20 Tips for a clean home
1. Be kind to your future self
The first tip is to be kind to your future self and to tidy as you go.
Don’t leave it until later, if there is something that you can be tidying while you are also doing something else, then definitely do it.
For example, if you are cooking, make sure that you have no dead time.
If something is boiling or baking in the oven, tidy up the cooking mess, wash the dishes or wipe kitchen surfaces. Even when wash your face, with one side of the facecloth and then wipe over sink with the other side of the facecloth.
Another example: if your kids are old enough when they take a bath and busy playing with yellow duck, quickly wash the bathroom, mop the floor, organise under the sink storage while no one running around and making a mess.
2. Follow 5 min clean home rule
If you see a task in front of you and it will only take 5 min to do, just do it.
For example, if you have a messy junk drawer and it would actually only take 5 min to tidy up, just go ahead and do it immediately, this is a great thing to adopt in life in general.
3. The one touch method
The one touch method is just pulling the item away with just one touch.
Example, if you are brushing your hair, and then put your brush where it belongs. Same when you came home and walk in the door with coat.
Rather then thought it in the couch or chair, just take it off with one touch , put it away where it belongs.
4. Clean clockwise and Top to Bottom
Rather than walk into the room and be overwhelmed by how messy it is, run here, there and everywhere to try to clean it as best as you can.
Walk into the room and clean it clockwise and from top to bottom.
Choose a starting point and work your way around clockwise and always clean from the highest point down to the floor.
That is because dust will settle, so there is no point to clean the floors if you still have to wipe the surfaces.
5. Do a little a day
When it comes to big tasks like laundry and decluttering break those up into a little bit every day.
Instead of having one huge laundry day on the weekend, just do a load every day of the week.
Make it as part of your daily routine. It really does feel less of a burden that a huge exhausting laundry day at the weekend that is very short.
Make sense to do as much as you can during the week to spend a pleasant weekends. Everything is in your hands.
6. Fold immediately
None of us a big fans of ironing.
If you fold clothes immediately after drying it in the dryer or outside in a good weather. By doing this you will avoid 99% of ironing.
7. Read the labels on your cleaning products and the instructions as well
I might sound really simple and very obvious, but let’s be honest how often do we actually do this.
Some cleaning products require a dwell time, which means they need to sit on the surfaces for one to 5 min to really disinfect properly, so check your cleaning products.
If you are looking for organic cleaning products, check out this article with the best homemade cleaning solutions recipes: Homemade cleaning solutions that work
8. Always declutter
The next tip is also good to adopt as a habit is to always be decluttering. It sounds hard but ones you see the benefits of it, you will be really grateful to yourself.
So rather than just doing a huge declutter ones or twice a year, keep a basket in your car or in your garage where you can put items that you no longer want or need.
Then if you passing by the charity shop, you can donate them.
This is a great way to stay on top of things and if you ever have 10 min in the day, maybe you can find just the time to declutter just one drawer.
If you do this often, it will become a habit and it will really keep your home cleaner.
9. Have a place for everything
Ones you have decluttered, have a place for everything and have everything in its place.
Tiding and cleaning is really much easier if everything has a place to live.
Invest in some clever storage solutions.
For example if you have multiple levels home, you can build in a little shoe storage underneath stairs.
If you don’t have stairs, just find a dead space in your home and think how you can use this space.
Another good example is gas lift bed, where there is a space under the mattress.
You can store all seasonal clothes and toys there.
Try to make the most of the space you have.
10. Don’t leave the room empty handed and don’t go upstairs empty handed either
This is a really great rule to adopt in your family and try to install it in your kids.
Often there are items that need to go back to the kitchen, that need to do to dishwasher.
For example, in the morning you are likely to have cups upstairs that need to go back downstairs.
The good tip here is to invest in a little stair basket, so you can just grab the stair busket and take that up with you.
11. Work smart and get great equipment
You are more likely to clean if you love the product that you are using.
For example, get a good quality cloths that you know work very well and nice smelling cleaning products.
You can invest in nice, easy and fun to use and clean mop.
