Most homeowners spend the majority of their time indoors. As a result, things around the house can pile up quickly before you even realize it. When your house is cluttered, it’s easy to become overwhelmed in figuring out where to start to get organized. No matter what mess you are facing, there are some cleaning tips that will help you get yourself back on track and things under control once again. Here’s how to keep your home clean through any kind of mess.
Enlist Family Help
Before you start cleaning, enlist the rest of the members to help out. Give your juvenile children age-appropriate tasks they can complete on a daily or weekly basis. For example, put them in charge of keeping their rooms clean or vacuuming the floors. They can also handle certain tasks like taking out the trash or loading the dishwashing machine. Have a family meeting with everyone who is old enough to discuss what responsibilities each person can take on so household tasks can be kept up on a regular basis.
If you are having trouble getting everyone on board, enlist the help of the latest technology for assistance. You can get a self-cleaning litter box or dog potty for your pet’s unpleasant messes and a robot vacuum and mop to clean your floor. There’s even an electronic scrubber that can help you blast through stuck-on messes and toilet bowl cleaning systems that will do the nasty work for you. You can find many electronic gadgets and storage systems online that will make keeping your home clean and organized much simpler.
Focus On One Thing
When the household mess has spiraled out of control, you can feel paralyzed and end up doing nothing because the to-do list is just too big. On the days where you have many responsibilities on your plate, focus on just one household task you can complete in a few minutes. For example, you could clean out one kitchen drawer while you are cooking dinner. You could always put one item away that’s out of place while moving from one room to the next.
Make Your Bed
Making your bed every single day can help make your home feel tidier, at least your bedroom anyway. It’s the one item in every bedroom that takes up the most space, so pulling up the covers and fluffing your pillows will make your room at least 50% cleaner right away in only a few minutes. Plus, it will look so much more inviting to rest and unwind at the end of a hard day’s work. Make sure you wash and dry your sheets and blankets at least once a week to keep dust mites at bay.
Create A Cleaning Schedule
You can make cleaning your house more manageable by having a schedule that details when certain chores will get done. Figure out what the most important tasks are and break them down into smaller chunks that you can spread out throughout the week. This way, you won’t have to dread taking up most of your weekend to catch up on housework. You could clean the kitchen on Monday, scrub the bathroom on Tuesday, tidy up the living room on Wednesday, and so on. Make a list of your highest priorities for household tasks and do whatever works best for your schedule.
Organize Your Finances
Develop systems for keeping track of your bills and other expenses so you can make payments on time and meet financial goals. One piece of lifestyle advice for tracking your finances is installing an app on your phone that can help you track where your money is going. Schedule reminders on your phone for when bills are due so you don’t miss any payments.
Keep all your financial documents and receipts in a file cabinet for easy access when you need them. Create folders that are labeled for specific categories like taxes and insurance so you can recognize them in the cabinet and grab them quickly as needed. Get finance coaching to help you with things such as developing a budget or investing.
Deep Clean Annually
Schedule time on your calendar to deep clean your home at least once a year. This will be a time for certain tasks such as carpet cleaning and scrubbing down walls. Clean baseboards, scrub cabinets and drawers and replace furnace filters. This would also be a good time to purge your house of unnecessary stuff taking up space. Consider freshening up your walls with new coats of paint.
If you have small children or pets at home, keeping your living room furniture clean can be a challenge. When you are doing your deep cleaning, some cleaning tips for furniture include using a garment cleaner to steam your couch and chairs to kill any dust mites. You can also use a portable upholstery cleaner or cloth and some water to treat spots. Make sure you check what types of cleaners can be used on the fabric first before using.
Maintain Proper Medical Records
Each time you go to the doctor for checkups or for a medical or dental emergency, take the paperwork you receive and place it in a designated spot in your home for safekeeping. Sort through this paperwork at least once every six months and throw out anything you don’t need to keep. Keep a master list of important dates regarding surgeries, vaccinations, and other medical procedures that were performed for each member of your family. Also, keep track of all medications each person takes along with dosage amounts. This will make future doctor’s visits easier because you’ll have a running list of important information your doctor will need.
Donate Unwanted Stuff
You can keep your home cleaner by getting rid of items that are just taking up space and collecting dust. You can make this task less overwhelming by starting with one room of your house and working clockwise around the room. Just working ten minutes a day can make vast improvements reducing clutter over time. One of the best cleaning tips is to set a goal for the number of items you would like to get rid of during a specific amount of time. For example, choosing one item a day to donate will mean you can eliminate at least 30 items during one month’s time.
