1. Pare down your products

Pros skip specialized products in favor of all-purpose cleaners that can tackle almost any job. Toilet-bowl cleaners, for example, can contain dangerous chemicals and there is no need to use them, says Debbie Sardone, president of Buckets & Bows Maid Service in Lewisville, Tex. “Scrubbing Bubbles works great on the shower, the tub and the toilet — even on microwaves.”

2. Employ a caddy

For maximum efficiency, clean your house with a multipocketed cleaning apron or a caddy containing all of your products, working around each room in a circle. This method is speedier than running from place to place performing one activity at a time.

3. Brush up

Carry two toothbrushes: One clearly marked for the bathroom, another for the kitchen. When you encounter encrusted gunk on a faucet or can opener, draw the appropriate weapon.

4. S-t-r-e-t-c-h

Attach an extension cord to your vacuum and plug it in where you plan on finishing, advises Julie Parish, owner of The Home Keepers in Houston. “This saves you a ton of time plugging and unplugging and finding outlets.”

5. Clean glass in a flash

For grime on the outside of your windows, first whisk off excess dirt. Then, wash them down with a (cheap) one-to-five ammonia-to-water solution. After that dries, spray with Windex or 3M Glass Cleaner and squeegee, advises Jesse Turner, owner of Turner Cleaning Services in Charlottesville, Va.

6. Follow directions

“Let the products do your work!” pleads Perry Phillips, founder of the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International. Degreasers and cleaners should sit for at least five minutes before being scrubbed off.

7. Power-wash your tchotchkes

Pop all your sturdy (not delicate or hand-painted) ceramic knickknacks and other dust collectors in the dishwasher. “The dishwasher gets into all those grooves of the little ceramic frogs better than you ever could,” says Jeff Campbell, author of Speed Cleaning. While they’re washing, dust the shelf they normally rest on.

8. Embrace humidity

To pry stubborn scum from an enclosed tub or shower, turn the hot water on for five minutes before applying cleaner. (Make sure to pull the curtain or glass door shut before you blast the hot water!)

9. Throw in the towel

Take triple the number of rags you think you’ll need for any job. “Professional cleaners never stop to rinse, wring or fold over a rag,” notes Sardone. “Just throw it in the dirty-rag bag and get a new one!”

10. Go ahead, be a cheapskate

An inexpensive plastic whisk broom is a better bargain than a costly handmade broom of corn husks, which leaves little corn fibers all over your house.

11. Invest in a fab vacuum

“We don’t sweep anything,” says Phillips.“Sweeping just propels dust into the air. If you vacuum your wood floors regularly, you’ll need to damp-mop them much less often.”

12. Dust like da Vinci

A clean, dry paintbrush is the ideal tool for getting dust out of hard-to-reach furniture grooves and corners, says Campbell.

13. Do your prep work

Pick up everything on the floor so it won’t be in the way when you vacuum. Change the bed linens (which raises dust) before vacuuming a bedroom.

14. Feather your nest

Use an ostrich-down or lambswool duster (not a cheap neon-colored one) for touching up places the vacuum can’t reach: curtain rods and the tops of drapes, high shelves and picture frames.

15. Be a web master

To banish spiderwebs in high places, buy extender wands for your vacuum cleaner. “They click endlessly into one another” and also help clean up outside overhangs and patio covers, notes Campbell.

16. Put mold on hold

Tilex Mold & Mildew Remover is the favorite of cleaners in hot, humid environments.

17. Cut your losses

Instead of spending hours with a Q-tip expunging schmutz from the hem of a $4 shower-curtain liner, toss it and get a new one. Ditto for the stoves with “catchers” under the burners carrying 10 years’ worth of burned-on food. Wipe up spills from under the burners promptly and you’ll avoid grisly cleanups in the future.

18. Make the switch to microfiber

The new microfiber cleaning cloths work miracles on mirrors, demolish dust and require less cleaning product than rags.

19. Go for the slow burn

There are two ways to make oven cleaning a breeze, says Phillips: Spray on the cleaner, let it sit overnight, then wipe down the oven the next morning; or preheat the oven to 200°F, turn it off, spray on the cleaner and let it sit for an hour.

20. Save the kitchen for last!

The kitchen is typically the staging area for cleaning, so you’re likely to muck it up while getting everything else clean and shiny.