It also can be a robot vacuum as well. It will be a game changer – guaranteed.
Buying a new cleaning products or tools so that you clean more is a bit like buying new gym wear so that you go to the gym more.
12. Create cleaning routine
Cleaning routine is important. If you don’t know where to start check out this article: Things People With Clean Homes Do Daily .
In this article you will find a life examples of cleaning routine that work for most successful people.
After you read the article, also just look at your day and see if there is anywhere you can carve out time that you can actually tidy and clean and again by making it a habit, it won’t feel so heavy and it will just fit into your life.
For instance every night when you go to bed, put dishwasher on and every every morning just empty it. Within the time, when it will be your habit, you will not even notice that you doing it.
13. To keep cleaning products near where you are going to use them
This tip might be a little bit controversial because a lot of people keep all cleaning products in one place.
And it is definitely make sense to have all cleaning products in one place and when having a big clean, it is easy to just grab all of them and carry with you while cleaning.
But, by having a couple of cleaning products upstairs, in the bathrooms or in the kitchen.
For example just having a surface cleaner and glass cleaner in thew bathroom, you will be more likely quickly clean mirrors or just quickly wipe down sink or toilet.
14. Set a timer and speed clean
It really does work! You will be amazed at how much you can clean in just 10 or 15 min.
Just set a timer on your phone, decide to conquer one room and you will be amazed how clean it is in just 15 min.
15. Don’t sit down
So, every evening when all you want to do is crush, make sure that all the tasks are done before you do that. Because as soon as you sit down on the couch, you will not be getting up and accomplishing very much at all. So try to do all before you sit down.
16. Multitask while you clean
First important aspect on this tip is treat cleaning time as a “me time”.
So what does this mean? When ever you are cleaning, also multitask and listen to an audiobook or a podcast, call you friend or your mom and catch up with them.
Also clean when you are cooking, when kids are in the bath, when you are on the line with the bank waiting for an assistant and hold for a long time, don’t waste time and clean.
You will enjoy this guilt free feeling when you realise that everything is done, bank issues are solved, house is shining.
17. Delegate chores
Involve the whole family in cleaning and delegate chores.
So even very small children could have a few chores, for example, making their bed or pitting the dishes into the dishwasher straight after dinner.
It is worth you and your partner agreeing on tasks that you tend to own or do. For example, you won’t feel like you are nagging all the time if it is your partner’s job to always put the trash out.
There is also no shame to delegate hard and time consuming chores to professional cleaners. Cleaning tasks like carpet clean, window clean, walls and ceilings wash can go to professionals.
18. Marie Kondo folding
It is really cool technique that Marie Kondo shows in her book.
Who didn’t read it, go to YouTube and watch this amazing household tip.
It is basically like making these little parcels that all face upwards so that when you open the drawer, you can see all of the items that you have.
It is very space-saving and it looks very neat and tidy.
This method works really great with kids. When kids choosing the clothes they really don’t mess it all up.
19. Three tasks every single day: Beds, Sinks, Counters
Have 3 tasks that you do every single day and it makes entire house feel so much cleaner.
The first one is to make your bed every single morning.
Wake up and just do it. You have already accomplished something and you feel good about it, but it also makes your entire bedroom look clean instantly.
The second task is to have clear counters.
Don’t leave much out on your counters, we like to hide our big appliances and try to keep them as clear as possible, because it makes the entire room look so much cleaner.
The third thing is to have clean sinks.
Now, bear with me on this one but when sink is messy or full of dishes, it attracts so much more mess to the entire house.
So, always try to clean sinks, and before you go to bed at night, so your kitchen sink is always nice and clean.
20. Give yourself grace
If you have little kids discount everything above because it is very hard to keep a clean house if you have little children at home.
So, give yourself some grace. Don’t feel guilty and bad if you can’t keep an ideally tidy home all the time when you have kids.
Or you can also delegate home cleaning on professionals.
At Life Maid Easy we love taking care of your home and see your happy smile.
Call us (09) 909 6560 to have a chat about your cleaning requirements.
Email us now info@lifemaidasy.co.nz