Cleaning your house doesn’t have to be a chore. If you’re smart and strategic about it, you can keep your house clean and spend less time doing it. You just need a plan of action and a healthy amount of discipline.
Here are several cleaning tips that we’ve found very helpful over the years:
- Declutter and Simplify
If you’re truly serious about keeping a clean home as a lifestyle – not just in preparation for a big party or event you’re hosting – do yourself a favor and declutter. Purging your possessions allows you to simplify. It gives you less to clean (and less to clean around).
When it comes to decluttering, start small. Here’s the easiest way to tackle it without becoming overwhelmed:
- Pick a room
- Choose a specific part of the room (like a junk drawer)
- Touch every single item and sort into one of three piles: keep, trash, donate/sell
- Organize the “keep” items and get rid of the rest
This is the process for every room of the home. It doesn’t matter if it’s a junk drawer in the kitchen, your master bedroom closet, or the shelves of a workbench in your garage – use the same process. Once your home is free of unnecessary junk, cleaning becomes a more manageable process.
- Clean One Room at a Time
The best piece of advice is to clean one room at a time. Don’t try to clean the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room all at once. Start with the kitchen and clean it to completion before moving on to the next room. This keeps you focused and gives you a sense of progress.
If you’re doing a big clean of the entire house, it’s good to go from smallest to largest. The small rooms (like the laundry room, powder room, or closets) can be finished quickly, which gives you motivation. And by the time you reach the big rooms, you’ll be in a groove.
- Clean From the Top Down
When cleaning a room, always start at the top and work your way down. As you clean, dust, dirt, and grime will naturally succumb to gravity. If you were to start at the bottom and work your way up, all of your hard work would be ruined by the time you finished.
While you’ve probably used a feather duster in the past, these aren’t the best tools for dusting. They tend to just move dust around (rather than actually removing it). Instead, opt for microfibre cloths or dusters, which actually grab the dust and allow you to remove it.
- Have the Right Equipment
Having the right equipment is a must. While you can find cheap products and save a few bucks here and there, going cheap is not recommended. Buy high-quality equipment that’s both effective and durable. You’ll get a lot more use out of these items.
For example, purchase a high-quality vacuum cleaner, such as a Miele vacuum cleaner. These vacuums work on a variety of surfaces, but are also versatile enough to reach different nooks and crannies with wands and attachments.
- Make Your Own All-Purpose Cleaners
Many of the all-purpose cleaners that you find in stores are actually full of dangerous and toxic chemicals. They can also be quite expensive. Thankfully, you can make your own cleaners for less. (And you’ll feel good knowing they’re safer.)
Here are several good recipes to try. For the most part, they require basic ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, water, borax, and/or lemon. If you have these ingredients on hand, you can usually make any kind of cleaner you need.
- Involve Your Children
The entire family should be involved in cleaning – it doesn’t matter how young they are. As soon as a child hits the age of three, they should be able to contribute to house cleaning. It may be as simple as giving them a cloth and asking them to wipe down surfaces – the point is to get them involved.
As your children get older, you can give them daily tasks. For example, they might be required to vacuum specific rooms on specific days each week. Or they may be required to clean all of the bathroom sinks. Assigning tasks like this not only teaches responsibility, but it lessens some of the burden on you.
Keep a Spotless Home
Keeping your house clean isn’t as difficult as it might initially seem. Sure, it requires a little work and elbow grease, but it really comes down to discipline. By creating a plan with very specific steps, all you have to do is follow through. With a commitment of just 20 to 30 minutes per day, you can keep your house clean at all times and never have to feel embarrassed, grossed out, or overwhelmed.
