Believe it or not, cleaning your house is an art. Without a certain amount of skill and know-how, your methods of cleaning could in fact be a bootless errand creating more work for yourself in the long run. So, we've gathered a list of housework hacks from social media 'cleanfluencers' and expert insider information from specialist housekeeping superstars.

From regular cleaning routines to tried and tested products, click or scroll on to discover savvy tricks to get your home shipshape in no time...

Don't waste time organising and cleaning what's not needed. Before you even begin your housework, professional organiser Vicky Silverthorn, owner of You Need a Vicky, recommends filling a charity bag to clear away accumulated clutter. "Walk around each room of your home with your new eyes on. I bet you can easily fill a bag. Make it your mission to fill at least one bag during a sweep of your home," she says.

Cleaning company owner and house cleaning author Jan M Dougherty, also known as the 'Head Rag Dragger', insists on only cleaning in good daylight. "Open all the drapes, blinds and shades or turn on all the lights," Dougherty says. "All cleaning should be finished by 3 pm because after that time, the light starts to fade and you don't see the dirt with the same clarity as you did at 10 am."

Professional cleaning company Molly Maid states that "if you have a busy schedule, a daily cleaning routine is a secret weapon." So divvy up those frequent cleaning tasks into lists for each room to make sure you don't forget anything. If you don't know where to start, there are plenty of downloadable lists online to work off including the Molly Maid cleaning checklist.

Cleaning and tidying a messy room can seem overwhelming but Gemma Bray, the mastermind behind blog The Organised Mum, has a great way of tackling the task. In Gemma's book The Organised Mum Method: Transform your home in 30 minutes a day she says: "Always start in one corner and work your way around the room in a clockwise direction, it will keep you focused and on track."

Keeping cleaning products together in a handy caddy will slash time spent on chores. Choose one with a handle to make moving from room to room a breeze. Organise My House suggests the following cleaning contents: polish, duster, antibacterial wipes or spray, rubber gloves, window cleaner, cleaning cloths and bin bags. We also think you need to make room for a lint roller, especially if you have pets.

Dryer sheets do so much more than prevent tumble drying static. Used dryer sheets are great for skirting boards, as the static will repel dust in the future. According to @lynsey_queenofclean aka Lynsey Crombie, they are great for blinds, too. Lynsey explains on her blog: "Wipe the slats on your blinds weekly with them, you will be amazed at what they lift off."

Lint rollers are great for removing pet hair and unwanted fibres from your clothes but do just a good job on upholstery. Keep a lint roller in your cleaning caddy for sprucing over sofas, chairs, cushions, bed linen and lampshades, too.

We all want our make-up to stay put while we're wearing it, but not so much when we spill it on our carpet. To remove foundation stains, check the bottle to see if it's oil or water-based, advises Saffron Hughes, professional make-up artist at FalseEyelashes.co.uk. Act quickly and remove the excess with a credit card or butter knife and dampen with cold water. Then, if oil-based, add a teaspoon of dish soap, massage in and blot with a damp cloth. If it's water-based, use laundry detergent instead of washing-up liquid.

Lipstick is made from oil and wax, so it's a tough one to shift. Brush the stain with an old toothbrush, then spray it with hairspray. "The alcohol in hairspray... is more likely to lift the stain than a typical detergent," Saffron says. Let the stain sit, then wash as normal.

Mascara can be removed from upholstery using a cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover. Clean up any residue using another swab dipped in baby oil.

To keep your dishes sparkling and your kitchen smelling fresh, it's worth deep cleaning your dishwasher once a month. YouTube cleaning expert Melissa Maker first removes the lower rack and sprays the inside of her machine with an all-purpose spray, paying attention to the dishwasher frame, which she then scrubs with a toothbrush and equal parts bicarbonate of soda and washing-up liquid. 

Then, place all removable parts of the filter into your sink and wash them in hot soapy water. Repeat for the cutlery basket. Unclog the water holes in the spinning arm with a piece of garden or picture wire. Return everything to the dishwasher, place a cup of white vinegar in the top rack and run through a cycle. After the cycle is finished, top up your salt and rinse aid and get ready for perfectly clean plates.

That cosy comforter you snuggle up to on your bed or sofa might look nice, but they often get overlooked when it comes to refreshing a room. The experts at MattressNextDay have revealed that an average person sweats up to 500ml and sheds a whopping 320,000 dead skin cells each night. In a month, that adds up to a staggering 15 litres of sweat and a jaw-dropping 9.6 million dead skin cells! Add in saliva, body oils, make-up and transferred grime, and that throw is starting to look pretty disgusting. So pop it in the wash once a week and throw your cushion covers in for good measure.

