23. To avoid a huge weekend laundry day, try to do at least a couple of loads of towels or clothes during the week.

24. Cut laundry time by presorting items into baskets labeled towels, jeans, darks, lights, etc.

25. Before you do a load of wash, wipe off the front and sides of the washer and dryer with a damp cloth (then launder the cloth). Clear the lint filter with a comb.

26. Organize freshly washed linens into sets: Fold flat sheets in half the long way and then in half along the long fold (repeat fold for wider sheets). Do the same with the fitted sheets, laying each on top of a folded flat sheet. Fold the matching pillowcases in half (the long way too), lay them on top of the sheets and roll everything into one neat set. Stack on shelves; each family member can grab the set for his or her bed.

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27. When vacuuming the bedroom, take a few extra moments to clean under the bed so the dust bunnies won’t multiply.

28. While you get dressed in the morning, check your nightstand or dresser top and pick three to five items to toss out (ticket stubs, empty perfume bottles, for example). Clean the phone with an alcohol-based wipe or go through one drawer in your dresser, weeding out items you no longer wear or want.

29. Shorten the stack of bedside reading material by moving items you want to save back to the bookshelf or file cabinet and getting the rest ready for recycling.

30. If you don’t have time for a thorough dusting, go over curtains, mini-blinds and the headboard with the upholstery attachment of your vacuum.

31. To save steps in making beds, store an extra set of sheets under the mattress. If you have a sofa bed, store linens and a bed pillow inside one of the pillow shams on the couch.

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15. Go through magazine and catalog piles and discard outdated issues, three or five at a time. Toss junk mail daily.

16. Vacuum just the high-traffic sections of the floor or carpet and do the other areas later.

17. Before you go to bed, do a fast pickup: Put remote controls in a basket, tidy newspapers and loose papers or put them in the trash, clean off the coffee table, plump pillows and fold throws.

18. When you’re done vacuuming the floor and baseboards, use the upholstery attachment to dust one bookshelf.

19. If your children’s plastic toys look dirty, grab the worst two or three and clean them with a wet wipe or a paper towel moistened with rubbing alcohol.

20. Quick-clean artificial flowers with the upholstery attachment of the vacuum cleaner.

21. To freshen throw pillows, put them in the dryer, one or two at a time, on the air cycle.

22. Vacuum lamp shades (turn off lamp before you dust) and the back of the TV.

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