These are the dos and don’ts that every professional house cleaner keeps in mind when deep cleaning their own homes.

Borax, or sodium borate, is a naturally occurring substance and is an ingredient in many household cleaning products. If you have a smelly garbage can, deodorize it with equal parts borax and water.

Cleaning used to be an all-or-nothing proposition for me. I would tackle the whole house at once, for hours at a time until it was done. Everything looked glorious—well, at least for a few days, ...