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The man cave. Packed to the rafters with man gear, such as trophies, antlers, games, men magazines, beer cans (used and collectible), faded plaid LazyBoy chairs with food crumbs tucked into every possible crevice and electronic paraphernalia, this is almost a no-go zone. The trouble is, this is a potential vermin safe haven unless it's kept clean regularly. And while it's a place where the men go to be boys, allowing it to reflect a frat house filled with chips, spilled beverages and foot odor is encouraging trouble.

Although you may want to ignore the man cave or just use a blow torch because you know it’s a big (and potentially nasty) job, eventually it must be attacked. Lace up your biohazard suit and grab every bottle, can or gallon of sanitizer and attack. Oh and yeah, you might like to grab the creator of the man cave too and dispense some cleaning-your-own-den lessons at the same time.

Edit Steps

1. Get permission. Now this step is highly personal to the man in question. You'll know whether you already have permission to cross the threshold of the man cave and begin cleaning, or whether you need to seek it. If you need to seek it, be assertive and have a factual list of why the man cave needs cleaning. Top of this list should be family/household health and sanitary well-being, ridding the place of vermin hotspots, having a pleasant place to invite man friends back to and the fact that you'll go on strike cleaning anything else if the man cave stays filthy.
   • Some of you may be thinking, "There is no way I am responsible for cleaning this man's man cave. He should do it himself, just as he is expected to do his share in the house." Good for you, you've got it all sorted and just need to pass on your secret formula to every other woman seeking shared shouldering of the household cleaning.
2. Focus first on what you know to be junk. Finding items that must be thrown away isn’t for the man cave cleaning novice; it requires the acumen and intelligence of an experienced man cave ninja because it isn't just what's obviously strewn about––it's also about unearthing the hidden junk. And while there is probably some fine line you're never going to grasp between a collectible beer can and a beer can destined for recycling (do you really care about any such distinction anyway), there are plenty of items you'll know instantly as junk, such as an empty chip package or half drunk beer bottles. Focus first on what is clearly garbage and shift it on out and have a tough love approach to so-called collectibles that need recycling, not displaying.
   
   
   
