Today’s lifestyles mean very little extra time, and who wants to spend the extra time for house cleaning? If you adopt a few habits of people with clean homes, keeping your house clean will be quick and easy.
When unexpected guests come over, we usually stay one room ahead of them, tossing things into closets and drawers as we go. Planned guests require hours of cleaning and straightening before they arrive.
Both these approaches are stressful as well as ineffective. There are things you can do on a regular basis to always be prepared in advance. Even if you aren’t planning on guests, living in a clean and well-organized home just feels better than living in one that always seems to be dirty.
Read on for ten habits of people with a clean home that can keep your house clean and organized!
How to Clean your House
1. Put all the clothes away
This clean house tip may seem like a no-brainer, but clean clothes belong in the closet or folded up in the drawers, not in piles on the floors and bed. Fold laundry after each wash to keep the clean clothes from piling up into unmanageable piles. Washing the laundry is the easy part; most of us balk at folding it and putting it away.
If you make it a habit of folding and sorting each load as it finishes, you will not be faced with huge piles of clean clothes that need to be sorted and put away.
Coats belong in their own places, not on the dining room table or draped across chairs; place coat hooks at the doors or in the hallway to organize them. If you have a shoe jumble, consider getting storage benches to toss them.
2. Clean as you go
Cleaning up behind yourself is a great secret to keeping a clean house to stay on top of things. Wipe down surfaces as you go and organize or straighten before leaving the room. If you use something, put it back before leaving the room. Even throw blankets can be folded neatly and placed back after use.
These are simple things you can do that will only take you a minute if done as you go, but if left undone, they can cost you an hour of emergency straightening time when guests are expected.
This is also a great strategy for keeping your house clean to make cleaning up after meals a snap; when cooking, wash your utensils, pots, and pans as you finish with them to save yourself a major headache after your meals.
3. Straighten before bed
Before climbing under the covers, do a quick walk-through of your home to make sure things are straightened and put away. Plan for your morning by making lunches and placing your keys and important items that you need for the next day in plain view.
Nothing makes a mess quicker than rifling through drawers trying to find something when you are in a hurry, and if you are already crunched for time, you won’t have a chance to put things back before you leave.
4. Paper overload
Junk mail, bills, coupons, and even magazines tend to pile up on the corner of a table or on a kitchen counter. Get an organizer to stash all your spare papers and put your magazines in a rack to keep them from overwhelming your spaces.
Make it a habit of opening all mail immediately and getting rid of unwanted ads or other junk mail as soon as you receive it. This habit will keep your house clean and beautiful always.
5. Clothing purges
If you still wondering how to always have a clean house? Then this clean house tips for you. If you haven’t worn clothing in a year or more, it’s time to pack it up and donate it. Be brutally honest with yourself and let go of all items you have been “saving” until they fit again.
All the T-shirts you have collected and never wear, and those you were planning to repair someday. Clothing purges free up valuable space in your closets and dresser. Buy storage bins to store clothing and shoes that are “off-season” and plan to swap out your clothes twice a year. This is another simple but valuable way to reclaim closet space.
6. Two’s a crowd
The secrets to keeping a clean house are not having multiple duplicate items. When you can’t find something, the quickest way to find it is to buy a new one. If you find yourself with multiple duplicate items, pack them up, and donate them. You may love having three non-stick frying pans, but the odds of using them all at the same time are very slim.
You probably have multiple sheet sets you have been collecting for years, but you only need two sets per bed. Take all your extra items to a charity and donate them to give yourself more storage space.
Pillows are big offenders, too. From bed pillows that you replace but keep around “just in case” to extra throw pillows on every surface of your bed or sofa, it’s time to get rid of the extra “fluff.” Keep only a spare bed pillow or two, with cases, for guests; the rest can go.
7. Dishes get lonely, too
Nothing screams clutter than dishes in places they do not belong. So, you need to give special attention to your dishes if you want to keep your house clean. If a dish is not being used to eat, it deserves to be back home with its other dish friends. Dishes left in the sink are not only unsightly, but they also draw insects like ants and flies and even roaches.
Clean them as you go and put them back where they belong. Don’t fall for the “let it soak” trick; if you need to leave a pot or pan in the sink to “soak,” be sure to finish the job later.
8. Run vacuum and dry dust
It’s far easier to keep dust, pet hair, and crumbs under control if you run your vacuum every other day. It will be a quick chore if you keep on top of it. Dusting is important, and while a deep dusting with a moistened cloth or furniture polish is a good weekly plan, you can do quick dry dust with a feather duster or commercial duster right before you vacuum.
9. Basket case
Everything looks cleaner when it’s organized, and baskets or bins are a great way to store all your smaller items that tend to look cluttered. Check Amazon, your local thrift store, or the dollar store for baskets, and buy an inexpensive bookshelf to store them in. You can get any style of basket or bin or mix and match styles to suit your décor.
10. Streamline your knick-knacks
Too many knick-knacks will make it harder to clean your shelves and tables, and they can add a cluttered look to your home. Go through your house and pick out knick-knacks that you want to display, storing the rest in a safely covered bin. Every few months, you can swap out knick-knacks to keep your home feeling refreshed and new.
Candle collections cause clutter, too. If you burn your candles, keep only those you are currently using out and store the rest. If your candles are for display only, choose some to put on your shelves and put the others away. Candles attract dust and pet hair around their wicks and top surfaces when they are not being used on a regular basis, and people seldom think to dust the candle itself when cleaning.
The most important clean house tip is to stay on top of these ten habits of people with clean homes once you start them.