As you sort through items in your home, pack up any items you no longer want or use in trash bags and boxes. Many local communities have centers where you can drop off these items and get a receipt you can use as a deduction on your taxes. By clearing out your clutter, you’ll be able to find the things you need in less time and have more time doing the things you want to accomplish each day.
Reduce Paper Clutter
If you find yourself surrounded by books, magazines, and mail, it can make your house feel messier than it actually is. One of the best cleaning tips for keeping paperwork mess under control is placing a recycling bin near your front door. When you get your mail, toss out the junk mail immediately and create a system for organizing the rest. Keep all your bills in a visible place and file away any other paperwork you don’t immediately need to address within the next month. Cancel any magazine subscriptions that you haven’t read in the last few months and donate any books you no longer want.
Keep Surfaces Clear
The flat surfaces in your homes such as desks, tables, and countertops can be magnets for attracting clutter. By keeping these surfaces clear, your home can look much tidier. One of the best cleaning tips is to avoid the temptation of tossing mail and other items onto these surfaces as soon as you get home at the end of the day. Instead, make it a point to put everything in its proper place.
Clean As You Cook
Dirty dishes are often a chore many people want to put off doing. If you clean up the kitchen while you are cooking, doing dishes won’t be as huge a chore. One of the best cleaning tips to make it easier is to fill up the sink as you are making dinner and plop dirty pans in right away as soon as they are empty of food. This will give them time to soak so you don’t have to work so hard scrubbing caked-on food. Wipe up kitchen spills as soon as they happen.
You may even have time to tackle other household tasks while you are waiting for the food to get done, depending on what you’re cooking. One of the best cleaning tips is to set a timer and see how much you can accomplish. You may have time to sweep the floor or put a few items away. This would also be a good time to give the cabinets a quick wipe down or toss out old food from the refrigerator.
Tackle Laundry Piles
Laundry is one of the biggest causes of clutter for many households. Frequent changes of clothes can quickly lead to large stacks of laundry piles scattered throughout the house. You can tackle laundry by breaking up the chore into smaller chunks and delegating.
One of the best cleaning tips is to start a load of laundry in the morning before you leave for work. When you get home, toss that load into the dryer. After dinner, fold those clothes and put them away yourself or have your kids fold and put away their own laundry. Teach them to take their dirty clothes and towels after they change or bathe and throw them into a hamper.
Reach Out For Professional Help
If you struggle with constant clutter and mess, one of the cleaning tips you may want to consider reaching out for professional help to keep your home clean and organized. You can hire a maid to help clean for a couple of hours per week so you can stay on track. A professional organizer can give you tips on keeping everything in its proper place so you don’t have to be overwhelmed.
Make Cleaning Fun
When you think of cleaning up around the house, you probably start feeling a sense of dread. This can make you want to procrastinate and tell yourself you’ll just do it tomorrow. Then, tomorrow comes and the same scenario plays all over again. This leads to your house getting overly messy and out of control.
You can combat this by finding ways to make your cleaning time as fun as possible. Play some upbeat music to energize you to get things done and sing along while you’re working. Bribe yourself with a small reward you’ll give yourself after a certain chore has been completed. By making it fun, you’ll train yourself to stay organized even when you don’t feel like it.
Think Before You Buy
One of the best cleaning tips to keep your home clean and organized is to prevent clutter from entering your home in the first place. Many people often don’t truly think about the things they buy beforehand. Before you know it, your house is filled up with stuff you don’t really use. It just creates an endless cycle where you have to spend significant time cleaning and decluttering that could be better spent accomplishing other goals.
When you see something at the store that you have a desire to buy, ask yourself how that item will improve your life. Avoid buying something simply because it’s on sale or you like how cute it is. Make sure the item is going to be absolutely beneficial for moving your life forward. If not, give at least a 24 hour waiting period before you buy to avoid acting on impulse.
By following these cleaning tips, you will be able to have a clean and organized house in no time. Once you get everything under control, reward yourself with something nice or sit back and enjoy your clean home with a cup of java in hand. You could even invite a few friends that you avoided having over because your house was messy for a dinner party to show off all your hard work. By having systems to maintain a clean and organized home, it will be a relaxing sanctuary for you and your family to enjoy no matter what life throws your way.