   • Be shrewd and savvy when hunting for junk. Half eaten bags of chips easily sidle their way into intricate crevices of sofas, chairs and behind every piece of furniture. Beer bottles roll under things and cans are crushed (in demonstrations of man strength) and tossed every which way.
   • Dig right in between couch cushions. Prepare yourself for what you may find between and underneath couch or chair cushions because it may get ugly. Carefully peel back each cushion and remove the food, candy, newspaper or coin stash hidden beneath. Consider unzipping each cushion as well––sometimes even men run out of hiding places for their wrappers and cans and may end up stuffing them inside the cushion itself.
   • Check underneath just about anything that can be moved, shoved aside or peeled aside. Every piece of furniture in the man cave is fair game for trash hide n' seek and possibilities for stuffing junk run deep. Don’t just look underneath the perimeter of the furniture; be sure to look all the way to the back, especially if it butts up against a wall.
   • Look up. Junk may be hidden in odd places such as on top of high entertainment centers or even lamps. If you think like one of the guys, consider what you’d do with your bag of cookies after they’ve been eaten, but you really don’t want to get up and have to throw it away in the trash can. And if you're really unfortunate, there may even be something splattered on the ceiling from a manly competition to see who could throw highest (let's just hope for your man's sake that it hasn't involved your cooking).
3. Deodorize. There’s a pretty good chance that your man has been sitting on his man cave couch after rolling around in the yard with the dog and it only gets worse when socks worn for days in a row are found stuffed into the sofa edges. To restore the odor-friendly equilibrium, your next line of defense is to deodorize and sanitize the place, as follows:
   • Couches and chairs. If you had the foresight to put slip covers on all the upholstered items, take them off and wash them using the “sanitary” setting on your washing machine. However, if you are dealing with straight up upholstery, you can attack the situation a few ways. Rent or hire a steam cleaning company to sanitize upholstery or you could drown everything in Febreeze (or another fabric deodorizing spray).
   • Bleach and/or disinfect surfaces. The best way to murder germs is to go hard core and use bleach. Obviously, make sure bleach won’t damage the surface or you'll never hear the end of how you ruined the car trunk sale find of the century. For those areas that are tiled or have a non porous surfaces, bleach is probably fine; however, the only way to tell is to test the compound on a small, inconspicuous area. If you can’t use bleach, look for a disinfecting type agent instead. Even a wash down with vinegar and water will restore the healthy atmosphere.
   • Air. Spray disinfectant in the air, between couch cushions, underneath furniture and inside trash cans to release odor and germs from the area.
4. Locate all used bowls, cups and plates. If you have noticed that some of the dishes are missing from their usual kitchen station, most likely you can locate them in the man cave. Look for cups, glasses, dishes, bowls and utensils in the same places where you found wrappers and beer bottles. Also, consider checking window sills or countertops. You might also find platters, salsa bowls and nacho dishes in the man cave. Be prepared for nasty residues on some items.
5. Pick up ancillary items. From dirty clothes to pieces of unopened mail, gather all items that may have found a new home in the man cave and make a pile. Consider creating your pile on top of a cleaned countertop or, if you’ve already deodorized the couch make your pile on a couch cushion. The idea is to clear the room of items that normally don’t belong in the man cave so you can finish cleaning.
   • Use an empty laundry basket to gather your bounty. An efficient way to gather the most items at once is to find a large basket or even a garbage bag to load up. Don’t worry about what you are picking up (as long as it’s not an empty chip bag or soda can––those go right into the trash), just gather and remove.
   • Make a pile using a rake. If there appears to be a tremendous amount of “stuff” strewn across the floor, use a clean rake to make a pile and then place everything into basket or bag.
6. Organize, dust and vacuum. Dig into your pile of “stuff” and begin to organize. Make smaller piles such as a pile for mail, magazines, clothing etc. If something simply needs to be put back on a shelf or returned to its original home in the man cave and continue to organize.
   • Transport all piles back to the intended area. For example, if you have finally located the cable bill (amongst other pieces of mail), bring it to your desk or wherever you pay bills so it’s ready to be paid. Take dirty clothing to the laundry room, etc.
   • Re-examine the room for errant scraps or items left behind. If you have a big job to do, it’s easy to overlook items so go back and give the room a once (or twice over) to ensure you’ve found everything.
   • Using wood or another cleaner, remove dust from all surfaces. You may also need glass and other types of cleaners depending upon the furniture in the man cave.
   • If your man cave has carpet, sprinkle the area with baking soda and/or deodorizing carpet freshener. Wait a few minutes to allow the solution to soak into the carpet and then vacuum.
   • If the man cave has tile or wood flooring, sweep, Swiffer (using a duster) and then wash the floor using the recommended floor cleaner.
7. Liberate yourself from cleaning the man cave. This step should really be the first step because you need to bring the man with you as you're cleaning. Because in reality, this needs to be a training session, in which you demonstrate what he will be doing from now on. His space, his responsibility. And the embarrassment may just be enough that you'll never have to step foot in there to clean again. And if you're really lucky, he might apologize by showing a special movie for the two of you in his man cave. Lucky you.
   
   
   

Edit Tips

• Consider renting a carpet cleaner to remove the grime and any dirt hidden inside the carpet.
• Keep in mind that despite your rigorous efforts, the man cave may return to its previous state within a matter of days (or even hours). You need to be okay with this and know that you may have at least prevented a few health hazards with your work.
• Add a few air fresheners to the room such as a plug ins or perfume oil soaked wooden reeds.

Edit Warnings

• Before tossing everything in the room, ask your man to remove any valuables that could be misconstrued as junk.
• Not everyone will experience the grotty man grotto. Some man cave owners are are very tidy and clean. If you experience this instead, this article isn't applicable, obviously.

Edit Things You'll Need

• Cleaning gear
• Trash bags

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Freelancing can be fun, liberating, and hopefully profitable. But it can also be riddled with temptation to do things other than the work required, to be too optimistic about what you're capable of doing skills-wise or to take on too much and thereby lack the time needed.

To be effective and to maintain an excellent reputation, it is important for you as a freelancer to manage your time efficiently, in order to get the most benefit out of time and to produce the best you can.

