10 Apartment Tips Straight From Monica Geller You Can Use IRL

The One Where Your House Looks Clean AF

by Brett Aaron Marlow

Yassssss. Our favorite Friends are—finally!—reuniting soon on NBC for the first time in more than a decade. Err, most of them. (Sorry, Chandler.)

This is a major #TBT moment. Every Thursday, Friends had us glued to our couches for, like, all of our prepubescent and tween life. If you’re binge-watching the show, for the first time, now on Netflix and wondering why Ross looks so old on FX's The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, that's why. This show was, and still is, everythingggg. 

We know your besties will be coming over to relive and "ew" ugly naked guy, get hot over Richard, and give your best Janice laugh (God. Help. Us.) once more. So, before they do, we've rounded up 10 cleaning tips from our fave OCD friend Monica Geller. You know, the one who cleans in her sleep, pays the phone bill right away, has to have the easy-pour spout on laundry detergent, demands a coaster on any surface, re-fluffs pillows, and had the Raggedy Ann doll that wasn’t raggedy? Yep. Get going.

1) First things, first. Don't hire someone to do your dirty work. Sorry, Handy. You’re just going to criticize their technique and wonder if they got under the sofa. Answer: probably not. Save the micromanaging for your day job and adhere to your own standards. And don’t reveal your DIY cleaning recipes. Monica *almost* made that mistake.

2) Have fun with it. French maid outfit? Nah. Wedding dress? Yup. Whichever outfit you choose—Power Ranger, maybs? Don’t forget the rubber gloves.

3) Stock up, even on things you don’t have a use for—yet. Keywords: You never know. Soap, sponges, rags, Carnauba wax, and polishing compound? All necessary, sooner or later.

4) It just doesn’t look better there. After cleaning under, around, and it, keep the furniture as is. An extra seat? Who cares. Remember when Rachel moved the green ottoman? Yeah …. Focus on the things that really matter, like …

5) Cleaning your toilet 17 times a day. Monica did. So you should, too.

6) While there, fold your TP. As Monica says, “If it’s not a right angle, it’s the wrong angle.” Fold the end square of your Cottonelle into a triangle. It’s classy—the good Airbnbs do it.

7) Assign privilege levels to your towels. Let’s be real, there’s a hierarchy to guests who enter your doors. You wouldn’t put out the china for a barbecue, so why do it with your towels? Here’s the drill: assign and categorize everyday use, fancy, guest, fancy guest, beach, kitchen, and old (this is questionable, Monica! Hopefully they’re for green cleaning.)

8) Make the bed, right. Flowery, patterned bedspreads and sheets should face up, not down. And that duvet tag? It belongs in the bottom right corner. Nowhere else. Richard made the mistake so you don’t have to.

9) Clean after your cleaned. You’re not done yet. You need to clean your cleaning supplies like vacuuming your vacuum. If only there was an even littler one for the little one.

10) When all else fails, shove shit into your secret stash pad. Sometimes there’s just no Container Store-ready place for all those randos. Solution: Stack. Hide. Close door. Walk away. The more you don’t know. Amirite?

Must-See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows airs on NBC tonight at 9pm EST.