When cleaning a ceiling fan, avoid dust and dirt falling onto your furniture or even on to you by dusting it with a pillowcase. TikTok cleanfluencer @cleanthatup recommends wrapping the pillowcase tightly around the base of the blade, before pulling it slowly towards the tip. You'll trap all the dust inside the pillowcase, so all you have to do is empty it into the bin and throw it in the wash. Flannel or brushed cotton fabric will work particularly well for trapping dust.

Not only will dusting your houseplants keep your home feeling fresh, but it'll help to keep them healthy, too. Leaves covered in dust will struggle to photosynthesise, which not only prevents proper growth but can also impact the amount of oxygen released into your home.

To dust, plants expert Harry Bodell at PriceYourJob.co.uk recommends supporting each leaf from beneath with one hand, while gently wiping the top of the leaf with a clean microfibre cloth. Use a paintbrush on smaller, more delicate plants. Once all the dust is removed, wipe the stems and leaves with a damp cloth. Repeat weekly.

While you're at it, check online to see if your particular plants would benefit from spritzing. If so, move them to the bathtub and gently mist the leaves with some clean, tepid water from a spray bottle. Leave them to air dry before returning to their usual spot.

Shockingly, your pillowcase can accumulate 39 times more bacteria than a pet bowl, according to one study. "Not many people are aware that unwashed pillows can spread infections too," Rex Isap, the CEO at Happy Beds reveals. With that in mind, it's important to wash pillows every three months to eliminate bacteria, remove stains and neutralise odours.

Top tips include avoiding sleeping on your front or side, as gravity tends to give drool a helping hand to reach your pillow, shower before bed to remove dirt, lotion or fake tan that can discolour bedding and consider using a pillow protector.

Check to see if your pillow is machine washable. If so, add 200ml white vinegar to the cycle to act as a disinfectant. If not, simply handwash your pillows in the bath with a capful of detergent. If washing sounds like too much of a chore, hang dry pillows on the line on a sunny day at the start of each season to naturally air and brighten them.

Gemma Bray also has a top tip for dusting rooms. Ditch the feather duster and start damp-dusting: "It purely means that I use a damp cloth (usually a microfibre cloth) to wipe over surfaces. When you damp-dust you trap all the dust on the cloth, which stops it from being sent in the air in the room. This makes it a great way to dust if you or anyone in your house suffers from allergies."

Internal doors can easily get grubby. And, handles are a prime location for transferring bacteria. @mrshinchhome has a clever cleaning tip to keep internal doors immaculate without rubbing away paintwork.

Sophie Hinchcliffe told ITV's This Morning that one cup of fabric conditioner mixed with water will sponge off the dirt from internal doors without affecting paintwork. It also leaves doors smelling fresh. Finish the job by spraying anti-bacterial spray onto the handles and wiping with a damp cloth.

Kate Henderson, Duty Manager at Daffodil Hotel knows how to give your bedroom a ‘5-star hotel clean’. She starts with a flat sheet: "First step – forget the fitted sheet. When do you ever see a fitted sheet in a hotel? When you opt for a plain sheet you can easily recreate a ‘hospital corner fold’. And it's as simple as this: lift the edge of the sheet to form a 45-degree angle with your mattress. Pull and tuck the hanging fabric underneath the mattress. You can do this with your duvet too; simply lift and tuck!"

Kitchen cupboard doors soon pick up grease and spills from cooking making them feel sticky and look grubby. In their book The Miracle of Vinegar, Aggie Mackenzie and Emma Marsden recommend, "wiping them down with a cloth soaked in a warm solution of washing-up liquid and a capful of vinegar. Take care, not to over-wet wood. Rinse with another clean cloth wrung out with plain water and buff dry."

Rugs require special attention with a deeper clean at least twice a year. Check your product's care label and follow the guides for certain materials.

Daniel Prendergast from The Rug Seller explains: "Nylon rugs can be steam cleaned (you can rent a machine and do this yourself), you can also clean by hand using water and a light detergent. Wool rugs are very hard-wearing but require a gentle approach. Polyester rugs are often machine washable so check the label. Remember – don’t get your rug too wet, blot gently and remove excess moisture."

Steal a trick from housekeepers in hotels. Keep a stash of new bin bags at the bottom of small and pedal bins in bedrooms and bathrooms. That way, a new empty bag will always be at hand when you need to take out the rubbish. 

