Popular Cleaning Methods Around the World

Let's face it: cleaning is a tedious and often unpopular task for most homeowners. However, if you adopt some effective strategies from space organization gurus and authors of various cleaning guides, even deep cleaning can be done in no time. We’ve read dozens of books on decluttering and bringing order to homes and lives, and we’re ready to share the top life hacks with you.

12/10/20242 min read

USA

One of the most popular American cleaning methods is the Fly Lady system, created by homemaker Marla Cilley. She encourages women to clean with a positive attitude, dressed nicely, and using a timer to limit cleaning sessions to no more than 15 minutes a day.

To maximize effectiveness, Cilley suggests creating a weekly plan— for example, on Monday, do a wet cleaning of the bedroom, and on Friday, tidy up the kitchen.

Marla Cilley advises homemakers to fill out checklists to ensure they don't overlook any "hot zones." In the Fly Lady system, "hot zones" are areas like the sink, dining table, hallway, and bathrooms—these are cleaned immediately after use. The key is to achieve perfect cleanliness in at least one corner of the house. This small success will inspire you to maintain cleanliness every day.

Japan

The Japanese are known for their love of minimalism. Decluttering guru Marie Kondo suggests picking up each item in the house and assessing how much joy it brings. If it doesn’t spark joy, it should be let go—sold, given away, or thrown out.

Marie Kondo advocates for storing many items vertically—clothes, stacks of linens, textiles, books, and more. The idea behind this is practicality: you can easily find what you need, remove it from the stack, and the order is preserved.

Her second main rule is to sort items by category, not by room: books, documents, souvenirs, clothes, shoes, and so on. Kondo's third rule is to store clothes vertically, from socks to shirts, to maintain perfect order in your wardrobe.

Germany

The classic German method is not for the lazy. The main principle is: if you spill or make a mess, clean it up immediately. Dirty laundry goes in the washing machine, food scraps in the trash, old receipts in the recycling box. This rule even applies to children. They are given "little tasks" for the day, such as picking up toys, wiping the chalkboard, or putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket.

German practicality is also reflected in cleaning: it's easier to wipe down the stove after cooking than to scrub off stubborn stains later.
There are also shared duties: every morning and evening, spend five minutes cleaning the "hot spots," and another 30 minutes on the "room of the day."

Sweden

One of the most therapeutic methods of cleaning has a rather grim name—“The Death Cleaning.” Created by 80-year-old artist Margareta Magnusson, the system was inspired by her reflections on what she would leave behind for her children and grandchildren.
Margareta Magnusson describes her method as being “not about death, but about the meaning of life.”

Having often had to go through the belongings of deceased relatives, Magnusson realized that most people leave behind things that no one needs. She developed several cleaning rules: clean as if it were your last time, and get rid of items that don’t evoke emotion.

However, unlike many others, Magnusson advises not to throw these items away but to find them new owners—sell them at flea markets, donate to charity shops, or give them as gifts. When giving something away, share its story, so it becomes more valuable to the new owner.