Speed Cleaning
A time-saving, step-by-step guide to housecleaning in half the usual time…or less.
Rating: 
(out of 60 reviews)
List Price: $ 13.00
Price: $ 4.75
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Small business owner - Chicago & suburbs commercial cleaning services.
Review by Diane for Speed Cleaning
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The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because, from reading the other reviews, I see that the author kind of turned people off a bit to his methods. Here’s the real scoop: Yes, he thinks that His Way Is The Right Way. He’s really into this idea of walking around your house with a special kind of apron and keeping your tools and cleaning objects in various pockets of the apron so that you can easily and “speedily” get to them. Okay, so now that you know this, you can forget about it. In fact, you can even forget about the speed part of the speed cleaning because that is not even what I consider to be the best part of this book.So, who is this book good for? Well, it’s good for people like me who thought they knew how to clean but (as someone else mentioned) were using all the wrong methods and all the wrong products. Quite frankly, my mother never showed me how to clean the house properly and I can safely say — since my mother won’t be reading this review — that my mother knew zip about cleaning house. Oh, she did the best she could, but it wasn’t really very good.This book is great for someone who really feels like a slug trying to clean the house. Oh, and by the way. For all of you messy cluttering slobs out there. You’re not going to be happy about cleaning until you get rid of your clutter. So I’d suggest you either start de-cluttering your homes or first buy a book about getting rid of clutter (a good one is “Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston). Once you’ve gotten your place de-cluttered, you will find that cleaning it is quite a bit easier than you ever thought. Then, buy “Speed Cleaning” and get some extremely useful ideas about how to clean, what to use, what’s important to clean every day or every month, etc. Don’t be put off by some of the negative reviews here because the author is not your parent and you can take what’s useful from the book and leave the rest of it alone. And, yes, Mr. Campbell does have a catalogue of goods that he sells, but you do not need any of his products (that is, you can probably find any and all of those product in your own neighborhood). Personally I have bought a few products from his catalogue and I think they’re of extremely high quality and often much nicer than the cleaning products I find in my local stores. But, again, use the book to give you some good ideas about cleaning. And, if you’re a seasoned cleaner, you might find that this book is a bit below your abilities, so take a pass on buying it. Good luck to all and I hope you all eventually have a nice clean house to come home to! It really feels good to not be such a slob anymore.
Review by K. Levin for Speed Cleaning
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There are dozens of popular cleaning books on the market, many of which are touted on TV or tied to a particular cleaning maven’s approach… and web site!What I’ve found in most of those books–and I am a full time bookseller, so I see a lot of them–is a long list of recipes for multitudes of all purpose cleaners, or tricks for particular stains. This is the BEST, most SPECIFIC book I’ve seen yet for describing how a person should begin cleaning their entire home. It takes one step-by-step through every room.Though some reviewers complain about so many references to the Clean Team web site, the book explicitely describes alternate solutions and products in chapter 13. They use their own product names simply because they are writing an INTRODUCTORY how to book for those who are stumped as to how to clean their own homes! Some (many?) of those people will probably breathe a sigh of relief to have a single source for exactly the right tools for the job.The “recommended instead of” and “recommended in addition to” right now are both for the excellent housekeeping manual, “Home Comforts.” I agree wholeheartedly that everyone should own that book, but this one does serve a different purpose. “Home Comforts” is an ideal housewarming or wedding gift, but it is HUGE and covers lots of other territory. “Speed Cleaning” is a quick–dare I say speedy–overview that can get a person working toward a clean, healthy home after an hour’s reading.I must also add that I believe the emphasis on scrubbing over soaking is based upon the author’s own habit of keeping an environment constantly essentially clean. A person who follows these steps on a frequent schedule and does daily cleaning religiously will find these methods cover every need. The expectation is that one will maintain using every step in the book, and therefore rarely need stronger methods.Buy this book if you want instructions as to how to quickly do a basic weekly cleaning of your home. Look elsewhere for:
* specific homemade cleaning product recipes
* clutter control
* heavy-duty spring cleaning tips
Review by Atul Varma for Speed Cleaning
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I have to admit something: at first glance, I tend to judge books by their covers.