Edit Steps

1. Decide what service you want to provide on a freelance basis. The more specific, the better. One possible time wasting element of trying to be too broad in your freelance skills is that you'll try to be a jack of all trades and a master of none, never quite producing high quality work in anything because you're dabbling across everything in your field. Resist this temptation and hone down the freelancing to what you're absolutely best at. You can always sub-contract for areas in which you have weaknesses rather than slowing down your response time and not giving the best service.
   • Go through your skills list. Ascertain from the start where you're strengths and weaknesses are and map out how to deal with weaknesses, such as getting help, not accepting assignments based on your weaknesses, or working with someone else who has strengths where you don't, on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.
2. Ensure you have the equipment necessary to do the job before accepting any new assignments. Lacking the right equipment can slow you down considerably because you'll be attempting to make-do or having to chase across town to find the one place that can do the service for you. Although the initial outlay on equipment might be pricey, in the long run you will save money because everything you need to produce professional outcomes will be at your fingertips and under your own control.
   • Don't be afraid to call in mobile technical assistance when equipment breaks down on you. The cost of doing this will be far outweighed by having equipment in good working order, fast.
   • Buy quality equipment at the outset so that it doesn't break down and let you down. If the costs are prohibitive, see if it's possible to make a highly accessible arrangement to share equipment with others in your freelance field who are close by. Make sure that these arrangements are with reliable people who will be happy to see you at 3am in the morning to use the equipment on the odd occasion.
3. Advertise your services. Be very specific about what service you are actually offering to your potential clients. This will cut down on time spent answering calls and emails from people who need something you can not, or will not do. Use a website to add more details that cannot be included in the advertisements, making it clear in the ad that more information is available there.
   • If you use an outsourced call center to handle calls about your freelancing, make sure that they have all the necessary facts before them. You don't want to put off customers by having someone else's lack of knowledge undermine your business.
4. Do not take on more work than you can handle. Too much work will cause you to feel overwhelmed and you'll soon fall behind. Making excuses to clients about things over which you have total control never looks good. Start out slowly until you learn how much work you can realistically complete on your own, taking into consideration the size of your budget, and your team. It is better to make little at first than to get a reputation for being unable to meet what you've promised to do.
5. When agreeing to do any type of work that you intend to be paid for, be prepared to issue an invoice, work order, or contract that you and your customer can sign. This document should clearly describe exactly the work that you promise to do, and whatever terms for compensation you agree to. This can save an enormous amount of time in the event a disagreement arises regarding the work that should be performed, or the amount of money to be paid by your customer. A binding written agreement can save extensive time and costs in court should a legal dispute arise. This document can be as simple or as complex as your particular discipline requires.
6. Designate a time and place to do the work that is free from distractions. Although freelancing may offer more freedom than traditional full time employment, it is incredibly important to practice self discipline. If you have constant distractions, you'll be interrupted and lose your flow of thought and action. If you have a noisy workspace treated as a thoroughfare by everyone else, it becomes hard to take your freelancing seriously. Your workspace should be free of excessive noise, unnecessary electronic devices, children that require your care while you are working, etc.
   • Freelancers working from home often feel guilty about housework and meals. It is important to clarify with all other household members that your work day is as real as anybody else's and that you're not available to do chores and meals on demand. Don't feel guilty if you need to hire a cleaner even though you're constantly at home; having it done is far better than having it weigh heavily on your mind and it frees you up to get more freelancing done.
7. Keep a log of the hours spent working on freelance assignments. Note which tasks are taking more time than others. Look for ways to streamline your work flow. Research tools and techniques that may speed your progress.
   • If you find some things are taking a lot more time than you originally envisaged, consider whether a change in approach will be adequate or whether it is something you are always going to find a bit of a battle. Administrative tasks can easily become time-wasters that could be better done by someone else, such as students after school, online call centers, or a bored homebody looking for a few hours work a week.
   • If you feel that your client is demanding too much in the way of additional workloads, be honest about what is and is not possible in your current schedule. By saying yes to everything even though you're swamped, you set unreasonable expectations that you're able to cope.
8. Expect to make mistakes. Do not let these mistakes discourage you, or cause you to quit. Be determined not to repeat the mistakes that prove costly and time consuming. In time you will increase your speed and effectiveness as a freelancer. And eventually, you will be in a great position to pass on this knowledge to others working freelance.

Edit Tips

• Time wasters can come in all sorts of different forms if you're not alert. If you start finding yourself making excuses to do things that are peripheral to your freelancing by stating that they "help" in some vague way, be wary of the time these extra things are chewing up; from using apps to attending seminars, everything that you claim as useful for freelancing really must be, or don't use it as an excuse but treat it as the break, hobby or entertainment that it really is.
• Listen to your body and feelings. Sometimes you may be truly determined to work on certain things but it turns out that they're not as interesting, straightforward or ideal as you originally thought. There is a fine line between not giving up and doing yourself damage by trying to do work that isn't your forte and never will be. Body pain such as constant neck aches and back pain and feelings of despair, anger and frustration are warning signs that what you're doing isn't working.

Edit Warnings

• Freelancing isn't for everyone. The relentless pace and the feeling that things are never quite ended can drag you down after the initial flush of enthusiasm wears off. If you've given it a good go but find that after a year or two that it's still really hard work and you find it very difficult to discipline yourself, you may be better off returning to salaried work. At least you gave it a try and you won't have regrets for doing so.

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• How to Become a Freelance Writer
• How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Freelancing
• How to Get a Freelance Job
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