If you’ve ever felt like your room can never stay clean for more than five minutes, there’s a certain truth to that.
It takes virtually zero effort to make a mess, while cleaning up always seem to be a herculean task. Like science teaches us, the natural order of things is disorder, and it actually is significantly easier to toss your stuff wherever and let the dust bunnies pile up to a colony, compared to hanging up your bag properly, replacing your shoes in the rack, walking up to the laundry bin and separating your whites and colors, and dedicating precious time vacuuming the always dusty floor instead of finally resting after a long day.
But for all that housework can sound like a chore (pun intended), it still has to be done. And it doesn’t have to be as a bad as it sounds either. With only a few minor tweaks to your lifestyle, it gets easier and easier to stay ahead of your house chores. Check out these four tips to see.
Do a Little Something Everyday
But for those who prefer the DIY route, breaking down the monumental task of cleaning your entire living space into smaller, more manageable work is the way to go. And when you do a little something every day, you don’t end up with a big, daunting cleanup at the end of the week—or whenever you do “get around” to cleaning your home.
Sweep or vacuum every day. Dust collects every second of every day, and the only way to combat the ever-growing colony of dust under your furniture or the constant grittiness of your floor from the sand and grime you bring from outside. Set aside a few minutes, whether early in the morning as you prepare to leave, or at night when you get back, to clean your floors.
Also make a habit of wiping down your countertops. These are notoriously messy spots, but it only takes the work of a few seconds to have it nice and clean. Wipe down kitchen surfaces after every meal with a clean cloth damped with water and soap.
If you live with family or roommates, get them in the program as well. After all, it’s their home (and their mess) too! If you have little kids, it’s important to teach them this habit early, so they not only help out with the chores, but they’ll carry this into their adulthood as well. While it may seem inconvenient to do this every day, you’ll soon have a solid routine—and a clean floor to show for it.
Use Baskets and Caddies
Set up a cleaning caddy in the messiest spots in the house, such as the kitchen and bathroom. Keeping the cleaning supplies within easy line of sight not only makes it much easier to clean up, but it also helps conditions up as soon as you see mess. Caddy items can include cleaning sprays, clean rags or microfiber cloth, a scrubbing brush, gloves and face mask, and other similar implements.
Teach everyone at home how to use the tools in the caddies, as well as how to organize these containers themselves. Older kids and roommates are automatically required to clean up their own mess right after they make it. Meanwhile, familiarize younger children with these tools, and teach them where these are located so they will know how to use them when they grow a little older. Just be sure to keep it well out of their reach even when it’s in their sights until such time they can use it even without your supervision.
Other than cleaning caddies, bins should also be strategically set up in the house for the miscellaneous clutter that’s bound to pop up. Every bedroom should come with its own laundry baskets (one for colors, one for whites). Family rooms and play areas should have a bin where the kids can easily deposit their toys after play time. The places where your pets hang around the most should also have a basket for their toys to go in (bonus: if you can train your pets to clean up their toys, all the better!). Simply having these bins around the house can significantly lessen the clutter and chaos in your home.
Clean Up Before Bed
Finally, make it a habit to not go to bed until you’ve made at least one thorough pass of your house. Vacuum at night if you don’t do it in the morning. Make sure the kids have all their toys in their proper places. Wipe down all countertops. Check that the trash bin is not yet overflowing, and if it is, be sure to take it out as soon as possible.
To make this process more fun, you can make a game out of it, like having the kids shoot their toys or dirty clothes into their respective bins (making sure to clear their trajectory of anything that can topple over) or putting on music and singing or dancing along as you clean your home’s surfaces. If you live with roommates, it’s a great idea to also have everyone in on this nightly routine, as this will get them to be more invested in your shared space.
Going to bed with a clean home ensures you start your days with a clean slate. A clear space can feel empowering because it doesn’t feel like you have unattended chores piling up. Start your day right and teach everyone to make their bed first thing after getting out—even something as small as a made bed is already an accomplishment for the day.
It’s easy to let the mess pile up in your home, but it is also quite easy to stay ahead of your housework. If you find that you simply don’t have the time, don’t hesitate to call in a professional cleaning service. Otherwise, condition everyone at home to do a little something every day, be it vacuuming or sweeping the floor, wiping down countertops, or ensuring there is no clutter like toys or dirty laundry littering the floor. Set up baskets around the house where these can be deposited, and always make sure to have a cleaning caddy in the messy rooms to have your cleaning tools at the ready. Finally, make a habit of not going to bed with a messy house, so you’d always wake up to a fresh, clean day.
Get Professional House Cleaners
We get it. Housework can be overwhelming. And sometimes, your work or studies (or both) can be overwhelming too, and you just want to come home to a nice, clean home without having to constantly think about the myriad of little things it takes to keep it clean. So you bring in the professionals.
Pristine Home is the perfect solution for those who cannot always do the hard work themselves. It saves you in the time and effort so you could instead focus on your work and other tasks, or catch up on some well-deserved rest. It also guarantees that every spot in your home is scrubbed squeaky clean, and there’s no worry of a growing Closet of Doom where you tend to shove the things you’ll “sort out later”. When you hire cleaning services, you’ll have home cleaning professionals staying ahead of the housework for you.