When I first saw the cover of this one, I wasn’t too impressed; the picture of the author on the front made it look like some kind of “as seen on TV” tripe, and the overall design of the cover was just very… amateurish. Perhaps the authors were in this for a quick buck, so they could push their own “special” cleaning goods.
But then I noticed that there were over thirty amazon user reviewers who had given the book an average rating of 4.5 stars, and I noticed that the book has been in print for almost 20 years. So, I decided to try it out.
That said, this book is a masterpiece. With a really bad cover.
I’ve been living in an apartment for almost 3 years, and I have never enjoyed cleaning it. In fact, I’ve been so discouraged by all my cleaning attempts that it’s made me want to clean less and less–a sentiment which the author actually talks about in the introduction. The thing is, no one ever really taught me how to clean; among those I grew up with, it was always assumed to be some kind of innate talent, one not worthy of writing a book about, so whenever I asked anyone about how to clean something, they always responded with something to the effect of “just do what works well for you.”
That said: I essentially had absolutely no idea how to clean, and this book told me everything I needed to know in about 100 pages (the last 100 pages of the book talk about how to organize cleaning in a team, how to deal with housecleaning services, and some other things, which I haven’t read yet). It wasn’t intimidating at all, the print was nice and large, and the prose was very conversational.
And the book actually teaches two different things–how to clean well (he introduced me to the use of a toothbrush, feather duster, putty knife, sh-mop, and some other things, all of which were far more effective than tools I’d used before), and how to clean as efficiently as possible, if you so desire. As another reviewer mentioned, this book really isn’t a religion–take what you want from it and use the rest as food for thought, or throw it out entirely. Right now I’m only focusing on the techniques because I just want a clean apartment, but once I’ve got the techniques down I’m going to try to take some of his advice on efficiency and try to put it to good use too.
Also, given the fact that the author sells his own products, he is remarkably good at not pushing them. He states repeatedly through the book that the tools you use aren’t as important as the methods you use, and he offers the names of several commercial brands that work well. He even says that you can make your cleaning apron (more on that later) on your own; although he doesn’t give much direction on how to go about doing this, I imagine if I knew how to sew it wouldn’t be too hard.
The only “non-standard” tool in his arsenal that isn’t available at a standard hardware store is the many-pocketed cleaning apron–you’re supposed to put all your tools on it, so they’re always on your person when you’re cleaning. A lot of people seem to think this idea is ridiculous, and I’ll admit that at first glance I was fairly skeptical about it, too. I still don’t own a cleaning apron, actually, but when cleaning my apartment after reading his book, I realized why one could be incredibly useful. The author claims that the apron is the most important of all cleaning tools because it saves so much time–you won’t ever have to walk somewhere to get a tool. However, what he doesn’t mention is that such an apron would probably make cleaning a less stressful activity. One of the things I realized when last cleaning my apartment was that a lot of the time I’m cleaning, I’m not actually *thinking* about cleaning–instead, I’m thinking, “where did I put my putty knife?” or “where’s my glass cleaner?” Having an apron with dedicated, separate pockets for each tool would enable me to focus all my attention on cleaning, not constantly switching my thoughts between cleaning and wondering where my tools are. I believe this would make my cleaning routine not only faster, but also more focused, less stressful, and possibly even (ok, maybe this is a stretch) enjoyable. It sounds like a great idea and I hope it actually works well in practice.
Another thing I really like about this book is that it’s one of the few books I’ve read on domestic activities that doesn’t assume the reader is female. In this day and age, it actually angers me when I read recently-published material on home economics that assumes the reader must be a married mother (even many of the married couples I know share household duties), and I think it’s one of the things that really turns men off from reading these kinds of books–as a 25 year old single male, whenever I pick up a book and read something on the back that tells me I’m a 30-year old mom, it’s kind of hard not to put it down. Fortunately, this book is incredibly good at being very unassuming about the reader and their lifestyle, and other home economics books would do well to follow its example.