As well as a cleaning caddy, stock up on rubber gloves and reusable cleaning cloths. Beth Mcgee, author of Get Your House Clean Now, explains: "Rubber gloves help you move through your icky cleaning tasks uninhibited...Microfibre cloths work for the majority of tasks from kitchen and bath to dusting."

Some areas often referred to as 'high traffic' areas, are the places and items that are commonly touched by multiple household members every day. According to Zoflora, taps, for example, can harbour over 6,000 bacteria per square inch. Your sink may also be home to over 2,700 bacteria per square inch, so these items need a quick once-over with your favourite disinfectant every day.

A bathroom squeegee may have a funny name, but it's certainly a serious tool when it comes to wiping streak marks and water stains away from shower screens. Cleaning company Merry Maids highly recommends the inexpensive cleaning gadget as they are "quick and easy, effective and low-maintenance." They can also be used to wipe clean tiles, mirrors and windows.

For a truly professional finish in the bathroom – take a pew on the top of the toilet and inspect all areas you can see – there may be the odd dusty corner or radiator valve that you missed during your clean. Then, stand up, turn around and face the toilet to do the same. That way when both male and female guests use your facilities, every inch in view will sparkle from top to bottom.

Cleaning whizz @clean_with_jen recommends vacuuming your bathroom before you dive in with any cleaning sprays. In one of her TikTok videos, Jen explains: "Dust is everywhere in your bathroom and it can make cleaning up so much more difficult." Jen then reveals the best way to tackle dust in the bathroom, which never seems to go away with a wipe is to vacuum it first. But, be sure the bathroom is dry so as not to damage your vacuum cleaner.

Bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling tiles can be tricky to clean. This is where a floor mop comes in. @mrs.ds.cleaning.reviews says, "...with its extra-long handle you no longer have to climb into the bath to scrub your tiles, you will even get the top tiles clean without having to stretch up high." You can also mop the bath panel while you are at it, too. 

We should all be washing our bedding regularly but how much attention are we paying to what’s underneath? Nic Shacklock from Online Bedrooms suggests: "Remove all of the sheets and start by vacuuming the mattress, making sure the head of the vacuum is clean. Then go ahead and spray some disinfectant spray all over and leave the mattress to air out for a couple of hours."

Keep your stainless steel appliances shimmering by using a specialist cleaner. Clean Freak and Germaphobe, says that her favourite cleaner for a variety of stainless steel appliances (even black) is Weiman stainless steel cleaner and polish. She advises: "Use it with a microfibre cloth and always wipe against the grain to get the highest shine.".

Steam cleaners work by heating water past the boiling point and pushing the vapour with pressure through nozzles. The temperature and pressure loosen dirt and vaporise bacteria making them a natural and thorough cleaning tool without the need for harsh chemicals. Steam cleaners can be used on almost every surface. Just keep away from painted walls and any material that hasn't been sealed and can be damaged by moisture. 

Ensure your kitchen is not filled with bad smells every time you open the refrigerator door. Food writer and TV personality Mary Berry says, "it makes sense to overhaul it when there's not much food inside. Take the opportunity to examine what you have and chuck out anything that's past its best."

To wash, Mary recommends taking out all the drawers and washing them in warm, soapy water. Then, wipe the interior of the fridge, including the seals, with fresh, warm soapy water. Dry the inside very thoroughly with a clean tea towel.

According to cleaning expert Heather Barrington, spraying cleaning solution directly onto countertops, glass or furniture makes it harder to remove the product. As reported by The Sun, she says this can lead to streaks and stubborn stains that are harder to remove. Instead, Heather advises spraying the product onto your cloth, then wiping.

However, some cleaning products do require being sprayed directly into areas to allow chemicals to work their magic. Once sprayed, allow the agent time to lift stains and bacteria before wiping and rinsing away. For instance, the professional favourite, HG Bathroom Mould Spray directs you to spray surfaces from 3 cm to 5 cm away and then leave it to work for a whole 30 minutes to get the best results. That's plenty of time to work another room or pop the kettle on for a well-earned break. 

Kacie Stephens, Australian social media star and owner of professional cleaning company The Big Clean Co. Has five non-negotiable daily cleaning tasks that keep houses in order, which in turn make bigger housework jobs less daunting.

Kacie says, "1. Make your bed every morning. 2. Give high-traffic areas a quick vacuum or mop. 3. Pick clothes up off the floor. 4. Never take today's dishes into tomorrow. 5. Clean your countertop after every meal."

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