12 Tips For You To Keep Your House Clean All The Time

Have you ever thrown your hands up in the air and cried out, “When is there ever time to get this house clean?” Work, kids, grocery shopping, and other obligations tend to take center stage to keeping your house clean; it’s a never ending process. If you’re married and both you and your spouse work, you are both tired at the end of the day and then you have to fix dinner, help the kids with homework, wash the dishes; it’s a vicious cycle and although you do your best, your house cleaning never seems to get the full attention you need to give to it.

If you want to get this burden off your shoulders you have to start somewhere. The first thing you do is make a list of everything you want done. If you have a list, it’s hard to ignore it. After you have made your endless list prioritize the list; what needs to be done first and what are the most important things you need to do.

Now you have your list; this is what you do to get your house clean and keep it clean.

•1 Dedicate two full days that you are off of work and start working through your list. Granted, you will have a lot of work to do, but if you have a spouse or children old enough, give them an item or two from your list to complete. Unless your house is a complete disaster, two days should be sufficient time to get through your list; especially if you have help. That was the hard part; the next steps are how you can keep your house clean.

•2 Don’t procrastinate. If you have laundry to do, just do it. Wash the clothes, dry the clothes, fold them, and then put them away. I suggest you do at least one load a day. Again, if you have a spouse and children to help you, teach them how to do the laundry and make it their daily chore to do so.

•3 Get rid of unneeded items. If you are a pack-rat and keep every single thing you’ve ever gotten, you need a 12 step program to help you detach. This goes for every room in the house. If you have clothes hanging in your closet that you haven’t worn in over a year, get rid of them. If you have cookware, silver wear, dishes, and utensils you never or seldom use, get rid of them. If you have a junk drawer go through it; if you haven’t used something from that drawer in at least three months, get rid of it. Clutter is you number one enemy. Having too much stuff makes your house feel cluttered and when your house feels cluttered it doesn’t feel clean. Get rid of anything that you don’t need or use.

•4 Invest in the swifter products; these are one of the best inventions of recent times. If you have hard wood floors, run the dust mop every other day. If you have carpet, run the vacuum at least twice a week if not more. Get in a routine that you dust one day and vacuum the next.

•5 Don’t allow soap scum build up on your bathtub or sinks; wipe them clean every day and keep a bottle of tub and shower cleaner in the bathroom, preferably on the side of the tub. After you shower or bathe, spray the tub and wipe it down. Once you have done your initial big cleaning, taking a few minutes a day to wipe down your bath tub and sinks will be a breeze. Clean the toilet bowl every day. I suggest you use one of those foaming products that you pour into the toilet bowl which then foams up. I always do this before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning I just use the toilet scrubber and it’s clean. Make sure you wipe down the outside of the bowl as well; germs are everywhere.

•6 Make it a habit to take your shoes off at the front door when you come home. Have a pair of slippers there to put on. Doing this will keep you from tracking in dirt onto your floors or carpet.

•7 If you are noticing a lot of dust on your furniture, you may want to check your air filters; they may need replacing.

•8 If you have dishwasher unload the clean dishes in the morning and make it a rule that if somebody uses a dish they are to load it into the dishwasher. While you are cooking, clean as you cook. Don’t let dishes pile up; it is discouraging to see that mess after dinner and if you rinse your pots and pans and put them in the dishwasher as you are finished using them, this will make your evening chores so much easier. When the dishwasher is full run it.

•9 Take out the trash every day; there is nothing worse than smelly garbage.

•10 Make your bed as soon as you get up. Change the sheets once a week. I like storing my sheets in an air tight bag and placing fabric softener sheets in with them; that way your sheets always smell fresh and clean when you put a new set on your bed.

•11 Get organized. Have a place for everything and avoid piling things up on top of each other. You may want to invest in plastic storage containers and label them as you put items into the store containers.

•12 Clean up all spills immediately. That means on counter tops, on the stove, and on the floor. Keep on top of the problems and you won’t have problems keeping your house clean.

It is a tough job, especially if you are working long hours and have small children to tend to. The most important thing to do is make your list, do your initial big clean, and then stay on top of your housework chores. Make sure that everybody in the household has at least one chore to do a day and you will find that it will be much easier to keep your house clean without having to spend another two full days doing a major cleaning project.