Our first house was 3 stories, so it was really hard to clean the whole thing in one day. And if I did, I never cleaned the floors! I would vacuum, but never did I mop. I always left that for my husband. When we moved out of that home and into our camp trailer, it was really easy to keep that clean. It was small and everything was right there! We didn't have a whole lot of clutter because we sold everything, so what we did have we kept in the back storage compartment of the trailer and out of the way!
The next house was a little easier to keep clean than the first because it was smaller with only one level. The thing that drove me crazy was it didn't have any carpet so everyday there were new dust bunnies in the corners and the tile always looked dirty from my dog and her sloppy drinking! The next house was big but easy enough to clean in one day, but it was almost an everyday thing!
This time around, after finally fully moving in and finding places for everything, I decided I don't want to clean everyday. Nor do I want to have a clean house, then messy until I decide to clean again. I've tried cleaning schedules in the past, and while they're great they just didn't work for me. Here's what I've decided to do to help me have a clean house daily. It helps, or course, to have the entire household in on it, too!
1. Do a load of laundry every (or every other) day.
- I hate folding the laundry so if I do a load everyday, it won't feel overwhelming having to fold everything to put away a million times a day! I've done all of my laundry and left the clean, dry clothes laying out so I could fold and put them away all together, and I can't stand that either. I've also folded after every load and put them all away at once and I hate that, too. So to win with laundry, I'll do a load everyday (which keeps me caught up) and when I have a little more and am feeling up to it, I'll do two that day!
2. Clean up after every meal.
- This one can be hard to do when it's evening time after dinner. Having to get the kids bathed and put to bed and the rest of the house cleaned up before you go to bed. The last thing you want to do is scrub dishes! If I clean up right after we're through, or better yet WHILE I'M COOKING, it doesn't take long because there's usually not as much scrubbing. The food doesn't sit there and get dried to the plate or pan and I can rinse and put in the dishwasher. If I clean up as I'm cooking, that's the best because there will be very little do to afterwards.
3. Put everything back right where you got it.
- My husband has a hard time with this. When we move in to a house, or when we purchase something new, I find a specific place for everything. He'll ask me where something is multiple times, and each time I tell him it's where it always is, he tells me it's not. He didn't put it back in the same spot and I haven't used it since. If we both know where things belong, and put them back after using right where we found them, it will be easier to find when we need it and it makes keeping the house clean a lot easier. If it's put back right after each use!
4. Tidy up after every play time.
- I have a 10 month old daughter and she has already accumulated a ton of toys. Our house is pretty small and we usually never hang out in her bedroom, so all of her toys are in the living room. Of course, the majority of the space is taken up by the big things like a jumper, stand-and-dance toys, walkers. And I don't have room to store them, so they're out in the open like they're part of my home decor. The other things I put in a "toy box". I just bought a cute storage bin type thing from Family Dollar that her toys fit in (for now) and it matches the actual decor. I clean it all up when I've put her down for a nap, or when she goes to bed at night. Sometimes, I'll have her help me beforehand so I don't have to do it after! That way I'm not stepping on anything in the middle of the night.
5. Vacuum and mop.
- I don't mind vacuuming, but I don't do it everyday like I probably should with a baby crawling around. Mopping I absolutely dread! Maybe I just haven't found the right mop, yet. But I do this when I feel like it really needs it, or at least try to every other day.
6. Hang up jackets and put shoes away.
- My husband has a pet peeve about having shoes lying around. I used to but somehow got over it. I have a million shoes and don't wear the same ones everyday, so I will grab a pair and then when I get home just leave them by the door. They get piled up. I've since made some room for each pair in the hall closet so when I get home, I take them off and put them in their spot so they are out of the way. It helps to make the house look nicer.
7. All clothes go in the hamper.
- I don't always leave the house, but I do get ready everyday. At the end of the day I make sure to either hang my clothes back up or put them in the hamper when I am getting ready for bed so I don't end up with a pile of clothes on the floor. Once one thing is thrown on the floor, it's so easy to add to it! My husband is guilty of this as much as I am, if not worse. But we are both getting better!
8. Make the beds.
- I feel like a room isn't clean unless the bed is made. All growing up my sister and I would make our beds every morning. We weren't forced to, but we liked to. And if we didn't do it before school, my mom would so it was nice to come home to. I was that way up until I got married. I just decided that no one ever sees my house (my husband was working out of town at the time) but me because I didn't get many visitors, and they didn't usually go to my bedroom if I did. I would just get back in it at night, and I had so many pillows that it was a pain to take them off when I was really tired! I like when the bed is made and so does my husband, so this is now a daily routine. The bed has to be made when I get out, no more than an hour later. If/when I take naps, it's always on the couch so I don't even worry about that. I still have too many pillows for my liking and I need to get rid of some, but it is so much nicer to walk into a bedroom with a bed that's made and without pillows all over the floor! Although, my dog and baby did like the pillows all over the floor.
Keeping up with all of this might seem like a lot, but if it's done on a daily basis, it's pretty easy! Now there is still the deeper cleaning, like cleaning the entire bathroom and dusting the house and what not. And I still do those, but keeping up with this list will make the days that I do do those chores not take me all day! It makes me feel accomplished going to bed with a picked up house :)
What do you do to make it easier on yourself to clean?
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