All of that said, the book does have a few downsides, apart from the horrible cover. For one thing, the author often tells you things like “Trust us. Don’t argue with this method, don’t ask why, just know that it works.” The problem with this is that, for one thing, without a solid understanding of *why* you’re doing something, there’s no possibility for you to alter or improve on it to make it more effective for your particular situation. Furthermore, it makes it harder for me to remember, because I usually remember things by understanding the reasons and then deriving the actions that follow from them, instead of memorizing the actions by themselves. That said, however, the author does actually explain the reasons behind most of his techniques.
The only other thing that would’ve helped this book would’ve been full-color photos: being completely clueless, I don’t really know what mildew and soap scum look like (or what the difference between them is), I don’t know how to tell whether my floor is vinyl or linoleum, and I don’t know how dirty a cleaning cloth should be before I should throw it out and use another one, so full-color photos explaining these things would have been very useful.
Oh, and to those who buy the book or are worried about getting a hold of this gimmicky-sounding “sh-mop”: at first I was worried I’d have to mail-order this contraption, but I found out that the sh-mop is actually mechanically simpler than a standard mop, and was apparently successful enough that generic brands are now selling them under different names; my local hardware store had something called a “Hardwood Floor and More!” which matched the book’s description of the sh-mop precisely (its base even had the same dimensions), so this tool shouldn’t actually be too hard to get your hands on; I also find it far more effective than both my sponge mop and my Swiffer WetJet.
Ultimately, this book has been extremely helpful for me and I now feel much more confident in my cleaning abilities than I did before.
Review by S. Craig for Speed Cleaning
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I’ve always tried to keep a fairly clean (2,600 sq. ft.) house. My friends thought I was successful, too. But after the first “Speed Cleaning” pass through my house, I can honestly say that my house has never been cleaner. Yes, it took over 5 hours to complete the job the first time. But I can see that once the initial “baseline” cleaning job is done, the weekly trip through the house will be much faster.There are great tips in here for how to clean things, what tools and cleaning agents to use, how to enlist help from your family and more.If you want to buy the “right” tools, you can obtain reasonable facsimiles of the recommended products at Home Depot and Target/Wal-Mart for a lot less dough.I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a cleaner house, but is overwhelmed at the prospect of attacking the cobwebs in the corners or the dustbunnies under the beds. You’ll learn the fastest, easiest, most effective ways to conquer these areas in addition to the basics (scrubbing the bathrooms, kitchen, dusting EVERYTHING, etc.)This book is not for ridding your house of too much stuff. In fact, if clutter is a problem that needs to be attacked before the real cleaning begins, I recommend Campbell’s other book, “Clutter Control” or “How Not to be a Messie” by Sandra Felton. Both give detailed instructions and guidelines on how to reduce the amount of stuff in your home. If this is a problem for you, you will be amazed at how freeing it is to discard things. The more you discard, the more you will want to discard, so motivation to complete the project is sort of self-perpetuating.
Review by E. Woods for Speed Cleaning
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I thought this book was too good to be true until I read it and tried it. WOW! I also bought some of their products that are recommended in the back of the book and DOUBLE WOW! I am loyal and commited to the Clean Team forever. I cannot get over this. I live in a brand new house and have always prided myself on having a clean home, even with a husband, two kids, a puppy and two birds and an endless stream of neighborhood kids. Add to that the countless activities I spend chauffering my children to. I never had time for me because in my ‘spare’ time I was cleaning house. NO MORE! I have never cleaned my home more quickly, efficiently or cleaner before. Hat’s off to Jeff Campbell and the Clean Team and their products. You are wasting your precious time, money and sanity if you do not read this book. Anyone can learn their techniques. It so simple and if you have the time and desire, the book is readable in one day. I will also use their products forever. This book has helped change my lifestyle and I will never go back to the ‘old way’.