5 Simple Tips to Keep Your House Clean
Keeping your house clean feels like a constant battle, both physically and mentally. Especially when you work full-time. You may wonder – Why is it so hard to keep my house clean? How do some people manage to always have clean and organized homes AND have to work a job? No, they aren’t superheroes. They just follow a few simple cleaning habits. Here are 5 simple and helpful tips to keep your house clean with ease.
Why is it so hard to keep my house clean?
As a full-time working mom, it can sometimes be tough to keep my house clean. I come home and immediately have to jump into getting dinner ready and on the table so my child doesn’t get too hangry or fall asleep early. After dinner, we’re just getting our son ready for bed and preparing ourselves for the next day. By the time I actually sit down to relax, I realize I have 30 minutes to myself before bed and the house looks a mess. If you’re anything like me, this probably sounds all too familiar.
Some other reasons why it may be hard to keep your house clean are that you have too much stuff, which we’ll discuss more below. The more stuff you have, the less space you have, and the more difficult it will be to organize and clean effectively. Another reason may be that with the stuff you have, you may not have a proper place to put them. If you don’t have a place to put your mail, the mail can so easily pile up on the coffee table and make your living room look cluttered and dirty.
Or maybe you find that it’s so hard to clean your house because you simply don’t know where to begin. So that’s why I’m sharing with you my top 5 easy ways that you can keep your home clean with a busy schedule.
Tips to Keep Your House Clean
1. Process your mail immediately
One simple tip to keep your house clean is by processing the mail that comes into your home as soon as it comes in. The one chore that I totally get overwhelmed with is filing mail. So the first thing I do when I go get my mail is throw the junk mail in the trash next to our mailbox. If you don’t have a trash can right near your mailbox, make sure you throw away the junk mail as soon as you get inside the house.
Any mail that needs to be filed, file IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise, you’ll be like me and have a growing, unsightly looking pile right on top of your desk that is covered by other items that you use to cover that mess up. If you have anything that needs your attention, either deal with it right then or leave it out in plain site, in a place that you use every day, so that it can be taken care of and either filed away or thrown away.
2. Keep the counters and coffee table clear and clean
When it comes to house cleaning, it’s important to talk about some of the main rooms that are the most used and that guests visit often – the kitchen and living room. How you can keep your kitchen or living room clean every day is by keeping the counters and tables clear and clean.
One of the biggest things I can tell you from experience is, if you have several items on your counter, it will automatically look dirty and cluttered. You don’t need pictures, a bunch of canisters, drinks, bottles, or other decor or random stuff on your counter. Simplify! Only use one set of canisters to hold stuff. Put away appliances that you don’t use on the daily. And organize! Put all that tea and coffee in a drawer or cupboard, the bread in a bread box, and the baby bottles put up in the cabinet or wherever you keep them.
Clean the counters while you’re using the kitchen. The best way to clean is to clean as you go. More about this below. And the same goes with your coffee table in your living room. Don’t clutter the space with too much. Keep a tray on the table that maybe holds a vase of flowers, a candle, and maybe a couple of books or magazines (I keep a storage box that looks like a book along with my Bible so I can store random remotes, earbuds, and coasters there). The clearer the space, the cleaner it looks!
3. Clean as you go
Once more, the easiest way to keep your house neat and tidy is to clean as you go. It takes less time, you usually already have an energy momentum going, and you’re less likely to have to put some elbow grease in and scrub that counter-top if you don’t let the sauce stick for hours or days (experience talking!).
Cleaning as you go, while cooking is especially helpful. After you use each utensil or dish, put it in the sink. And once you’re done and waiting for your food to cook, it’s a lot easier to go ahead and do the dishes so there aren’t as many after dinner. And let me tell you, after eating a nice, full meal, the last thing I want to do is clean. If there’s a sink or kitchen full of dirty dishes, I will feel so overwhelmed. But knowing I have only about 10 or so dishes to clean makes it so much more manageable.
Another good tip to keep your house clean is to clean as you go through each bedroom. See an area that looks a bit cluttered? Take care of it as you see it! Straighten up the bathroom when you’re doing your business, or make up your bed as you gather the laundry in your bedroom. It’s the little things that make cleaning your home so much more manageable.
4. Limit the number of things you own
One way to clean your house with little effort is by limiting what you own. This is a big one! I’m not really a minimalist, but two years ago, I decided to try to limit what I own and keep the items that I really love. What is the point of having 16 pairs of shoes that you know you only wear a quarter of, knickknacks that collect dust on the shelf, and those 12+ dishes that don’t even match one another (que the Sleepless in Seattle quote “12 is too many, and 8 is too few.“)?
In fact, because of Christmas, birthdays, and random buys throughout the year, I would suggest having a regular declutter session. Every few months, go through your closet, cabinets, drawers, desks, bookshelves, and see if there’s anything that you realistically just do not use and/or haven’t ever used. Throw it in a bag and once that bag is full, take it to your local thrift store and donate it. It feels so good to lighten your home up and declutter regularly.
5. Make your bed
And finally, a super simple tip to keep your house clean, or to give the illusion that it’s clean, is by making your bed. This one is more specifically for you, or if your guest bathroom is in your room. You may not think that making your bed will change how your room looks. In fact, I used to think there was absolutely no point in making my bed because I was just going to lay in it that night anyway. But your bed is the center focus in your room. If your bed looks nice and orderly, even if there are spots of clutter in the room, it will look a lot more cleaner and less cluttered and dirty.
And that is how to keep your house clean
Stop feeling overwhelmed with your dirty house and start tackling the main problem areas that make your home dirty. File or throw away your mail as soon as you bring it in, keep things off your kitchen counters and living room table as much as possible, and clean as you go while you’re cooking or going through each room. It’s also a good idea to have a really good decluttering session and get rid of the excess stuff that you don’t use or need, so you have less to actually clean. And finally, don’t forget to make up your bed, tidying up the one room that you’re in more than any other.
Looking for more tips and tricks to clean and simplify your home? Here are some of my favorites:
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