy cleaning person who actually knew what they were doing. I couldnt avoid this constant barrage of the same message even though it was so contrary to who I was. Me? Start a cleaning company? Do you know who I am?

Nonetheless, I followed the noise and wrote a business plan and took it to my uncle Larry, my trusted mentor. He told me that in order to be a success, Id have to start cleaning and learning my business from the ground up. When I got over my initial shock, I decided Id go into it fully, sleeves rolled up and boots to the ground. After eighteen months of research, practice, and hard-core business buildingwaiting tables at night and cleaning for clients during the dayI was able to quit my serving job and focus on the business full time.

By this point, I had figured out that I could get more done in less time if I reengineered the way I worked. I went through all the general cleaning tasks that needed to be done at each visit in a home (using my creation, the 59-Point Checklist) and tested many techniques, various products (both homemade and store-bought) and, of course, timed and critiqued myself while doing so. I put a lot of hours, money, and energy into it, and what I came out with were vast improvements on how to get the job done well in the least amount of time. I started to write down these ideas and teach new hires how to clean this way (I even managed to convert seasoned employees whod occasionally throw me a raised eyebrow